Thursday 4 August 2016

Inspired by our monthly meeting - Make, Do and Mend!

Hello there,

Welcome back to the Bake, Natter and Roll blog, we hope you're well today!

It's Rachel here, sharing with you a sewing project that I recently completed. If you popped by the blog recently you'll know all about our July monthly meeting, where we met Alice and Ginny and enjoyed a talk about make do and mend. I was really inspired by one part of the talk in particular - the bit where an old shirt was unpicked for the fabric. I was amazed at the amount of fabric that you got from just one shirt!

With this in mind I scoured the local charity shops in Farnham, looking for something I could unpick and upcycle into something new. I came across this shapeless dress in a fab tropical print, which cost me just £3.95. I wouldn't have picked the dress for myself, but I loved the fabric....



It's a size 16 dress in a light, floaty fabric that I thought would make a lovely summer top.

The first thing I needed to do was unpick the seams and see how much fabric I had to play with. I unpicked one of the side seams first, then I started on the bias binding that was attached to the neckline and also used for the straps. 

I wish I had been a little bit more careful with the bias binding, the majority of it came off really easily and was reuseable.....but in my haste a bit of it ended up with holes. 

I was really impressed with the amount of fabric I got.....this little lot would have cost me more than £4.00 if I bought it new....


I have a pattern for a simple, sleeveless top that I knew would work well in this fabric. I knew I could reuse the bias binding for the arm holes, so I just needed to add a little black bias binding for my neck line. 

So I got started, cutting my fabric out....with a little help from Steve the cat....


As mentioned above I reused the original bias binding for my arm holes....


...and used a little black bias binding from my craft stash for the neck line....


I had more than enough fabric for this top, and although it wasn't the easiest fabric to work with I was pleased with my finished piece and I've already worn this top out....


There is nothing better than making your own clothes....having something that no one else has and that tends to fit you better than shop bought clothes.

I also loved the challenge of taking something old and making it into something I would wear. 

My top tip if you wanted to do this yourself (and I would encourage you to) is to take your time when unpicking the seams. Less speed means less rips in your fabric!

I'll definitely be doing this again in the future - thanks to Alice and Ginny for the inspiration!

Thank you for popping by today!

Rachel - The Bake, Natter and Roll Committee

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