Posts Tagged ‘Sewing’
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How to make a Sockmonkey
So Christmas is creeping up around the corner and you’re so deadly broke that a ‘night out’ has simply become a synonym for ‘watching Eastenders at a friends’ house’. Well fear not! For those of you who are short on funds but have plenty of time on your hands, I have the perfect gift idea.
Sockmonkeys make great toys for children (or, if your sewing skills are less robust) thoughtful presents for adults. I mean, that’s the joy of handmade things after all, so long as they aren’t utterly hideous beyond all redemption, the receiver will be so touched that you actually spent time - time that could have been spent googling your name or chewing your nails - thinking of them and repeatedly pricking your finger with a needle, they won’t care if their gift looks like a slightly wonky gangbanger (see below).
Anyway, I digress. How to make a Sockmonkey.
You will need socks (duh), pins, a needle and thread, cotton wool (or something to stuff it with) and buttons for eyes.
Posted in Crafting
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Sew your own: simple shift dress
I enjoyed an at-home stitch and bitch the other night with a friend who wanted to try out a little sewing project.
She was inspired by the myriad multi-way shift dresses in shops at the moment and thought she would try to make one of her own. I was invited along in official pressing capacity (which was fine with me – if my Mum taught me anything at the sewing machine it is that Ironing Is Critical).
Our goal was to make a simple dress that could be worn multiple ways. We took as inspiration the sack dress, originally developed in the 1950s by Givenchy, and more recently re-thought by American Apparel. In fact, many people are making similar dresses. Lucky for us, the fabulous eHow hosts a helpful little sack dress tutorial which uses an old t-shirt as a pattern.
Posted in Fashion
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How-to: A wedding dress for less than $200
Okay, I know under $200 might be pushing it. Unless you’ve gone all Oxfam chic (which is fine) and also plan on NO alternations/additions/cleaning of the garment, any British woman would be hard pressed to find any sort of luxury dress for so little.
The reason my dress was so cheap? It was handmade and not by someone who shows during Paris Couture Week. It sounds counter-intuitive, but if you have the talent at hand to do it, you can get a perfectly fitted, handmade dress you can use forever at a fraction of the cost. And it’ll be couture in the proper sense of couture:
cou·ture
n.- The business of designing, making, and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made clothing for women.
How did I do this? By doing a DIY wedding must: use personal favours (a brilliant reason to not ask people for too much in daily life. Favours are best used when truly needed). My wonderful Aunt Kathy is the most skilled, creative dressmaker I’ve come across and she offered to make my dress. Hurrah! For my wedding, we were thinking of a classic cocktail shift with a bit of accoutrement at the waist nipping it in. Nothing too fancy and something that I could definitely use again.
After trying on endless dresses at the shops, we got a feel for what looked best and headed to the big fabric store in the not-so-nice neighbourhood to which serious sewers go for their goods and began the search for cut-out organza by the yard. We stumbled across this fabric and the dress was born — a shorter, updated version of Hepburn’s Funny Face dress with black embroidery, a detachable organza belt and bow and a giant red flower pin (into which genius Aunt Kathy sewed an antique button to cover the ugly plastic center).
The materials cost approximately $190.00 for the white organza, black organza, flower (from the fake flowers section at the habberdashers), liner fabric and tulle. Aunt Kathy had the extras (pin back for the flower, hook clasps for the belt, zipper, thread, extra fabric for collar, boning) sitting around her work studio. If this dress had been commissioned by someone to whom I am not related or BFF, it would have been priced well over $1,000.
Plus it fits my every curve perfectly. There’s no loosing weight or having last minute alternations to let it out (not to mention my self-confidence remaining in tact as the fit makes me feel so good, and that is priceless). I also opted for non-traditional fabric and style… it’s short (my dad says I look like a cupcake). Both of these help to save money on fabric and the labour costs if you are paying someone to create it for you.
Not everybody is lucky enough to have an Aunt Kathy (although everyone needs one. I thank god that she’s mine). So calling in this sort of favour is not always an option. But rack your brain when you start your planning. Do you know someone who sews or someone who knows someone who sews? Friends will always cut friends a deal and as long as you’re not Bridzilla, the process isn”t difficult: buy fabric, have fittings. If you aren’t blessed with friends who sew, there are still elements of this that you can take with you to the shops for cheaper off the rack gowns.
First, opt for a cocktail dress (or a simpler pattern and cut) instead of a tiered silk, trailing confection in a bridal showroom. Less fabric + less-complicated pattern = less expensive. If it’s a dress that’s not specifically marked as a bridal gown, all the better. Chances are it’ll be priced like a regular dress instead of in the highway robbery price range common in the bridal industry. Go to a department store instead of a specialty store or shop on Etsy for an affordable wedding dress. I found many a white wedding dress on the US department store website Nordstrom.com ranging in price from $88 to $570.
Additionally, if you buy/make a dress you can wear for other occasions (to other weddings, black-tie affairs, etc.) then you’ll continue to save money as time goes by. Who wants to pack their wedding memories into a box to collect dust anyway? Every time you wear it you’ll be reminded of the big day. Now isn’t that better than never seeing it in the light of day again? Detachable details (like the belt and bow) can help make the dress look different each time it’s worn.
The golden rule to remember when calling in personal favors to help you economise for the big day is that you can’t just take ‘em and run! Even if you don’t pay someone with cash, you need to acknowledge what they’ve done for you and thank them in a tangible way, whether it’s with a bottle of wine, a week of foot massages, making cupcakes… whatever. Use your talents to give them something they need just as they have used theirs to give you something you need. It’s like a bridal barter system. If you’re worried you’ll forget to pay them back or they don’t know you’re giving them something, give them a thank you card with an IOU. For me, my gift will be creating an Etsy site for my Aunt Kathy to sell her wares. It’s incredibly bad manners not to reciproate and no one’s going to help you again if you just take the favour and run.
And that is the story of how my bridal cocktail dress (and the dresses of all my sisters and cousins for every major life event) came about.
Total spent: $190.00 (£124)
Total saved: $810.00 (£532)
Posted in Bargains & Markets, Fashion, Weddings
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DIY tutorial of the week: Make a dress out of a pillowcase
I’ve been scouring the web for the ultimate in Make Do and Mend. And I think this genius tutorial for making a dress out of a pillowcase pretty much fits the bill.
Marceline over at Asking for Trouble shows you how to work some magic on an old pillowcase in very clear, easy-to-follow steps. All you need is a sewing machine, a pillowcase and some basic sewing skills. Read full post
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What would Grandma do? Make do and mend
I must confess that I’m not entirely skilled when it comes to making do and mending. Sure, I can bumble my way through sewing on a two-holed button, but I’d sooner take a dropped hem to the dry cleaners for mending than do battle with a needle and thread. There’s also the time factor – why spend so much time when someone more skilled can do a better job than me for around five quid?
Posted in Fashion
