REE SEWN
My daughter's first skirt - upcycling an adult dress into a children's wrap skirt
My First Plantain tee
Do you have those jobs on your to do list that have been on there for multiple years? Perhaps that’s just me. Along with organising the understairs cupboard and digitising all my childhood family photo albums, making the Deer and Doe Plantain tee has been on my list for a long time. I finally did make one! Ticking that off feels great. Ticking something off a list has got to be one of my favourite things.
This lovely drapey red jersey was previously this Wren dress which saw me through the enormous part of both my pregnancies and the early days of breastfeeding. Both times it was summer so the drapey swishy dress was a big help! But once the post partum days were over I found the dress made me feel squat, dreary and a bit like a sack of potatoes. So it’s been sat in the refashion pile for about a year. Enter, Plantain!
By the way, I do find these photos quite hilarious. The outside ones were taken by my surprisingly assertive 4.5 year old, so the angles are quite odd (and we did refill the birdfeeder, honest!). She did make me laugh which is nice. The indoor ones are not quite as bright but I'm sure you can get an idea of what the Tshirt looks like!
Well I can see why it’s such a popular pattern. It sews up so well, is clearly very well drafted. The neckband is just the right thickness, and it’s a lovely relaxed style of T shirt. Plus of course it is free. Thank you so much Deer and Doe for sharing your wonderful pattern for free!
I really love the finished T shirt. I’ve even got over not feeling cool enough to tuck just one side in! I do need to raise the shoulder seams next time, there’s just way too much room in there. This is a common adjustment for me so I should have done it right off the bat! My only worry is how this will affect the neckband and the arm hole. I shall do more research first!
This fabric is just the perfect weight for this pattern. It’s wonderfully drapey and great quality.
It’s a true red, which is one of my best colours. Halesmooresewing is running a year long Challenge: Sew Your Colours 22. It’s all about finding which colours suit you best and sewing more of those. I’m a Clear Winter palette and this red is just perfect for me. Here is my palette and me wearing some of the colours to show you what I mean.
And notice what happens when I try to wear pastel colours! They just do not suit me, my skin looks all washed out and I even look slightly ill. It just shows what a different colour can make.
Ogden Cami in the fabric of dreams!
I can’t be alone in keeping old handmade garments that no longer fit. I have quite a few of them that I’m ready to take out of my wardrobe and accept not being able to wear again, but I do struggle to say goodbye to the beautiful fabric they’re made of. So I do keep a lot of them with plans to make them into something else “one day”. Anyone else?
The fabric this True Bias Ogden is made of may actually be my favourite piece of fabric I’ve ever owned. It’s a beautiful Swiss cotton with a slight sheen to it. It’s incredibly soft, it has washed like a dream and seams just disappear with a quick press. Not to mention the beautiful print in all my best colours. I remember when I saw the fabric, on a shopping trip to Goldhawk Road when I lived in London in 2014. It wasn’t on my list, it wasn’t what I’d been looking for but once I’d seen it I couldn’t leave it behind. Now I wish I’d bought the whole bolt!
The fabric of dreams was made into this Emery dress, which was a firm favourite for years:
Post children, however, it doesn’t fit, and somewhere along the road a sleeve ripped, so I carefully packed it away in the “refashion” box for one day when I could transform it into something else.
The Ogden was a natural choice. I’ve wanted to make this pattern for so long, and it’s one of my Make Nine for this year, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and make the dress into an Ogden. There looks to be loads of material to work with in that dress, doesn’t it? Well, I managed to do it, but only just! The front piece was cut out of the skirt front, I had to have a centre back seam and piece the lining from the dress sleeves, but I did it!
I do love the lines of the Ogden, it seems to flatter everyone I’ve seen it on. I made up a straight size 16 to check the fit, and I do feel I need to make some tweaks to get the fit right for me. It is most evident from the side. The top just hangs off my bust and it feels quite tent-like. I do enjoy the swingy, roomy feeling but may just scale that back a bit.
Here I’ve made myself stand absolutely flat and straight so you can see what I mean. The front hem is also riding up a lot so I plan to do an FBA and add a dart to my next version, and perhaps grade down to a smaller size at the waist and hips to tackle the feeling of too much fabric around my middle.
There also seems to be a slight issue with the neckline/armholes. You can see some strange pulling of the fabric under my left arm in these pictures, I don’t know what that’s all about. I would like the straps to cover my bra straps so I may need to move them out slightly and redraw the neckline.
So that’s all left me feeling:
Pleased with myself for finally refashioning the dress-made-of-dream-fabric
Smug that I can tick another of my Make Nine off and it’s only February
Slightly disappointed that I’m not 100% happy with the fit
Frustrated that I have to do some fit work when I’d rather sew up new things
Determined to do version 2.0 ASAP so I don’t lose the will to
So satisfied with the sewing of this project and impressed with the pattern. I can see why it’s so popular. Pulling those straps through was loverly!
I wonder if there’s anything in the refashion box that I can make the next version out of…
People get ready
I can happily report the fabric stands up to washing really well - I’ve worn and washed this a lot over the last eleven months before finally taking these photographs. I hope it can stand a lot more wash and wear because it’s still my favourite thing to reach for! It feels casual but put together, every day but special. I feel 100% me in this.
The pattern is a New Look 6217, which I've made a few times before. This is such a great woven t shirt pattern, I just love this style. I did a really daft thing cutting it out though. I faffed about choosing which part of the print I wanted in the centre front, cut that piece out then realised I might not have enough room for the back pieces!! What a daft bat. I did manage to squeeze the pieces in in the end but there could be no semblance of pattern matching, which to be honest doesn’t bother me at all.
Project Prom Dress
- boned bodice. I decided to make a corselet for this
- comfortable to move around in (eg sleeves that don't slip down, able to sit down etc)
- sweetheart neckline but not too low
- refelecting Layni’s age (nothing too “old”)
- V shape where fishtail skirt joins the main dress. Mirrors the neckline and adds interest
hand appliqueing the lace to the back, along the zip |
scalloped edge appliqued to neckline |
- serged hem for the lining
- zig zag hem for the duchess satin layer. I am embarrassed by this but I had somehow ended up with no extra length to play with on this layer!
- horsehair braid and double fold hem in the chiffon layer. This was in the hope we could achieve a kind of wavy effect at the hem. It didn’t wave as much as hoped but it did add volume and made a nicer overall shape to the dress.
the corselet attached to the main dress |