Saturday, September 05, 2015

Trim and Tidy

Howdy y'all fine ladies!

I bring before you a delightful little number that I am quite pleased with. This was Addie's first big job, not just as a draping area but as an actual indicator of fit!

Let's take a look:

Before: A nice little black linen shirt which was a) too big and b) a sad, shapeless sack (say that 5x fast). I like the front seams and the ties, and also that it can fit in at the office.

Standard 'flip inside out and pin'. Addie made this part SO much easier!!

More shapely already!

Er... A little too shapely. The line I am pointing at is the looser line that I ended up going with, once I discovered I had made the arms too tight.

It fit now but what to do... It was a little *too* plain. I didn't want to compete with the detailing, nor make it all crazy and ruin the ability to wear it to work. So I thought about it.... And this is what I came up with...

Tah dah! Want a closer look?

#30 on my machine embroiders these little star/snowflake/daisy shapes! I sewed them on the collar and side ties

It's cute, but isn't too much!

I LOVE THIS!
So there ya have it! It was fun to use a new machine setting. The only thing is that it uses a LOT of thread; I wound the fattest bobbin in the world for this and when I was done, only about 1/4 the bobbin was left! But my machine has some other 'artsy' stitches as well, so I'm excited to try this technique on other things :)

Happy 3 day weekend to the Labor Day peeps out there! Hope you can get some sewing in!

~Illy

6 comments:

Saga said...

Great refashion. And makes me think of all the fancy stitches my sewing machine can do, that I never use. Thank you for an idea of how to use them.

RanchHouse said...

My favorite part was the bow in the back. The stitching took it up a notch.
Mary @ RanchHouse

jenny_o said...

Now I wish I had fancy stitches on my basic machine - but I'm thinking the same kind of thing could be hand-embroidered if a person had the skill and time.

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone! Saga, this is the first time I have ever used a fancy stitch on my machine and I'm not even sure what gave me the idea. It's worth a try if you want to do a little 'something' but not go too bananas. Mary, the bow is my favorite too :) I know a lot of people don't like side ties but I love them because hew, built in bow! Bows are great! Jenny, I'm sure you could; I certainly don't have the patience or skill but if you're stuck inside or wanting to just relax and work on a project, I can see how it would nice!

jennifer elliott said...

I love all the minor changes to make the shirt stand out. Ever since I got my dress form I found refashioning much easier! I love my dress form so much, and I'm in the process of experimenting with all the stitches on my machine too. Great job.

Jennifer Elliott, EOD

Unknown said...

Jennifer I love my dress form SO much. It might be one of my favorite sewing 'accessories'. I'm really bad at tracing things and pinning while wearing, so the form has made things so much easier and reduced a LOT of frustration. For me, nothing kills my motivation faster than having to sew, undo and redo multiple times!