Wednesday, June 8, 2011

MMJ 6 & 7 and my new blouses and skirt

MMJ Day 6:
For Day 6, I wore my grey jersey 1940 dress and my ness shoes.  I also just happened to be in the neighbourhood of my local fabric store :)

One really fun thing happened in that I was waiting to cross the street and two lovely ladies behind me complimented me on my outfit!  So sweet and it really made my day!

MMJ Day 7:
For this week's theme over at the Sew Weekly the challenge was to make something out of a pillowcase.  Luckily, I've been holding onto two sets of pillowcases that I picked up in charity shops because I liked the fabric.  I don't know exactly what I was thinking when I bought them because it would be highly unlikely that I would unpick the pillowcase to actually make something (plus as I discovered one of the pillowcase sets had french seams!!)  Luckily this challenge came to the rescue and I could actually use these to make something!  I present to you faux wrap blouse #1 which I will call 'Sunshine Overload" and faux wrap blouse #2 which I will affectionately refer to as 'Garden Surprise'.

Here's the 'Sunshine Overload':
 Here was it's life as a pillowcase:
Not my usual colour scheme!!  But I am oddly drawn to bright colours and thought these were fun prints.  I got the inspiration for doing a faux wrap blouse from a pattern I picked up this last week at a charity shop when I was out with my niece Brittany:
It's a wrap dress and tunic pattern from 1968.  Originally I was going to unpick the fabric from the pillowcase to see if I could use it for this pattern.  As you can see in the illustration at the bottom left of the pattern, the main pattern piece is quite large.  I would have had to put in a back seam and then I might not have had any fabric left over for a sash.  Instead, I opted for a much easier route which was to make it a 'faux' wrap blouse and to keep the seams already in the pillowcase!  I'm planning a more detailed post on the construction process! So stay tuned!!


Ok onto pillowcase #2 or the 'Garden Surprise'.  This is it's life as a pillowcase (I'm just cutting out the sash tie in this photo):

And here it is as a faux wrap blouse:


I also made the skirt in fabric that I had in my stash.  It's amazing how well it matches both prints.  I used the trusted McCall 3968 that I used to make my navy blue skirt.  The pattern is from 1940 and it is very versatile:
I made the skirt out of a lime green crepe back satin with the crepe on the outside and the satin inside.  The only bad thing with crepe back satin is that the hem is not invisible.  I may have to go back and give it a narrow hem.  But other than that, I like how it turned out:
What do you think?  I know it's a bit of a departure from my favourite colours like burgundy!  Wait, did I just mention wine?  heheheehe... 
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18 comments

  1. I can't believe those cute tops started out as out as pillowcases!

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  2. Sweet and a great contrast with you dark long hair. You girls have me sewing so much lately and looking at vintage patterns on the net. I'm loving it and always looking ahead as to what to make next.

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  3. Isn't it funny how we gravitate towards certain colors? I didn't even realize that you wore a lot of burgundy, until I saw you in the yellow shirt and thought, "Wow, Yellow! That's a change!" But I think it's a fun, sunny, summery change.

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  4. I love burgundy too,but green and yellow look really good on you!

    Amazing pics!I hope to see Edinburgh in the next years ^_^

    Great work,Debi!

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  5. Debi, these are so pretty and summery - you're going to have me eyeing up pillowcases everywhere I go now!

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  6. So pretty, especially the version with the blue!

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  7. I like the colors, as I said over at the Sew Weekly...they're almost tropical and tiki-ish. It definitely brings out the red of your lipstick!

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  8. Those fabrics look perfect in that pattern. What luck that you found it just last week.

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  9. Love the colors on you! So bright and summery. You should definitely pull those out on one of your potentially gloomy summer days.

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  10. I love the grey dress, but I think these blouses have stolen my heart! Fabulous colors and I love wrap styles. I am definitely a fan of the green skirt as well - a very fetching color on you, indeed!

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  11. Smashing! Working with vintage linens is actually one of my favourite past times. I've made a few dresses & a skirt from bed sheets alread - my favourite part is that the fabrics tend to come pre-softened hehe. Great job on the top, you pulled off this challenge very well :)Hope your house hunting is going well!

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  12. I love those colours on you. And I can't believe those tops were pillow cases! Great job!

    The grey dress is also lovely. Very sophisticated!

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  13. Perfect colors for summer. I especially like the green skirt.

    Isn't it great to get a compliment when you're wearing something you've sewn? I just love that.

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  14. I really like those cheerful colors on you!

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  15. Great re-fashioning. They're fun colours and they really do look good on you.

    Isn't it nice when you receive compliments on something you've made yourself.

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  16. Pillow case garments? you are amazing x

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  17. Neither garment looks at all like the pillowcases - I would never have guessed! And the sizzling green skirt is such a good idea - my instinct would have been for a boring black and it would have been... boring!

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  18. I like the tropical prints! Especially the sunshine-y one. Doing a faux wrap style was a great idea - saves on fabric and more practical to wear.

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I read each and every comment--thank you so much!

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