10 Minute Kimono From a Scarf Tutorial!

Right, by popular demand, but without photos, a quick tutorial on my scarf kimono!

Dead simple and fairly cute kimono style jacket from a second hand scarf! Make your own by:

• Folding the scarf in half
• Marking out a rectangle either side, which is the fabric you'll lose between the sleeves and sides
• Cut out the rectangles, stitch the cuts closed
• Turn right way round, and cut the neckline/neck hole.

I left my front unfinished since my sleeves and hem were frayed, but you could finish it with a rolled hem. 

Hope this is a useful enough explanation but questions are welcome!

University Competition, and My Return to Studying!

"As humans, we are curious: we are driven to discover, to illuminate, to visualise and understand.

This sense of inquiry is key to the design process – and also to the scientific method. Both physics and design demand creative thinking, and the drive to explore. Both demand imagination; an interest in people and their experience; a desire to see the world in a new way.

Design a ‘mini-collection’ of two outfits, menswear or womenswear, which explores the commonalities of physics and design.

Seek parallels with a scientist’s approach. Conduct your own experiments. Develop processes which provoke discovery and thought. Search for patterns, correlations and new ways of seeing things.

You could:

Investigate how materials can be combined or transformed

Experiment with new construction processes – or apply existing processes in a new way

Be inspired by intriguing theories – like relativity, chaos theory, string theory, or multiverse theory

Consider patterns and structures on a micro or macro scale : symmetry, waves, molecular geometry, cosmology

Examine movements, behaviours, transformations of particles, matter, or electricity

Look into fundamental forces, including gravity and electromagnetism

Create beautiful data

Start your own inquiry - propose new solutions for fashion design."

So, this is my first project upon my return to University! It is a competition project for FAD, and there is prize money available! After a very hectic trip to London Science Museum, I've decided to look into regular and irregular polyhedrons. I'm doing a large initial collection of 40 menswear choices and 40 womenswear choices, to be narrowed down by my lovely tours at uni. I'll update on the final selections but also on the winners when they are announced! 

Over Summer, I've not done very much sewing at all. I've made minor projects like dresses and a PE for Little Sister, with the only real projects being a grey pencil skirt with white piping and a scarf to kimono transformation. I'll do a couple of separate posts for those!

Thank you for your continued reading, couldn't be doing this without everyone out there supporting me and showing a long-term interest.

Men's Dress Shirt into a Toddler Dress! NOW WITH PICTURES!

After posting photographs of Little Sister's new dresses on Reddit, the public demanded a tutorial. Well, you all asked so here it is!

YOU WILL NEED:

• Sewing Machine
• A shirt, men's or women's are both fine. The bigger size the shirt, the more volume you can get into the skirt of the dress!
• Scissors
• Chalk
• A tee shirt that fits your subject well.

First of all, lay the shirt flat. Decide on wether or not you'd like a volumed skirt like in the photos above, or a straighter dress that looks more like a long child's shirt. These instructions will be for this particular kind of dress, since it's a bit more complicated. Once the shirt is laid flat, lay your existing tee shirt on top of it, matching the centre fronts roughly. It isn't a fine art, so just roughly the middle is okay. Fold the tee shirt sleeves in gently so you can see the shape of the arm hole. Pin it in place to the shirt, so it can be used as a pattern. Cut carefully around the tee shirt sides and arm holes making sure to leave the collar and shoulder seams of the shirt intact.

You should end up with something that looks a lot like this:

To decide on a length of bodice, you can either measure your little girl, or guess based on the tee shirt. Make sure that when you cut the shirt across to form the bodice, you're cutting roughly between two buttons otherwise it won't work quite right. Once the bodice is out out, hang on to the sleeves from the shirt. With the bottom half of the shirt, gather the top edge using either a gathering stitch or gather by hand. Adjust the gather to line up the side seams of the shirt and the newly cut bodice.

Stitch the side seams of the bodice. If you haven't already, unbutton both the skirt and bodice sections, then lay them right side to right side, with the bottom edge of the bodice lining up with the top gathered edge of the skirt. Pin, making sure that the side seams line up throughout, along with the front plackets (bits on either side with the buttons/button holes on!). Stitch. You should now see your dress!

At this stage, you can either leave it sleeveless, by stitching a facing on. You do this by using a 2inch wide strip of fabric stitched right side to right side on the outside of the garment, then folded back in and stitched carefully for security to the shoulder seam seam allowance. 

To add proper sleeves to your little dress, the easiest kind is to add slightly gathered/puff sleeves.

Again, use your tee shirt as a guide to get the shape. Lay the shirt sleeve folded as it would be naturally and then lay the tee shirt or your bodice on it, folding back the sleeve and following the outline for the arm hole. Adjust the length of the shirt sleeve as you see fit, and then stitch into the bodice as you would any other sleeve.

Any questions? Now show me yours!