Showing posts with label tartan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tartan. Show all posts

11 March 2017

Tartan Puns Are Hard - I Made a Thing!

No, you're not imagining things, I really HAVE made something for once, and photographed it, and then blogged it! Damn, if I could do this regularly maybe I'd be good at this whole blog thing.

Anyhoo.
I don't get to make stuff as much as I used to these days, I've been spending so much time doing that whole traveling to China and Japan thing, and trying to fit normal life in between has been hard enough!

But I digress, I MADE SOMETHING!


The fabric is an unidentified-fabric-content grey tartan I picked up from my favourite bargain bin at Rolls and Rems in Holloway probably about two years ago now. I had the idea of a pinafore in mind as I was buying it, and into the stash it went. Then with the move and a cull of unworn winter items it was time to get it made in time for winter!

And in true Melody fashion, I didn't. It was finished in February. Typical, haha!


The construction is incredibly simple, It's a circle skirt (as always, I use the By Hand London Circle Skirt App) with ginormous pockets that could fit a small human with a literal square of fabric for a bib and strips for straps. I stupidly didn't take a photo, but the straps cross over the back.

 BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!


The bib of the pinafore is REMOVABLE.
You heard me, I only went ahead and made something cute, functional AND I can do a Clarke Kent style transformation from pinafore to skirt in seconds! I'm so pleased with myself, as you can tell.

The bib attaches to the front of the waistband with four buttons and at the back with one button for each strap. An incredibly simple idea, but it's proved to be a goodun' for me, since I like a bit of choice.



There was a few hiccups with this skirt, though. Using cottons for most of my sewing life, I have never experienced an uneven hem that was particularly noticeable on a circle skirt, I'm guessing because it didn't have the weight to it that this does. So it's a bit longer at the sides than the front and back, and although it's not horribly noticeable it ever so slightly grates on my nerves.

And as you might be able to guess from the above photo - I aligned the pockets to the pattern of the fabric instead of the shape, which means as the skirt sits as a semi-circle, it's wonderful. But they slope at the out corners when being worn. An easy fix, since they're just patch pockets - but you guys know I'm so lazy I will never bother!


Scarf: Vintage
Top: Primark
Necklace: Handmade
Brooch: Second hand, god knows what brand!
Belt: Primark
Bangles: Splendette
Shoes: Miss L Fire
Bag: Vintage



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2 April 2016

Twilight Tartan

On the first official day of spring (AKA, it was actually nice outside) I tried to rope my best friend into taking some photos of a dress for me. Unfortunately shopping and eating ridiculous burgers took up the day and we kind of forgot to take pictures until the evening. Oops.

So today I wanted to show off yet another - and my latest version of my modified B5880 dress (previous versions can be seen here), this time in a gorgeous tartan! 


As with all the other B5880's, this dress has undergone some real changes from the original pattern - namely, that there's no neckline notches, and I've done away with the sarong skirt in favour of my favourite skirt style - the pleated dirndl!.
This version also has bias-bound neckline and arms, a concealed side zip and possibly the biggest pockets on a dress to date - it fits an A4 magazine with a bit of room.
 


If you've been reading the blog for a while, you might know that in summer I get a little... gingham mad - and in the winter I switch straight to tartans - I'm a big fan of grid-based patterns, it seems! This dress in particular was made for the Christmas Mid-Century Market run by Bettina Scarlett back in December the night before the event, and went together like a dream! 

The fabric itself is a lovely mid-weight wool blend Stewart tartan with a great texture, snuggly warmth and is light enough to hang well, but stiff enough to keep shape, which is my perfect sort of fabric!


Necklace; Vintage
Brooch; Luxulite
Belt; Vintage
Bangles; Vintage and Splendette
 Bag;  Sun Jellies
Shoes; Primark


So this dress is currently still in heavy rotation, regardless of the fact that the sun has been shining brightly over London recently - I'm wondering, though, does anyone else have a small obsession with certain patterns?

Have a lovely weekend, dolls!

Melody x

 
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