Saturday, March 13, 2010

SEW ELATED


Remember how I had been banished from the kitchen table, well...I kinda pulled a fast one on the hub and snuck out the machine!! "How could you?" right? What could have been so important that you would go against your promise to your husband, this...

Not the girl silly, although she is cute! But how about the darling champagne
BOLERO!!!

Yes! I made it! I cannot even believe it myself. And to add to the aww and splendor of it all it's even lined!!! So, not that I'm a tutorial pro or have even done one before I took a couple photos to document my journey.

Step 1: Pattern- The patterns on the internet weren't too great and I wasn't about to pay for one. So I measured myself and took an old church shirt...

and turned it into this...


Step 2: The Fabric- This was a remnant from the skirts my bridesmaid wore at our wedding. So it was only so much fabric and a certain length to work with. But its 100% silk and I just couldn't part with it. 

Step 3: Prep- The fabric had half pleats that I decided to just sew  it down and give it a more polished look.
BEFORE
 
AFTER

Step 4: Sewing the pattern together loosely, hand-stitched, to make sure the fit is flattering.

Step 5: Cutting- You, and by you I meant me, get one shot here. I only had this limited fabric piece for this project so I needed to be very precise. Measurements are ideal!! ;o) 

Note: I cut out two of each piece, one of the silk and one of the lining.

Step 6: Sewing- Enough said! But I did switch my needle to a thinner needle to prevent snagging int he silk.

Step 7: Ruffles- I got lucky and remembered I had the original belt from this skirt which was approximately 5 feet long. I simply sewed about  a 1/2 inch from the edge and gathered it to my desired length.

Step 8: Pinning- Very important to give that polished and neat look.

Step 9: More sewing- One last stitch around the edge of the bolero to close up my seems.

Step 10: Gloating!!!- And lots of it. "I did it  I did it!!" Oh and how about my adorable little apprentice tailor!

"Sew" there you have it... my adorable new bolero, which I so graciously have parted with temporarily to the cute model above. This entire project came from the fact that she had the perfect dress to wear for her best friends wedding. She is the Best Man! Cute right!?! Anyhow, there was a need and I thought " Bring it on"! The best part is I still have one of the original skirts from the wedding in its full length. Something tells me I'll be getting myself and adorable campaign silk dress soon!




5 comments:

Janelle said...

Beautiful! I am totally impressed. You are totally rockin' the sewing machine these days. You blow me out of the water!

lauren said...

That is so cute! I can't believe you did it without a pattern! Good work :)

Anupa Harvey said...

So awesome Angel--you amaze me!

kcb said...

lovely lovely. i'm blown away.

rachelspiers said...

I know I'm late to comment on this, but WOW. Just WOW. That's REALLY cute!