by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 3, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
These stretchy scarf things have been quite popular in stores lately so after a request I thought I would give making one a try!
This is what I ended up with. It’s not exactly the same but it’s in the same vein and if you had more materials to start with you could easily adapt this tutorial to make that exact scarves that have been in the shops.
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What you need:
- Length of very wide lace (red)
- Length of wide edging lace (black)
- Stretchy lace/elastic (black
- Rick rack optional (red)
- Scissors
- Needle and thread
- Ribbon/pre-made bows
First thing to do is lay everything out so you know what order you want to put things in. This is what I chose ^_^
Then really, it’s all just a matter of stitching it all together. Deal with the edging first because it can just be sewn on flat.
Now the thing that gives this scarf it’s trade mark look is the elastic. You could use a plain matching elastic or even the small elastic thread you would use for shirring. I happened to have a pretty piece of stretchy black lace so I used that.
The method is simple but can require an extra hand or foot to hold everything. You need to stretch the elastic as far as it will go and place over the lace. While it’s stretched out, sew straight down it. I then added the red rick rack over the top as a decoration.
Now here’s the thing, if you want to make it more like a Summer or Spring scarf you can easily add a second length of wide lace to the other side of the elastic. This is what gives it that puffy frilly look. I didn’t have any more lace so I left it as is for now though I might add to it some more in the future. As is it’s more of a shawl than a scarf. |
Sooooo by this point it should look something like this!
Last thing to do is finish the ends. Running stitch up the end…then pull the stitch tight so it gathers.
Something like this:
Sew on a couple of bows to cover up the edges:
And BAM! finished ^_^
So now that you have the basic idea there are lots of different ways you could wear it or customise it! This one looks kind of like something to wear salsa dancing XD but obviously if you made yours with pink and white it would have a completely different feel!
by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 28, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
So I still haven’t had time to go white stocking shopping even though you guys gave me so many awesome recommendations! In the meanwhile until I have proper shopping time I came up with a make shift solution. James was in Myer looking at cameras and he saw a discount bin full of really thick nice white leggings for $4. Score! But I don’t really wear leggings, I think they make me look a bit odd (scratch that I’m going to experiment with them more and see if I can make them work). So easy solution: buy the biggest size and sew up the ends to make them into stockings. Problem solved!
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It doesn’t really need instruction but here’s some anyway…Take leggings in a much bigger size than you are… |
Turn them inside out…
Making sure that you laid them out flat and the ends haven’t twisted, and sew them shut. Of course they would be much more durable if you overlocked them rather than hand stitching.
Stitches should be along the lines of this but you know, less Photoshop and more actual stitches in a matching thread…
DONE. Now put on your make shift stockings ask yourself why on earth Myer stocks 230948023958 kinds of nice opaque white/cream leggings and no *properly* opaque white/cream stockings? There is no correct answer so just go enjoy your discount stockings until you can get time off to go real shopping.
by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 5, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
Months ago Celeste and I were out shopping and she spotted a belt she liked, one of those ruffly elastic ones with the bows on the front. She almost bought it but it looked wrong when it was stretched because it lost the cute ruffle. I found a bunch of left over elastic in my stash when I cleaned it out so I thought I would have a go at making her one instead.
What I ended up with:
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What you need:
- Lace
- Elastic (thick)
- Fabric
- Sewing machine/overlocker
- Bows for the front or more fabric to make bows
- Snap closures
- Needle, thread, scissors
Start by measuring around your waist and cutting two pieces of elastic. You can adjust how much elastic you want depending on if you want the belt to be tight or just a bit snug. Leave around 5cm more than you think you need so the ends can overlap for the closure.
Lay out the elastic on the fabric and measure so you can cut 2 strips which are twice as long as the elastic and with 2cm extra for seams on the top/bottom.
You should have something like this:
Cut 2 pieces of lace which are as long as the fabric. Lay the first piece of fabric face up, place the lace along the edge with the nice edges pointing towards the middle…
Then place the other fabric on top, good side down so it sandwiches the lace. Mmmm lace sandwich…
Pin in place if you need to. There shouldn’t be much lace sticking out the sides if any. Now overlock or sew down each long side to form it into a big tube.
You can see when I lift up the top layer of fabric, the lace is being sewn into the seam between them. When we eventually turn it all inside out it will poke out the top and bottom without needing to be top stitched.
One side sewn and flattened out so you can see what I mean a bit better…
Stitch the other side too and you should end up with a tube like this:
Open up the hole at one end, turn it all inside out and flatten it. If you want it to be flatter you can iron it and top stitch each side.
Now thread both pieces of elastic through and make sure they don’t twist along the way. If you need to you can use a safety pin in the end to push them through.
It should be all bunched up like this:
Making sure the elastic isn’t twisted, overlock down each side to hold it in place.
Now you have a big stretchy ruffled thing…
Hand stitch a couple of snap closures or hooks on to the ends.
If you want you can fold the edges into seams to hide the raw stitching but as it’s going to be covered by the bows it doesn’t really matter.
Now stitch on some bows to one side and you’re done!
Taadaaa finished!
Now fingers crossed Celeste will like it and I’ll be able to show you it all being worn ^_^ |
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by VioletLeBeaux | Jun 22, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
James needed a coat for winter because it’s quite a bit colder this year and his other jackets aren’t cutting it.
(*James edit* he does have a jacket that is really warm, a military jacket with some patina, but Violet say it makes him look destitute.)
(*Violet edit* That’s not what I said at all! I said that it probably wasn’t appropriate to wear a 40yr old military jacket that your Russian teacher wore in an actual war and I’ve had to repair so many times because it’s falling apart to dinner!)
(*James edit* Nuhuh! It’s a perfectly fine jacket. The holes give it more character! Military jacket for the win!)
(*Violet edit* You’re a stupid military jacket)
(*James edit* Your face is a military jacket)
(*Violet edit* I’ll military jacket you. Sigh -_-‘)
Anyway he didn’t want to buy one so last time we were in Brisbane his Dad gave us one of his old wool/cashmere jackets from Russia. It didn’t fit him but was super warm so he asked me to rework it to make it fit him.
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Before and after. 
Nowhere near perfect but it’s definitely an improvement!
First thing I did was pin it up to the length he wanted it.
I pinned the whole bottom edge…
Cut it along the fold…
Bam, shorter jacket.
I put it back on him and pinned up the back so it was fitted. It was double breasted but that didn’t look so good so we decided to change it to single. I pinned it shut where I was planning to move the buttons.
To give it shape and definition and decided to take in the 3 back seams…
After I took it off of him I fixed the pinned seams to make them straight. Most people do this step with the item of clothing inside out so the can sew straight from there but I don’t like sewing with pins in and I find it easier to see the finished product when it’s right way out.
So I snipped the extra fabric from the seams…
I cut straight up the back seam and two darts up the sides and into the sleeves. Next I overlocked the back seam and tacked the sides in place so he could try it on before I sewed properly.
The darts and bottom needed a bit more fitting before the final sewing. Definitely an improvement though!
Re-cutting and re-pinning the darts!
Stitch stitch stitch…
   
Snipped off all of the buttons and restitched them in place. We decided rather than to redesign the front he liked it with off centre buttons. I added a snap closure at the top button to avoid having to make another button hole XD I think looking at the photos I will probably move the bottom button to the right side and make it decoration too because he never bothers to close it.
I still want to make a lot of adjustments to make it better but as a quick fit I think this went down pretty well. At least he won’t be cold anymore and he likes it so that’s the important part!
 
What time is it? Sexy time! Oh that’s right XD
Finally crossed something off my to-craft list, yay! |
by VioletLeBeaux | May 11, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Tutorial
Continuing on the idea of remaking and reworking old clothes into better versions of themselves today I’m posting a quick easy fix I did for a skirt given to me by Celeste. It was super cute and had nothing wrong with it other than the fact the elastic was crunched up and a bit past it’s used by date.
Quick fix: replace the elastic.
What you need:
- The skirt in question
- Flat, thick elastic, same size as is in the skirt already so it fits in the channel
- Scissors
- Needle and thread
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In most elastic waisted skirts the top is a band which encases the elastic and allows the fabric to bunch up when the elastic is not stretched. In that section there is generally a vertical size seam which will allow easy access to the elastic once you snip the stitches. Locate it and using a very small pair of scissors carefully cut the stitches making sure not to cut or damage the fabric around it. Through the hole you should be able to pull out the elastic. See how it’s all twisted and crinkly? |
Cut the loop of elastic so you have two ends hanging out of the hole. Take your new piece of elastic and roughly stitch it to one of the ends of the old elastic. You could also use a safety pin to pin them together if you have one handy.
Now carefully pull the old end of elastic (the one that’s NOT attached to the new elastic) out of hole in the skirt. What should happen is that as you pull, it will drag the other end of the elastic through and around the casing and it will bring the new elastic through with it. You might need to be fairly delicate pulling it so you don’t damage the hole in the fabric and it doesn’t catch on the inside.
Keep feeding it through and pulling until the good elastic is all the way through. Then detach the good from the bad and sew the two ends of the good together. Make sure they are the correct way around so the whole waist band is flat, you don’t want to have a twisted waist and have to redo it :S Once you’ve stitched them together, push the whole thing back into the skirt band and flatten it out, you should be able to do this by holding the waist from the inside with your thumbs and gently stretching it out so the fabric settles around it.
Stitch back up the hole with the needle and thread.
Done! Now it’s as good as new and has a nice flat (and much more flattering) waist 😀
So this took about 15 minutes to do and saved a perfectly cute skirt ^_^
by VioletLeBeaux | May 6, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
As sad as it is and no matter how much I wish otherwise, sometimes favorite pieces of clothing are un-savable. My Metamorphose sailor cutsew is one of them. It met with an unfortunate accident with a delightful 9 year old’s icecream cone and hasn’t been the same since. I’ve been carting it around for 3 years now thinking maybe I could fix it or meet a magical dry cleaner but in the last wardrobe clean out I decided to bite the bullet and give up. To be honest it never really looked great on me to begin with because it had wide shoulders and no shape in the waist but it’s hard to shake brand love as an ex-Lolita XD While I no longer wear the fashion, some pieces just have too much memory in them to give up.
So I salvaged the parts I liked (the sailor collar and sleeves) and spliced it with another nautical shirt which Is started customising many years ago (added the bottom frill and made it tighter) in my “to do with at some point” pile ^_^
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The offending icecream stain 🙁 I cut the sleeves, collar and ribbons off leaving as much fabric to use as a seam as possible. This is roughly the layout I decided on…
Collar was nice and easy, just overlock the raw edge…
Pin it along the inside of the current collar…
and stitch it in place.
Bam! New collar ^_^
Now the sleeves!
I cut off the cuff of the sleeves on the anchor shirt and overlocked the seams together. Insanely simple.
And that was it. Nothing earth shattering and I haven’t decided if I completely like the end result yet but at least now my poor Meta shirt didn’t die in vain XD
The back:
And co-ordinated…
Ugh I need to remember to take outfit photos before I go out so my clothes aren’t always so crinkly looking XD Normally I’m in a rush to leave and by the time I get home I’m all disheveled and I just want to get it all off and sit down haha!
So that’s it, two unwearable shirts into one that I actually like ^_^
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