by VioletLeBeaux | May 2, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
I love capes 😀 When I saw this one in the shape of a gigantic bow from JD I was struck with lust. I’ve seen quite a few in that shape over the years but this one was just beautiful… and also $500+ ;_;
I had a heap of white faux fur left over from a commission several years ago so I decided to try out a diy version. This is my end result:
![]()
|
What you need:
- Faux fur
- Fabric for the lining
- Sewing machine/overlocker
- Pins
- Needle and thread
Cut out the main shape out of the cape from the faux fur:
Cut out the same shape from the lining and also cut out a rectangle for the middle part of the bow in both the fur and lining fabric.
Pin the main part on the cape together with the lining, good sides sandwiched together. Around the edges poke as many of the tufts of fur into the inside as possible so they don’t get caught on the outsides when you sew it all together.
Over lock the top and bottom edges so you have something like this:
Do the same thing with the little rectangular piece: pin, overlock together the top and bottom seam.
Turn both of the pieces inside out.
This is roughly what you should have…
If you want you can overlock all the raw edges at this point but because they will be encased in fabric and this isn’t going to get much wear and tear I didn’t bother.
So now we need to pleat the edges to form the bow shape. I pleated into 3 folds:
Use the needle and thread to hold them together and repeat on the other side too:
It’s a bit hard to see what I’m doing in the photos here but basically the small rectangular piece is going to join the two pleated ends together. Poke the pleated part into the middle of the rectangular piece and sandwich it between the fur and lining. Fold the edges of the rectangular piece under so nothing is exposed and then hand stitch it all in place.
Repeat on the otherside and it’s a nice big bow 😀
You can see the pleats and stitches better on the inside:
And the finished outside…
And me wearing it!
So tenchincally this was free because I already had the materials but to buy faux fur like this is only around $15p/m at Lincraft so I imagine you could very easily get everything you need for under $20 and probably more around the $12 mark as you don’t need a whole metre for this!
What do you all think?
|
by VioletLeBeaux | May 1, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
This isn’t really a full tutorial, mostly because when I started it I was planning something completely different for this fabric which didn’t work out. I wanted to make a comfy romper/playsuit type thing to wear on snuggly couch days but as it turns out non-fitted rompers look terrible on me! So not wanting to waste the fabric I improvised a comfy frilly jumper/dress thing out of the remains ^_^
This was my end result:
The fabric I used was stretchy polar fleece and the light pink was left over muslin from other projects.
![]()
|
 The pieces I started with are below. The middle section is a basic tube which is wider at the bottom. It has the top corners cut off to form arm holes and the neckline is basically a cut out semi-circle. The arm pieces are 4 long rectangles with the corners cut off at one end so they match at the arm holes.
First thing to do is sew/overlock down the sides of the middle tube from the bottom of the arm holes to the waist. Next overlock the arm pieces in pairs starting at where it will meet the arm and continuing to the wrist.
Open the arm piece and the top of the middle tube so you can pin the arm hole all the way across…
Over lock it on each side and you should have this…
Now overlock around the edges of the sleeves and the neckline. Overlock the tops of the sleeves together and you’ve got a simple jumper!
Add a ruffle to the bottom seam out of muslin and that’s about it. I wanted to keep it a bit raw and homemade/comfy looking so I didn’t both turning the overlocked edges under.
I could totally picture it all dressed up on an adorable fairy kei girl but for me it’s the perfect thing to wear for hanging around the house 😀
|
by VioletLeBeaux | Apr 20, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
Another sewing tutorial 😀
This time I’m making some nice comfortable room wear to lounge around at home in ^_^ I spend a lot of time at home working and I like to be nice and comfy while I’m doing it so cute house clothing is the key!
The set I’m showing you how to make is a very basic loose shirt and tight pants. You reeeeally can’t get much more basic than this. The fabric I’m using is a stretchy soft towelling so it breathes well in summer and is nice and soft for relaxing. It is also nice and stretchy so it’s forgiving if you make a mistake or you’re a beginner.
It was quite hard to take photos for this one as I didn’t have a big enough space to spread the fabric out completely, I’ll be as descriptive as I can but let me know if it doesn’t make sense!
This is the result, not the prettiest but damn comfortable!
![]()
|
What you need:
- Comfortable fabric that’s a little stretchy
- Sewing machine and overlocker
- Scissors
- Pins
- Optional pretty edging like pompoms
We will make the tunic/shirt part first, it’s super easy! You need two rectangles of fabric, the longer side should be as long as you want the shirt to be from the end of one sleeve to the other and the short side as long as you want to be from shoulder to bottom hem. |
Place the two rectangles of fabric on top of each other then fold them in half from right to left.
Now we will cut a neck hole along the fold that we just made. Because it’s a simple tunic you can create the neck hole by snipping of a decent chunk of the corner like this:
When it’s unfolded it looks like this:
Using your overlocker or sewing machine stitch along the top seam from the end of the sleeve to the the beginning of the neck hole.
Now you need to decide how big you want the tunic to be around your waist/bust. The easiest way to do this is to try it on and pin in place!
Leaving a seam allowance cut along the line you pinned and then down again to the sleeve. You should be cutting out a big triangle chunk like this:
Repeat on the other side!
Now stitch all of the seams together and also overlock all the loose seams. You should have something like this, big loose and comfy!
Decoration time 😀 I added a row of this pom pom edging I had left over from another project around all of the seams ^_^
Taadaa!
Now it’s time to work on the matching pants! I wanted mine to be 3/4 length so I cut 4 pieces in that length then cut out a big “J” shape for the crotch area. Always cut your pieces bigger than you think you’ll need, it’s easy to take things in if they’re too big but if they’re too small you’re screwed!
Again the easiest way to get the right size is to try it all on and pin it so it fits. First off I made the pants loose and straight with no tapering to the ankle. I stitched the seams down the sides and down the inside of the leg.
Then I stitched the crotch together so it formed pants 😀
After trying them on I decided to make them more fitted around the bottom of the legs so they were more like yoga pants or leggings so I pinned and re-did the seam up the inside of the leg.
After I was happy with the fit I had this…
Again it’s fairly important to do simple pants like this out of fabric with a stretch to it otherwise you won’t be able to get them over your hips! Now you also need a way to keep them up so they don’t fall down unexpectedly XD
I achieved this by stitching elastic into the waistband. After that was done, time to decorate again 😀
Again I added pom poms edging to the waist and ends of the legs!
Taadaa pants!
Now put them together and you’ve got a nice set!
And there you have it! Cute and comfortable room wear made in about an hour.
Perfect for chilling out on the couch or writing important business emails… just remember not to offer to video conference call while wearing them XD
This is the kind of post that will eventually have an accompanying pattern. Let me know if you want it and I’ll move it up on the list of to-do’s 🙂
by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 22, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
A while ago Sandra wrote in to me asking how I would go about repairing a knitted jumper (sweater for those in the US) that had been stained in an accident in her Chemistry class. While I was cleaning out my wardrobe I noticed that a some of them were in need of repairs. With knitted items you pretty much have the following options for repairing stains:
- Try to soak/bleach/wash it out if possible. (Tia says: Please remember if the sweater/jumper/cardigan is pure wool NOT to try bleach first. Bleach basically disintegrates wool.)
- If you know how to knit/darn then you can carefully remove the section and repair with similar yarn.
- Patch it over with something cute. I’ve seen sweaters like this with adorable little felt patches in various shapes all over.
- Embroider something cute over it.
This was the result:
The sweater below is one that I just wear around the house when it’s cold. It looks nice over a dress and is made of soft acrylic yarn so very low maintenance. But it’s quite plain… so to demonstrate one idea to cover a stain I decided to jazz it up a bit.
![]()
|
What I used:
- Old pair of socks that are too cute cute to throw out but I never actually wear.
- Needle and thread
- Lace
- Matching ribbon
I cut off the top part of the sock which had the cut pattern.
I decided to use them to make pockets so I flattened the fabric out.
Then cut the bottom into a heart shape.
Using the needle and thread I gathered around 3cm of fabric at the top in the middle.
After putting it together you ca see the heart shape forming ^_^
I stitched around the raw edges to attach it to the jumper.
Taadaa pocket 😀
Repeated on the other side…
To cover the raw edges I then added lace around the edges.
And on both sides…
I finished the picked with a small matching bow on one side.
To add one more piece of interest I used some spotty ribbon and stitched it in a zigzag pattern up one side and ended it in a bow.
Very very very simple ribbon embroidery ^_^
And there we go! Finished in around 30 minutes and nice and cute ^_^
This probably the easiest way possible to cover stains and I personally love the result!
|
by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 15, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Life, Tutorial
Now that it’s getting chilly again here, last week I decided to get out the big fluffy jacket that I customised last year. We don’t have a huge amount of space so it had been squished up the back of my closet during the Summer and really needed some TLC! After giving it a thorough hand wash and leaving it to dry completely as I had suspected the faux fur became matted and pretty gross so I set about cleaning it up and getting it back to it’s former glory ^_^
You can see it just after drying on the left and after I finished fixing it on the right:
![]()
|
And again left-bad, right-good.
The first thing I did was sprinkle a little rose scented talcum powder (or whatever the version is that doesn’t contain actual talcum etc) through the strands of faux fur. This helped to loosen the hairs up and prevent them from getting caught on each other.
After making sure the powder had gotten through evenly I used my hair brush (which has short nylon bristles) to gently separate the strands. To begin with I brushed in the same direction as the pile but this didn’t catch the smaller pieces of hair so I found that making small circular motions provided the best result.
As faux fur is essentially plastic how well it can handle brushing will depend on the quality it is, think of it as being the difference between brushing a really cheap shiny wig and one made from nicer matt fibres.
A close up of after:
Good as new! I generally try to give the pile a going over with the brush once a week because faux fur has a tendency to leave little hairs everywhere no matter how careful you are or how any washes it’s been through. You can see how much of the pile came out in the brush, I don’t want to be breathing that in every time I put on the jacket *_*
I’ve never lived somewhere cold enough that I needed to do stuff like this, do you guys have seasonal rituals like changing the clothes in your closet? *winter noob* hahaha!
|
by VioletLeBeaux | Jan 21, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
Overalls have a love hate relationship with me. Everyone seems to love them in Summer but I’ve always been a bit meh. I wore a pinafore (the dress version) for many years as a child and loved it to death but I just couldn’t make the leap as an adult because I have a fear of looking like some kind of cliche farm girl -_- BUT I am trying to branch out and try new things and as Liz Lisa has come out with a few cute sweet looking versions and I had denim left over from repairing James’ brother’s jeans last year I figured what the hell, nothing to lose!
This is what I ended up with ^_^
And worn!
![]()
|
So here are the detailed instructions of what I did ^_^
What you need:
- Denim, I used less than 1/2 a metre of scraps left over from another project
- A pair of shorts that you know fit well to use as a template
- Sewing machine and overlocker/serger
- Pins
- Elastic
- Cute buttons
- Pre-ruffled elastic lace (or just make your own)
So first step is to cut out the pieces. Pretty much all pants are made from 4 x 1 basic shape of fabric (not including waistband) Once you get the hang of how the 4 pieces fit together you can make almost any kind pants you want. The easiest way to make pants is to copy the shape of old pants you already know fit you!
Fold your base pair of shorts in half down the center like this:
That is the shape! You need to cut out 4 of them, two facing one way and 2 facing the other. I find the easiest way to do that is to fold up the denim in half, then half again and cut. Make sure to leave a good couple of inches extra around all the sides, you can always cut them later if you leave too much but it’s a massive pain to have to start from scratch if they are too small! Also make sure you take in to account whether the fabric of your original pair of shorts had any stretch to it, if your old pair of pants was stretchy and your new fabric is not then you will need to be very carful to cut out enough!! |
This is roughly what you should end up with:
Now cut two pieces to be used as a waist band, again make sure you cut these long enough that you can get them over your hips easily and include an extra inch for seam allowance.
Now let’s make some shorts!
Get two of the pieces and put them together with the nice side of the fabric inside like this:
The side that sits on the outside of the hips is on the left in the above photo. Using your overlocker/serger go down that side.
Repeat on the other two pieces.
Now overlock the diagonal parts of each fabric pair together. You can see below in white all of the areas which you should have done at this point:
Now let’s put the two pant legs together. Starting with one, fold the top layer open like this:
Fold the other in the same way and placing it on top so it makes a kind of pants sandwich XD Pin down the seam like this:
Flip the top pants leg over so you have access to the other side.
…and pin the other two loose edges together.
Now when you flatten it out at the waist again you should have something that actually looks remotely like shorts!
Again using your overlocker stitch right up that seam from one side of the pants to the other. You have officially just made a basic pair of shorts 😀 Try them on and make sure they fit and you can get them on and off easily. They should be reasonably loose around the waist (we’ll be keeping them up with elastic later).
Now this is completely optional but I decided to change the fit of the shorts and make them a little looser for easier lounging around so I added some inserts on the side:
Right! Now turn them right side out and overlock around the leg holes to prevent fraying.
Now let’s make the top section! Cut out a rectangle that is around as wide as the pants are when laid flat and as tall as you want the front section to be. Also get the waist band pieces you cut out ready, we’re going to sew them together like this:
So using your overlocker again stitch together like this:
Fold it in half to find the middle and match that with the seam down the front of the pants. With the good sides facing each other pin it in place.
Keep pinning all the way around:
On the back measure how much waist band you need and trim/overlock the seam together so it forms a continuous loop and pin it at the back too!
Now overlock all the way around the top where you just pinned!
When you fold it all up it should look something like this:
Overlock any raw seams left. Now let’s put in some darts to make the whole thing a bit form fitting!
Turn the whole thing inside out and put it on. Fold a seam along the top and side edges and pin them in place. Now pin two darts from the fullest part of the bust down to the waist. Here’s a picture of me wearing it as I pinned it in place roughly:
The darts will make it fit around your bust and waist much more nicely.
Take it off again and clean up the pins so they are all straight and completely symmetrical.
A good dart should look something like this, see how it’s a big curve?
Using your sewing machine stitch all the seams around the edges in place.
Should look something like this:
Now fold along each dart line and stitch along the line of pins:
Make sure you go completely off each edge so you don’t have odd bubbles when it’s right way out. Should look like this:
This is optional but I decided to add in two more side darts so it was more tummy flattering ^_^ So that’s the front part finished, congratulations if you made it this far!
Now it’s time to add some elastic to the back so you’re not showing everyone your underwear when you bend over XD
So measure how much elastic you need to be comfortable and stitch it in place along the waist band part. You will need to stretch the elastic while you stitch so it grabs the right amount of fabric.
Taadaa:
Now decoration and cute making! Grab your stretchy lace and measure enough to go from the front part, cross over your shoulders and then sit at the waist at the back. I’m using pre-made stuff but you could use anything. It’s kind of similar to that stuff they use for cheap garter belts but it’s not made of ugly satin XD
Stitch in place at the front like so:
And the back! I also added a strip of it around the waist to cover the seam.
Then I added another round at the leg holes.
The leg areas can also be flipped inside for a more subtle look which I prefer.
Lastly I decorated the front with some pretty buttons…
And that’s it! Start to finish it probably took me an hour to make, and I’ve never made anything like this before so I was making it up as I went along XD I figure pretty much anyone could make them!
So there you go! Pretty massive sewing tutorial, what do you guys think? I made this pair nice and short so they would be awesome for lazing around the house in Summer but I’m thinking that next time I might make one with longer legs and cuffs on the end and maybe wear it out with stockings and a cute blouse for a casual nautical look, we’ll see if I find any cute fabric!
