Sewing Project #2 – The Convertible Dress

My last sewing project gave me a semblance of confidence in handling the sewing machine. That said, I got to admit that I still major suck in this sewing business and probably will suck for the rest of my sewing history. Why?

1. I can’t sew in straight line
2. I CAN’T for the life of me, sew a hem -_- (this frustrates me greatly)
3. I still don’t have a tailor scissors so I’m using kitchen scissors. So the sides of my fabrics are all jagged (I’m trying to pass it off as fashion :P )

Anyway, I was scouring the internet for something reasonably easy that I could sew without losing any finger. I found this here.

First of all, I do not comprehend the instructions. Maybe the english too deep or something I just can’t understand even after a 6th read. So I decided to just study the pictures and diagrams and come up with something I think could work.

This is what I came up with:

My awesomesauce sewing “pattern”.

If you understand it, I applaud your genius.

So I begin cutting out the fabrics – all 3 different colours of them. Errr, because there’s not enough fabric, hahaha.

Took me about 3 hours to get to the finish product. To be honest, stitching was okay but the cutting was the most time consuming of all and it compelled me to get a proper scissors as soon as possible -_-.

There was no measurement whatsoever, I just kind of draped the fabrics around my body and gave them some extra length.

And here….my convertible dress:

Behold, the convertible/infinity dress.

Well, I got to say it’s not bad at all. I’m extremely happy with it. All it’s missing is proper hem to prevent the fabric from fraying/looking cheap but since I’d made a point to use extra fabric I could kind of tuck the fraying hem inside, he he he. I is a genius!

And now…the multiple ways of wearing the dress:

#1 – Halter Neck gather at the side.

#1B – Check out the cross-back.

Notice the fraying bottom of the skirt (which double as a waist band) courtesy of the kitchen scissors. NEED. TO. LEARN. HOW. TO. SEW. HEM.

#2 – Halter Neck with criss cross front and gather in the middle.

#2B – The back is bare for this.

The skirt is shorter now because I’ve gathered the fabric around the waist and tie it up, so it can be a skirt and a waistband :)

#3 – Halter neck with gather on the side.

#3B – A different form of T-back.

So what I did was, instead of just tying the extra length of the straps around my waist, I first twist the straps together from my neck towards my waist and then tie a knot at the front. Now you know why I want so much extra length!

#4 – Neck warmer.

#4B – This style produces bareback just like #2B.

What I did is that instead of un-twirling the T-Back, I loop it around my neck and voila, something to warm the neck or to cover an adam apple :P

Eh, revealing too much skin?? Nevermind!

#5 – Asymmetrical sleeve.

#5B – Asymmetrical back.

Okay sometimes I want to be a little mysterious about my body also. So instead of showing off two shoulders, I show off only one lor :P. This can be achieved by wrapping the body with one strap and wrapping the other over the shoulder. Easy peasy!

And when it gets a little hot….I can always do this.

#6 – Asymmetrical shoulder.

#6B – Peekaboo.

This is even easier! Just get to the #5 look and then tuck the extra sleeve underneath the shoulder and it’s done.

And lastly, when I’m feeling sexayyyy, just cover up the bare minimum, like this :D

#7 – Strapless style.

#8 – More back.

I could think of a dozen more ways to wear this convertible dress but I’m too lazy to take photos hehehe.

And I love this prototype so much, but I seriously need to improve on my sewing skills. All the extra fabric are able to hide the flaws and spaghetti stitching but even if nobody noticed, deep in my heart I know I sucks :P

I will endeavour to improve!! Till my next sewing project, kthxbai.

Sewing Project #1 – Gong Xi Fa Chai Cape

Just a couple of days ago, the #porkgang was having the daily talk cock session on MSN. Haze and I somehow got into talking about taking vocal lessons together and then I suggested that we should take sewing lessons too. Suddenly she was like, “Ah, you want to sew ah? You take my sewing machine ah! I give you everything!”. I was like, “WTF? Are you serious?”. Later on, we met up for dinner and true enough, the back of her car was filled with sewing machine, loads of fabrics, mannequin and other stuff that I don’t even know what they are yet. SHE GAVE EVERYTHING TO ME!

Mannequin, fabrics and more fabrics!

My current apartment is really tiny and to be honest, I don’t really have space for a sewing machine. I ended up moving my laptop to the right of my study table and put the sewing machine where the laptop was. I think I made a good decision because as it turned out, it’s a very comfortable space to sew :)

I’ve got a sewing machine! I’ve got a sewing machine! I’m smiling from ear to ear :D

I spent an hour learning how to wind the bobbin and thread the machine. Thank goodness the manual was very, very detailed and I didn’t encounter any problem. Not to mention, Haze’s very clever to get the Brother XL2630 because it’s equipped with a quick-set bobbin and a needle threader! Great for blind asses like me :D

Threading the machine…

I tried out the machine and managed to sew a line without hurting any finger. Suffice to say, I was very, very proud with myself. Considering that my last sewing experience 10 years ago was nothing short of a failure. It was already about 2am by then but instead of going to sleep, I decided to embark on an impromptu sewing project!

Check out my awesomesauce drawing.

It was not as easy as I had imagined it to be. At first I thought of making an actual dog collar with buttons to fasten but I didn’t have any button. So after a bit of mucking around, I decided to make a collar cover instead. I chose a crimson red oriental patterned fabric for my project :D

First, I ironed out the wrinkles so I could with it more easily.

Then, I cut out a length of fabric with Charlie’s current collar as a reference.

After that, I roughly drew out the size of the triangular cape which will be attached to the collar.

And now, ladies & gentlemen, it’s sewing time!

My sewing skills suck to the max. Just look at my stitching :( I had to sew a few lines over each other to make/mock a straight line. If you’re in my situation, don’t fret because you’re turning the fabric outside in, so no one will find out :P

Now that the easy part is out of the way, it’s time to sew the collar cover. Imagine it’s like a mini bolster cover la! You sew the fabric end to end to form a cylinder shape. Make sure you leave space to attach the triangular cape though.

Took me 4 hours to get this:

And 15 minutes to clean up this mess….

and this mess too.

But it’s all worth it to see Charlie wearing something made with love on Chinese New Year :)

How’s my side profile, mummy?

Nah, lying down so you can see my Gong Xi cape clearly!

I can be a manly cowboy on Chinese New Year too, mummy.

I don’t like to model mummy, it’s so exhausting!

Till my next sewing project, thank you Haze for giving me this opportunity…I <3 YOU SO MUCH! +++ /UPDATE +++ Just got permission from QQ's owners that she could celebrate CNY with us for a couple of days. So I made another collar just for her :) It took me much faster this time, about 1.5 hours from start to finish. Check out my latest model :D Pink is so my colour!

More angpows please :D