Tag: Knipmode

Replacement Red Dungarees

Sometimes letting go of something old is only possible when you already have the perfect replacement. Hence these improved dungarees!

I absolutely loved these red dungarees that I made in 2014. Sadly, they haven’t seen a ton of wair, mainly because the fit was just that little bit off. However, because I was so fond of them, I decided that I NEEDED another pair (or a replacement pair, really). Off to the second-hand shop I went, where I managed to find a piece of red fabric by pure coincidence. I’m not sure how or why, but it worked out perfectly!

This time around, I chose a different pattern, now from a Knipmode magazine (Knipmode 7/2009 pattern 113, shorts). The original was shorts with turned hems, so I added the bib-front and the straps to make them similar to the original red item. Next to that, I made sure to create a space for buttons to close the sides. The zipper on the original just wasn’t very nice. I also changed the front pocket a little – I had some scraps leftover so I pieced the pocket together. I think it looks nice and more fun.

Once I had the pants nearly all the way finished, I needed to decide on some buttons for the sides. In the end, I chickened out and chose to go with my all-time favourite, black snaps. Easy, breezy, beautiful snaps. For the straps, I bought some black clip on things, I wanted them to be black and these were the ones I found. Then I needed to attach those things and didn’t really know how. So back to the trusty favourite I went, snap-time!

I have worn it during the hot summer and I enjoy it very much. So much, that I wanted to make another item to wear with it, but that’s for another day. By now, I’ve relegated the original to the ‘bag-that-needs-to-go-to-the-second-hand-shop’, and am happily trying to find occasions to wear these replacements. The one small issue I have with the pattern is that I think that the back pockets are a little too high. But if that’s the most pressing problem, then I can definitely live with that.

Convocation Dress

Another event just happened. We opened the academic year yet again. This time, I had a dress that barely had any back. But it was too cold so I wore the magic Shrug? over it to keep warm.

It all started when I was looking for a pattern that would make a nice dress and would be interesting. So I searched through all my stash and found Knipmode November 2015 which contained dresses 7 and 10. I combined the sleeves from 10 with the body from 7. This was possible since dresses 7 through 11 all had the same bodice, just different sleeves, skirts and neckline treatments.

I finally managed to use a fabric that I had bought for an event like this. It’s some form of slightly stretchy woven thing with large floral print. I’m not generally one for florals, but this one was not dainty, so it fit me better. However, there wasn’t very much of it, so I shortened the skirt and did not make a full lining for the bodice, but improvised a partial lining. I attempted to do an exposed zipper for the first time ever. It was also the first time I tried a horsehair braid hem.

The main alteration was that I had to take the back in by at least 5 cm, I don’t know why. Apart from that, I think that the darts were all in the right places and the pockets are very nice. There is a snap on the top closure thing, since I didn’t want to make a button hole.

Cutting the pattern probably took the longest. I had put all the pieces on my fabric and it was not fitting on at all, so I shortened the skirt, which helped, and then tried to find the configuration which would save the most fabric. Then after sewing most of the pieces together, I had to cut out the partial lining. For some reason I was afraid of this, so that took a few days of gathering courage. Eventually I did manage to get my act together and put the thing together. Then some minutes of watching horsehair braid being applied and I went for it, which took some time at the television to hand sew and voila, a dress!

Bras are in danger of showing a little, but I have decided that it shouldn’t be too big of a problem. With the shrug over it, no one would be able to tell anyway. So far, it does wear nice, but it needs an under skirt of some kind if I’m wearing a legging. Shouldn’t be a problem next summer.