Thursday 1 November 2012

The Fancy Dressers Best Friend - The Sewing Machine

When I was working on my ms marvel costume it became quickly apparent that I needed a sewing machine. A friend of mine recommended lidl machines as they are quite cheap (~£60) but work well and are easy to use.



Luckily for me my lovely husband (henceforth to be known as Mr Fancy) bought me my machine just after we were married as a sort of 'Yey Marriage!' type of gift. The only trouble was that it had been about 12 years since I last touched a sewing machine!

I bought some vintage patterns online so that I could start getting back into things. They were mostly cheap between 2 and 5 pounds and from varying eras one is quite 40s, another is 50s and the last is 70s which is not my usual era but I just can't resist a sailor collar!



I even got a little bit excitable and began designing cosplay costumes to wear at events next year - can you guess who it is yet?



However I needed some serious practice and since nice fabric is so expensive I decided to use a cheap white sheet and have a go at making a dress.

The style I picked was a 50s style dress with a small collar and a pleated skirt and I had hoped that one day it would make a nice nurses dress. I am still working on the design as it proved a little more complicated than its brand name of 'simplicity' but oh well, a few it of the other patterns I have look easier.



During its construction I've made a few mistakes and some unpicking and unravelling mean that it is on its way, if I am only making very slow progress. However it is something I am proud of. After all it's always nice to learn a new skill!

If you have any vintage patterns or designs you'd recommend to a novice then I'd love to hear about them!


2 comments:

  1. I've got quite a few Vintage Vogue patterns, which I got cheaply on ebay. I've only used one of them, a full skirted apron, but I have the best of intentions to get started on others! Also, I highle recomend www.makethislook.com which suggests sewing patterns to use to creat lookalikes of modcloth dresses.

    Can't wait to see what you create with your new machine. There's definitely a knack to sewing your own clothes. I've had to remake a few skirts that didn't sit right, but it's great having something so unique.

    Also, not to be *that* person, but did you really mean 'Coldplay costumes'? I don't recall Chris Martin rocking the Star Sapphire look :P

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  2. Oooh thank you! I'm going to keep looking on eBay but I'll check out makethislook too :)
    I'm desperately trying to sort out my thesis at the moment so I've had to put the sewing on the back burner a little but but it should be okay soon.

    I would love to see Chris Martin dressed as Stap Sapphire, but I'm sure fans of Coldplay wouldn't...

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