Tag: Stitching

The One About the Overlap Slit Dress

It has been a long time since I last stitched, or wrote here for that matter. So one fine day when I got the urge to design and stitch, I was not gonna suppress it. Never mind it was at 11am on a Wednesday morning while I was at work. I took a half day leave and went home to bask in the glory of my creativity 😀

Lucky for me, there is always fabric in stock at home; thanks to my favourite supplier of plain and stretchy fabrics – Atlas, Valelevu. Since it had been some time since my last stitch and my machine has started to give me trouble, I choose a $2 metre fabric which I wont feel bad ruining.

I thought of a fairly simple design and give it a look of sophistication by adding an overlap piece to the front slit. It didn’t take too long to stitch but boy am I impressed with the results. Paired with a statement belt and cute sandals, I took this dress from the morning to the night! All in all, it was well worth using the half day from my vacation leave.

The One About the Overlap Dresses

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when I found myself [yet again] in Atlas somehow. To tell you the truth, it isn’t at all coincidental that we park in MHCC for our Saturday trips to the Suva market; it makes for an easy detour to Atlas 🙂

What caught my eye on this particular Saturday were these rolls of jersey fabric going for $4 a metre. Now, if you have read about my previous projects you would know that I LOVE stretchy fabric. It has the advantage of a fitted piece without worrying too much about zippers. Anyways, I bought a grey and maroon piece to be transformed into overlap dresses.

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The end results were slightly different from what I had set out to do. Firstly, I wasn’t sure the hanging overlap would look as good as it does in the sketch and secondly, I decided I wanted to wear the maroon piece to work, so I added shoulders.

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The One About One Meter Dresses

It has been a while since my last project. Keeping a work-life balance is difficult sometimes. And sometimes, I am lazy.

Eventhough lazy, create I must. So I have been working on simple shift dresses. Over the last few months of 2016, I had been hoarding fabric. I had bought multiple prints in only one meter pieces. Initally I had though I would make blouses out of these (I am becoming a pant person) but assessing the amount of fabric that would be leftover and potentially unuseable, I decided against it. Went with shift dresses instead.

These dresses are simple to cut and stitch. I have previously made a few without sleeves, but the fabric width allowed sleeves so I went for it. Of the seven prints, 3 were of similar fabric, soft and flowy; and these are the ones which I transformed into summer shifts.

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The One About the Black Long Coat

While planning for our trip to Europe in August, I desperately searched for a long coat. One that wasn’t too thick but would still provide some cover on a chilly evening. Needless to say, I didn’t find anything to my liking anywhere in Suva.

Since I had already set my mind on a long coat, I couldn’t shake off the idea. So, I created one 🙂

Its a simple make, but took me a good 3 hours  to cut and stitch as I had never made a coat before. I have since then taken every opportunity to sport the SJmade piece around the world!

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The One With the Prints

Even though I love solid colours [black], my heart does from time to time skip a beat on sighting prints. So when I set my eyes upon this print fabric, I bought more than I needed and ended up making a dress and a shirt; and I rarely make shirts.

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The shirt was for my sweetheart. And for myself I made a sweetheart neckline, off-shoulder dress.

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The One With The Polka Dots – 1

Polka dots have been around for a very long time and all the generation of women in my family have proudly owned a polka dot piece as some point in their lives. I too have recently fallen in love with the array of circles.

I had wanted to make a summer swing dress dress [because tropical Fiji weather] and came across this really cheap fabric. So, why not?!?DSCF2560DSCF2558

And of course, I stitched a blouse with the left over fabric.

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The One About The LWD

I love colours; but more than that, I love the absence of them. I am in love with white, and black too. Its like an empty canvas and you can paint it whichever way you want.

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Sometimes, I see a fabric and I will know what it will turn into. Other times, I would have no idea and buy the fabric anyway. Its a similar case with this white one. I had had it for a long time before its fate was sealed; and this too, only because I needed a dress for a brunch we were hosting at home!

Its a very simple cut and make and I did not take any in-process photographs 😦

But I do have lots of end product photographs!

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