SEWING Archives | Page 13 of 31

DIY: Make a Dress More Form Fitting

November 2, 2015~ SEWING

I got this cute dress from Chicwish. There’s nothing wrong with the dress and the quality is excellent, but being small and petite(I am 5′ 3″), the length and the size drowns me a little bit. So I did a quick alteration to make it more form fitting to my body.

BEFORE:

I took several step by step pictures but I must have deleted the pictures, darn it! So here’s the rundown on what I did to the dress.

AFTER:

Dress | Bag: Nena & Co. | Boots: Old Navy

Estimated time: 40 mins.

Budget: $0.00

Skill level: Intermediate

I worked on this dress right before I was to go to a Kingdom & State and Nena & co,’s blogger party. I always think a project would take way less time than it actually turns out and I was 20 mins. late picking up my friend but I got it done! Tan, the owner of Kingdom & State is always awesome and I met the owner of Nena & co., Ali for the first time and she emits such positive energy and kindness, I love her company even more now than I already have before! As an entrepreneur myself, I love meeting women whom are so talented and are able to grow such a successful company. I only hope I can follow in her footsteps!

my favorite picks from Nena & Co.

5 Minutes DIY: How to make a pleated dress more fitted

October 26, 2015~ SEWING

Don’t you hate finding a dress you absolutely love and when you try it on, the fit just isn’t quiet right? I fell in love with this dress the moment I saw it and when I put it on, the waistband was too loose. I knew it would be a quick alteration so that didn’t stop me from purchasing it. I tell my friends they should all learn how to do quick alterations on their clothes so that it fits them better, instead of putting an item of clothing back in the rack in disappointment. Pleats are one of the easiest to alter, so don’t get intimidated!

So the waistband is just a bit big.

This is a better, more flattering fit!

So we want to make the waist look like from before

to an after like this.

And it’s very simple!

After:

Photos by Emily Cooper Photography

Instructions:

1. Try on the dress and stand in front of a mirror.

2. Pinch the sides with your fingers and measure how much you need to take in. (I took in 1′ from each side)

3. Flip the dress inside out and staring at the armpit, sew 1″ in to the end of the waistband. Repeat on the other side.

Estimated time: 10 mins.

Budget: $0.00

Skill level: A confident beginner

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DIY: Bird Costume

October 15, 2015~ SEWING

This post is in partnership with Deseret Industries.

Top: Deseret Industries

Bottom: Deseret Industries

Wings: Made by me

Moccasins: Made by me

Hat: Made by me

My favorite way of making a costume is to mix thrifted pieces with new and/or hand made items for a complete Halloween costume. It’s like those Rachel Ray’s 30-minute meals, you made the dinner but with the help of pre-cooked or easy to prepare foods to make your life so much easier. 😉 I got these black turtleneck top and sweatpants from Deseret Industries, and I got a $1 beanie that I added 3-layers of felt feathers. To make the wings, I cut a half circle black felt with a little cut out for the neck part as shown in the picture, then added from the bottom up, layers of the felt feathers. Then sewed on the black elastic for the shoulder part and the wrist part. It’s fairly easy but time consuming. Then the moccasins! The fringe compliments the feathered wings so well, don’t you think?

If you’re thinking about making your own costume, Deseret Industries is a great place to check out costumes, they also have holiday decorations as well! There are thousands of items added everyday so you’re sure to have a lot of variety whenever you check out the store. Remember this wedding dress refashion I did when I was in a sewing competition for Refashion Runway? That dress I found at Deseret Industries. I love that store!

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Sewing projects I’m working on

October 13, 2015~ SEWING

I purchased this black turtleneck top and the pants at Deseret Industries for a fun costume that I will be posting later this week. Thrift stores like Deseret Industries is the perfect place to shop for inexpensive costumes that you can DIY or just buy to wear! My favorite way to make costumes is to mix new pieces with the thrifted finds to make your own DIY costumes.

Can you guess what I’ll be making with the gold sequin fabric, gold sequin elastic and the cut-out leather? Stay tuned!

DIY: Make a Dress a Longer Length

October 5, 2015~ SEWING

I LOVE this lace dress. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now but I love lace and embroidery, it is so feminine and classy. But when I got it, everything was perfect except it was just a few inches too short to wear with my LDS garments. GAH!!! But I loved it so much so I went to the fabric store to see if there was any lace trim that was very similar in design and color with no luck. So I got another one of the same dress to use it to lengthen. I knew I could use the second dress I’d be cutting to make it into something, so I felt it was justified. But I would never purchase another of the same dress just to cut 3″ of the bottom to lengthen the other dress and throw it away.

I put on the dress and went in front of the mirror to see how many inches I wanted to lengthen, then cut the bottom of the other dress and sewed it onto the bottom of the original dress. So easy and simple!

After:

Purchase the lace dress here.

Stay tuned to see what I did with the other dress I cut the bottom of! ;)And don’t you love these after pictures? Thank you to Emily Cooper Photography for the beautiful image, she was amazing! I did 7 outfit pictures with her in one hour and wow, I have so much more respect for fashion bloggers who do outfit photos on a weekly basis like this. I barely grabbed 7 outfits of clothes and when I got in the car, I remembered I need to also think of shoes to match each outfit and jewelry and handbags! You’ll notice in later pictures that I switch between two pairs of shoes and I’m not wearing any handbags and minimal jewelry. 😀

What you’ll need:

-2 of the same dress

-Matching thread

-A needle or a sewing machine

-Scissors

Estimated time: 5-10 mins.

Budget: $100

Skill level: A very basic beginner

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