Category: Sewing Projects

Simple fashion upgrade, just cut!

I like how having a non-existent social life is forcing me to do things that I normally procrastinate. The other day I altered a dowdy cheongsam and today, I altered a top! Very easy to do though, no sewing involved and I just loveeeeee the final results.

I bought this top quite a while ago. I can’t even remember where I got it. It’s got fringes at the front which reminded me of a flapper dress. It’s basically a two layered tee, see through lace on the outside and grey jersey material on the inside.

# – The flapper dress inspired t-shirt.

It’s quite really cute but I’ve only ever worn it once. Reason is because of the back. It made me looked like I had a large shapeless back. Maybe it’s the cutting or maybe a big piece of lace on top of cotton just isn’t that flattering.

# – The back of the top. I wish it had the same fringes as the front of the top.

So I decided to do something to make it more palatable. All I needed was a pair of good tailor’s scissors :D

# – First, I turned the tee inside out and folded it down the middle, making sure the lacey bit was out of the way.

# – Then, carefully I started cutting straight lines across the tee.

# – After the cutting process was done, simply twist every line of fabric.

# – This is the results of twisting the cut fabrics so they won’t look so flat.

# – Turn t-shirt back to how it’s supposed to originally and this is how it looks like now.

Doesn’t look that interesting yet but wait till I wear it….

# – Looks just like before.

# – But when I turn around, it’s a completely new top!

# – Damn, need to clean the mirror :P

It’s so much more interesting now and I’m glad I can wear it more regularly now ;) Pretty sure you can do the same with old t-shirts you’ve got. Now let me go find more old t-shirts to cut!!!

Sewing Project #3 – Altering an oversized dress.

So I bought this pre-loved cotton cheongsam online for less than RM20. Thought I had scored till I put it on. Check this monstrosity out:

# – Too big and too long for me.

I thought of just wearing it as pajamas but a bit wasted right? So I decided to alter it. My first time ever altering a piece of clothing. Even if I fucked it up, it’s less than RM20, not a very expensive lesson ;)

# – Firstly, I used an old short dress as a template for the length.

# – Next, I cut off the excess length according to the existing short dress. I deliberately left more length in case I screwed up the sewing, I’d still have more fabric to play with.

# – Then, I turned the cheongsam inside out and fold the edges in.

# – After that, I pin the folded fabric down so it won’t run off while going pass the sewing machine. I guess you could iron it down too but I was too lazy to do it.

# – Then I just sewed a seam. With the extra fabric that I cut off earlier, I made a simple fabric belt. Check out the final results.

# – The long & dowdy cheongsam has been transformed into a short dress. The fabric belt helps to give me some shape.

This is a simple and easy project. I finished it in less than 2 hours. That said, I’m still finding it hard to sew in a straight line, argh! Need to practise more!

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.