Refashioners 2016: Denim Jumpsuit

Hello all! I hope you've had a lovely weekend. I spent mine waiting tables at Burghley Horse Trials. It was the first time that I've done work of that kind and I was mildly terrified but I got through it without any major mishaps. When Portia announced this years Refashioners challenge was denim I got quite excited, sent a request around the family dinner table for unwanted jeans, browsed her pinterest board for inspo and got to work!
My original inspiration picture was this one, which was a denim jumpsuit with a basic bodice and V shaped cut outs at the side seams. I planned a bit of sashiko to spice things up a bit, but in the end I kept it simple. I had 2 pairs of Dads jeans and I decided to work on the bottom portion first. I wanted to keep the jeans mostly intact, but they were pretty big around the waist and crotch area. To rectify this I cut a new crotch curve for the front and back using the Holly trousers pattern as a guide, whilst also getting rid of the flys. I also took them in at the inseam a bit as well.
I then unpicked the waistband and took the side seams and CB in even more so they fit to my waist. Then the waistband using what was previously the CB at the CF and the raw ends at the CB was sewn on. I then inserted zip a lot of times and decided to settle with a bit of a bump.  The trouser legs were rolled up and I was ready to start on the bodice.
I started with opening up the legs of my other pair of jeans flat and cutting out my bodice block. I fiddled around for a bit and it just wasn't working so I scrapped that plan and found another inspiration image with a fantastic laced back. I got to work with a rectangle with some patched up bits at the top where I'd cut off bits that I then realised I needed and wacked 2 darts in at the bust. The side seams were slightly on the bias so I stabilized them with twill tape, turned them over and top stitched. Then the bodice was sewn onto the waistband.
I unpicked all of the belt loops from that second pair of jeans to use as rouleau loops and sewed them on at regular intervals. I ended up doing a row of 3 on each side. Then I unpicked the waistband from the second pair of jeans, cut it into 4 strips to turn into 1 massive cord which threaded through the loops to make a really nice criss-cross effect.
What was really nice about this project was that it was no pressure. I could go with the flow and change the plan if plan A wasn't working. I treated it a bit like the refashion round on the Sewing Bee. It's all about the creativity and less emphasis is placed on the execution and finishing. I could just play.
And I'm really happy with how it turned out. I walk very tall down the street wearing this jumpsuit. Yes the zip isn't great, and the bodice bags a bit at the side seams, but I look freaking cool which cancels that out completely.
Thanks very much for reading, and to Portia, for without her this jumpsuit would not exist.
Lauren xx



Tent Dress

Hello all! I hope your weekends are all going swimmingly. This dress is my too-hot-to-function outfit of the year. Some great memories have been made whilst wearing this dress, such as falling bottom first onto a straw and dung covered floor and visiting a waterfall. All good stuff.
According to Instagram I started this project a whole 60 weeks ago last summer. I cut all the pieces out using the vintage pattern Style 2401 omitting the ruffle, sewed a single seam and then it got thrown to the wayside for some more pressing makes.
I dug it up again at Easter when I was looking for some summer projects to take back to uni and thought it would be great for hot weather, should we have any. I then had one of those argh I have nothing to wear tomorrow moments sometime in May and made a huge amount of progress. Late into the night I decided that enough was enough. I did have something to wear really, and so the dress lay to be completed another day. And then when I was looking for a dress to wear to visit my dear friend Rachel in Derby last month I pounced upon this dress and finally got it finished.
There wasn't much to the sewing really. There are only 4 pattern pieces. I wasn't that impressed with the amount of gathering that goes into the yoke though. It's rather pitiful. The volume of the dress as a whole is fantastic though, I have no quarrel with that!
After trying it on I ended up taking a few cm off the shoulders and the side seams to tighten the armholes up a bit. I bias bound the neckline and armholes, handsewn into place as always. I also cut a bit off the hem to make it a bit more fun than frumpy. I then pinned up the hem various amounts, sewed it once, then decided that it was rather too short so I unpicked that and did a baby machine hem instead. It is a bit dodgy, but not hugely noticeable so I decided to go with it.
The fabric is a beautifully patterned silk that you may remember from one of last years vintage pledge makes, the culotte jumpsuit. This is a really breezy and cool dress to wear, perfect for the occasional really hot days we've had this summer.
Thanks very much for reading and to Ed for interrupting his rocky ramblings to take pictures. As always, much obliged.
Lauren xx

City gym shorts and an off the shoulder tee

 Hello all! Today I have another holiday make to share with you. I wanted some comfier shorts for travel and beach days, had a quick google for patterns and this one by Purl Soho came up. I love binding and curved side seams. The extra detail just makes them that bit more special.
The fabric was a cotton remnant from a skirt that my Mum made once upon a time. There wasn't very much of it at all and I've been hoarding it for quite some time, waiting for the perfect project. It's finally got its time to shine. I think the colours in it are fantastic, and it's such a fun print.
The shorts were pretty quick to sew up, even with the binding. I used a pink linen which was a left over from one of my Minerva makes. It was very satisfying to press into place and topstitch and I'm very proud of the results. The waistband is narrower than specified in the pattern, only because I had a narrower width of elastic to hand which works perfectly fine. There isn't an awful lot of ease in the hips, so I'd probably add a bit more next time but the shorts are still perfectly comfortable to wear.
The top was whipped up from another jersey remnant using the raglan tee pattern from sew you home stretch yet again. See it used for completely different looks here and here. I just folded down the neckline on each pattern piece an inch or two to get the off the shoulder look.
All the seams are zigzagged using my sewing machine. I stretched the elastic slightly when sewing it onto the neckline, turned it over and topstitched. All the hems are raw because I liked the length of everything where it was at. I'm really happy with both the pieces in this outfit and I hope there's still enough summer left in the UK to enjoy wearing them!
Thanks very much for reading and to Edward for taking photos,
Lauren xx

Spotty Noelle bikini top

Hello all! Today I have to show you my version of Madalynne's Noelle bralette in swimsuit form. This seemingly straightforward swimsuit fought me every step of the way but I got there in the end, just like George did with his dragon.
The fabric I bought two summers ago in Sydney with the wonderful Susan. The store we went to had a wonderful selection of swimsuit fabrics and I thought I'd better stock up because the swimsuit fabric selection in the UK is not so good. I used the blue floral for my Closet Case Files Sophie Swimsuit, and this spotty spandex was a remnant perfect for a bikini.
After seeing Madalynne releasing the Noelle bralette as another free pattern I thought it would be perfect for these polka dots. I decided that it would be perfectly doable to cut out and sew the entire thing at 11pm the night before I was due to leave for a bit of a tour around the UK because I wanted to take blog pics on my Welsh friend MK's beach. 
It may not come as a surprise to you that this was not even remotely doable. I managed to cut out both the lining and the outer, and to sew them both together at the bottom with some elastic. It was at this point that I discovered that the bottom was far too loose because I hadn't stretched it far enough. I decided that it was time to call it a night.
I decided to take the pieces with me, along with my fabric scissors and thread, just in case. After all, several of my friends study costume with me and do have sewing machines at home. I got to Amy's and managed to down the armholes with a lot of swearing and snapped thread and skipped stitches. I got to Millies and managed to sew down the neckline, again with a lot of swearing and snapped thread and skipped stitches. It was at this point that I decided that it was not to be, and put it aside to finish it another time.
Not having learnt my lesson, I decided the night before leaving for France that I could finish my swimsuit in time for this trip instead. I only had the straps to do and to take out a chunk at each side seam to sort out the gaping elastic. I did get it finished just in time, although matching bottoms didn't happen. I think that if I had brought a ballpoint needle with me, the whole sewing process would have been much smoother.

After all of that drama I was able to wear my new swimsuit to the cutest little waterfall that we found near to where we are staying and got some cracking photos. Alls well that ends well! 
Thanks for reading, to Amy and Millie for letting me use their machines in my time of need and to Ed for taking photos!
Lauren xx