Monday 18 May 2015

Making Good Blog Train: Repairing my upcycled dress

This post is part of a blog train hosted by Agatha from Green Issues by Agy on "Making Good". What is repair, and why do we even bother to repair the things we have?  Some see repair as a way of reconnecting with our possessions as we extend their lives. Others see it as a form of creative potential and an avenue to express their craft.  The rewards for mending varies from feeling immense satisfaction to prolonging the life of the product. Follow the “Making Good” blog train this month and see what we have repaired and reconnected with. Have you mended anything today?

You can catch the train here!
~~~

On Saturday we saw Kathy over at Smile For No Reason show us how to reupholster a chair. I've bookmarked that one!
I was supposed to be Sunday's post, but I got confused about dates and didn't have my post prepared until this morning.
I've gone with something simple but important to me.
If you've followed me for a long time, or you're a blog binge-reader, you may remember my first ever refashion project in which I upcycled a favourite but too small shirt and a lovely skirt into a dress so I could continue wearing them both.

You may also recall I sewed this project by hand as I didn't have access to a sewing machine and I'd had bad experiences with sewing machines anyhow.
Well, I've learned sewing machines have their virtues! I only wore my new dress a handful of times and one of my seams came apart in the wash.

It's really very tatty. BUT LOOK! :-D
I've had this sewing machine a while now and I really haven't given it many jobs, but I have one for it today! This should be an easy repair as the seam is only torn half way and so it shouldn't need to be pinned, it will hold itself.

I turned the dress inside out:
And tucked the top of the dress into the skirt, so I could just sew around the outside:
Now I can wear my lovely dress again!
For our next stop on the Blog Train, we're heading over to Maegan at Mae & K, who'll be adding her post to the train tomorrow, the 19th. I hope you've found this post useful or interesting! :-)

Happy Mending!
Cassandra Louise.

23 comments:

  1. Cassandra... that is really great that you were able to salvage 2 items and make one clothing item... good job xox

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  2. I think torn seams are common these days so this tutorial is timely! Thanks for joining the blog train!

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    1. Thanks Agy! I really did love being part of such a great idea! :-) x

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  3. The humble sewing machine is pretty much the only reason I can stand to repair, tweak, or hem *anything*.

    That reminds me, I need to get mine serviced...

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    1. I've gone from no sewing machines to two. Nana gave me hers just after I bought one and I can't sell it because it's Nana's... so I'm planning to breed them.

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    2. Be careful, those sewing machines breed almost as fast as rabbits! Maybe keep them separated? ;) 15 years ago I didn't have any sewing machines, now I've got 7 not counting overlockers.

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    3. Ooh! I wonder if two regular sewing machines can have an overlocker. I'd like one of those! ;-)

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  4. What a positive theme! I must say your skillful efforts have produced a lovely result. Dress looks great. My own efforts, in a different medium, have kept a '71 VW Bus roadworthy for 44 years. We do have a car from this century too but, when something important needs hauling, the bus still serves as first choice.

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    1. Oh! I'm a huge fan of the VW Bus! So glad to hear it. :-D x

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  5. Nice mending job! I love refashioning, and it always feels good to be able to wear something that was previously unwearable! :) Lisa

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    1. I'd love to do more! So far this is my only piece. :-)

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    3. Well, then, keep up the good work! :)

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  6. I can't even see where you made the repair. You did a great job with it, the dress looks great!

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  7. Wow! That's an interesting way to upcycle. Great job mending the very unique piece :)

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  8. ohhh great repair! I need to bookmark this for the next repair of one of Kristina's outfits!

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  9. A sewing machine - how exciting, now the sky is the limit for your dressmaking and sewing based repairs.

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    1. Now I just need to get time to practice! :-D x

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