Week 6: Remnant Rumble Part 1: Pink Paillette Top and Cinderella Skirt
Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.
I'm working on a video for this week and next week's projects combined, so this write up may or may not be as detailed as the others.
As some of you may know, I am a swing dancer. Nothing too fancy; I don't compete or anything, but I like going a couple of times a month. There's a square dance club in Orlando that gets taken over by the swing crowd twice a month, and it's always a really good time.
Since there's a pretty regular group of people that go, I try not to wear the same thing every time I go. Sure, I know I have a bunch of dresses I wear in rotation, but if I only wear the same one or two, everyone else only sees me in the same one or two dresses, ya dig?
This week, my vision was to make a high-necked crop top with a white bra pattern underneath, and a really pretty baby pink paillette fabric that I got about 3/4 of a yard of in remnants. The white fabric I had was a stretch taffeta that I also got about 3/4 of a yard of in remnants. On the inside of the construction was a white muslin and a thick canvas that I also got, you guessed it, in remnants. All of the remnants so far were ones that I already had in my collection from last year or earlier. The only fabric I bought for this project was a pink rose print that I thought would be really cute to line the inside with that I bought, also as a remnant.
The bra pattern is a free pattern that I found online from AFI Atelier here. I wanted this top to be a little more of a crop top and less like a bra, so I drafted an additional band that added 2 inches of length to the overall garment. I also wasn't using entirely stretch fabric, so I had to add in about 6 inches of extra fabric to the back in the form of a rectangle. I talk about it in the video a bit (I think), so just hang tight for that.
I didn't want the white fabric to wind up stretched out or too bulky looking, so all the stabilizing I did was done to the lining layer, which in hindsight, wasn't a great idea. When I ultimately turned the garment right side out, this made it very hard to get a clean turn, as well as making it difficult to match the front and the back up properly. I actually wound up deciding to sew the strap and hooks in with what was originally the lining fabric facing outward, which makes me very happy I picked not only a cute fabric, but one that was also pink and matched the pink sequins and the overall Valentine's Day theme of the outfit. This made it a look a little weird to have a white strap peeking through, but I'm not too upset over it.
In regard to the sequin overlay, I wish I could explain the process better, but it was literally just to eyeball the basic shape, then cut it on the fold. I figured I would cut the piece big, then make adjustments where I needed, but I forgot how lazy I am, and that wound up not happening. I wound up safety pinning a dart in the sequin fabric to the bra I was wearing underneath to smooth out the look a bit.
At the end of the day, I'm not super happy with how the top turned out. I think it would have looked better if the bra underneath was white, and honestly, it didn't really fit properly. I don't have a dress form, so any alterations I make need to be made by me while I'm wearing the garment, and that is incredibly difficult to do. I spent about 3 days on and off making the top, so it's a bit more disappointing that I didn't like how it turned out.
Surprisingly, the saving grace of this outfit was the skirt.
When I saw the white stretch taffeta remnant, I got super excited because that's exactly the same material I made the skirt of my graduation dress out of. I knew then that I wanted to use the leftover fabric from that skirt to make a skirt to go with the top. I thought the baby pink and the baby blue would look really good together, and I like how it worked out.
If you want to read more about my graduation dress, I'll let you know when I finally get around to the write-up on my other blog, and I'll come back and link it here. Long story short, I didn't have a pattern, so when I bought 4 yards of fabric for that dress, I forgot that the fabric comes doubled over, so I technically only used 2 yards and put the other 2 yards away for another project.
In the span of about an hour and 10 minutes, I stitched together a super easy rectangle skirt. I didn't film it because I was in too much of a hurry to keep stopping and talking, so I'll try to get into detail here.
The first thing I did was cut the waistband. Instead of really measuring it out, I cut a 3 inch strip off the side of the fabric, then marked 14.5 inches from either side of the center fold. For the rest of the fabric, I cut along the fold of the fabric, then quickly stitched up either edge, stopping about 7 inches from the top of one edge. I was planning to finish the waistband with some hooks and eyes and a zipper, but I wound up choosing not to. Mostly out of laziness, but also because I don't know how to do things not at the last minute, and after I finished sewing, I had to be out the door in about 20 minutes.
Before I gathered the fabric, I folded the hem up and stitched it. I wanted a longer skirt so I could wear my petticoat underneath, so I only turned up the hem about 1 inch, focusing more on keeping the length even all the way around. Once I did that, I gathered the skirt down the same way I did with my tutu from last week. I pinned the edges of the skirt to the marks I made on the waistband, pinned the center and quarter marks of the skirt to the center and quarter marks of the waistband, respectively. This made it so easy to gather down, and it wound up being much quicker than if I were to gather everything down at once and try to spread it out evenly. Originally I wanted a 2-inch waistband with a half-inch seam allowance, but I forgot it would be doubled over and I wound up with a one-inch waistband instead. I treated the waistband like bias tape, which is the best way I can think to describe how I sewed it.
I was left with about 8 inches of extra fabric on either side of the waistband, and I didn't have the time or desire to sew in a zipper, so I used the extra fabric to tie a bow in the back. I clipped the selvage ends, and called it a day. I stuck a safety pin in the gap to keep it closed, and also to keep it on in case someone accidentally untied the skirt. I was wearing a petticoat underneath, so the gap didn't concern me.
4 yards of fabric in a skirt gives it an excellent twirl factor, and every single person I danced with that night commented on it, and I had so many people come up to me and compliment me on the skirt.
Okay, here's the money part:
What I had:
Remnants: White stretch taffeta, muslin, canvas, pink paillette
Blue stretch taffeta
Thread
Hooks and eyes
Pattern
What I bought:
Pink rose cotton lining - 0.889 yd x $5.19 = $4.61, 50% off Remnants at JoAnn's = $2.30
 |
| I wasn't sure how the taffeta would take being ironed, so I just hung it up in the shower and tried to steam it. Didn't work that well. |
I'm working on a video for this week and next week's projects combined, so this write up may or may not be as detailed as the others.
As some of you may know, I am a swing dancer. Nothing too fancy; I don't compete or anything, but I like going a couple of times a month. There's a square dance club in Orlando that gets taken over by the swing crowd twice a month, and it's always a really good time.
Since there's a pretty regular group of people that go, I try not to wear the same thing every time I go. Sure, I know I have a bunch of dresses I wear in rotation, but if I only wear the same one or two, everyone else only sees me in the same one or two dresses, ya dig?
This week, my vision was to make a high-necked crop top with a white bra pattern underneath, and a really pretty baby pink paillette fabric that I got about 3/4 of a yard of in remnants. The white fabric I had was a stretch taffeta that I also got about 3/4 of a yard of in remnants. On the inside of the construction was a white muslin and a thick canvas that I also got, you guessed it, in remnants. All of the remnants so far were ones that I already had in my collection from last year or earlier. The only fabric I bought for this project was a pink rose print that I thought would be really cute to line the inside with that I bought, also as a remnant.
 |
| Again, sorry for the photos being so blurry. My camera isn't the greatest. |
The bra pattern is a free pattern that I found online from AFI Atelier here. I wanted this top to be a little more of a crop top and less like a bra, so I drafted an additional band that added 2 inches of length to the overall garment. I also wasn't using entirely stretch fabric, so I had to add in about 6 inches of extra fabric to the back in the form of a rectangle. I talk about it in the video a bit (I think), so just hang tight for that.
 |
| What was originally going to be the lining. |
I didn't want the white fabric to wind up stretched out or too bulky looking, so all the stabilizing I did was done to the lining layer, which in hindsight, wasn't a great idea. When I ultimately turned the garment right side out, this made it very hard to get a clean turn, as well as making it difficult to match the front and the back up properly. I actually wound up deciding to sew the strap and hooks in with what was originally the lining fabric facing outward, which makes me very happy I picked not only a cute fabric, but one that was also pink and matched the pink sequins and the overall Valentine's Day theme of the outfit. This made it a look a little weird to have a white strap peeking through, but I'm not too upset over it.
 |
| You can kind of see the pink fabric showing through, which was another reason for the swap. |
In regard to the sequin overlay, I wish I could explain the process better, but it was literally just to eyeball the basic shape, then cut it on the fold. I figured I would cut the piece big, then make adjustments where I needed, but I forgot how lazy I am, and that wound up not happening. I wound up safety pinning a dart in the sequin fabric to the bra I was wearing underneath to smooth out the look a bit.
 |
| Since I originally thought this would be white, I bound the edges in the white taffeta. |
 |
| Whipstitches from securing the sequined tulle. |
 |
| I wound up using hooks and eyes, but I probably could have also used a zipper. I needed help getting into it with the hooks. |
At the end of the day, I'm not super happy with how the top turned out. I think it would have looked better if the bra underneath was white, and honestly, it didn't really fit properly. I don't have a dress form, so any alterations I make need to be made by me while I'm wearing the garment, and that is incredibly difficult to do. I spent about 3 days on and off making the top, so it's a bit more disappointing that I didn't like how it turned out.
Surprisingly, the saving grace of this outfit was the skirt.
When I saw the white stretch taffeta remnant, I got super excited because that's exactly the same material I made the skirt of my graduation dress out of. I knew then that I wanted to use the leftover fabric from that skirt to make a skirt to go with the top. I thought the baby pink and the baby blue would look really good together, and I like how it worked out.
If you want to read more about my graduation dress, I'll let you know when I finally get around to the write-up on my other blog, and I'll come back and link it here. Long story short, I didn't have a pattern, so when I bought 4 yards of fabric for that dress, I forgot that the fabric comes doubled over, so I technically only used 2 yards and put the other 2 yards away for another project.
In the span of about an hour and 10 minutes, I stitched together a super easy rectangle skirt. I didn't film it because I was in too much of a hurry to keep stopping and talking, so I'll try to get into detail here.
The first thing I did was cut the waistband. Instead of really measuring it out, I cut a 3 inch strip off the side of the fabric, then marked 14.5 inches from either side of the center fold. For the rest of the fabric, I cut along the fold of the fabric, then quickly stitched up either edge, stopping about 7 inches from the top of one edge. I was planning to finish the waistband with some hooks and eyes and a zipper, but I wound up choosing not to. Mostly out of laziness, but also because I don't know how to do things not at the last minute, and after I finished sewing, I had to be out the door in about 20 minutes.
Before I gathered the fabric, I folded the hem up and stitched it. I wanted a longer skirt so I could wear my petticoat underneath, so I only turned up the hem about 1 inch, focusing more on keeping the length even all the way around. Once I did that, I gathered the skirt down the same way I did with my tutu from last week. I pinned the edges of the skirt to the marks I made on the waistband, pinned the center and quarter marks of the skirt to the center and quarter marks of the waistband, respectively. This made it so easy to gather down, and it wound up being much quicker than if I were to gather everything down at once and try to spread it out evenly. Originally I wanted a 2-inch waistband with a half-inch seam allowance, but I forgot it would be doubled over and I wound up with a one-inch waistband instead. I treated the waistband like bias tape, which is the best way I can think to describe how I sewed it.
 |
| The tie edges are raw and will probably continue to fray, but I'm too lazy to do anything about it. |
I was left with about 8 inches of extra fabric on either side of the waistband, and I didn't have the time or desire to sew in a zipper, so I used the extra fabric to tie a bow in the back. I clipped the selvage ends, and called it a day. I stuck a safety pin in the gap to keep it closed, and also to keep it on in case someone accidentally untied the skirt. I was wearing a petticoat underneath, so the gap didn't concern me.
 |
| Great for spinning. |
4 yards of fabric in a skirt gives it an excellent twirl factor, and every single person I danced with that night commented on it, and I had so many people come up to me and compliment me on the skirt.
Okay, here's the money part:
What I had:
Remnants: White stretch taffeta, muslin, canvas, pink paillette
Blue stretch taffeta
Thread
Hooks and eyes
Pattern
What I bought:
Pink rose cotton lining - 0.889 yd x $5.19 = $4.61, 50% off Remnants at JoAnn's = $2.30
Week 6 budget: $1.92
Week 6 spent: $2.30
Week 6 leftover: -$0.38
February budget: $6.09
February spent: $2.30
February leftover: $3.79
Year budget: $100
Year spent: $12.87
Year left: $87.13
So I'm still ahead for February, and I think next week will use that up. Stay tuned.
So I'm still ahead for February, and I think next week will use that up. Stay tuned.
Comments
Post a Comment