DIY Midi Dresses

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Hi there, Happy Friday 🌸🌸 Today's update is about two new dresses that I made to wear on special outings. The sleeveless orange midi dress was made in October and the long-sleeved dress was made at the beginning of this month.  Both patterns were self-drafted, and the dresses had ruffles at the bottom tier. And to complete the look, I added a removable bow and pinned it to the neckline.  For the sleeveless midi dress, I used a linen blend fabric a souvenir from my trip to Bangkok and the fabric was enjoyable to sew. As usual, the sewing process started with pinning and sewing the darts and then attached the facings to the front and back pieces right sides together. I pinned it around and then sewed it, but I left a few centimeters open to sew the shoulder lines. I love this method, the finished facing looks clean and neat. I closed the opening area with hand sewing. I gathered the bottom tiers and then sewed them to...

White Shirt and Hand Knitted Vest

Hello friends, the weather is getting more fresh here in Macau and I'm glad I finished these two garments (shirt and vest) at the right time. I started to sew the white shirt last week, pattern modified from shirt dress - Fait main magazine May 2019 and I used cotton fabric that I bought from the local shop. 
I started my hand knit vest in June. The pattern was self-drafted and the yarn was cotton in deep blue that I bought during our trip to Singapore two years ago.

My plan was to wear the vest as it is with pants or a skirt for summer but as the winter is coming very soon, I decided to sew the white shirt to wear with it.


About the shirt, this is my third version of the pattern, the first version was in striped blue with a high low hem and the second version was in a gingham print with U-shape hemline. 
For this white shirt, I used the same hemline as the second version, added two pockets, finished the sleeve placket with facing and reduced 2 cm in both sides of the shirt for a better fit.

The sewing process was enjoyable, except for the collar. I used a lot of pins and basted the collar before sewing them together.
I wasn't in the mood of making my own bias tape for the packets, so I used facing from the same fabric and I liked the result.
  • I sewed the facing piece and the sleeve fabric in the marking area for the placket right sides together.
  • Cut the placket carefully and clipped both ends.
  • Turned the facing piece on the wrong side of the sleeve, pressed with an iron.
  • Flipped the 0.5 cm allowances inside and pinned.
  • And then I sewed along the facing.
  • I did another press using the iron and done.
After both plackets were done, I sewed the sleeve band, buttonholes and buttons.

I love the look of the pockets and I'm glad that I added them. It made the plain white shirt cuter. Also, I decided to skip the button and buttonhole in the first row and laid to collar flat.


The knitting progress on this vest was slow, I started in June and I was planning to make a short sleeve but I gave up because I didn't have enough yarn. I posted my plan and some of the progress on Instagram. 
I started the vest with the front side, cast-on using 2.5 mm circular needles 122 stitches followed by ribbing until 4 cm. And then, changed into 3.25 mm circular needles and knitted until reached the armhole.
Decreased a few rows and worked in the v-neckline. Bind-off in both shoulders.
I did the backside after that, it was easier than the front side.
The picture below was the process of ribbing the armhole after I sewed the sides and shoulders together. For the ribbing, I used 2.5 mm double-pointed needles.
And the neckline ribbing was knitted with 2.5 mm circular needles, I decreased a few rows to get a nice and flat neckline. The center V wasn't perfect and I'm fine with that, I'm happy with my first attempt 😊
After all, I'm happy with both garments and I'm sure I will wear them a lot in the cooler weather. But I'd like to lower the v-neck on the vest if one day I make it again.

That's enough for today, happy sewing and stay safe 💗
See you next week in another post, a simple long sleeve dress, self-drafted pattern 😊

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