I am a fan of the bright 1970s prints. Orange children’s curtains were a second hand shop find for 5 euros. As the animals in the fabric are athletic, I decided to make a sports outfit out of the fabric. Also in my blog.
Category: Made from Curtains
Awesome curtains, turned into awesome non-curtains.
1950s | 1960s | Dresses | Made from Curtains | Modern Patterns
Last dress of Summer
By Klara on September 25, 2014
Well, maybe “first dress of Fall” would have been a more suiting title but it doesn’t make as nice a reference to a song, right? Right.
Just wanted to share this quick dress (only took me a day from start to finish) made from the fabulous free pattern available at Sew Mag. It was my third attempt. First two were pretty much ok, but this one came together especially nicely. I like the way my zipper insertion seems to be gradually improving and I’m learning to take more care about details like gathering the skirt evenly and making the seams in clean lines. It’s my sixth dress ever and I believe I’m still under ten self-made garments. Getting better and loving the process!
Feel free to take a look at my blog for more photos of the dress if you like it.
I have been absent for some time in the sewing community, This year has just proven to be way too busy but 🙂 I am getting back into the swing of things with…. 16 vintage inspired skirts 🙂 I don’t have a picture of every single one of them but I can say the few that I do have I am incredibly proud of. I was contacted by a local shop a few months back to create some vintage inspired skirts for them and to be honest I was so incredibly nervous! I made so many little silly mistakes on my first few that I had to go back and fix I was ready to pull my hair out and give up! I took a deep breath, picked out my stitches and kept on truckin! The end result…16 beautiful skirts that I can be proud of.
The fabrics I used were a mixture of vintage and modern 🙂 I created 4 of each style in an A-line, Gored, Drindl, and Pencil and I could not be prouder…I even have a few with lapped zippers! A technique that has often eluded me in the past! For more pictures and details check out my blog at http://frillz24.blogspot.com/
As always thanks to all of you contributors for being such amazing inspirations!
The cold season has finally arrived here in Germany – it was less then 10 degrees celsius today and my favorite ice-cream parlor closed for this year, both makes me kind of sad. There is only one advantage of this weather: I finally got around to sewing again in the last days and made a new skirt. I got the olive-grey coloured fabric from my 80 year old colleague at work (she told me that it is a curtain from the 70s) and had a very clear idea what I would like to do with it, but the first version I made was pretty disappointing: the wide pleats that I had made draped not very well, the two large, lace covered pockets looked stuffy and the skirt had a strange length. I undid everything, gathered the fabric instead of pleating it and added a border of a somewhat strange, semi-transparent fabric to the hem. This was already much better but there was still something missing, I did a quick image search for the terms skirt, steampunk and lolita and found the solution – trims and bows! I have always adored baroque and abundant styles but strangely never thought about this concept in regard of my sewing projects and I am so happy that I finally did. I toned down the look a bit with some vintage items and wore it today with a traditional bavarian blazer (I would love to be able to sew things like this!), leather gloves and a vintage scarf with, well, bows (-:
You can find a few more pictures on my blog, Draped in Cloudlets.
1960s | 1970s | Made from Curtains | Skirts
Fun with Vintage bedsheets ! :)
By Shaysierae on November 3, 2013
This post is going to be short and sweet because the writing sector of my brain isn’t quite cooperating with me at the moment. I have had these 2 vintage bedsheets sitting in my stash for quite a while so I thought today that I would pull them out and get creative with them! The first is a self-drafted circle skirt I used what I think is a vintage curtain panel but it may be a top sheet I am not 100% sure (I think that both fabrics are probably late 60’s to 70’s) and for the contrasting waistband I just used some pretty yellow broadcloth I bought yesterday on a whim because it was on sale. 🙂 Love when things like that work out! It is a bit springy…but I think with a pair of darker tights, a pretty blue cardigan it will make a nice fall skirt due to the fact that the fabric is actually quite heavy for a top sheet.
The 2nd project was also a self drafted pattern that I used a pair of pajama pants that I have and made a fun bright pair of pajamas with! These are super light, soft, and comfy and I have some more of this material left over so I may make a matching top or a pair of pajama shorts since I worry that this much print would be overwhelming. 🙂 At the end of the day I am really happy with both of these projects and excited that they turned out well without any problems :).
I think that I am getting the hang of this whole sewing thing! I have a lot of exciting things happening on the horizons which I will be blogging/posting about in the weeks to come. I just want to say a big thanks to all of the wonderful contributors on this site that have really inspired me and given me the courage and strength to keep at it! 🙂
1950s | 1960s | Dresses | Mad Men Inspired | Made from Curtains | Vintage Sewing
Simplicity 270
By Through the Alley on September 29, 2013
Hi! It’s been a good minute since I was able to post something! I recently participated in the fall for cotton sew along. This is what I made (:
I used Simplicity’s 2370 from 1957. The fabric I used is 100% cotton for “home decor” purposes, but thought a dress would suit it better! Now I can tell you all about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good: This dress was extremely easy to sew and fit perfectly!
The bad: I messed up the skirt back by cutting it in half. However I was able to fix it by moving the darts and tailoring out the excess material.
The ugly: The dress fit great everywhere, but the pleats at the midsection created this ugly poof!! It made me look like I had a beer belly. I couldn’t the skirt in from the side because then I would not be able to walk or sit. After going back with the iron, I was able remove some of the poofyness. Missy from Technicolor Cutie, Tasha from By Gum, By Golly, and my mom had the genius idea of sewing in the pleats together to create darts. I did not attempt this because by this point I wasn’t too bothered with the poof after the extra ironing. I will probably have to do this in the future though because I don’t want to take an eternity to carefully iron the darts every time I wear this dress.
and now I can present to you…my finished dress!
For more pictures or curious about the fabric, you can check out my blog, Through the Alley
1960s | 1970s | Made from Curtains | Vintage Sewing
The Military Maxi Waistcoat
By Vintage Vix on June 19, 2013
My brother was going to throw these military curtains away. They’d be hanging in his bedroom in our parental home since he was born in 1968.
I knew they’d be the perfect bold print I needed for the 1970’s Butterick 5597 waistcoat pattern.
Lined with emerald green Indian sari silk and some vintage frog fastenings donated by a friend I can’t wait to wear this at Glastonbury.
