Pyjama Party!

After yesterday’s post of being frustrated about not really making much at the moment, I decided a simple project might be better than nothing at all.

A week or so ago Karen over at Did You Make That launched her Pyjama Party sewalong, which gives me the perfect opportunity to make some PJ bottoms that actually fit my belly, join the other 100+ party goers, and make a project that hopefully won’t require me to spend hours kneeling on the floor cutting out pattern pieces. All in all a good idea I reckon!

I’ve just ordered the pattern below (couldn’t find the one Karen recommends), mainly because of the dashing young couple on the front

Next I need to find some suitable fabric…

Image source
http://onlinecraftmall.com.au/Simplicity-9871-Sewing-Pattern-Its-So-Easy-MissMen-Sleepwear-P1592598.aspx

The last little dresses

But by no means the least little dresses!

Thank you to Anne from Petty Grievances who sent eight dresses all the way from the US, and to one of my Clothes Making classmates for the ninth dress.

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Another big thank you to Emma who owns the Cragg Sisters tea rooms in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Emma held a pillowcase dress making party there recently where they made 37 dresses!

I can now reveal that the total number of dresses made for the challenge has reached a whopping…

Just for clarity, that was…

dresses !!!!!

WOW-EEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a nutshell, inspired by an article I read about the charity Dress A Girl Around The World in October, I set myself the challenge of making 52 pillowcase dresses (one for every dress I own myself, yes, embarrassing, and yes, I am trying to curb this dress addiction). You can read more about why I did the challenge here. Back in the olden days of 2011 I thought 52 dresses was being ambitious.

But that was when I thought it was just going to be billy-no-mates me stuck in my sewing room for days on end. What I didn’t anticipate was how much the challenge and more importantly Dress A Girl Around The World, would capture all of your imaginations.

Within a few weeks the first target of 52 was smashed! It wasn’t just people who have been sewing for a while that wanted to get involved, people who had never used a machine before were just as eager to help.

Without all of the dresses that were sent to me from around the world, the pillowcases that were collected, and the parties that everyone came to, I would probably still be chained to the sewing machine on dress 52!

Over the course of the challenge I have met lots of lovely people, and been in contact with even more lovely people – I hope it continues long after the end of the challenge.

So far 70 of the dresses are on their way to Kenya with Chance to Grow, and 50 are already being worn in Ghana. As soon as I have some photos I will share them – then we can play ‘Spot my pillowcase dress’!

Here are the links again to the five different parties that were held:

The Mindshare Pillowcase Party
The Haywards Heath Pillowcase Party
The Walthamstow Pillowcase Party
The Drink, Shop & Do Pillowcase Party
The Cragg Sisters Pillowcase Party (see above)

All that remains is for me to say from myself and I’m sure all of the girls wearing our dresses, one last very very big…

…to you all!

More Dresses!

Due to an unforseen bout of generally feeling pretty awful, it’s taken me a bit longer than planned to put up the individual photos of the dresses from Drink, Shop & Do. Still, better late than never, below are the dresses that were embellished or brought along on the night. Considering we couldn’t really see what we were doing as the lights were so dim, they’ve turned out brilliantly!

I have also updated the Pillowcase Dress Gallery with all the new dresses that were made. All the Drink, Shop & Do dresses are from dress 90 so you need to scroll down a bit.

If your embellished dress isn’t in the gallery, it’s because it is already on there in it’s un-embellished form – I just haven’t had time to change them over.

Tonight’s the Night! Drink, Shop & Do, 6.30pm

Just a final little reminder for all of you in London, hope you can make the Pillowcase Dress embellishing party tonight at Drink, Shop & Do!

The evening starts from 6.30pm, and you can get directions from the Drink, Shop & Do website, or the map below.

Drink, Shop & Do is only a 2 minute walk from Kings Cross Station at 9 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9DX.

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

Lots of dresses have been made, so put your creative hats on and bring any buttons, ribbons, needles, thread and scissors etc that you think could be used to decorate a dress. If you don’t have anything lying around at home don’t worry as there will be things provided that you can use.

If you would like to reserve a table (especially if there is a group of you coming), then please can you let Drink, Shop & Do know by either calling on 020 7278 4335 or email mail@drinkshopdo.com.

See you later!

The Week of the Pillowcase Dress

Tomorrow it will be exactly two months since I launched the Pillowcase Dress Challenge! Sometimes it has felt a bit like my life, and spare room, has always revolved around pillowcase dresses so I was suprised to find out it was only a couple of months ago that it all started.

This week is going to be my final big push to get as many done as possible, so if you’ve got any at home can you get them to me asap please!

Recently I have to admit I have found it quite difficult to motivate myself to make ANOTHER dress, but today we reached a huge milestone. Since the last Pillowcase Dress Parties a couple of weeks ago, I have made 19 dresses which took the total up to 99 yesterday.

Then, as luck would have it I received one more dress in the post today from Mo, which takes the total up to 100! We’ve reached the second target – woohoo!!

Here is the 100th dress – thank you Mo!

Reader Lisa also took 20 pillowcases off my hands which was amazing. She should be bringing along her finished dresses tomorrow night, which will bump the total up loads!

I haven’t been showing you any of the dresses I’ve been making, as they’ve been quite plain. Hopefully they will be embellished tomorrow night at Drink, Shop & Do though, and I’ll show you them when I let you know how the evening went (am getting a bit nervous now – hope people turn up / I’ve made enough dresses / everyone has fun / I don’t make an idiot of myself in some as yet imaginable way…).

Dresses ready to be embellished tomorrow night

Before I get to tomorrow night though, I have my clothes making class today. As it’s the last class before Christmas, those that finish their skirts are hopefully going to help out by making a pillowcase dress.

I have this pile of 39 unmade pillowcases which we might be able to make a dent in later (although there are only 14 of us, most of whom will be finishing off skirts so I will be happy even if we just make a few between us!).

So today, combined with tomorrow, and any other dresses that are on their way to me should mean that we by far exceed the 100 target – thanks everyone!

Party Time!

This weekend was spent mostly making dresses, as my sister and I both held pillowcase dress making parties. Altogether we made 19 new dresses, which makes the total number made 80. Only 20 to go to reach the new target of 100!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came to both parties, and an extra special thank you to those who had never even looked at a needle before – it was very brave of you to come and join in!

You can read more about my challenge here, and see all the dresses made so far in the Gallery.

(If you click on an image it will enlarge and you can scroll through them all)

Pillowcase Dress 80

Pillowcase Dress 77

Pillowcase Dress 74

Pillowcase Dress 76

Pillowcase Dresses 62 – 72

Pillowcase Dress 73

Pillowcase Dress 78

Pillowcase Dress 79

Pillowcase Dress 75

Drink, Shop & Do Pillowcase Dress Party – 6th December

Pillowcase Party season is well under way! I have already held one party, and my mum has held another. Both were great successes and led to us all beating my challenge of 52 dresses by Christmas. The new target is 100 by Christmas!

This weekend see’s another flurry of parties – I’m holding one at home, as is my sister way up north. Check back on Monday to see how we all got on!

I wanted to remind you that all these parties are culminating in one big bash at Drink, Shop & Do on 6th December. I hope as many of you as possible will be able to come. On the night you will be able to either embellish a pre-made dress (thanks for helping me out so much Lisa!), or bring a dress that you have already made and decorate that. You can see how to make a dress here. There will be bits and pieces available, but if you have any ribbons, fabric scraps, beads etc hanging around at home then bring those along too!

What more could you want on a Tuesday night in December – you get to come to a place that looks as lovely as this:

And not only will you be sewing for a good cause, you can also drink cocktails with names like Mrs Pepper Pot and Ruby Shoes, and eat bar snacks served in tea cups! All in all how can you say no!

The evening starts from 6.30pm, and you can get directions from the Drink, Shop & Do website.

If you would like to reserve a table (especially if there is a group of you coming), then please can you let Drink, Shop & Do know by either calling on 020 7278 4335 or email mail@drinkshopdo.com.

Can’t wait to see you there!

To read more about the Dress a Girl Around the World charity that this night is in aid of, visit their website, or see the UK Facebook page.

 

 

47 days left to make a dress!

I have been debating over the last few weeks whether to show you the dress I am currently making, as it is to wear for my 30th birthday on New Years Eve. Not only was I thinking of making it a surprise on the day, I’m also conscious that I may have shot myself in the foot if I don’t pull it off / make it in time! But I’ve decided to show you anyway and hope for the best!

As its a special birthday, and everywhere I go now people ask me if I made what I’m wearing (I guess that’s either a compliment, or I just generally look a bit handmade), I wanted to try and make a dress for my birthday celebrations.

I knew I wanted a vintage style, but don’t feel ready to tackle a real vintage pattern yet. Instead, many of the big pattern producers have reissued patterns from the past but with updated instructions. I started by looking at Vintage Vogue patterns like these ones as I know that the shape suits me.

However, I then remembered a pattern I bought a couple of years ago. After buying it I realised I didn’t really know how to tackle it so it was put on a shelf and forgotten. Until now!

The pattern is Simplicity 3673. Rather than the full skirt I thought I wanted, I am going to make version A on the right.

This pattern is a reissue of Simplicity 1734. Again, mine is the one on the right.

Although in the images the dress looks like it could be for work, I think the fabric and buckle that I have bought will make it look suitably dressy. I will keep them as a surprise though!

So far I have made the muslin. After my experience making trousers I know how important this stage is. I was especially thankful when doing this one as I made a couple of mistakes along the way that I won’t do on the real thing.

As you can see it is quite large! Although I had been warned that Simplicity sizes come up big, I made the size that tallied with my measurements as my bust is rather ample and I wanted it to fit in! It also isn’t closed at the back which doesn’t help, and I had originally made it without the seam down the front. I forgot to take out the seam allowance when doing this though, so for this exercise it has stayed.

Holding the back, this is how it will hopefully fit in the end when I have done the alterations.

Much better.

Now I’m pretty certain you are all on the edge of your seats wanting to see the finished dress – only 47 days to wait!

Image Sources
http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
http://www.jaycotts.co.uk

Challenge Beating Pillowcase Dress Party #2: Haywards Heath, Sussex

WE’VE BEATEN THE CHALLENGE!!

On Saturday my Mum held Pillowcase Dress Party No. 2 down in Sussex where I grew up. The hard work of the Haywards Heath Methodist Church ladies has meant that we have SMASHED (Dave has been making me watch X Factor, can you tell? And yes, it is definitely him making me watch it, not the other way round) the target of 52 dresses. We’ve reached 52 dresses 48 days before the Christmas deadline!

The kind contributions from Saturday also mean that if I can make them all in time we will by far exceed the target! I’m so glad I travelled down to meet you all, and am very thankful for all the support / work / donations you all made.

As with Pillowcase Dress Party No.1 there was a table of wonderfull-ness. Everyone had dug around at home to see what trimmings and buttons they had which could be used on the dresses.

The ladies then set up a production line, with some cutting, pinning and ironing. Others attached the binding, and then Mum and I were on the sewing machines!

The most important job of the day!

Here are the amazing stats of the day:

18 Dresses completed. They can be seen in the Gallery, but I’m still waiting for photos of some of them.
32 Dresses half made
10 Pillowcases unused
18 people came along to help

That’s not the end of the success story either. In the afternoon Jennie Herring came along to say hello. Jennie and her husband run the Nyaboo Ghana Development Fund in Ghana, and they are making a trip out there next week. Jennie has taken nearly 50 of the dresses we have made, and will be distributing them when she gets out there!

Jennie with the dresses

I will tell you a bit more about what Jennie and Graham do when I have photos of the girls wearing the dresses, but in the meantime if you would like to find out more their website is http://www.ghanaaction.org.uk (although I haven’t actually been able to make it work today). In a nutshell, they are working with the Nyaboo community to improve the local school, football team, sanitation and water supplies.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the day, and I think we can safely say it was a great success – thank you everyone! An extra special thank you to my Mum as well for organising the day.

I also think I am going to officially up the target to 100 dresses by Christmas! (If anyone wants to take any of the 40+ half made dresses I have off my hands between now and then – be my guest! I will happily pass some on to you if you leave a comment on this post – I am starting to dream about drowning in pillowcases )