Fab Frock Friday! Designer of the future: Guest post by El Coles and Stop Traffic Clothing Competition

El's Blog Post

I’ve always loved Vintage, and being the 12 year old daughter of the founder of Redressing, it’s a given. My favourite era is probably the 60’s, but I love the values and ethics (and hairstyles!!!) of the 1940’s. I also love sewing and creating beautiful things using beautiful fabrics - mainly Cath Kidston but sometimes I opt for cheaper materials.

I have quite an individual style, and sometimes it can be relatively hard to find things that I like. It would be amazing to make my own clothes, and then I would be able to wear what I liked, so that’s what I set about doing one weekend, with one of mine and my Mum’s friends...

I often do sewing with Jackie (mine and Mum’s friend) and I really enjoy staying over at her house. We have made bags together in the past, and now we were about to make a dress.



Jackie

Half a metre of Cath Kidston floral fabric- left over from a previous sewing project- and about the same measurement in plain pale pink fabric was all I had and needed to make my dress. Firstly we sketched out a dress on a post-it note, only a rough guide. Then we used a vest top of mine as a template to make the top part of the outfit. We drew an outline on the CK fabric, and then cut it out. We cut out two pieces; one for the front, and one for the back, which was two pieces in itself because we had cut that in half to make room for the zip. We sewed these pieces together (right sides facing) and then all we needed was the zip...

A zip couldn’t be that much of a challenge- or at least you would think. After changing the machine foot to a zipper foot, and then inserting the zip, we were very pleased with our work! Now we had finished the top.

Top of dress in Cath Kidston fabric

To make the skirt, we used the pink fabric. We folded it in half and looked to see if it fitted on me okay. Then Jackie began to make very small pleats in the fabric by gathering it at the top, and then pinned and stitched them down. Then we turned it inside out, and simply sewed up the side.

Skirt part in plain fabric

Before attaching the two together, we had to hem the skirt and sew facings onto the top to neaten the edges. Once combined, the top and skirt looked amazing together, and I love my dress very much!!!

Finished dress!

The dress I made was one of the most simple types of clothing, and took us no time at all. A great fun way to spend my weekend, I can definitely assure you that I will be dress-making again!!! If you want to try making a similar dress, all you will need is half a metre of your desired top fabric, and either the same or a different fabric for the skirt part. With a bit of know-how, a sewing machine and lots of enthusiasm, you too can make a simple dress!

Dress worn with vintage belt

By El Coles

El x

Isn't she amazing?!
Before we go, just a mention on fab Frock Friday of the Stop Traffic Clothing competition-Yay! Win a pin-up shoot, subscription to Vintage life Mag, £150 to spend on Stop Traffic Clothing and lots more! Closing date is Dec 31st so there's still plenty of time to enter!

                     x