polka dots and woodland creatures

Last week I popped into a local charity shop and found a beautiful polka dot dress. It was a lovely shade of burnt sienna orange, with gorgeous tailored pleats at the front and pretty matching buttons on the bodice and... only £4! The only trouble was that it was about 2 sizes too big for me :( However, the dotty spotty fabric and excellent quality of the dress were too good to leave behind at that bargain price so it came home with me, ready to be tailored to fit with the help of my trusty sewing machine...

Here it is before I got sewing and snipping...

When I got home, I tried it on and realised that I could tailor it to fit with just a few quick tricks. I turned it inside out and put it on, pinning along each side seam to make it fit at the body and up along the sleeves to make them more fitted. When I took it off it looked something like this...

Then, using the placement of the pins as a guide to the size required, I measured and plotted the new seamline more precisely, making sure to make it symmetrical and to pin the fabric down carefully so it was flat and even...

All my alterations really involved were a new seamline like this on each side of the dress - 2 new seams, carefully plotted and sewn with a zig-zag stitch next to it to reinforce and prevent fraying and it was done! The dress had an elastic waist at the back so when I stitched over that I made sure to reinforce the stitches a few times to hold the elastic in place. I also was careful to make the sleeves line up at the armhole. When I've followed this simply technique on previous alteration projects, I've usually had to stitch some darts into the front bodice to make it a more flattering fit on the bust, but this dress already had darts - and generally good tailoring - which fit perfectly once I had redone the side seams to fit.

Here is the finished altered dress! It's only a subtle transformation, but it completely changed the fit of it. I really love it....

(me with my arms out in a silly pose so that you can also see the sleeves and a close-up)

Imagine how happy I was when I found these matching polka dot socks a few days later!

Squirrels! On socks!

As you can see they are from Topshop - a shop I never normally venture into because it scares me. At least the giant one on Oxford street does, which I ventured into looking for an umbrella. I got lost in the basement in a maze of clothes, bright lights and weird sculptures, unable to find the stairs that would lead me back out for about ten minutes. Never shall I descend that staircase again lest I'm trapped for all eternity! eek! I did find a brolly in the end. It's covered in owls which is great (incidentally one of my favourite French word facts is that the word chouette means both 'great' and 'owl' so if you mistranslate it on purpose, you can say "that's owl" when you really mean "that's great!") Here's the umbrella (unopened as I'm inside and I don't want to be unlucky)...

In honour of the polka dot dress, squirrel sock goodness, my great owl umbrella and my love of woodland creatures, I intend to create a crazy polka dot/animal inspired ensemble to wear.

I have a lovely owl brooch...

... and a badger belt I made last year (the badgers snuffle round and round my tummy!)...

Maybe I'll wear one of my feathers in my hair..

If I could afford these shoes my outfit would be truly complete....

Shoes are By Paige, available to buy here, photo from the website.

Even without them, I think I should feel be right at home in the forest in polka dots this autumn :)

x

p.s. if you're interested in learning more about how to alter clothes and want some sewing inspiration and tips you should definitely check out Marissa'a blog, New Dress A Day. Last year she bought 365 dresses for $1 each from thrift stores and transformed them all one day at a time from horrible huge unwearable things into beautiful new dresses.