Blouse alteration

I've been watching The Great British Sewing Bee  lately, which I endlessly love and everytime I watch it  I want to dust off my sewing machine and do something amazing. So last time I watched one of the episodes when I decided to do some garment alteration. I have many items piled up in my wardrobe which I don't wear but can't bin as they mean something to me or reminds me some special occasion or I have some items that I haven't even worn as they were given to me as a gift and aren't 'my cup of tea' if you know what I mean... So I've told myself why don't you change these slightly and make them either wearable or alter them to something completely different. Here is the first alteration and I hope you like it! 

I had this blouse only for couple months, but I didn't wear it as I didn't like the collar and wide sleeves, therefore these were first 2 things I removed from the blouse immediately. 

I used existing collar and sleeves as a pattern so I didn't have to measure the blouse again or create new pattern. As material I used black leatherette (faux leather) that you can buy in any shop with fabrics. You can buy various type of faux leather from heavy duty to very thin letherette. In my opinion medium  leatherette is the best as it still look like leather and it's easier to sew and shape. 

Once I cut the shape of sleeves and collar I pinned and sew onto the blouse and cut it to the wanted length/shape.

I've also added a piece of leatherette onto button's line matching the width of the line and sew on new black buttons on top of it. 

And that's it! The new blouse has been born :) I think it will be my favorite this summer :) 

Curtains - DIY

I love trips to IKEA I could spend hours there wandering around and buying all those little bits for a household. We went there other day and one of the thing we bought was a very cute black fabric with white and orange Koi carps print. My boyfriend is a huge fan of Koi carps, so we decided to make a new curtains in a living room :)

DIY curtains - What you need:

- Fabric 5m long, at least 120cm wide (The best fabric for curtains is heavy       cotton, thick polyester fabric, or any firm, durable  fabric)

- sewing machine

- matching sewing threads

- scissors

- gathering tape

- Iron-on tape if you like for bottom hemming (I haven't used it at the end)

Step 1: Measure and cut fabric. I measured the length between the curtain rail and the floor and added about 5 cm on the bottom to account for the hems. To cut the fabric right, lay it out on a large flat surface - table is not enough, I lay it out on a floor. If using a patterned fabric it is important to make sure each drop starts ate the same point in the pattern so that the design flows across the window. 

Step 2: Sew the side hems as per below picture, allowing at least 1,5 cm for hemming. 

Step 3:  Press the top of the curtains down (about 2cm) to the inside and sew the curtain tape across the top of the wrong side of the curtains. Fold in ends and stitch along outside edges ensuring that the strings are not caught in stitch line. 

Now your curtain top corner should appear like this:

Below is a guide how to make equal ruffles by tying strings on gathering tape and also how to attach the curtain on a rail using plastic clips. 

Step 4: Sew the bottom hem on each curtain.

 

And that's it! Your new curtains are ready to be pressed and hang! :)