Green Ribbons

Here's my latest creation. I saw a neat bit of detailing on someone's shirt recently and was inspired to try something similar.

 I used green binding and zig-zag ribbon to create this abstract design on a simple floral shirt. Instead of hand-stitching the sides of the binding down so that it lay flat against the shirt (as I did with the zig-zag ribbon), I sewed the binding to the bodice along the centreline fold. That allowed the edges of the binding to stand up out of the shirt creating a sort of ruffle. The end result isn't exactly like what I had envisioned when I set out to do this project but it's still kind of interesting.

Dress Form

I've been looking around for an adjustable dress form for the past few months and came across very few options. The ones I found locally were either over-priced or not in my size. I found a decent one from eBay but the shipping cost from the U.S. to Canada would have been equivalent to the price for the actual product! On principle I just couldn't do it.

Then yesterday I was picking up some trim for my next sewing project when I came across this beautiful vintage Acme dress form outside an antique store along Queen St. It was made in the 1950's and uses key screws inside the bodice to tighten and loosen tracks to adjust the panels.

It's not as straight-forward to use as the new sleek forms with dials but that's fine, this one has character and I don't expect to readjust the sizing too often. It goes well with the Singer Featherweight.  It took me all of 5 minutes to inspect the dress form before I made the purchase and carried it home. Luckily it's pretty light and the store is just a ten minute walk from my place.