Lekeleli Rose
Diy Fashion and Styling
  • The Gathered Skirt
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  • How To Change Your Dress Form
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  • 8 Sewing Essentials For Beginners
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  • Pattern Review: McCall’s 7726
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    • How To Change Your Dress Form

    Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great and restful weekend.

    Most dress stands are a size 12 which isn’t a standard “12”, this is used meant for testing garments on models. So if you want to alter the sand to your body measurements or simply want to sew for friend, this is the post for you. Bear in mind you can make the stand larger.

    What you need:

    • dress stand
    • measuring tape
    • pins
    • scissors
    • wadding ( you can this from crafts supply store or ebay

    Firstly if your stand has a removeable covering, please remove it.

    To determine where to fill in the wadding, measure the dress form and measure yourself at bust ( around the largest part ), waist ( smallest part ) and hip ( the fullest part ).

    Cut a piece of wadding, pin and fill on the parts ensuring you smooth out the material. In my case, I didn’t have use a lot of material as I am not so full at hips and bust so it was a matter of increasing the inches around. See pic. If your stand needs more filling, build up layer by layer starting out with bigger pieces followed by small pieces.

    Sew to connect the lines so the material properly contours around the stand

    Thank you for stopping by. Talk to you soon. X, Leli

    8 Sewing Essentials For Beginners

    When I started out exploring the sewing world 2 years ago, didn’t necessarily know where to start. Having faced that challenge, I want to share a few sewing essentials you need to get you started.

    1. Sewing Machine

    This is probably the first sewing essential unless you want to sew by hand, which I wouldn’t recommend unless you have to. You don’t need to get the most expensive machine for the start. My first machine was from Lidl for under 70 pounds which I upgraded later along my journey. Any machine should have basic functions. Also you don’t need an over-locker/ Serger, you can use the zig-zag stitch to clean off the raw edges and keep the fabric from fraying.

    2. Fabric Scissors

    Only use these for fabric, yes only fabric. It makes the cutting process easy and enjoyable when you scissors are sharp and snapping not onto your fabric.

    3. Paper Scissors

    You can use these for cutting out your commercial patterns and pattern cutting your designs.

    4. Pins

    Basically I like to use pins to attached fabric unto pattern paper pieces before cutting and equally to match your fabric pieces together.

    5. Seam Ripper

    I honestly have a love and hate relationship with this tiny tool, but you can not live without it. Mistakes are going to be made people, or maybe you sew something and don’t like how to comes out. Since I sew in the night most of the time, it has happened a couple of times that I sewed a garment on the wrong side of the fabric (insert crying emoji), then I had to unpick the seams.

    6. Clear Ruler/ Pattern Master

    These are good for making sure things are lining up correctly. Get a pattern master if you can, its great for defining those curves especially around the armhole and neckline.

    7. Measuring Tape

    I always have measuring tape around me my neck or within my reach. This comes in handy when taking your measurements and if you want to make alterations.

    8. Iron/ Board

    Everyone has a iron in their home. In the past I used to ignore using the iron when sewing until I came to understand how important it is to press the seams whilst sewing which makes your seams lay flat and gives the garment a polished look.

    P.S: This blog post was drafted written in January, yes before Pandemic its been in “drafted”since then. I hope you are keeping well. Thank you for stopping by. If there is something you have been putting off for a while please just do it, you can not wait for that thing to be ready. You will learn and improve along the way. 

    X  Leli 

    Vogue 9201

    Happy new month beautiful people! Can you believe the year is almost over, however there is a whole 29 days left. Make the most of it, enjoy everyday and spend quality time with your loved ones. Today is an exciting day for me as I’m attending a Womenswear Pattern Cutting course at the London College of Fashion for the next three weeks, I couldn’t be more thrilled. Will definitely keep you posted.

    Pattern Description: Fitted dress has front band and button fly, front princess seams that release into pleats.

    Pattern sizing: I cut out a size 12.

    Did it look like the photo once you were done with it? Yes

    Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes pretty much until the button fly. It was confusing for me, maybe because it was my first time sewing a shirt kind of bodice. I ended up putting buttons on top of the band, yeah.

    What did you particularly like about the pattern? I love the simplicity of the design.

    Fabric used: 100% cotton wax print.

    Pattern alterations or any designs you made? Made view B which suggests a detachable collar, but I opted to sew collar to the garment.

    Would you sew it again? Most definitely.

    Would you recommend it to others? Yes, I think so.

     

    Thanks for stopping by…

    xo, L

    New look Jumpsuit

    Hi guys! How are you doing?

    Who doesn’t love jumpsuits ladies? They are a way to give your wardrobe an edgy touch. You can dress them up with heels or dress them down with trainers and flats. Basically I have used this pattern in the past but I made pants instead, not too sure why. Anyways, got to go. Speak to you and have a great week, xo L.

    Pattern: New Look 6446

    Fabric: Denim medium weight

     

     

    NewLook 6446

    Hallo ladies!  Hope you are all doing well. I had some time off work, decided to spend some time in Germany with family and also had a catch up with friends and former colleagues. Back to work in London and its freezing, can’t believe we are almost approaching the festive season (yay). Today I am sharing this New look 6446( view C) which is actually is jumpsuit but I left out the bodice, instead was tempted to make these wide leg pants. I loved that the pattern is an easy sew. I will definitely be making the other views in the spring.

     

    Issa cold and windy day

     

    Have a blessed week. x