Cami-tops for my PJ bottoms

So these are 2 small cami-tops to go with the PJ trousers I made for the operation I have in a few weeks time. I made the trousers here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2019/09/pyjama-trouser-x2-pink-top-and-paper.html

Both are kind of made from the same Burda pattern as this dress from the November 2016 issue of Burda Magazine and is dress 113 or top 112 though I used the dress pattern rather than re-trace. I think my tops are quite a bit longer than the 112 version as well but much shorter than this green velvet dress.
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If you want to read more about this dress click here.

Well as you can see my dancing skeletons fabric top went a bit wrong in that the cups are upside down. Sad but still wearable since more than likely I will wear a wrap top over it anyway. My ops next month, so October, so likely not to be very hot weather. Mind you this is Engalnd so who knows?

Its still preferable to some Sainsbury or Asda PJs which is probably what I would end up wearing otherwise. I had no spare fabric from this so could not re-cut them and had to go ahead with this or scrap the idea entirely. Its a shame the facing inside the back is actually cut the right way up! There was not enough though to re-cut it into a second attempt at the cups. I lined the cups with plain white cotton.

Then for the camo version I just used the back of the pattern and totally ignored the front, so much easier to make. I sewed and then overlocked all edges, added stretch black velvet ribbon for the straps and trimmed with gothic looking lace (both from Ebay).

I like this and it answers a query I have been mulling over for quite a while as in - why not just use the back piece and save the hassle of making the pretty cumbersome and time consuming front cups? I think I prefer the cleaner look of the camo top to the skeleton top. The Burda pattern has a 1930s or 1940s feel to the slip dress top. The camo version below feels more 1990s.

It does not really matter because these are both Ok for the hospital and thats all they are intended for.

So now, all I need for the op, is a wrap top to wear over these. I have yet to decide which pattern to use for that but I will write about it once I have decided. Three weeks left of sewing then I have to stop for at least 6 weeks. It going to absolutely kill me! I suppose I had better do some knitting instead. I could do with a few warm jumpers for winter.

Anyway I am really quite pleased with these tops even tho I managed to slightly ruin the look of the skeleton top. If I find a bit more of that fabric I will possibly have to make a second one of them and scrap this version.

Till next week then, with, hopefully, a velvet wrap top to go over these..........

Bracken

80: Velvet slip dress

Burdastyle 11/2016 - 113

After making my So Sew Easy dress I had some more velvet left so rather than stash it I decided to make a slip dress from the rest of it. After all, the #TMS unstashed challenge is supposed to be about not stashing the fabric you bought at Christmas. I bought this just after Christmas with the idea of making something to go out on New Years Eve and made sequin tops instead so best to use it all up because my fabric stash is already large enough to get me through an entire year of sewing without adding anything to it!


This dress is from the November 2016 issue of Burda Magazine and is dress 113.  For some reason I particularly like this issue of Burda which is weird because I did not buy it when it came out but bought it off ebay just after Christmas when I bought my fabric as part of an ebay buying binge.

I have cut out several items from this issue and it looks to be a favourite since I also traced lots of patterns ready to cut so its an epic mag for some reason despite my originally not liking anything in this issue!

This is a very wearable dress either on it's own or with a T-shirt.

 

 I left out the back frill because I think it will be much more wearable for every-day life without with the frill included and I want to wear this.

 

Its a bit too party-ish with the frill. The facings are black stretch crepe. Its all overlocked and twin needle hemmed. I found the Burda instructions a complete muddle. Everything was in the wrong order and I would make it completely differently next time and I expect to make several of these in different fabrics because its lovely. Its meant to be cut on the cross but I did not do that because it would look a bit weird being velvet but the next one I would probably do it on the cross.

 

Unfortunately, I found that my fluorescent yellow top does not photograph well at all in these pictures and to be honest we have a small frosting of snow today. It does not show on our patio but the grass is slightly frosted like a Christmas card here and there, so its pretty cold outside, and I was not going to spend any longer freezing for pictures so these will have to do for now.

 

I think its a lovely dress which can be worn with trainers and a bike jacket or to go out on the town. What I did not realise until I had made this was there is a fault in the fabric:

 

Its just above knee level. I am toying with cutting the bottom off and shortening the dress to get rid of this but when I asked my other half he could not see this so maybe I am the only one who will notice.

I have yet to decide if I will shorten it but it does seem a shame because its a risk. Shortening things can look great but I am rarely sure until I do it and some lovely dresses and skirts have been ruined when I have done this so now I am a bit in a quandary. If I had realised I would have designed my cutting to avoid it but I never noticed until I had finished hemming the dress.

So, to shorten? Or not to shorten?

 

 

And here are my upcycled boots. I put glitter stars on these using just glitter glue. They are inspired by this Burda blog post. http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/diy-glitter-shoes

Though as usual I did it slightly differently. I did not add extra glitter but just painted the stars with Pound Shop glitter glue which I bought on a whim ages ago.

 

They go rather well with my dress don't you think?

Thanks for visiting my blog,

Bracken