From Tablecloth to Pinafore!

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Lets turn this into a dress!
During the summer I was inspired to give up-cycling a go. Scrolling through Instagram, I came across British Heart Foundation's 'Big Stitch' competition. It's such a great way to get people into the charity shops and to reuse and re-purpose rather than go for the fast fashion option. I'm always turning bed linen and other textiles into dresses, so thought this would be right up my street. I found this gorgeous mustard yellow tablecloth in the British Heart Foundation store in Street, Somerset. The colour screamed at me from the rails, so I grabbed it.

 Another positive about this process was the cost, buying fabrics from charity shops can be great for the purse strings too. I was pretty sure the fabric would be sturdy enough for my pinafore, it feels slightly like denim to touch. I couldn't see what the exact type of fabric it was as the label had been removed. I plonked it into the wash and it came out super. The only annoyance is it creases very easily!

I used a pattern from Simply Sewing Magazine, called the Sunday Set. It's such a flattering design and suits my body shape perfectly. I like a fit and flare style! Pinafores seem to be quite popular at the moment too.

I find the patterns in the Simply Sew magazine very user friendly and theres normally helpful guidance in the magazine itself as well. I think you could have such fun with this pattern, maybe using a mix of colours would look nice (in a patchwork type design)?

I found some large vintage buttons from my stash to use. The skirt was fairly easy to make as it used a gathered waist. The bib caused a bit of a headache as I sewed it the wrong way at first!! The pocket at the front ended up being on the inside. Does anyone else make simple mistakes like this? I soon rectified it (though it did involve the un-picker tool, a lot of patience and tea)!

Despite a few, fairly minor hiccups, I was thrilled with the end product. Not bad considering it started life on a dining table. So my advice is, check out the charity shops for cheap fabric (especially if you're new to sewing), give upcycling a go and check out the British Heart Foundation 'Big Stitch' competition for next year. I'm going to try and get something done in time for next year.

Happy Creating

Caz x



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