Making Dresses with Curtain Fabrics

Times are tough and not everyone can afford a new wardrobe every season. You could dwell on the fact that retail therapy won’t be a usual past time anymore, or you could be optimistic and realise that with every challenge in life is an opportunity. This one is to use your imagination and creativity and make your own clothes with curtain fabrics.

Celebrities pay thousands of pounds a year to have something original and hand made, with time and effort spent making the item beautiful. You can do this too!

All you need is a few basic sewing skills and some old fabrics.

To begin you need an idea and some material to match it. For instance, take the shift dress, an old style brought back to life in 2012. This is one of the easiest things to make especially if this is your first time and you want results with little time and effort.

Making your shift dress:

• ‪Choose a light but wearable fabric. This can range from denim to cotton. Make sure the colours chosen are in fashion this year in order for your dress to look stylish and as if you have bought it from a designer this year. This also goes for patterns and shapes. Personally I would go for pastels which are so hot for spring 2012, or if you are still sporting the spots, go wild with animal print.
• ‪Next you need a pattern. You can buy a simple shift dress pattern from any material outlet or online. They cost only a couple of pounds and can be used over and over again. It is the pattern which must be accurate and perfect to avoid any mistakes. Once you have your pattern, follow the instructions and carefully cut out each piece, back and front with a pair of sharp scissors.
• ‪Now you have to assemble your dress. This normally screams run for most amateurs but don’t worry, it is very easy. You can either use a sewing machine or hand stitch depending on what is available to you. Again follow the instructions and take your time to carefully sew each part of the dress. If you make a mistake, don’t panic as the stitching can be taken out and you can start again.
• ‪Once you have sewn your dress together, simply iron and feel free to add any extras, from beads, embroidery, sequins and then team with a belt, heals and a bag and WOW you have just made your own, original , designer shift dress, band on trend!

As you have just seen, It is unbelievably easy and cheap to make your own shift dress and with practice you can go on to more difficult items, such as shorts and tops. Just get your hands on some old fabrics or even curtain fabric and get designing.

Article by Hazel Miller