A couple of months ago I mentioned I was going to use some off cuts from my denim jeans to make another project. It's taken me a while because it's all hand sewn, but I got there in the end and here's the final product. Let me show you what I've made
Here's the bits of denim that I'm going to upcycle. I need to make a wider piece by sewing three pieces together. One of the pieces was missing a corner so added a patch in between two pieces. That's fine because patchwork makes a interesting feature and it's the back which has nothing on it.
Now I have the width I need, I need to adjust the length.
This is the front and I'm playing around with where to add some pockets. There's two reasons for doing this. First, it's nice to add some details otherwise the front will be very bland and boring. And second, there are some holes in some areas. Adding a pocket will cover them up!! I've also added some straps at the top.
Originally I planned to sew and fix everything in place, then I thought it would be better to have some flexibility. I bought some press studs for the front, and some d-rings to make adjustable straps.
The press studs makes it easier to open up the garment. And now the pockets have a third purpose - to cover up the stitching of the press studs.
The only problem was the top press stud. I didn't have a pocket to cover it up as adding a third pocket would make the front look very busy.
I decided to add a bow instead, just a little one to cover up the stitches, and to make it look a bit cuter. I also sewed the straps on using pink thread to make it stand out, and add a little colour to the blue denim.
And here's the final product, a little dungaree dress for my great niece. I'm not sure if she liked it or not as she didn't seem too impressed 😅. When I was making the dress, I took the "work in progress" to measure her up a couple of times. She enjoyed that a lot, when I told her to raise her little arms and wrapped the fabric and tape measure around her. Maybe she thought it was a fun game. But with the final product, I had to coax her a few times before she would wear it and model it for me. I hope she likes it, I do 😁
