Level 3 Patchwork Project

It has been soooo long from I give you an update, there has been so much happening.  This post has been in the pipeline for quite some time now, to be honest it has taken a bit of courage as it has involved moi being infront of a camera. My hubby Al took these photos for me quite sometime ago, even with him taking them, I still felt embarrassed, as I felt so awkward and I don’t do posing, thats why you will notice I seemed to find it more comfortable looking AWAY from the camera.

So do you remember the bridesmaids dresses I made? Well as soon as I had them finished I had a 2 week deadline to get an piece finished and handed in for a level 3 patchwork class I was doing at tech.

I had to carry out a commercial brief, and make an item which incorporated at least 3 patchwork techniques, which all had to be linked to Armagh Planetarium/Oberservatory and backed up with a portfolio.

So off course I wanted to put my dressmaking into practice and make a dress.  You know one of the most important things I learn’t about patchwork was “Patchwork is a technique, its how you apply it”.  Most people would automatically think of a quilt when they think of patchwork but you can apply it to anything at all, a bag, a cushion etc etc.

I used a pattern which I had got one time for the sew magazine, but when beginning to plan the design of the dress out in my head I realised it just wasn’t exactly right but would be a good enough template to work from and a wee challenge on trying to adapt a pattern. 

I made the dress from Michael Miller fabric, buttons and trims which I stock in the shop. I also recycled fabric for the side panels and front of the skirt from a skirt I had.  I will try and upload the michael miller fabric onto the shop sometime by the weekend.

I took the pleats in the pattern out of the skirt so I could get the effect of my patchpocket and I thought I extra strip added down in the centre back seam and a piece added into the front of the skirt at a shorter length would be a nice wee bit of interest.  I also decided to make a big flower with lots of tails using random scraps of fabric and embroidery thread that my mum in law give them which I crochet a chain stitch

 For the neck of the dress I got scraps of fabric and done it in crazy patchwork and added a couple of butterflies to it which I wanted 3D

 Whilst doing this project I though I would love to give a bit of fabric painting ago, when asking around, anyone that I spoke to that done it had used acrylic paint, although it made the fabric hard when dried, which I didn’t want.  So after a bit of research on google I found dylon paint was going to do my job.

I haven’t done any proper painting since I dont my GCSE’s over 13 years ago, and I really did surpirse myself on how it came back to me.  As the dress was reflecting the gardens at the Planetarium and Observatory, I decided to paint a bird on the bodice of it.  I got so excited with a paint brush in my hand I painted on some swirls linking my hexagon flowers together. I really do feel this bit of handpainting put my own stamp on it.

I made a wee patch pocket on the skirt of the dress, put a lace zip in the back of the dress which we also stock in the shop and I used a ribbon trimming to section of the the flying geese patchwork and the bottom of the dress before edging it with a lace effect bias binding.

I really did enjoy designing and making this dress and have to say the cotton is lovely and soft which has made it very comfortable to wear. Oh and guess what…. I passed!! Whoohoo so I was definately well chuffed 🙂