two dots on the "ë": DIY Clothing

Adding a sequined appliqué to a sweater

I bought a really simple white sweater from H&M not that long ago. One of those sweaters that can be dressed up with nice pants or a skirt, but can also be dressed down with jeans. The first time that I wore it, it got caught on something that pulled some of the threads out a little. The hole was so tiny, I thought that I could get away with wearing it anyways. That was until my 13 year old cousin pointed at my chest one night at dinner and said "you have a hole on your boob." That, I thought, was the last time I could ever wear that sweater.

I was really bummed because I had literally worn it twice. I didn't want to throw it away, but I didn't know what else to do with it. I had some sequined appliqués that I had bought for a previous DIY project, and a lightbulb went off.

All I did was hand sew that appliqué onto the sweater, and voila! I now have a cute sweater with just the right amount of sparkle on it. The only thing is, I now have to hand wash it, or wash it in the gentle cycle.

My rose appliqué - I really like the white on white

Pac-Man and Blinky costumes

I was invited to a costume party a little while ago. The theme of the party of 8 bit adventure, and to fully participate in all of the awesomeness, guests were asked to dress as their favourite video game character. Since I was going with a friend of mine, we decided it would be cute to dress as Pac-Man and Blinky - one of the ghosts.

And so my DIY cogs started turning. I did some Googling, and found this image.

So cute, right?

The price for the dresses you see above is $32. I thought that I could do better. The tutorial below shows you how to make two similar dresses for approximately $8 each. The process for making both of these costumes was relatively simple, and believe me, if I could do it, anyone can do it.
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Tutorial:

Find a dress that fits you well and lay it on your jersey fabric. Kill two birds with one stone by folding the fabric in half so you only have to trace and cut once. This is my favourite way to make simple dresses such as these two because it means not needing to create a pattern.
Trace around the dress. I turn the dress inside out, and then give another quarter to half inch seam allowance. If the seam allowance is too much at the end, it can always be trimmed.
Pin, pin, pin! Put pins through both sides of the fabric to ensure they stay together when you sew them together.
Sew. I used a half inch seam allowance, which was fine. When it comes to jersey fabric, I use a special needle. The needle I use is not as sharp, which allows it to pass through the fibres instead of cutting them. Also, use a zigzag stitch when sewing jersey, as it stretches with the fabric. A straight stitch will break.
The one step I forgot to take a picture of was when I rounded the bottom of the dress. I wanted to include a picture of Lite Steam-A-Seam2, which is something that I discovered just recently. It's fusible webbing for adding trim, lace, or even hemming delicate fabrics. What I love about jersey is that it doesn't have to be hemmed. It doesn't fray, and rolls at the end. However, when I rounded the bottom of the dress, this quality did not come in handy. In order to give the bottom some weight, I added fusible webbing, and ironed the hem.
Cut out the eyes and mouth out of black fabric scraps.
Sew the eyes and mouth onto the front of the fabric. In hindsight, I probably should have sewn them on before I sewed the front and the back of the dress together. However, I wanted to make sure the dress fit before I continued, so that's why I sewed them on last. The challenge with that is making sure to only sew through the front of the dress, and not the back as well.
You now have a cute Pac-Man dress!

Below are some pictures documenting the steps I took to make the Blinky costume. It was basically the same as the Pac-Man dress, so I won't repeat the descriptions of the steps again. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!

In total, I think each dress took me about an hour, which isn't bad at all. Minus the fact that Blinky's eyes are a bit googly, I think they turned out great! And the party was a blast!