November dress (aka The Curtain)

Yep, it’s true. The November dress is made from a curtain. And not just any curtain, but a genuine retro 70’s style cotton curtain that I found in an op shop. It called to me, seduced me with it’s bright and happy colours and little tulips, and the next thing I knew I was walking out the door with it and taking it home with me. (Sounds a bit like a random encounter in a bar so far. Hmmm.)

Anyway, this curtain and I stuck it out for a while. It lived in my fabric cupboard for a good couple of years, every so often peeking out and saying ‘hey, when are you gonna make me into something new?’. To which I’d reply ‘soon, I promise! Really!’ and then forget about it all over again.

Then back in November, the curtain and I got reunited. And creativity blossomed from our encounter. Woo hoo!

First up, I made a couple of cushion covers. Which are happily sitting on my couch, looking all bright and cheerful.

Then I made a skirt, and used the curtain’s cotton lining as the skirt lining. Nice and thrifty of me, yes?

Then I wore the skirt to brunch with some friends, and realised that although I’d made it in my size, it turns out I’m not that size any more and the skirt was actually too big for me. (Side note: must redraft my skirt pattern.) This kinda sucked a bit, as I’d fully lined it and didn’t really feel like unpicking the entire top just to take it in a size.

Then I decided, hey, why not turn it into a dress? Which also involves lots of unpicking, but it’s unpicking to create something new, which is completely different from unpicking to adjust a size, and no where near as frustrating.

And thus, the November dress was born. 🙂

(I then went on to use some more of the itty bitty bits of curtain that were left to make a glasses case for my mother for Christmas. There isn’t much curtain fabric left now. Possibly enough for a small soft toy. Watch this space to see what it ends up as.)

And now, after that long drawn-out tale of a girl and a curtain, I present to you, the November dress.

November dress (front)

November dress (back)

Still looks a bit like a curtain, doesn’t it? Luckily, I have no issues with wearing things that look like curtains. 🙂

The bodice is one that I drafted back in February for the pink-and-red dress. It’s based on another dress I own, with a few adjustments (such as making the bodice longer so you don’t need to wear another top under the dress!) The skirt used to be an A-line hipster skirt. Which means it’s not as full as I would have liked, but there wouldn’t have been enough fabric to make a very full skirt, anyway. The skirt is from a pattern I drafted ages and ages ago back when I started sewing.

I made a belt with the fabric as well. Not that you can see it very clearly, since it sort of blends in with all the other fabric pattern!

I think overall, it was probably better as a skirt, but since I seem to be wearing dresses far far more than skirts these days, it’ll get worn a lot more than it would have if I’d left it in it’s original incarnation.

Long live curtains! 🙂