My DIY dress made from a scarf. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Here's a story of two dresses, the blue caftan with the V shape neck I made years ago, and the even easier red slit-side shift dress above from a scarf which is nearly no cut and nearly no sew..
I made my first dress years ago when I was a member of an Australian Women's expat sewing circle in Singapore.
Copying a Caftan - With A Paper Pattern - and The Help Of A Sewing Teacher
I took a paper pattern along to the class. I needed help. Each piece had a series of parallel lines for different sizes of dress. Which size should I cut?
The girls gathered around full of advice. What size was I? Er - um. Maybe 3X. When I was a teenager I was British size 8 or 10. Then I went up to 12. I was probably now 14.
Really? big bust. Big bottom. Better check. 'Your body expands in the heat,' the sewing teacher told me, diplomatically.
We made space on the floor for the pattern. Whilst the others, including two sewing teachers, tried to tell each other what to do, I retreated.
Malay Dressmaking
One girl, a Malay, was sitting. alongside, watching with disdainful horror, pursing her lips and shaking her head.
I asked her, "Do you know how to use a sewing pattern?"
She shook her head. "No need. Waste of time and money. It's a western thing. In school we were taught how to make clothes without patterns. Take off your dress."
I obeyed. I took off my dress. A good thing I had taken the precaution of wearing a slip underneath!
She shouted to the hostess, "Hey - Sue - do you have some newspaper? And scissors"
Sue was busy. The scissors were guarded like gold bars.
I pulled out of my tote bag a free newspaper I had already read..
Paper Pattern Problems
How big was the seam allowance? So many pieces, looked like more than would fit onto my dress length - how should I arrange them, big piees around the edge, in the middle, from the top down. Some of the pieces were mirror image, you Had one piece for the upper sleeve and had to cut and then remember to reverse it. And if you had a repeating pattern on the cloth, you needed to decide where to join the seams so they matched, how to have a big orchid in the middle, not lopsided.
Before using the paper patterns, I thought I would start with caftan as practice. Less cutting out. Just fold it over helf way. Run up two seams.
I used a cheap cotton. Not much lost if the experiment went wrong.
The first challenge was how far in to place the vertical sewing lines. That depends on your girth. If you already have a cheap caftan to use as a pattern, that helps. If not, take any dress which fits loosely.
Failing all else, use a tape measure to measure yourself. No tape measure? Use a piece of string, or the edge of a towel.
No pins? Scared of pricking yourself? Use paper clips. Use hair clips. Use bulldog clips from your office or study. Use washing line clips, wooden or plastic clothes pins. (UK clothes pegs.)
My Malay Newspaper Pattern
My new friend drew around my caftan with a pen. She folded the newspaper along the edge of a table, pressed the creases, and carefully tore the newspaper along the lines. Hey presto, a sewing pattern. You have to use the fabric inside out in case the newspaper makes black print on a pale fabric.
The first set of girls had cut out two large oblongs for my caftan, with a v neck. The dress was too long. The piece cut from the hem could be a belt or scarf to match. The piece of fabric cut out to make the v neck could be used as a pocket in the side seam, a patch pocket on the front, or twisted in a spiral to make a mock flower.
My Recent DIY Dress From A Scarf
I made a dress by folding a long piece to make an oblong shift dress shape. I cut down the top of the long side to make an armhole.
For the shoulders, I seamed from the two short side corners, from the top left and top right outsides of the short top section. I left a space in the middle large enough to go over my head.
Yes, it must allow your whole head, not just your neck, unless you cut out a v shape notch at the front and edge it with fancy ribbon, or make a short seam at the centre back to fasten with ribbons, a hook an eye, or press stud or zip.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.
Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian. We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.
I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
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