Tutorial How to Sew a Fairy Dress

As per usual I started my renaissance prep a few months early. I decided this year to sew a dress instead of making armor for the fest because August is the one month in Minnesota where heat is actually a problem. I decided to make a dress inspired by fairy craft. I wanted my character to be a cheap jack who takes items she likes and collects them, so I decided to sew a bunch of random objects into my dress.

This dress was made out of only two yards of fabric I bought at Joann's, and recycled lace/fabric/trinkets that I found at thrift stores or family members gave to me.

Surprisingly this build only took 2 days to make, and cost me only $25

Step 1: Materials

-2 yards of a base fabric for the skirt and bodice

-A hell of a lot of scrap lace/fabric

-Random trinkets...I.E. glass, books, buttons, feathers, keys, gloves etc.

-Iron on lining

-Rivets/gramets/whatever they are called.

-Ribbon

-Duct tape and aluminum foil for patterning.

Step 2: The Bodice

 To make the bodice, I covered my mannequin in foil and duct taped over the foil, then drew out the pattern I wanted (I only patterned half of the mannequin because it is symmetrical). If you don't have a mannequin, you can wrap yourself in tin foil and duct tape, it works just as great.

I cut out 4 pieces of each pattern from my white fabric ( I'm making a lining out of the fabric as well). I sewed together the pieces so I had 4 half bodices. Then I ironed on a strip to either side of the half bodice (this is where the graments/rivets/whatever they are called, for the corset's back and front will go)

Step 3: Bodice Continued

 I folded the edges over of each half bodice, then pinned and sewed the lining half bodice to the decorative half bodices (they were interchangeable really because they were made from the same material).

Step 4: Look Away Now Booklovers

 Because my fairy is kind of a hoarder, I decided to sew a book spine onto the bodice. I bought an old copy of Arabians Nights from the flea market, and carefully removed the cover from the pages using an exacto knife. I peeled the cardboard off the fabric cover, and genitally rinsed it in hot water. I let it dry then sewed it onto my bodice.

I also sewed a bunch of lace strings onto my dress. I found a huge bag of lace at my local thrift store for $7 dollars which saved me from breaking the bank. I had no pattern to sew the lace on other that just randomly pinning and sewing. It didn't have be perfect because I wanted my dress to have a lot of character.

Step 5: Corseting

 This dress has a corset tie up the front and up the back. I made this by using my grament machine (thanks grandma). I poked holes in the fabric with a seam ripper, and gramented over them. I laced the bodice up with gold ribbon. To give it an antique broken ballerina look, I sewed more lace around the top and bottom of the bodice.

Step 6: Skirt

 Next I sewed a few strips of lace for one of the shoulder straps to the dress. A strip of fabric I used to make the base bodice made up the other strap.

I sewed 3 old opera gloves onto my dress. Two on the straps (1 black, 1 white), and one black glove went around half of my bodice. I sewed a swirl of buttons on the other half of my bodice, buttons on the straps, and just buttons everywhere.

I sewed some feathers and buttons onto the skirt as well.

Step 8: Back

 I sewed the bodice onto the skirt. I had a few extra inches of skirt so I sewed some snaps into the fabric, to attach the back.

Step 9: ALL DONE

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How to make a Hawkeye Mat Bag?

 Finding myself in need of a yoga mat bag, I began to ponder what cool design I could use. After seeing how similar they look to arrow quivers, I decided to go the archer's route and style my bag after Hawkeye.

This is just a simple cylindrical bag that you could also use to carry a padded mat for camping or really anything that rolls up. You can add whatever designs you want. (You could easily do anyone from the Avengers like Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow etc.)


You Need

About a yard of fabric (the exact amount will depend on what size bag you need, see step 1 for measuring)
Accent fabric or embroidery thread (depends on your design, I only got 1/8 a yard and was covered.)
Thread
Sewing machine
Sewing pins
Drawstring Cording
Pattern making material or poster board

Step 1: Getting Measurements

  Yoga mats come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, which will determine how much fabric you will need. Pull out your measuring tape and get your rolled mat's dimensions.

My mat was 24" long and had a diameter of about 41/2".

To make sure the bag isn't too tight, add about an inch to an inch and a half to those measurements. I cut out a rectangle that was 251/2 inches long and 19" (6" x 3.14=18.84" circumference) wide.

Step 2: Making Patterns

 With my rectangle cut out, I need a bottom for my bag. I am a low budget crafter right now, so I didn't have a compass or anything fancy to make a perfect circle. So I made an X with the lines six inches wide and crossing at the three inch mark. I cut a rough square around the outside and then folded the paper in fourths and cut the curve between the points as evenly as possible. The circle may not be perfect, but it will be even on both sides.

Now you can cut out the patterns for your accent fabric. You can go nuts creatively with this. I just hand drew Hawkeye's mask and H. If you are embroidering your design, you can cut your design out in interfacing or embroidery backing instead of fabric.

Step 3: Applique and Drawstring

 Pin your accent fabric to the middle of your rectangle and sew down. I recommend machine applique to make the edges clean, but you can affix your design anyway you like. A great alternative would embroidering.

Next, cut a length of drawstring cord for the wide portion of your rectangle. Make sure it is longer than you need so that you can knot the ends (I probably used about 23 inches). The side of the fabric with the design should be facing down so that the seam for the drawstring will be on the inside. Fold the end of the fabric over and pin down.

Step 4: Finishing

With the design sewn on and the drawstring in place, we can now close the bag. Fold the rectangle in half with the design side facing inward and sew the length up to the drawstring at the top of the bag.

Pin your circle to the bottom of the bag and sew. Turn the bag right side out.

For the strap, I cut a long rectangle that was 30 inches long and 4 inches wide (you can measure across your chest to see how long to make yours). Fold the rectangle's width in half and sew the length and one of the ends. Turn inside out, press down and sew to ends of the bag on the opposite side of your design.

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