Remade Jeans into Jean shorts

This was a really simple sewing project I did the other day.  I haven't owned shorts in ages but see they are coming back into fashion.  I was thinking of just buying a pair but I had a pair of old jeans that I normally use for cutting the grass.  They were getting a wear spot right at the shorts line so...time to cut them up and make shorts!

I added the eyelet trim to the cuffs of the shorts after cutting off the jeans legs.  I also added pieces of indigo cotton above where the wear spots were because the fabric was pretty thin.  I stay stitched these pieces down using an indigo colored thread that you really can't see unless you know what you are looking for.  Even then, it's difficult.   There are a couple of minor holes on the front that I stay stitched and will most likely embroider over later.  

It's a very simple project but I now have shorts for the summer!

How to annoy an archeofashionista quickly!

I just got back from Vegas and wanted to share this....mash up with everyone. This is the quickest way to get an archeofashionista's eye to twitch. What is an archeofashionista? It's someone who is into historical fashions, recreates them, follows the historical fashion circles, and who's eyes bleed when people mix and match fashion eras wrong. Basically, it's most of the people reading this. :-) And yes, it's a term I came up with after seeing this monstrosity.

How can a famous Regency fashion plate be next to a famous Edwardian fashion plate?!? How!?! They cannot exist together!!!!!! *twitch*

These were up in my room at the Venetian and my Mom thought I was being silly getting all upset about this mash up. :-) I mean, some how the SCA doesn't bother me but this does. Probably because, at least in the SCA, everyone knows what time period they are from. People that see this won't realize it's all cut outs of fashion plates from very different eras and areas. ...I might try to find each of the fashion plates later. I'm pretty sure the Regency one is from between 1817-1820....

New Retro Looking Dress

Background
I bought the fabric for the dress at my local thrift store a couple of years ago. It was clearly vintage - based on the width and the design. I'm pretty sure 1950's. The design is of St. Mark's Square in Venice with Venice written under it. The colors are mostly natural, black, peach, and teal. I knew I wanted to make a retro looking dress with it but only recently decided on a pattern. The fabric itself is perfect for where I'm going this weekend - the Venetian in Vegas. :-)

The Process

I cut out McCall's M6959:

I went with the main dress view which is a nice, simple, wrap dress - or so I hoped. It wasn't. I cut out everything, tried the dress on before wrapping bias tape all around the edges and...the way the front is cut is completely wonky. It fit perfectly at the waist but there is no way in any sort of Universe that the front bodice could fit over even a cup A, let alone my two lumps of fat I have permanently stuck above my lungs. Yes, it has darts, but the way the opening was....that just wasn't going to happen. And the darts? They ended up almost under my arms...despite the waist fitting perfectly. o_0?

The bodice side seams and the skirt seams will not match up. Don't even try. It's not worth it. The shoulders are for a linebacker. I have no idea why anyone would need that much space on their shoulders without using shoulder pads. ....So I recut the back slightly to redo the shoulders and lower the back neckline. The front I had to completely recut. I moved the dart to where it should be, redesigned the front edge so it would cover my chest, and recut the shoulders on the front. Once I had the front edge where I wanted, I added the three packages of black bias tape all around the edges. Add it to the sleeve edge before you fully sew on the sleeve so it has a nice and neat edge.

I also added a ribbon fluffy thing to the front over of the dress. It needed something there. Here are the pictures of the final dress on the dress dummy. If I do the dress again, the only other thing I'd change is to make the waist another another 1" lower.