Feathered Friends Frock!

I am delighted to finally be able to show you the finished product of an idea I have had in my mind for so long - and dying to share with you all!!!!

The 'Feathered Friends Frock'. This started off it's life as a muslin for my purple and red dress that i made last Summer from New Look 6902. But for some reason I was really drawn to the raw, natural feel to the calico I made the muslin from and decided I could keep the muslin to wear. But I felt it was lacking something. I have always wanted to try out screen printing because I love the defined and professional look it can have. But after a lot of research I decided that it was too expensive to gather all the materials required for it so I gave up on that idea. Then I discovered the wonders of Reynolds Freezer Paper. Probably most of you are more clued into these things than I am, but this magic paper can be ironed onto fabric (plastic side down) and peeled off again numerous times. This means that you can draw (or trace, as the paper is semi-transparent) designs onto the paper, cut out with a craft knife and then iron onto fabric and use it as a stencil that won't leak!

I decided to try this method out on the muslin dress and picked these sweet birds as my design (I googled bird silhouettes and got thousands to choose from). This was so much fun, and so easy. I used black fabric paint that is set by ironing over (with an ironing cloth between the iron and the design) so the dress should be safe to wash and rewash many times without the design fading.

Ahhh - it's Christmas! Here's a wee peak at this year's Christmas tree.

 

I thought the dress needed just one more final detail to finish it off, so I added the black band to the hem. This is what took me so long finishing the project, i just couldn't find the time to sew the band on!!!!

I'm so glad I finally did as I'm really happy with the end result. Unfortunately it's not the right time of year for a light cotton dress so I'm looking forward to getting good use out of the dress next Spring/Summer.

Here is a close-up of the design. As the freezer paper can be reused a few times I thought it would be a nice idea to make a matching accessory for the dress, in the form of a clutch bag similar to the one I made last Summer. I painted the flying bird on the flap and the bird on the branch onto the back panel and started sewing it all together (I was working to a deadline as I wanted to wear them both out for dinner one night) but for some reason when I turned the bag the right way around the lining wouldn't sit straight inside the bag and it just didn't look right...so it sits and waits for me to attempt to fix it! Hopefully I will get round to fixing it in the new year as it will be such a cute clutch.

Speaking of clutches, I am half-way through making a gorgeous red and gold one for a Christmas pressie. I'm at the dreaded turning bit, so I'm holding my breath in the hopes it turns out better than the bird clutch!!! Otherwise it will be a mad dash down to the shops to get something else!!! I'll post up picks soon.