Party Dress TIme! How to Make A Bustier Party Dress

Making a bustier has been on my to-do list for a while, so when I had a wedding coming up I pounced on the opportunity.

Photos: Michael Dooney

Here is a summary of how I made the dress

1. First step is to find an old bra and pull out the cups.

2. I used the pattern from Burdastyle NR. 144-122008-DL. And made a muslin version. 

3. I chose to use a taffeta for the main fabric

4. Once I had the individual cups, I placed them in the muslin cup and checked for the fit. I marked the alternations and transferred it to the pattern pieces.

5. I then re cut the muslin with the altered pattern pieces to check the fit. Once I was satisfied I cut the lining (the apricot satin) pieces and sewed it all together.

6. Now that I had the lining completed and the fit perfect, I started cutting out the dress fabric. 

7. The next step was to sew all of the cup fabric together and cover the cups, then sew the bodice sections together.

8. I then inserted the cups into the bust and sewed. This bit can be a little fiddly and tricky.

9. I was contemplating whether or not to add the under wire. I thought I would give it a go to see whether it was worth while. Of course it was! If you look at the second image below you can see the difference between the left cup and the right cup. The left has the under wire inserted and the second lies flat without it. Plus it offers extra support. I sewed a channel under the bra cup for the wire to be inserted, then pushed the wire through.
Visit the clothhabit for more detailed instructions on how to insert the bra cups.

10.I then gathered the skirt piece and attached it to the bodice.

11. At the moment I am rather anal with regards to finishing of garments. I used to be kind of lazy with linings and finishings, but now I love to make quality garments from the inside out. The garments last for longer, they feel nicer to wear and it looks a lot more professional. 

Photos: Michael Dooney

Yay! For a fun party dress!

Where are the fabric stores in Berlin? Here are my recommendations!

It can be difficult finding fabric/craft supplies in Berlin....BUT! there are quite a few shops spotted all over the city. So I have compiled a list of stores. I have really only included shops in the Mitte, Friedrichshain, Wedding, Kreuzberg, Neukoelln areas as I do not really gravitate to the other side of town (e.g. western suburbs).

Photo: Michael Dooney

BEST SELECTION

Welt der stoffe
Pankow
This is my favourite fabric store in Berlin with the best selection. They have also started to incorporate notions in the store.
Generally the ladies cut the fabric, give you a receipt. You then pay at the cashier.  





 
BEST SELECTION PLUS SOME NOTIONS

Gebrueder Berger Stoff 
Mitte-Schoeneberg
This is a great fabric store with a large selection. There are no prices on the fabrics so you need to ask the ladies for prices.The staff here are generally helpful and polite. There is only fabric here, no notions. You have the fabric cut by the 'cutting ladies' then pay at the cashier.






BEST ECO FABRIC STORE

Image from West End Girl

Seiben Blau
Prenzlauer Berg

A great fabric store specialising in organic and ethical fabrics. They stock jerseys, cottons and more. 
This is your one stop local for sustainable sewing 









 
BEST QUILTING FABRIC

Image from Tip Berlin

Frau Tulpe  
Prenzlauer Berg 
 Frau Tulpe has a wonderful selection of cotton print fabrics. I would describe it as a funky quilting fabric store with an emphasis on Japanese fabrics. 


 





CHEAPEST FABRICS

 Maybacher Ufer markets
Kreuzberg - Tues and Friday
This is where the poor sewer needs to head. Nothing in Berlin beats these cheap fabrics. During the winter months they have wool like fabrics and for summer more polyesters and jerseys. Sometimes you can find them at Mauermarkt too. 
 
Maybacher Ufer - Saturday fabric market
http://www.neukoellner-stoff.de/




GOOD AMOUNT OF NOTIONS

Stoffhaus 
Friedrichshain

You can get your notions at this store. They have a limited amount of fabric, but for a pretty penny you can get some fabrics.... though they are a little too pricey for my taste

HAS A HEAP OF NOTIONS
 

Knopfloch
Mitte

This is a good place for notions. They also stock dress and quilting fabric, but it can be fairly pricey. 


  






SUNDAY TRIP TO POTSDAM

Image from Vom- taubertel

Stoffmarkt Holland 
This is an interesting market to visit. But I wouldn't be waiting around for it to reach your town. I went out to the Potsdam market a few years ago, but was not wowed. It is a little expensive and not too much of a variety.







SWEET FABRIC BOUTIQUE STORE

Image from Naehkontor

Naehkontor
Prenzlauer Berg
This is a sweet corner store fabric store. I sometimes find unique remnants here for a good  price. They have a nice selection of unique quilting fabrics. You can also pick up CUT mag here!







CUTE FABRICS

Image from 360 Berlin

Frieda Hain
Friedrichshain
These guys have a nice selection of cute fabrics. Particularly good for sewing for kids.












BEST QUALITY BOUTIQUE FABRICS 

Image from das macht ich nachts

BEST PLACE FOR TRACING PAPER

Stoff Meyer
Mitte
Stoff Meyer is the premium, designer fabric store in Berlin. If I had money I would visit this shop a whole lot more!
It is worth checking out.

modulor
Kreuzberg
Modulor is a great one stop shop. I get my tracing paper for tracing patterns. They also have some good priced elastic here with a selection of fabrics and notions. They used to have a sewing shop (Naehinsitut) attached to it, but unfortunately they recently relocated.






BEST BUTTON STORE

Image from Paul Knofe

 
Paul Knopfe 
Kreuzberg

This is a shop dedicated to buttons. There are a heap of new and vintage buttons. Don't touch anything! You need to ask to retrieve boxes of buttons from the shelves.









BEST BUTTON MARKET STALL

 Ostbahnof antique markets
 There is a lady that sells antique buttons from Ostbahnof for a good price, I aptly call her the button lady!





DEPARTMENT STORES
Department stores stock some fabrics, some notions and yarn. Here are some links
Galeria Kauf haus, 
Karstadt
Craft store - idee

There are numerous places where you can find places to sew your own projects.

sewing classes/ sewing work space

Prenzlauer Berg - naehraum
Kreuzberg - modulor, 1000stoff, manyfold

Neulkoelln - Nadelwald 

Image from Nadelwald Neukoelln

If you want to find other fabric stores (perhaps in the western suburbs) then I suggest that you visit Stoff in Berlin 

Happy Fabric Shopping

Sewing for my Mental Well-being

I went home to Australia for a short visit and noticed that the television network ABC (the Australian BBC) was really promoting Mental Health week. This made me super excited! Mental Health has unfortunately taken the back seat when it has come to Health, so to see it in the lime light was marvelous. I have worked in the area of mental health for many years now and I work in a holistic sense.... so what has this all got to do with sewing? Read on!

'Why is sewing good for my mental health?'

1. Beat Depression and Burn out. 
In this fast paced world, where many people live and breathe their 9-5 job, it is easy to get burnt out and experience depression. Having something else to come home to can provide some relief. I find that when I am having a difficult period at work, I know that I can shift my focus to my creative projects at home. 

2. Supportive Sewing Community
You are apart of a fantastic supportive community who are truly passionate about creating! They can brighten your day!

2. Develop patience, resilience and  persistence
Patience - Sewing can force you to slow down and take your time, so in a sense it can help to calm you. 
Resilience - We all have those projects which seem to go all wrong, so you need to be resilient to get through it. Bounce Back and persist!

3. Learn new skills and create new neural pathways!
Learning new skills is good for healthy brain development. Create those new pathways!

4. Experience Flow
I experience moments of flow when exercising and when I sew (or design or print). Flow is when someone experiences total immersion in an activity. For me it is intrinsically rewarding and I experience a feeling of serenity. Here is a good article on flow

5. Pride and satisfaction 
There is always an element of pride and satisfaction when you complete and wear a garment. My proudest sewing moment was on my wedding day when I designed and sewed many outfits for the occasion:)

6. Unleashing creativity.
Unleashing your creativity can be a great outlet for your emotions and it can make you happy!

Martin Seligman specilises in positive psychology and discusses creativity and mental health. So check out some of his work for more info!

Have you noticed the link between positive mental health and sewing?

DIY Wedding : Making your own Wedding Cake Toppers: Crocheting & Sewing

Having lived away from Australia, we really wanted to incorporate our love for our country into the wedding. So we added a number of Australian elements. Lammingtons are a cake which originated in Australia.... though it may have come from New Zealand.... no one truly knows, so for the moment I am just going to state that they are apart of my childhood and they are certainly a homely cake. I wanted to make these lamingtons for the wedding, but we were short of time so we had the lamingtons made from a local bakery, Bread Craft. They tasted wonderful and they were a great price.

For the cake toppers I used my Creepy Cute Crochet book as inspiration and used the basic head and body pattern.  

Crocheting
I crocheted the four balls and attached the hair for each. It was fun styling the hair. It made me feel like a hair dresser:)

Crocheting and Sewing
I made the glasses out of polyclay and sewed them on the grooms head, along with the eyes and smiling mouths. I used the fabric from my dress and Michael's suit to create the miniature outfits.

The Cake Stand
I wanted to be creative with the stand and most importantly it had to be cost efficient. Mum and dad had recently done some work in the garden and they had some left over wood in the garden. So I collected these pieces and arranged them on this table and finished it off with some doilies.

The Tumbled Lamingtons
I actually did not know how we were going to present the lamintons on the stand. My mothers artist friend, Jane, got to work on the wedding night and it just turned out perfectly! Mum added more Australian quirks to it by adding the eucalyptus to the presentation. I LOVE this cake! It was so bloody aussie!

There we have it! Our Australian Wedding Cake with cute handmade cake toppers!