All Sew Petite

Hand painted eye masks

Happy Easter !!! Hope you are having a well deserved break and enjoy yourselves!

I started my Easter weekend hand painting some eye masks for my partner which I had promised to do a while back, but as always am too selfish as I would rather make something for myself. With having a long weekend off from work I thought I should have enough time to do both.

This is not a first time that I am sewing eye mask and I can honestly say that it is a quick and easy make that can be customized in so many different ways. Every time I make one I try to decorate it using different and new to me techniques to see what I like better.

This time I decided to hand paint each eye mask with a different set of eyes of some manga/anime characters that my partner is a big fan of. I will not bore you too much about the details, but in case if you are interested and want to know where the inspiration is from I will mention it at the end.

Step by step tutorial

I had drafted this pattern based on my partner’s feedback. He likes to have a bigger eye mask then typically can be found in a shop. You can draft it yourself or use a ready pattern if you already have one.

This is a small project, hence it is best to use any fabric scraps that you may have in your stash which are otherwise too small for anything else.

I found enough white and brown cotton fabric in my scrap basket so I can make 3 eye masks. Natural fiber materials such as cotton are the best for dyeing and hand painting. But if you are going to skip this step then any fabric should be fine.

You need to cut two pattern pieces, one that will be a front-visible side, and one that will be a back- lining. I would make sure to pick the softest fabric as a lining because it gets in contact with your face and you want it to be comfortable.

I like to drew my picture straight on the pattern to give me an idea of how the completed version will look like.

Using carbon paper transfer desired design onto a facing fabric if like me you are bad at drawing and color it with a fabric pen or a paint. I like to use Dylon fabric paint because it is durable, does not fade and is available in many colors.

When your paint is dry you can begin sewing your eye mask.

I like to make my eye mask nice, soft and squashy so will add a piece of batting to the mix.

Sandwich the batting between the two layers of fabric and pin in place to reduce fabric shifting.

Baste throughout all layers around the edges within your seam allowance.

Attach elastic or a ribbon at the sides on the back.

Starting at a side stitch a bias tape all around the mask on top of the creased line. Tip: fold the beginning of the tape inside to stop it from shedding with time and finish stitching on top of it for a clean finish.

Fold over the bias tape to the other side and baste it in place. Trim seam allowance in case if you see the first stitching line.

Top-stitch or hand stitch the tape in place. Give it a last final press and you are done!

Inspiration

Ryuk from Death Note

Naruto

Image result for brook one piece — Photo: https://www.kisspng.com/png-brook-usopp-monkey-d-luffy-nami-one-piece-brook-on-2635908/

Brook from One Piece

Soft and glamorous velvet Eve Dress by Sew Over It – Dressmaker ball 2019

I am not being funny here, but why on Earth had I chose to make my dress for Dressmaker Ball from unknown materials???? Challenge you say?…or stupidity? The dress I had in mind had a lace bodice and a chiffon pleated and gathered skirt. At the end I had to ditch this project because I would have never finish it on time….another lesson learnt! DO NOT WAIT TILL THE LAST MOMENT!!!

So just few days before the Dressmaker Ball I grabbed one of my trusted patterns- Eve dress, by Sew Over It. I previously made a knee lenght dress from double georgette material for summer time, which was perfect untill I burned it with an iron, so now I will re-fashion it into a top. I had tried it before and it works very well.

Velvet dress

I like to try different fabrics to see how the same pattern will behave so for my Dressmaker Ball I decided to go with soft and lush velvet fabric that I purchase last minute from my local shop. The pattern recommend a lightweight woven fabrics with some drape, but my velvet was stretchy so I knew I would have to stabilise it somehow. I opted for a ankle lenght version with floaty sleeves and a long tie.

Fabric requirement for my size is 3.7 meters of 140cm wide, but I panicked and got 4 meters instead. After washing and drying the material I had realised that it is wider then your standard width and I managed to lay all the pieces using only 2.5 meters…..this makes me very happy as I can make another project out of it. In hindsight the cost of this dress is only £20 (£7.50 a meter of velvet plus thread and stay tape)! Bargain I would say!

Pattern adjustments

Since I used this pattern previously I did not make any adjustments this time round, but for the sake of clarity I will tell you anyway.

I made size 18 (even tho my measurements are closer to size 20), because this is a wrap dress I thought it would be ok and finished garment measurements indicated that size 18 would be better since I didn’t want any ease.

Per usual I had raised the waistline by 3 cm and did a slight sway back adjustment. Also, I reduced the lenght of the bodice above bust by 1.5 cm and added 4 cm to the hem.

Cutting and sewing

It took me about 50 minutes to cut out all the pieces and 6 hours to sew and press my dress. Normally it takes me a little less time but I had to stabilise the waistline and tie with a stay tape to stop it from stretching and decided to handstitch the neckline using bias tape.

Sewing velvet is easy and the final outfit is like a dream to wear.

Final thoughts

Eve dress by Sew Over It is yet another pattern worth having in your stash. Depending on fabric used it can be transformed from casual every day dress to a romantic and dramatic evening dress. I absolutely love it and thinking of making a summer version next out of some drapey fabric with colourful flowers.

The wrap style of this dress is perfectly drafted to ensure security and comfort. Plus if your weight fluctuate with time (like mine), you won’t have to worry about fitting as you can tie the belt more or less depending on your body shape. Win-win !!!