27 Dresses Challenge

27dresses challenge by thisblogisnotforyou.comI issued a challenge to myself (we all love challenges, don’t we?). Well, it isn’t one of those 30-day-challenges that one sees everywhere these days. Although I really like those – there’s an end in sight. 

I actually wish it would be a 30-day-challenge, because at the end of it I’ve promised myself to treat me with an overlock sewing machine. An overlock! I wanted to have one for aaaaages, but they’re quite expensive and I think someone who only sews for fun should really think about whether they reaaally need one or not. I’m at a stage where I’ve been sewing for quite a while but I’ve only more or less recently started with sewing proper garments. So I’m fine with bias binding or zig-zag stitching my seams to finish them. For now.

But I really want to have an overlock someday to have neatly finished, professional looking clothes. This is why I will allow myself to buy one when I actually deserve it. And I deserve the right to buy one (hopefully I’ll have the money then) when I’ve finished 27 dresses.

Well, garments. It probably won’t be just dresses but it has to be garments sewn from scratch. Yep, refashioning and upcycling by adding and cutting off tiny bits obviously doesn’t count. This would be too easy. The challenge will only be suspended in the unlikely event of me winning an incredibly high amount of money or someone donating an overlock sewing machine to me (which obviously will not keep me from sewing 27 dresses).

For some extra motivation I’ll count the two dresses I sewed in the past months as  #1 and #2:

Burda 6-2012 #129 by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Burda 6-2012 #129 by thisblogisnotforyou.com

This one is not the first dress I’ve sewn, but the first one I sewed for myself. It’s made from a Burdastyle Magazine pattern (June 2012, #129) and was originally a little black dress. For the award presentation ceremony of the boyfriend I needed something suit-like that wasn’t a suit and I had this wonderful lightweight fabric anyway. I also have tons of matching belts to make it look more casual if I need to.

Burda 6-2012 #129 by thisblogisnotforyou.comI especially like the back.(The creme-coloured top doesn’t belong to the dress, it’s just something the Judy likes to wear.)

Here’s #2. This dress will probably look familiar to some of you. I made it for Christmas and already wrote about it a few weeks ago:

Burda 8-2012 #133  by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Anyone else yearning for a serger/an overlock? You’re very welcome to the challenge. Would be fun to have some more people sewing like craaazy and ending up with 27 dresses in the end. Just let me know in the comments!

Highly motivated I will now go on finishing some garments I’ve started lately (Shorts coming up! among other things).

Stay tuned! x

21 thoughts on “27 Dresses Challenge

  1. You go girl! I can’t wait to see them!
    I am SO not dedicated enough to try that.
    Hmmm. I made about 72 pillow cases for Christmas once.
    I was SO wiped out after that.
    Good luck and have fun!

    1. Thank you Cindy! Wow 72 pillowcases is crazy! How did you do that? And why? No. 3+4 are coming up shortly 🙂

  2. This is a great challange! And I love those dresses! I’m coveting a serger too, I think I’m away away from needing one though.
    Cant wait to see more of your dresses,
    Freya May

  3. Great idea! There’s nothing to keep you motivated like the promise of a good reward…

    The second dress in this post looks amazing. I wish I had the sewing skills to attempt something like that.

    Love your blog, just found you after you left a comment about my falling water scarf on mine. So pleased I did, have had a great wander round and am now following you.

    1. I like the second dress better, as well. Believe me – it wasn’t that hard! The fabric just makes it look so posh 🙂 Hehe, I just found your blog randomly while looking for some more london blogs and started following you like 30 mins ago 😉

  4. What a great challenge for yourself. I have not been brave enough to tackle making clothes, but that is next on my list! =) I love the idea of a challenge… I’ll have to remember this.

    1. Thanks Chelsea…I’d love to but I’m afraid I don’t have any proper patterns yet (mostly drafts), but I’m planning to do so in the future!!

  5. I LOVE challenges! I have been delving into garment making recently. An overlocker would be amazing. I think I’ll have to think long and hard about joining you for the ride.
    Good Luck, I can’t wait to see what you come up with. (I absolutely love the green plaid dress, so beautiful.)

    1. Thanks Theresa! I’d love if you’d join me 🙂 The more the merrier! No. 3 is on its ways..just have to edit the pictures.

  6. What a nice challenge! And what about the reward 🙂
    Santa Claus has been awesome this Christmas and gave me an overlocker… You’ll be amazed with your new sewing machine, I think it’s pure fun!!!
    Come to my little sewing/serging new blog, if you like, and maybe you could decide to follow me, who knows 😉
    I’m following you on Bloglovin, from now!!
    MammaNene from

    Sergerpepper.blogspot.it

  7. You inspire me! I wish I had the time to go out on an endeavor like this! I could really use some well fitting clothes, and its so fun to be able to make your own clothes. (Most of the time…) I got a serger a few years ago from my parents for Christmas after pining after my grandmother’s for years. I haven’t used it much lately, but hopefully when I get my craft room set up and get some time to sew without kids I can start using it to finish off the clothes I do get around to making. Good luck with your challenge!

    1. Hi Tiffany! Thanks for stopping by! Love to hear I inspire people 😉 I have so much fun sewing and can only encourage you to start again! It’s such a joy to be creative and see/wear a garments when it’s finished. I actually don’t have that much time, but I try so sew a few minutes every day. 🙂

  8. I LOVE to sew, but I get so disgusted trying to get the pattern to fit. Any tips? Because yours looks really well made. We are starting a link up party on Thursdays (today:), and we would love for you to join us with this post and/or any others you would like to include. We are at allthingswithpurpose.com. Hope to see you there!!

    1. Have you tried using a muslin? I found it really easy to fit with a muslin since you can draw and make marks on the white cotton. This makes it really easy to transfer the muslin pattern onto a paper pattern later on. If you don’t like to make the effort of making a trial garment first, use a bit more seam allowance than usual and fit the garment once pinned/basted with the left side facing out. This way it’s easier to add/remove pins and pin adjustments until it fits properly. Having someone help you with pinning tricky areas like the back is very useful. Comparing your own measurements with those of the pattern before cutting the fabric also helps to estimate if the garment might get too wide/tight in some areas later on. hope that helps 🙂

  9. Great idea! And you must get an overlooker – they are brilliant. I bought one years ago when I made my wedding dress and its been great ever since. You will love it!

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