Dress Of The Day with Angela

  Pink night dress with pink 'red tape' belt. I wanted to add a belt. I looked at pale silky ribbons and bright, matt, fuschia tape. Although the pale ribbon looked neat, the bright colours made my heart sing. I found myself muttering, 'the pale satin look ribbons is more elegant,' as I started cutting the brighter ribbon, just to see what it would look like, as I had a long roll of it, and could afford to cut off a piece which might not be right. How do you attach the ribbon to the garment to stop it slipping off? You could sew a line of stitches, vertically or horizontally, in the middle of the centre of the back.  Alternatively, sew two half pieces from the left and right from the seam under the arms.  I looked at my dressing gowns. They had loops made from the dress material. Or the same ribbon width. My ribbon was already the right size and I would have to cut the hem to make the night dress fabric ribbon. Why bother? I folded the ribbon end from the spool over the...

 The Red Belt Fastening a belt This week I was looking at my red belt. It had no loop to fasten the hanging end. If you made a belt from matching fabric, you might cut it to hand just outside the buckle, with interfacing to make it stiff, or even an added fabric rose or triangular end to make it neat. But it is good to have a long belt so that you allow for putting on weight, lending it to somebody else, giving it away or selling it, or simple hiding the end behind your back. But a stiff end hanging down is annoying even if it is invisible.  DIY ribbon loop I looked at the red ribbon on the table on my sewing box and thought, 'I ought to sew a loop'.  Red belt tied with ribbon. Photo by Angela Lansbury. I tied it around in a bow to see how long it needed to be. Then I thought, 'I don't have the time and energy to sew it. Why not just tie it in a bow?' The ribbon has to be either shiny satin or matt, to match the fabric of the belt.  Now I have the solution for all t...