My Fabrics are available on Amazon

Through Spoonflower distribution, some of my fabrics are now available on Amazon! This is kinda exciting for me because I've seen a huge jump in commissions because of it. From a customer's perspective, there really is no difference on whether they buy on Amazon or Spoonflower, but Amazon has gotten quite a bit more exposure for me so I'm happy. Check it out here or of course, you can still order on Spoonflower too.
Above photo is a dress I created to wear to my baby brother's wedding rehersal dinner. It was fabulous ... I just giggled the whole time because rarely anyone noticed I was wearing a POOP DRESS! I used silky faille. It lays nicely for a dress and feels so smooth. It is slightly sheer and because I didn't line the dress, it requires a slip underneath.

Weekly Dress Project Update

Things got a little hectic back in October due to Halloween costume constructing, my volunteer commitments at the elementary school, prep for the Day of the Dead and show planning for our upcoming Holiday Market so I've been feeling like I'm pulled in every direction. Things have slowed back down now and I'm getting caught up on everything that I've been putting off (like dusting!).
I have kept up with my weekly dress making, so here we go (excuse some of the not-so-professional pictures...yes, I've been that busy).
Week 12 'Walkaway Dress' made from a vintage reproduction pattern

Available for sale if you are interested.

Week 13 Pin Striped Dress (kept this one for myself. Love it. And it's got pockets! I love pockets in dresses.)

Week 14 Brown Taffeta shift dress

This dress above doesn't look like this anymore. This picture was taken after the dress was complete but before I appliqued flowers and Sugar Skulls to it for the Day of the Dead. It is available, I'll update when I get it re-photographed and listed online.

Week 15 Sally Dress. My client wanted a dress like Sally in a Nightmare Before Christmas but she wanted it in this mix of colors instead of the colors that Sally had. We also pieced two different dress patterns together because she liked the top section of one dress but the waist and skirt of another.

Week 16 Anna Coronation Day Dress

Week 17 Snow White Dress (my costume)

Week 18 Elsa Coronation Day Dress

I made two of these.... here is a customer picture of one of them (I made the sparkly Elsa too, that was Week 11) I'm pretty sure they liked them.

Week 19 Elsa Sexy Cosplay Outfit (available)

Week 20 Candy Corn Dress (kept it for myself but will probably list it on eBay next fall)

Strawberry Shortcake Costume for a Toddler

I made this costume for Lily when she was about 2 and a half.  I designed it to look identical to the Strawberry Shortcake toy that I had from the 70's

I made the dress just like a regular dress and used fabrics and techniques that I would use to make regular clothing.  She was so sweet in this costume but I am going through my Halloween box and realizing that some things are just going to have to go and since the now 8-year-old Lily obviously won't fit in it anymore, It's up for sale.

I'm asking only $25 for it (or a little more if purchased on eBay to cover the fees).  Either way, the shipping is free.  Hat, dress and apron included.  Tights and shoes not included.

on Square Market

or buy on eBay

UPDATE:  it sold right away, but I'm leaving this blog post just because I love this costume :)

Week 4 of my Weekly Dress project - Lisette Sew Your Style 1419 from Simplicity

This pattern was pretty easy for me. No real challenge to my skills. All of the elements in this dress were skills that I have already mastered. I am supposed to be doing this as a way to expand my knowledge and skill base so I should have picked a more complex pattern. The thing is, this is the style that I like and it was already in my pattern stash.

 I knew I would adore this dress so I purposefully made it too big for me so that I wouldn't be tempted to keep it. I need to sell some of these dresses or I can re-invest in fabrics in order to keep this project going.

 The fabric for this dress cost me about forty dollars plus about 8 hours of my time so I think it is a steal priced at only $84. (If you are looking to purchase it, you'll find it here) Maybe later down the road, I'll make this dress again for myself because I love it! I especially love that it has pockets.

 I love pockets in dresses.
I made the sleeveless version. The only adjustment that I made was to shorten the dress. I shortened it to 20" from waist to hem. I added a tiny tack at the base of the front facing because I noticed that it kept flipping up when I hung it on a hanger. I'm pretty obsessive about how things look from both the inside and outside so it just drove me crazy. I really prefer a lining rather than a facing for this reason. Maybe my future versions of this dress will have that adjustment. I'm confident that I can make this dress in various sizes so this would be one that I'd be happy to create for custom projects.  Let me know if you want one.

Weekly Dress Project - week 3 - Cynthia Rowley Simplicity 1802

Week 3 is complete and I'm even more inspired than I was on week 1. I am trilled with the result of this dress.

I have made a ton of things over the years and I think this may just be my best work ever. Typical me would have made this dress without the piping because piping is tedious work. You have to make sure everything lines up perfectly or else your lines come out squigly and on the finished product, it draws the eye right to your mistakes.

For the piping, the pattern gave an option of using regular packaged piping or making your own "flat" piping. It called for 4 packages of piping and I am a cheapskate, so I went with the DIY version. At the fabric store, I couldn't find a color combo that I liked so I decided that I would use the same dress fabric for the piping. This dress called for a 3 3/4 yards of fabric and 7/8 yards of lining with another 1 1/2 yard for the piping. Altogether, the fabric, thread and zipper (on sale and using a coupon) came out to $36.00.

As mentioned before... cheapskate over here! I pretty much choked about spending that much on the supplies for just one dress. The next day I had a girlfriend over and we were talking about dresses and what we were going to wear to the reunion and she showed me a dress online that she was considering for the event. After seeing the almost two hundred dollar price tag on her dress, I don't feel so bad about my less than forty dollar fabric expense. I went with a sateen in a soft avocado green. I purposefully looked for green because I realized the other day that I don't have any green in my wardrobe whatsoever and it would look great with the shoes I want to wear.

Before cutting I shortened the dress by 4" and changed my mind about using the dress fabric for the piping and ended up with a full two yards of fabric left over.

Hooray, enough for another (simpler) future dress!

I took my time with the piping. Measuring and pinning and in some places, basting carefully before putting in stitches and successfully completed ALL of the piping without having to pick out any stitches. I'm so proud of myself.

At the point where I attached the very top yolk piece on the bodice, I held it up to myself and realized that it was not going to fit right. The waist was going to sit way up higher than my actual waist so I cut out a new yolk piece but this time added one inch in length at the shoulder. Good thing I had all that extra fabric! I cut a new yolk piece for the back too but for the lining pieces, just added a 1" strip of fabric. This was a little tricky, but I went slow and measured out seam allowances and everything and it was a success. Making this adjustment made the armpit hole an inch larger too. This wasn't something I thought about when I did it, but it turned out to be a happy accident too because I can't stand to have things tight in my armpits and I don't think it looks like the arm holes are too big.

At this try-on stage I was super excited. Here I could tell that everything was going to fit right. It was hard to continue to go slow and precise because I was so excited about finally making a perfect fitting dress. I had changed my mind about the piping and used the fabric that I had purchased for the lining as piping instead and used the regular dress fabric as lining so this dress looks pretty sweet on the inside too.

For now, I'm just going to post this poor-lighting mannequin pic of the dress and later, I'll update with pictures from my reunion because finally this is the one.

Oh, and by the way... I found a similar, less detailed version of this dress on the designer's website for $395, so yeah, $36 for fabric isn't so bad.

Next week, Lissette Simplicity 1419 with Avengers fabric.

Weekly Dress - Make 1 Dress per Week Challenge

My high school 20-year reunion is coming up and of course, I wanted to wear a dress that I'd made myself so I started digging through my patterns.  I picked Butterick B5882 from my stash.

The pattern calls for almost four yards of fabric and almost three for the lining.  If you've seen fabric prices these days, you'll understand that this is quite a costly endeavor!  Luckily I had a boat load of this really cute red hibiscus print cotton twill that I'd salvaged from my friend's yard sale.  The fabric was really curtains and they were lined in cotton too so I used the curtain lining as my dress lining.  Win, win!

This pattern wasn't nearly as complex as it looked.  I sewed it quickly and was really happy with the end result.

Until I tried it on.

It was WAY too big. I am so frustrated by the fact that nothing I make ever comes out the size that I think it will.  Most times I have to make a dress two or three times before I can get it to fit me properly.  It is aggravating to spend hours and hours working on something and (in most cases) spend a ton of money on fabric and not be able to wear it.  This inability to get things to fit correctly is exactly why I usually refuse custom orders.  It is just so frustrating that I have a ton of talent for sewing but can't get sizing right.  Frankly, it's embarrassing.

At the Indie Craft Bazaar, I had a conversation on this subject with a dressmaker that I admire.  She gave me some tips and offered to help teach me some of her tricks.  I walked away inspired and ready to try again.  

The next day, while on a long run (I do my best thinking while running) I just kept going over these things in my mind.  I really love dressmaking.  I have always loved dressmaking.  I am passionate about it, but for some reason I haven't put the time or effort into improving my skills.  I think I've just been siting back thinking that because I understand the basics of clothing construction, and am pretty good at it, that I don't have to keep learning.  I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to realize that I have a lot left to learn.  I've always just made clothing that was in my comfort zone.  Things that I could do.  I need to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to learn the master techniques that I'm missing.  

So, during my run I came up with a plan to make at least one dress every single week.  I'm not sure how long... maybe a year?  Maybe more? Who knows. We'll see where it will take me.  

Week 1 will be last week when I made my failed reunion dress.  This week, I'm attempting another reunion dress and so far, I have already reached out for advice and dusted off an old college textbook for help.  

I'll be blogging here about each dress after I'm finished with it and photo documenting my progress along the way on instagram @weeklydress in case you would like to follow the progress.  

Quick Pattern Summary/Review:

Sizing: I made size 12 which, according to the pattern envelope, size 12 would be for someone 34, 26.5, 36.  I used 5/8" seam allowance and my dress came out with a 38" bust and a 30" waist.  Not sure why there was such a huge difference or what I did wrong.

Difficulty: the only part that was remotely difficult was the "bra".  It was quite a bit of marking and pinning.  

Changes: I didn't adjust the pattern at all or make any changes this time.  If I made this dress again I wouldn't bother with lining the skirt part (unless I used a thin fabric).
Fabric: This fabric is a cotton blend twill, medium thickness.

More Treasuries!!

Christmas is coming! by ModernHomewares:  My Santa/Elf apron (it is reversible... Santa on one side, elf on the other!) bottom right

Little Things with Big Eyes by tahliday: My irritated little triangle bed fellow 2rd spot over on the bottom

Orange You Glad by fairytaleinc:  My mischievous orange bed fellow softie bottom right

Summer Time Pals by cappomaggi:  My sweet yellow bedfellow bottom right

Seems like my stuff likes to hang out on the bottom and to the right ;)