I'm also celebrating because today I finally managed to finish making a sun-dress I started a year ago. My dressmaking projects always get delayed because they always end up at the bottom of the pile, under a heap of bags.
I had to take this shot outside as there's hardly any light indoors.
So if the weather stays fine I plan to wear it along with the new bag I finished last week. I finally got around to adding a strap to it. Oh and the wellies too.
We've been doing a fair bit to our garden recently. When the sun comes out I always feel bad at having neglected it during the winter.
View from inside out.
Anyway, I'm off to get my stuff ready for tomorrow and hunt out my sleeping bag. I really hope the weather is good. Judging by this a sun-dress may be a bit optimistic....
This one is put together from a kimono-sleeve 1953 dress pattern (Simplicity 4448). This is the first time I've tried making anything from a real vintage pattern (rather than a reproduction) and I was a little worried. Also, the pattern really isn't built for a stretch jersey. Happily for me, it all went together quite smoothly.
Some notes: the cutting directions are wrong, and omit an essential piece (facing c). I put 2" extra in the waist, as per usual, but it was totally unneccessary. 1" would have been entirely satisfactory. I'm going to put that down to a style change which has modern waists sitting higher than their 50's equivalents. It needed an extra button, and would maybe even benefit from a third. The pattern was also far more complex than I'd expect a shirt dress to be: four darts in the back and six in the front, with some tricky side fastenings. I also had to put another dart in the centre back, just because I'm built that way. After finishing, I cut the hem as it was sitting 3" below the knee (dowdy!) but I do think this is now a little on the too-short side.
So this one took a lot longer than the wrap dress. No big bickies: I'm really just testing in order to use it again in this fabric:
I have been writing like crazy all week, trying to get a chunk of my thesis out of the way. It went pretty well, but has left me incapable of writing anything else so I give you pictures instead. And not even particularly good ones. Sorry. Meh.
In between bursts of typing like a mad thing, I finished sewing the top that I was working on. You'd think I would also have ironed it properly before photographing it, but I seem to have overlooked that.
Close-up of .
It's simple and plain, just white cotton with a few little details like the gathers and pin tucks thrown in for interest, and that's it. But I love the fit, and I've already worn it a couple of times since I finished it.
Also? No idea why I look so sullen in these photos. Note to self: stop that.
Localizada entre o Forte de Copacabana e a rua Francisco Otaviano com a Avenida Vieira Souto. O Arpoador é famoso pela pedra que invade o mar separando a Praia de Copacabana, de onde se tem uma das vistas mais bonitas do Rio de Janeiro:
De um lado, as praias de Ipanema e do Leblon com o morro Dois Irmãos ao fundo; do outro, as praias do Diabo e Copacabana. Além do visual e da praia, o Arpoador tem também um parque com muito verde onde os artistas brasileiros e internacionais fazem apresentações populares. O parque foi batizado de Garota de Ipanema, em homenagem à famosa música de Tom Jobim e Vinicius de Moraes, cariocas por excelência.
Sadly I am without my camera for a couple of weeks thanks to some light fingered people, so only have some phone camera shots. So that's why some have funny lighting and are a little blurred.
Inside the at leather shop.
The weekend staff here are way more helpful than the week-day staff. They really helped me try to find the right shade of brown for a bag I started yesterday.
Also picked up a metre of white cotton amongst the remnants which will be perfect for finishing a sundress I started making about 6 months ago and never finished.
Always end up leaving with things I didnt know I needed.
Next I need to buy some more of the wadding that gives my Lily bags their shape. I have searched high and low for an alternative - online - the wholesalers - but nowhere sells the exact same weight and thickness that is tried and tested and makes the bags so good...
So......I buy it in John Lewis. And I hate John Lewis.
But until I find an alternative.....
Also thought I should buy a zip to go on the sundress or there'll be another excuse to leave it for 6 months.
Thinking Saturday was a bad day to choose.
Finish up having a quick cup of tea in a secret bar I know high up in the sky
Spend about 40 mins watching the planes fly along, the taxis drive by below and also see the maids in the hotel opposite changing the rooms.
You may already know that I am the owner of the site, a labor of love, which is very fulfilling to run.
My bird's eye view of the custom sewing and dressmaking industry (mostly in the US) has taught me so much about the potential of this profession, and the type of women (we are mostly women, after all) who choose it.
Word of mouth is powerful. Negative or positive, word of mouth will bring attention to your business. While word of mouth is a great way to get new business, even the best dressmaker can find herself with less (or more!) business than she wants at any given moment. Scheduling a proper workload is difficult for dressmakers. The flow of clients can be unpredictable, and the variables are many...
The main market for dressmakers (like it or not!), is bridal. Dressmaking is very specific, careful, skilled work... and to navigate the bridal market, a dressmaker has to be able to deal with the emotional roller coaster that comes along with doing this type of work. I'm not just talking about the bride. There is the mother of the bride, mother of the groom, flower girls, bridesmaids, and the coordination of all of those people in their various locations, challenges (and temperaments) to handle. Some people are just lovely. Some people know exactly what they want. Some people have a positive body image. Some people are completely reasonable, puctual, and friendly. Some are none of these things. A dressmaker has to be prepared for any combination of problems, including her own variables. If one wants to do this type of work, she has to be sure to keep an ample supply Tums, Pepto and Advil...
Having said that, the general rule of thumb regarding what a bride should be spending, is 10% of her wedding budget on the gown. Anyone may choose to spend considerably more or less, but it would be best to know what she is really expecting, since, if she wants her gown custom-made, she is buying an invisible product. The woman who wants a knock-off of the $6000 gown she loves for $1000 is almost guaranteed to be disappointed. The dressmaker has to make sure she knows that it will likely require a significant downgrade in materials and labor to fit her budget.
Lastly, make sure she knows her options. The web is full of sites which will help her plan and budget her event. It can be hard to distinguish good ones from poor qulity ones. I happened upon a good one recently, called . While the name is a misnomer in my opinion, it is a well-rounded listing of wedding vendors, with direct contact information. The great thing that distinguishes the site from the standard "bridal show" is the complete absence of the hard sell. It is purely informational. Now, that is truly special, since so many directory sites are full of dead links, empty categories, vague descriptions and hurdles to jump to contact the professionals, motivated by pay-per-click advertisers, with no quality control. This site highlights the need of busy brides to be able to look at their options form their own homes, without needing to meet a million vendors before narrowing down their choices. Some brides find the appointment and "interview" process fun, but many people are simply more information-oriented. It is for the latter that it seems the site was specifically designed.
Another interesting feature is the option to download virtual presentations, like ordering a "commercial" for the vendors you choose. I would consider this to be an innovative idea, since it does help bring some more information to the event planner(s) or bride. Since so many brides plan their weddings by committee, this also allows people in other locations to view the same info on their own computer screens. Nice, huh?
"Why that's just something I whipped up over the weekend... Oh thank you, yes, I do have phenomenal dress-making talents... Well if you think this is impressive, you should taste my florentines!"*
It appears that all this sewing has gone to my head. I have become some sort of sewing-megalomaniac, unaware of any limit to my own talents. I have, if you will, created a monster. Of myself. Heh.
Front gathers...
... back gathers. Isn't the difference startling?
But if you wish to shout at me and tell me to stop being so vain, well, I CAN'T HEAR YOU because I'm too busy twirling in my new green dress. Tra la la la la.
I made the pattern for this myself, because I prefer to do that than to use bought patterns. It's just more fun, and I love the designing part. 'Twas my dream as a young 'un. I can't believe I've left it so long since I last sewed something - it's SO MUCH FUN! I predict many more dresses in my future. Maybe I shall even brave sleeves!
*It seems all the obnoxious gloating took over my brain and turned me into, among other things, a liar. I have never made florentines. And I imagine that if I did, they would be less than impressive.
The story you are about to read is real. Only the measurements have been changed to protect the innocent.
I found some cute fabric at a good price recently and decided I wanted to make a little skirt out of it. I invisioned something about knee length, a bit fuller than an A line probably cut out of a few more pieces. I made my own pattern, by taking my measurements and doing some math.
My belly dips a little bit at the navel, and I find it most flattering to wear skirts just a bit above that so the fabric can kind of smooth the line (I always wear shirts untucked over a skirt, preferably a bit fitted, and coming a bit below the navel). I didn't want the skirt to poof out too high up, added bulk where I really don't need it. So, I took my waist measurement where I wanted the waistband of the skirt to lie, another measurement where I wanted to start the flare, and measured the height between the two. I also measured the length I wanted.
For the sake of this post, let's call that waist measurement 27 inches (ha!) and the lower measurement 30 inches. I decided I wanted 6 panels of fabric for the skirt and so I divided 27 by six (4.5) and drew a line that length on my pattern tracing paper, plus an extra 1/2" for seam allowances (I use a 1/4" allowance when I make my own patterns - generous seam allowances waste fabric and make curves harder to sew, in my experience). I drew a perpendicular line down and added a second line segment for my lower body measurement, (30/6=5, plus the seam allowance would be 5.5").
Connect the dots:
Next, I extended that perpendicular line down to get the total length I wanted for the skirt, and drew a horizontal line as a basis for my hemline, twice the width of the waistline.
More connecting dots:
I tried to draw more of a curve than an angle where the two dot-connecter lines meet up so the skirt would fall better:
And I added a curve to the hemline:
Since both curves where drawn freehand and I didn't want funky asymetrical pieces, I folded the pattern piece in half lengthwise and cut both layers at once:
I did the whole thing a second time, to create separate pattern pieces for the front and the back. The back piece is a bit longer, and flares a little more, because I was pleased with that effect on Bonnie's dresses.
I took a break from my meticulous photo taking at this point and cut out 6 front pieces and 6 back pieces (three each for the lining, and for the top layer). I worked on the lining first. Sewed the front pieces right sides together, serged the seams, and pressed towards the back. Sewed the back pieces right sides together, serged the seams, and pressed towards the back. Sewed the front to the back along the seam that would fall on my right side (serged and pressed) and then measured the other side with the zipper I'd bought, marked on the fabric just below where the zipper would go in, and sewed and serged below that point.
Since I cut the back pieces longer than the front pieces, the hemlines didn't match up at the side seams (no surprise there):
I trimmed them to create a smooth curve.
Then I hemmed the lining with your standard boring fold, press, pin, stitch method. Here is the finished lining:
I sewed the outer skirt in the same manner as the lining, right up until the hemline. For the outer skirt I cut a 10" wide strip of polka dot fabric and sewed it, right sides together, to the hemline of the skirt. Then I turned up the raw edges and pressed them, folded the polka dot fabric in half up over the hemline (shown below), pinned, and topstitched the whole thing down. Sorry I didn't photograph more of this. I was sooooo ready to be done by this point and getting impatient with a photo for every step (which slows me down a lot).
I sewed the skirt and lining right sides together along the waist, turned right sides out, pressed, and topstitched the waist. Sewed in my zipper and I was good to go! Here it is:
Eva saw me posing in front of our "backdrop" curtains and had to come join me for the photo op. She's a little ham already.
Paper edgers or patterned scissors have special blades to cut decorative patterns. Try to cut as cleanly as you can using the whole blade.
You can use general scissors for cutting paper, care and other materials, but to make your cards look professional its alway a good idea to have other pairs. For example you would need a fine pointed pair to cut around intricate outlines or to get into tight corners. If you use a lot of fabric its worth buying some dressmaking scissors as these leave a lovely crisp edge to the fabric. But remeber not to use them for paper as this will blunt them.
Now that Shawn's shirt is finished, I get to spend some time sewing for me with all those lovely fabrics I bought on sale. One of my first steps was to adjust my dress form to a size I could use. The problem with the dear is that she is molded plastic, and as adjustable as she is (with dials at the waist, hip, and bust) she is always going to be a... C cup, I think. Which I have not been in many, many years. So, if I set her bust measurement to mine, then her ribs are quite a bit larger than mine, and the result is that the blouses and peasant tops and empire waisted or wrap style dresses I hope to make will all fit her very, very differently from how they'll fit me. Which largely defeats the purpose of having a dress form!
So, in a moment of inspiration, I decided she needed a boob job. I dialed down her bust until her ribcage measurement equalled my own (blurry on purpose... wouldn't you love to know). Then, I pulled out a nice clean nursing bra I never actually wore (because Eva weaned) but that fits correctly, and tried it on her. I unsnapped the cups and stuffed them full until her bust measurement also equalled my own! Yes, those are plastic grocery store bags. I'm sure I could have found something to produce a more natural look, but she's plastic already and this is what I had on hand, for free, easy to grab a hold of.
I was so pleased with the outcome of this that I padded her belly too. Because the reality also is that I do not have an hourglass figure... I have a four months pregnant figure, even though I haven't been pregnant at all in over two years. So now she's got a trimmer curve to the small of her back (like me) and a nice pouch in the front (also like me). She resembles me far more than she used too (though if I get into any more fitted garments, I'll need sturdier padding for her belly and a bit more work on getting quite the right shape). For the time being though, this should help me make minor adjustments for fit and drape, which I will want to do when I get started on a couple of dresses in the near future.
Here she is wearing my favorite shirt, so you can get the full effect:
