Saving My Aunt

My aunt wants to have clothes that are sewn because A) they are cute. B) you can pick the fabric and C) you can get them to you fit better.

However, my aunt is just not that great at sewing said clothes. A few weeks ago she called and said "hey, I'm cleaning out my sewing room. I have a dress I started 3 years ago. Will you finish it for me?" Of course 

I said yes. When the dress got to me I was excited. Everything was already cut out. All I had to do was put it together. She had started the bodice but everything else was still in pieces. Pinning and cutting is the most boring and time consuming part of making anything. So to have all that done already was awesome. 

I took me just a few hours to get everything done to the point I just had to wait on a zipper. I finished the dress the following weekend because I couldn't get to a zipper during the week. But, now the dress is done after 3 years. It was great being able to just bust out a project without all the prep work.

I love the fabric and the pattern. Its kind of hard to see but in the front around the waist is a tie. It is decoration only. Each side comes around to the front and it ties in a knot. It is really cute and I cant wait to see it on my aunt.

On the Model

So I finally hooked up with my aunt to get her to wear the last 2 dresses I made for pictures. The scarf dress is in here 3 different ways. When she put it on we played with different ways to wear it. But, here are the pics that we came up with :)

Projects in the Queue

I am so excited! There are several projects that are in my sights right now. Although nothing is set in stone yet I am looking forward to everything. If some of them ended up not working out, thats fine. I am just happy people thought about me to present these to me in the first place.

(The order in which they are listed is not necessarily the order in which they are needing to be completed)

Project One:

My best friend is getting married either this spring or next spring. There is a possibility that I will be making the wedding dress and the 5 bridesmaid dresses. I am super excited about the idea. I will admit it is a little bit intimidating, but exciting nonetheless.

Project Two:

A coworker of mine has a daughter that goes to anime conventions and is into cosplay. I have been talking with my coworker and she has asked me if I might be able to make her daughter a costume. I think it will be fun. This would also be the first thing that I would get paid to do. YAY!

Project Three:

Another coworker has asked me if I will hem some pants and repair a torn pocket for him. This would also be a paying gig.

Project Four:

My aunt has been invited to a themed wedding. She needs a gypsy costume to go. Clothing is not her strong suit so she has asked me to help her make her costume.

Project Five:

A friend of mine has also contacted me about doing some tailoring/alterations for some costumes/clothes that he is using in a movie he is making.

These are all the outside projects for now. This doesn't count anything that I do for my own satisfaction. I am starting to get people to come to me for stuff. These are my first steps out into the world with my sewing. I am super excited for the potential ahead of me.

Scarf Dress

My mom loves to try new things. Especially things that involve something shiny or something that can actually keep her attention for longer than 5 minutes. For several months she did belly dancing. It was a fun and interesting way to help her lose some weight. While she was doing the belly dancing she acquired several scarves, hip skirts, and wraps that make a lot of noise. At some point she ended up with this scarf:

After seeing this scarf the only thing I could thing of was what an awesome top to a dress it would be. I asked my mom if I could have it. She did not understand my vision at first but was interested in how I planned to work it out. So I did.

I folded the scarf in half long ways. After that I serged the front panel of the skirt to the center of the scarf. The back is left draped open and the scarf is just tied to hold the top on. Total time for this project was probably about an hour. MAYBE an hour and a half. Very simple black stretchy kind of material. A bit of a body hugging kind of form is what I am going for.

This project was fun because it was so fast and simple and the final product was exactly what I wanted. Usually it takes me forever to decide on or find the materials, then make the pattern, then cut, sew, blah blah blah. This was great because there are only 3 pieces to the whole dress. Scarf, front panel, back panel.

On a side note...

I was in the process of putting this on the dress form and this happened:

The dress was on the form, but not pulled down all the way. I really liked the way that the scarf drapes down for the scoop neck and then over the shoulders. I think I will have to play with that idea. The simple tube dress with the attached and draped scarf. I like it. Another idea to add to the list.

Dress from Altered Pattern

I originally set out to make a sixty's mod kind of dress. Not really my own person style, but it was a cute pattern. After getting the back and front sewn together I realized (and with some thoughts from my husband) that the dress would look much better without sleeves. So this is we ended up with...

The dress originally had 3/4 length sleeves with big cuffs on the bottom.

(http://www.simplicity.com/p-3174-missesmiss-petite-dress.aspx the black and white one in the bottom corner if you are interested)

Like I said, I changed things after the front and back were already sewn together. To get the racer back style I put a tank top over the dress and traced the outline of the arm holes. To finish the arm hole i cut strips of fabric on the bias and attached it.

The collar was a pain. But then again, they always are. Originally I planned to add a jewelry piece where the top of the cut out and the collar connect. It didn't look right. The shape of the point of one side didn't come out right. When I sewed it, I sewed it at closer to a 90 degree angle rather than a gentle curve. I didn't notice that it was like that and I clipped it. I don't like collars so I didn't redo it. I was also supposed to make it so that a button was on the collar. I opted not to add that part so that I could add the jewelry piece. Since that didn't work out, I overlapped the collars and straight stitched across them to hold them together.

I also installed an invisible zipper in the back. The pattern calls for a hook and eye at the top of the zipper, but I installed it so that I don't need it. Hooks and eyes are a hassle. I haven't learned how to apply them properly and/or neatly.

It didn't turn out 100%. But again I learned from it. I learned if you are gonna make alterations you should probably plan that out BEFORE you sew things together. I also learned that I need to remember to measure one side against the other. Its a little hard to see, but the fabric on either side of the front cut out is not totally even. My technique applying bias binding needs some work too.

I do love this dress. The style is fantastic. The fabric has so much color and texture. At $4.00 a yard you can't go wrong. After this dress was made I still have enough to make a cool hippie skirt. So, be prepared, you may see this fabric again in the near future.

The Triangle Dress

This dress was the first thing that I designed myself. I made the pattern and sewed it. It is unfinished (not hemmed at the bottom and no zipper in the back). This was fun for me because I learned a lot from it.

At this point I had not taken any sewing classes and I had no clue how to make a pattern. I just kind of went with what I thought was supposed to happen. There are definitely things that I know now that would help me go back and refine this, but for being try number one at pattern making, designing, and really sewing something (not just attaching 2 pieces of material together) I am very pleased with the outcome.

The thing that made me happiest with this dress is seeing that yes, I could make patterns and have it come out looking mostly like what I wanted, and I also learned that I actually had a lot of fun making the pattern. This dress, as crude as it may be, really kick started my motivation to keep moving forward with learning to sew.