New Website Design!

Finally finished a MAJOR overhaul of the website. Come check out my new look! Still a few things to add and some things to tweak a little, but the bulk of the work is finally done!  I have a few designs rolling around in my head that I need to flesh out so that I can add them to the site.  Namely a top design and two pant designs.  I hope to finish them and add them to the site soon! 

Exploring photography...

Photography is something that I have been exploring.  Mostly as a means to better photos for my blog and website, but it is fun to experiment with other creative means besides sewing, as well.  I think it would be fun to take kids portraits.  Unfortunately, I don't get the opportunity to practice that very often and when I do, I realize just how little I really know. LOL.
Here are a few random shots from the shoot I did with little Maia on Sunday.  Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.  :) They were shot in RAW and this was my first time really editing with the RAW editor.  It is certainly a different experience than editing with GIMP as I usually do.

Introducing the "Dani" Dress

I finally finished the "Dani" dress and got it all listed at Etsy. It is available in your choice of fabric for $55.00. I created this dress after seeing something similar on a little girl at a wedding a few weeks ago. Many thanks to my friend, Kris and her sweet little Maia for the modeling pictures! Kris is a photographer and she coached me a little on taking the pictures of Maia in the dress.

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Prototype "Dani" Dress Completed

I finally got this dress finished.  I have been busy with other things this week and didn't get a chance to get back to this dress until this morning.  The dress I copied it from had nylon tricot chiffon under the ruffle.  I decided that that stuff is too much of a pain to work with and it would drive the price of this dress up because it takes a lot of time and patience to fiddle with.  I actually adore the simplicity of this dress. It has lots of girly fullness due to the half circle design and yet it is just clean and simple.  I also really LOVE this fabric.  I am totally in love with the color combination.  Aqua blue paired with just about anything is quickly becoming one of my favorite colors.  This design will soon be heading to my Etsy shop.  It will be priced at $55.00.

Dress Progress....

Yesterday I worked on the knock off of the dress that I saw on a little girl last weekend at a wedding.  It is not going to be an exact replica, but it will be close.  The dress she was wearing didn't tie at the shoulder, it instead just had straps.  The front of hers was also shirred.  I chose to use elastic.  I don't have the machine to do the "industrial" shirring with the chain stitch on the back, and my sample, while it looked ok, I just wasn't sure that it would hold up to the test of washing and wearing that a child's garment undergoes. So, that's why I chose the elastic instead.  I also wanted it to have the adjustability of the ties vs. a set length with the straps.  The colors and the vintage feel of this fabric make me giddy.  I just love soft romantic florals like this. Up next.... the ruffles at the bottom.  :)

A little something for me...

All this looking at sundresses for little girls has made me want one for myself. LOL  Mine will be a bit different, though. I rarely sew for myself anymore.  In fact, I couldn't even tell you the last time I made myself anything.  It has been years.


I purchased some lovely orange poppy fabric at Joann's recently.

I am debating between these two patterns. If you were 5'3" and overweight, which would you choose?

I got a good giggle out of the Burda pattern at the bottom of the envelope where it says "All patterns with seam und hem allowances".  Yes they are a German company.

I still want to make the mannequin and play with some draping, but I want something I throw together fairly quickly to wear this summer for now.

So I Went to a Wedding Yesterday...

I went to a wedding yesterday.  A friend of ours and his lovely bride had a beautiful, yet simple wedding in their new home yesterday.  It was a lovely gathering of family and friends.  But the seamstress in me could not be contained. There was a little girl there who was wearing a fabulous little sundress.  It was such a simple design, but yet it was just pretty no matter what she was doing.  It had just the right amount of fullness and fluff to hang nice and be very feminine and yet casual at the same time.  I studied this dress the whole afternoon as the little one was running about and playing in the yard after the ceremony.  I simply HAD to figure out how to make one.  I'm kinda crazy that way. And, besides that, I have ALWAYS been a sucker for little girls in sundresses.  They are my favorite. :)

It was similar to this at the top, but it was much, much fuller and ruffled at the bottom.

So I came home and put my brain to work. In my horribly messy sewing room.

Approximately an hour later I came up with this.  It took a little calculating and going to the internet for formulas for figuring radius and circumferences and such.  I can never remember those. :)  

The design is based on a half circle pattern.  I realized that making it straight would not have allowed me the fullness that I was looking for.  I am hoping I got it right. It didn't look like it was a full circle.  

The plan is to make it out of these fabrics.  Aren't they awesome?!  I love the colors. 

 I also have some cherry themed fabrics that would be really cute in this design, too.  

This is definitely high priority on my project list.  :)

Feeling the need for a challenge

A while back I joined Craftsy.com.  I soon saw "The Bombshell Dress" class by Sew Retro and I really wanted to take it.  But alas, after finding out what sizes it comes in, I realized that it does not come in a big enough size for me.  :(  I was relishing the challenge of making something that was a more difficult pattern and more of a couture design.  I was hoping to learn some new skills that I could then turn around and use in my MCM sewing.  Might have to get a book or something to learn those things now.

Disappointed in finding that I am too large for this dress and frustrated at my own largeness, I went on a pattern shopping mission.  That too was frustrating.  I am just proportioned weird and it was hard to guess what size I really needed.  I came home empty handed.

To that end, I have decided that I really would like to make a duct tape mannequin of myself and try draping my own fabrics and designing something that might actually fit me right.  I have watched a few youtube videos on draping and it seems like it might be a fun challenge.  And well, if I lose some weight, it won't be hard to make another duct tape mannequin later on.  I think I have enough pattern altering skills, that if I am able to get a basic sloper of myself, then I think I could come up with some things that might actually work.