Shift (Dress) In Silk - New Look 6125

my mom had been wanting me to make her a dress for some time.  since school was still in it was harder to be able to do any outside sewing.  so finally i could make her her dress.  she originally wanted a solid black dress using a pretty black eyelet lace and black lining.  well, i laid the pattern pieces out on the eyelet lace and there wasn't enough.  the lady who cut it didn't know what she was doing when she cut it and gave me less than what i asked for.  it was much later after we had bought the fabric i realized this and they didn't have anymore.  so we went to JoAnn's and she found a cute patterned silk in the clearance section for $5/yd!  for the new dress she also bought a new pattern.

since my mom is short-waisted i shortened the waist of the pattern using the lines they had on there.  also, the fabric didn't need to be lined, so i took the facing pieces they had (front neck and back neck) and taped it to regular printer paper and traced around the armhole to create a facing piece that covered the neck, shoulders, and armholes.  this way i didn't need a lining and it gave the dress the stability it needed around those areas.

to finish off the hem i simply serged the edge then used the good ol' Stitch Witchery.  I knew a regular hem with a seam on the outside wouldn't look right with this silk fabric.  it was actually easier doing the hem that way too.

now i just need to get around to making her a skirt from the other fabric so it doesn't go to waste.

Feelin' Groovy - Simplicity 1609

for my latest dress i used my new favorite pattern.. as soon as i saw this pattern in an email Simplicity sent me i knew i had to buy it! hello, 1960s obsession!  so i swung by Hobby Lobby and bought it when they had their $0.99 Simplicity sale a while ago.  then came the task of finding the perfect fabric to use with the pattern.

i discovered this awesome bright floral print when my mom, my aunt, and i were shopping around in the new JoAnn they opened in KY in the small town we used to live in.  as soon as i saw it i knew it was perfect for the style of dress.

(hmm, not sure why the right picture is blurry. it def wasn't blurry in iPhoto.)

my original plan was to make the dress in the solid green view with the awesome collar.  i changed that plan when i saw this great fabric.  i knew a collar would be too much since the dress was already patterned.  my next version, though, i plan to make it with the collar.  with this pattern, i followed it to a 't'.

this pattern is very easy.  there are only four pattern pieces: back piece, front piece, back facing, and front facing.  my kind of pattern, not complicated.

when it came to the hem, i actually was able to take 3" or 4" off before hemming it.  once i cut the excess off, instead of doing a normal turned up hem, i decided to do a faced hem for the first time.  i simply took some leftover cream single fold bias tape i had an sewed it around the right side of the bottom of the dress.  once that was sewn on i pressed the bias tape down, then pressed it up against the inside of the dress so i could sew it in place.  very easy!  i am loving faced hems now!

once the dress was finished i added another little detail by sewing three white buttons on the front.  another thing i like about this pattern, is that when you sew things like buttons on it's easier because you have that front seam.

all-in-all, i really love this pattern and plan to use it quite a bit.  one change i would make though is getting the back neck to fit better.  for some reason the back neck sits out off my back.  should be an easy fix though by tweaking the back neckline darts.

after i had finished the dress i had fabric leftover and knew i couldn't just let it sit around.  so i decided to whip up a skirt.  for this skirt i used New Look 6053 i had in my pattern stash.

due to my farbic restraints i had to cut about 2"-3" off the pattern to make it fit.  since i had to cut some length off i did a faced hem using some leftover satin balnket binding i had.  i didn't have enough binding when it was folded in half, so i cut along the fold line and sewed one end of the two pieces together.  then the edge that was made by me cutting the piece apart i sewed that to the skirt bottom.  the other edge of the binding was already sealed so i was able to just sew it in place.

Goin' Retro

i decided it was time for a new dress, so i went to my fave pattern...Simplicity 3833.  i was in Hancock Fabrics browsing one day and this patterned cotton caught my eye!  the pattern has a unique retro vibe to it, and i immediately envisioned it on this dress and knew i had to get it.  i also bought some solid blue cotton for the front bodice b/c i wanted the dress to be two-toned.  i love this dress and it turned out better than i expected!

another project i worked on this week was a sewing sample.  now that i have discovered my new found love, and wonderful talent, in sewing i decided to apply to O'More College of Design in Franklin, TN to get a bachelors in fashion design!  to finish up the application process i have to submit a sewing sample to the fashion design dept.  this sewing sample consisted of sewing eight 9"x4" fabric pieces together and then sewing on bias tape.  easy enough, since those are all things i've done before!  hopefully all my hard work pays off and i'll be able to proclaim myself as a student at OCD! *it's also funny the school's initials are OCD, b/c that kind of describes me. hehe!*

Dots All Around

so, i recently made myself a new dress.  i originally bought the fabric to make another circle skirt, but then thought how i would love to have a new dress.  then i remembered my awesome retro 60s dress pattern i bought, and hadn't used yet!!

and how fitting to make a 60s retro dress using a printed cotton called 'retro dots'?!  thus, lo and behold, i created this dress!  when i tried it on before hemming it fell below my knee and after hemming it was too short to be a dress so i now have a new tunic. lol  nonetheless, i still love it!!...although i am a little sad though that i won't be able to wear it with my awesome red tights.  i can't wait to make more, and see what other fabrics i can try out.