New Dress!!

So I was itching to make something new, and recently I had a sudden desire to do some shirring. It looked simple enough and I had some elastic thread on hand. So, I dug through my stash and found a drapy polyester fabric I'd bought several yards of online at $1.99/yd quite a while ago, and figured I could play around with it.

I've seen a lot of dresses in stores lately that are basically just shirred on top, and long and flowy on the bottom...I even bought a couple! I figured something like that couldn't be too hard to make, it's just a big tube that's shirred on top. So I started out with the plan to do just that...but then, I was worried that the fullness I wanted on bottom would be hard to achieve, as I'd read that sometimes it's difficult to get the shirring as tight as you might want. So I decided to do some pleating in back, and shir a panel in the front to give it enough give to pull on. And besides, I just love the look of pleated stripes, how the hidden stripes cascade out from the pleats like a special surprise. :-)

I then added some sleeves, basically a long rectangle of fabric hemmed on the edges, and then ran a few rows of elastic stitches on one side so would ruffle up a bit and stay on my shoulders. Finally, I sewed a coordinating burgundy belt as an accent to make the dress pop, but also to help shape the dress in front, to pull in the fabric high on the waist.

Et voila. :-)







It's not hemmed in the pics, so it's a couple inches shorter now, but I do love the result! The best part is it was fairly simple to make, no cutting complicated shapes, just a long tube sewn together and pleated and shirred for shape. :-)

The Milkmaid

I was making an apron for a cousin's wedding present and thought I was going to go one route, a double layered apron, something simple. I made up the top layer, but while I was kind of playing around with it I suddenly had an idea. The two fabrics I'd picked just didn't pop together, so I decided to set aside the top layer and use it for my new idea.

So once I finished my cousin's apron, going a slightly different route than I'd originally planned, I got to work on what I call the Milkmaid.

I love draping and swags of fabric, and I fell in love with how the top fabric looked draped a certain way. The apron is composed of two layers, the bottom layer is a half circle with a loose ruffle attached, the top layer is a half circle. At first I was going to sew the draped fabric in place, but then I realized I could make it more versatile by giving the option to leave it down or drape it. When the top layer is down, it just looks like a cute retro circle skirt like apron.



I sewed some ribbon loops along the waistband and added buttons on the skirt.



This allows the top layer to be easily draped, either on one or both sides to give that swaggered milkmaid look.





I really like the result, I think I'll be making some more of these in the near future! This one is up for sale in my shop now.

Adorable Shirt Tutorial

My sis sent me a link to this tutorial for a darling springy/summery shirt. I just had to make it before leaving on our trip, and of course I stayed up ridiculously late getting it done the night before our flight.






I didn't get a chance to take a pic of it until we were in Miami, so here I am squinting in the Florida sun!

Folklorico Aprons

One of my latest requests was to make a folklorico inspired apron which coordinated with this image of the Virgin of Guadelupe:

So I searched around for those lovely shades of green and peachy orange, found some I thought would work well, sewed yards and yards of ribbon onto yards and yards of ruffles, and this is the result. I didn't have a folklorico dancer handy so I pinned it up in the swirly motions mimicking the dancers to get the full effect. ;-)


Here it is un-pinned:



A close-up of some ruffles:



The waistband mimicks the border of leaves around the image:




I also made some matching half aprons for the littles in the house. :-)




It was fun to dream up! I hope she and the girls enjoy them.

Shower of Roses Circle Skirt

I actually started out making this for myself, but for some reason once I was done I felt like I should sell it instead! I think this is the first true circle skirt I've made...it was fun! :-)







It's up on Etsy here.

May Flowers

For Mother's Day I decided to make some flowers for my mom that would last longer than a few days, so I looked around for some ideas to make fabric flowers. I found this tutorial and then went crazy making flower pins! They are so easy and fun to make, here are just a few examples of some I made.

Tie One On Apron - No $$

The latest Tie One On theme was "No $$," you had to use things that you already had on hand and not buy anything new. To be honest, I felt a bit like I was cheating because I have SO MUCH fabric to choose from, that it wasn't hard at all, lol.

I ended up using a blue and cream stripe that I'd had on hand for quite a while (I think I originally bought it to possibly use for a victorian apron, but never felt like making it) and then I used the leftover blue scraps I had from the Alice Apron for the trim. I ended up with just enough blue for the ruffles, pockets, and ties, but couldn't for the life of me figure out a way to fit in the waistband which I'd originally planned to be blue as well. Luckily, I looked through my stash and found some scraps (in my scrap box) of a cream and blue print (which I think was actually used for a victorian apron) that went beautifully with it! It's a super full apron, very twirly and fun. :-)

I call it Country Blue and Cream:

The Alice Apron!

I had a request for an apron inspired by Alice in Wonderland. It was so much fun to dream up and to make, and it's (finally!) all done.













Here was the original sketch:



And the result:







The white over apron can actually be removed, there are buttons on the top (under the collar) and on the waist where it attaches, and this is how the apron looks without it.


The neck strap is adjustable, and also uses buttons.



This was a fun one, I hope she enjoys it!