The last Month or So

I may not have been posting on here, but for once that doesn't mean I wasn't sewing! I have been taking advantage of fabric sources that I already had at my disposal, like my boyfriend's old shirts, and old bed sheets, and have been having a good time with it!


The Boyfriend shirt I did in early June. I cut off the sleeves (which I now use for headbands/bandanas in my hair) and then cut out the plain shape I wanted the shirt to achieve. Again I had some poop luck in the neckline area, and it was HUGE. it was enormous over my collarbones. I had to take it in if I didn't want it falling right off. So i did an inverted V released darts combo. I think it looks awesome. It's a little... oddly placed since I have really large breasts, but it makes it fit well and added some chic style that I didn't think of before, and really love now. I posted it onto Fashism.com and there was a general consensus that it was too tight around the chest and the darts looked funny, but I for once don't care what they said! I think it is amazing and so much fun. it really takes such a casual fabric and clothing article and makes it just that little bit more dressed up.



I then was lucky enough to find about 5 yards of a bright yellow mid-weight synthetic crinkled fabric that I fell in LOVE with. I originally wanted to make a plain, tiered skirt maxi, but I quickly realized it was the wrong fabric for that. I instead folded the yardage in half, gathered it a LOT at the half line (aka the shoulders), and then gathered it EVEN MORE in the shoulders (two different layers of elastic thread and gathering). I sliced into the shoulder to create a V-neck, and did two rows of elastic thread smocking around my waist line. From there I just cut it at the bottom and wore It out! it may be a bit heavier style fabric than typical for this style dress, but I totally love it!! It's perfect for the hot weather that has finally landed in California. I loved this dress so much I've decided to go another direction for my wedding dress (which is still far in the future but it's nice to look)! This is my Official June Dress.



And finally, and most recently I made a dress from Bedsheets! they weren't fancy sheets, just plain 200 thread count oens from Target. You know the ones, marketed at kids going away to college. Well mine were teal and my boyfriend demanded an upgrade to a less girly color and higher thread count. So instead of throwing them away I insisted we keep them so I can do something fun with them. I attacked the fitted sheet first by completely removing like elastics (which became the perfect play things for my cat, Elvis. like teal snakes, he goes insane!!) and then cut out the pattern pieces for the top. This was my first dress with a crossfront like this and I think it went really well! I was really proud because this was my first real attempt to line the top and I did it pretty successfully. You can see some puckering and pull lines, but that's because I did separate lining and not underlining. If I had done underlining I think it would been smoother. I also think I may have been better off waiting to see where the cross pieces crossed before tacking it up in the middle of the bust, but hey At least now I know. I then measured out two large pieces for the skirt and used more elastic thread to do gathering on a panel for the back. I made two huge mistakes here, though. I made the top skirt piece WAY too long, and not wide enough (originally I was going to make this a floor length skirt and realized quickly the teal was a bit too bright to do a full dress of it), and I made the back panel way too wide. I couldn't find my seam ripper, so I literally just cut straight through the middle skirt panel and brought the cut edge up the waist line (about five inches removed). But the back panel fit the skirt width properly, so when I took in the panel I had to creatively minimize the fabric in the skirt.I decided to go with a box pleat in the center back, and it turned out pretty well! it didn't get too bulky above my butt, and gave it better width around my hips. It was surprisingly easy despite all the working and reworking I had to do on the dress. To add some pizazz I sewed on some matching teal ribbon that I had lying around. Yay Official July Dress, not at the very last minute!

Now I plan on moving on to the Rayon wrap dress I want to make myself. I have insisted to my sister that I must do my own knit wrap dress before I even touch her fabric because my fabric is 8 dollars a yard rayon from Joann's, and hers is beautiful japanese print silk knit from Britex for $150 a yard. There's no way I'm not making a trial run for this. I would KILL MYSELF, before she could even kill me for wasting fabric by messing up. After doingthe cross front for the teal dress I feel pretty good about doing it in knit. It'll be so much easier since it's knit, and will barely even need any darting at the waist! I'm pretty excited now for it.

I almost forgot! Before I even get to that I have to work with my group in my Fashion Entrepreneurship class! We're writing up a business plan for a store, ours is a Vintage Reproduction Bridal Boutique, and for part of the business plan we have to create a sample, in our case a dress! I've got to work with my group mates to demolish a Jessica McClintock dress and some yards of lace into a vintage dress! It'll be fun, I'll probably post a picture of the finished dress on here.