Dress 11 Brocade 50's Inspired

This dress was my YOU Dress. I got the honor of meeting my customer in person. It was a lot of fun talking and picking out fabrics.

I'm almost done with dress 12 & 13. One is for a Chinese wedding so it will be a white gown with red accents. She wanted a less formal fabric so she could wear the dress again. I will be posting it in the near future. I love white and red! I'm still very behind in my schedule. The Holidays and having to do dress 10 over again... That is a totally different story and I will be sharing my bad luck very soon. 

I hope by January to be completely caught up. We shall see. I apologize to my customers who are anxiously awaiting their orders.

DIY Wrapping

I started to follow this great little blog. She does a lot of DIY gift wrapping, which we all know comes in handy all year long. I really loved her tissue pom pom flowers. Mine didn't turn out as nice as hers but I still love creating it and know my mom will appreciate it. Be sure to check out CoffeeBreakCorner. For instructions on these cute little flowers click here.

Dress 10 1930's Wedding Gown

This dress is not complete but I had to share my progress and some frustrating times for me. All that needed to be done is the zipper, the hem and the lining....but unfortunately the dress is too small. I forgot to add more to the hips so it is about three inches too small. There is no give to this cut, it has to be exact. I will be starting the dress over tomorrow. I will eventually finish this dress and list it. It is going to be a stunner! Please excuse the mess I've been working overdrive trying desperately to catch up.



PS I Love Tartan Dress 9

I love how this dress turned out. It is my version of the PS I Love You dress, but with tartan fabric. The fabric is 100% wool and I managed to line the wrap dress beautifully. For the petticoat I too the violet contrast color. I always love to add splashes of color when I can.

I'm waiting for final measurements for a wedding dress, working on the design still for the You Dress, I want it to be perfect. I also have a 1930's wedding gown. I honestly don't know what dress will be number 10!

My Sister is a Crafter

Or family joke is that there are seamstresses and crafters, though we all know we are usually both. When we go to Joanne's we always say those darn crafters always in our way. Darn crafter took my parking spot. This is only a joke so please no hate comments. I do some crafts myself.

Well my sister decided to sew up this little craft and it is so cute I had to share it here:



Dress 7 and 8

This picture of my top and skirt do not do the outfit justice. It is so pretty. I couldn't wait to make it just to use the pretty overlay.

Number 8 is a 60's mod plaid dress, something I expected to be easy wasn't at all. I love the final outcome, but felt it took me too long to make.

Next up is my PS I Love You Dress, but with a tartan fabric. I am about done with it and hopefully it will ship tomorrow. Because of the wool, I had to fully line it. It is so much easier with facings when doing a wrap dress, but as Tim Gunn would say "make it work".

In Etsy Finds for a second time

I'm so happy to be in Etsy finds again! This was Fashion Holiday Fashion. You can see it here. I do have to share another dress though, I'm so in love with it! If I could afford it, it would be mine. The shop is Mackenzie Mode who was also featured. Click here to buy this fabulous dress and be sure to check out her entire shop you will be drooling!

Dress 6

Well not a dress but another circle skirt. This skirt was a HOOT. If you look closely the fabric is little owls. My customer supplied the fabric. It as a pretty heavy fabric, but I got it to work.

With such cute fabrics, I couldn't resist to make my customer an extra gift so I made this hobo bag to match. I sure hope she loves it. 

Dress 5

This is tea length ball gown. Nice and puffy! I didn't think I would like the grey but I love it! I hope she did too!

Dress 4

Well not a dress, but a 1950's circle skirt. I've been working on bettering my photos and love how this one turned out.

Dress 2 and 3

This was such a sweet order. The lady initially ordered two dresses for herself, but decided to use the order for her 86 year old MIL. She picked out two vintage dresses from Etsy for me to try to recreate. I knew the 1900's one I would not be able to completely because of the fabric , but I do think I captured the vibe of the outfit from CoralVintage.

Her second choice came from another Etsy seller simplicityisbliss and it is a 1960's dress. She wanted a aqua blue, sleeves to the elbows with cuffs.

Now my dresses:

Dress 1

This is the McCall's 4714. To fix the issues I had with it, I took up the godets and added horse hair braid to the skirt. It lifted it thank goodness. My customer loved her dress and said she would send some pictures in the future, since my pictures don't do it justice.

I made the front page of Etsy! Of course someone has to bring you down

I made the front page of Etsy I think it was on Nov. 6th, I was so happy and excited about it since I've only been on the FB once back in 2009, for a computer mouse thing I made. Sure enough three days later I get an e-mail from Etsy telling me my items and tags are not within the rules of Etsy. Of course they don't let you know what listing they are talking about so you frantically try to figure out what is wrong. I had a feeling it would be the listing that just made the front page and I was right. It seems and this of course is a case by case basis but if you use an inspiration photo it is not supposed to be the first thumbnail. I had a picture of Grace Kelly you can see below as my inspiration photo next to it my version of the dress:

Without getting into all the details I was basically told this when I said I never seen anything in the TOU about the inspiration photo not being allowed as the first picture:

Since it isn't an example of your actual work in the first thumbnail, it violates this policy. Listing descriptions and photos must accurately describe the item for sale so buyers know what is included in the purchase. Technically, all photos are supposed to be of the item, but we allow some other photos in certain cases, within reason.

I don't mind taking off the picture of Grace Kelly, but it was a pretty sharp stab in the gut, unless I took it wrong that Etsy is basically saying my listing is not as described, that it does not look like the dress that it was "Inspired" from and not reasonable to compare the two dresses.

So heads up anyone that uses "Inspirational Photos", you may get flagged and you can count on getting flagged if you start showing any kind of success because that is just the way some users on Etsy are. Also to Etsy if I was against the TOU I should never have been allowed on the front page. You may also check out your Etsy Finds as I see a violation in it right now a picture of a pattern, never made...oh I forgot it is a case by case basis. BTW I am not flagging the user in the Finds, I hope the shop gets lots of views and a sale from it! Okay my vent over....

Hair Fascinator Netting and a Butterball Turkey

So I have been having some fun making hair fascinators. I have purchased Russian Netting and French Netting, my next is English Netting. My sister came over the other day and said she didn't like the netting because it reminded her of what turkey's are wrapped in. She is so right. If I ever need a yellow fascinator do you think anyone would be offended if I used a butterball turkey net? I'm kidding of course :)

Eco Friendly 1950's Wedding Gown

Thank you to my wonderful customer below for sharing your day with me. Photos were taken by Linda Wildemann. This was my Eco Friendly Hemp dress. The tie on the groom was made from the same fabric of the dress. What a wonderful picture. Thanks so much for allowing me to share them

I'm still putting my 21 dresses, 19 in perspective. As I say I love what I do. Then I think... Will I have some stressful times? Will I encounter more dishonest people? Will I have people not completely happy? Yes I will....that is life, but the ones that I've made happy are worth the small amount of negativity. I had a follower e-mail me with some great suggestions. The first being raise my prices and lessen my work load. This is some sound advice! I really appreciated her taking the time to contact me.

Can't fathom how this happened

I'm working on dress one! I have a lot of it assembled and am ready to put a zipper in. I put it on my form one last time to make sure of fit and the skirt and overlay don't match! I know a lot has to do with the weight of the beaded overlay, but 4" worth!

How to fix this? There are a total of 7 godets on this dress. 6 have been sewn. Is is possible to undo the bodice and take it up? No you lose all the curves of the skirt. If I trim the bottom I lose the effect of the godets. Here are a couple pictures so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. The second one I pinned up to line up to the skirt more. Yes it is time for Ms. Seam-Ripper. I will take out the godets and trim the overlay four inches, then reapply the godets, slitting more to fit. I am very nervous as this fabric is no longer available and I have none left to fix an error. 

 Any pointers so I don't do this again would be appreciated.

This dress is being made from McCall's 4714, what is amazing is the beaded overlay was purchased from Vogue fabrics and it is the fabric from the actual picture on the pattern! The godet fabric was out of stock, but I love what I found to substitute it. The dress is being made of silk and if I get over these little bumps it is going to be one gorgeous dress! With this picture you can really tell why I can't just cut the bottom of the dress.

21 Dress and it just maybe it....

It has been a rough three months for me and I'm going to take the time it takes to make my 21 paid dresses to make a hard decision to stop designing for others. These last three months have put me over the edge. Of course I have had some happy wonderful customers, but sometimes the bad really out weighs the good.

Join me in my count down of 21 dresses and see what the future brings. I will never give up my designs, but maybe like a lot of other seamstresses out there I will have one heck of a wardrobe! These two dresses are not a part of the 21, but I thought I would share them anyways.
 

This is another dress I just finished last week or so.

New Holiday McCalls Patterns

I'm in a pattern frenzy with the Holiday line from McCalls. These two are my favorite. 6463 & 6466. C'mon Joanne's give me that pattern sale already!

1950's Polka Dress and my first fascinator

This is another version of my polka dot dress, cut is a little different, yes I learned from the first one. I was lucky to find the polka dot fabric, it is an organza. The first version had a deep back this one has a peek-a-bow back. I did not have to use horse tail on the skirt either. I'd love to keep making this, but only can offer it if I have the fabric on hand. If you know of a vendor please share.

I also made my first fascinator. They are pretty easy to make. The next one I make I will do a little tutorial. This not for the above dress. I made an actual veil for that, but did not have my sister's little mannequin to take a picture with, maybe next time.

A Beautiful Gown

Though ballgowns are a lot of work. I do love making them. This has two layers of tulle, white and ivory. A layer of organza, the skirt and the skirt lining. I'm shipping it on the 11th since the post office is closed on the 10th. I'm guessing it is going to weigh 5-6 pounds! The satin was extraordinary, soft and so nice to work  with. With this order I will making my first fascinator. I will post it when I'm done. I had to special order Russian netting for it. Regular netting just will not do.

New to me patterns

I should be staying off Ebay but who can resist. I just got this great pattern! Simplicity 3505. I think I will be using it partially for my  next order. If I do I will have to modify the neck line to be round instead of square. Love the back a lot! You just don't see many modern patterns with this back and I usually have to modify them to achieve it. It is always nice to find a pattern, helps me stream line my orders without so much work aside from sizing.

My next purchase was a lot of patterns. My main reason for getting it was for the Vogue 2877 Victor Costa. There is a bridal one McCall's 7985 that I don't want! I now have three of them...it may just be time for another pattern give away.

Ewww What is this Frugly Dress?

As you all know I can laugh at myself and my mistakes. This dress when I first started was frugly! I had to take pictures just to post them here. Sometimes I don't know what I'm thinking. It looks frumpy and dated! Needed some serious modifications.

First thing I did was shorten the bodice, then I modified the neckline and added some horse tail to the skirt so it would lay more flared. It went from frumpy dumpy to super cute and fun....if I do say so myself. I would love to offer polka dot dresses but the fabric is really tough to find. I'm doing another one, but I had the fabric in stock.

 Bodice detail. So much better!

This is my first veil. I know you can't see it well, but I thought it would be really rude of me to try it on and take a picture. It has three layers, tulle, the polka dot fabric and tulle again that can be pulled over ther face. It is a shorter veil. I hope I get some pictures to see this dress on a person.