Niecely Niceness

I have a fairly large family. I have several siblings, which means that I have many nieces and nephews. Family gatherings are always fun, if somewhat noisy.

Since I had so much fun making my purse, I decided to keep sewing and make some more stuff. That "stuff" turned out to be dresses for some of my adorable nieces. My nephews are adorable, too, but it is just more fun to sew little dresses, in my opinion. Since I am still keeping strictly to what is available in my stash, I ended up mixing and matching fabrics to construct some really cute little items. Here is the first:



Yellow is the favorite color of this little girl, and it looks good on her, too. The bodice and belt/ties fabric has a cream background with little blue, daisy-like flowers in yellow squares. The A-line skirt and two-part sleeves are of a brighter yellow fabric with red flecks.

Her sister's dress is from the same pattern:



This little girl looks really good in blue. When I initially put the bodice and skirt fabrics next to each other, I was not really sure if they would go well together. They seemed to be just enough "off" that they might clash. Adding the dark blue belt between them turned out to make the combination perfect. Since the dress seemed a little plain, I decided on applique embellishments, and flowers were a natural choice, because she loves flowers. I did simple, free-hand sketches and cut them out of the dark blue. The center of the smaller flower on the bodice is of the skirt fabric, and the centers of the three larger flowers on the skirt are of the bodice fabric. All of the applique work is satin stitched with a grayish-blue thread. I fell in love with this dress before I finished it, and my niece informed me that it is now one of her favorites.

My youngest niece lives a little farther away from me, and I had to email her mother to get her size. (The first two dresses were surprises for the girls and their mother.) I used the same pattern once again, but in a smaller size than either of the other two:



I actually had enough of one fabric for the entire dress this time. The little princess for whom this was made is very blond and fair, so I thought purple would look good on her.



The applique butterfly was a bit trickier than the flowers on the blue dress, but I think it turned out well. After I fused it, I was not sure that the lavender would look good with the purple calico, but the satin stitching really pulled it together and set it off nicely. The inner wings are cut from a batik-dyed cotton. I mailed this dress at the end of last week, so I do not know if they have received it yet. I certainly enjoyed making it, though!

I am so glad I have nieces.

Pretty Purse

I hate purse shopping. I mean, I really hate it. I hate everything about trying to find a purse I like. The colors, the styles, the sizes, the materials, the prices--it is all quite frustrating, because "everyone else" seems to like something that is much different from what I like. Thus, I generally avoid shopping for a purse unless I absolutely have to.

My last purse was a thrift store find. I was not even specifically looking for a purse at the time, but this one caught my eye.




It is small. (I do not go for big bags.) It is muted enough to go with pretty much everything, but it is not boring. It is feminine. It is cute. (Even my husband said so.) Besides, it cost only a dollar. I have been quite happy with it for a few years.

However, it is wearing out. You can see some of the pills collecting on it. Also, for awhile, I have wanted something a little more "elegant" than "cute." So I have idly glanced at purses when I have been out shopping for other things, but--as I expected--I have not discovered anything to my liking. Therefore, as I often do after attempting to find something satisfactory in the stores and utterly failing, I decided to make my own.

Currently, I am not buying any more sewing materials. My sewing room is full as it is. That means that I must work with what I have on hand. It also means that I have a huge stash to raid when I start a new project. This was in my stash, and I pulled it out most gleefully:



It is a shirt, a rather large one. It was given to a few years ago, and I saved it for the fabric (since it is much to big for me and not really my style). It is washable stretch velvet, and I think it is simply beautiful. I removed and saved the buttons and cut up the shirt to turn it into something I can use. Since it is stretch velvet, I needed a lining that would not give, or the purse would be pulled out of shape. Once again, I looked through my stash and found something delightful:



These batik-dyed cottons were also given to me. The pieces are not very big, which is why they have not been used in some other project. However, the combination of them turned out to be just enough for the lining of my purse. I put in a few inner pockets (one of them zippered), too. I love being able to actually see inside my purse when I am looking for something. Most purses seem to have dark linings, which makes trying to find something about like searching a black hole: All the light just disappears. Well, this purse does not have that problem.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out.



I did add some stiffening to the shell, since the purse would be quite floppy without a skeleton of some sort. Is it not lovely??


It is so demure and elegant on the outside, but it is bright and fun when you get close enough to see inside. Somewhat like some people I know. (The zipper, by the way, is a vintage one from 1947. Perhaps I will do a post on that sometime.)

I love my new purse. Even my husband exclaimed, "Wow!" when I showed it to him. Definitely a success.

I Have Returned

Obviously, it has been awhile since I last updated my blog. I am no longer sewing professionally. Since my marriage in August of last year, I am delighted to have started a new career as "domestic engineer." I still sew a bit, too, as the notion takes me. (No pun intended.)

I sewed for our wedding, of course. I had to. No one else could make my dress for me--and I certainly would never find such a dress in a store.



Yes, that is my wedding dress, and yes, it is blue. I have never wanted a white wedding dress. The fabric I used is actually drapery material. A seamstress friend gave me a roll of it years ago. I thought it was beautiful at the time, but it never occurred to me that I would end up using it for my wedding gown.

The princess-seam gown has a very full skirt: It is nearly a full circle. It is fully lined with cotton, which is cooler and more comfortable than a synthetic lining. The raglan sleeves are darted at the top to give them a bit of shape, and they are roomy enough for swing dancing (which was essential for the dance at our reception). The original pattern had a scoop neckline with a zipper down the back; but V-necks look better on me, and my husband likes buttons down the front. So I changed the pattern a bit and made a practice dress to try it out. It worked.


The ornamentation is handmade Irish crochet. My mother did most of it; I added a bit, as well. Each of the buttons has a tiny crocheted flower stitched to it, with a ring of opalescent beads in the center. (I made the buttons.) All of the threadwork has beads in it.



Here is the back. I made the snowflake-like motif in the center of the design and a few of the small flowers. Other than that, the credit goes to my mother. She made a large number of individual motifs and sent them to me, and I figured out a placement for each of them before hand-sewing them into place (and adding beads where necessary).

I did some other sewing for the wedding, too. Perhaps I will make some posts about that another time.

For Auction Again...

Well, not really. It is for sale, though.

Remember the silent auction dress? I still have it, and now I am offering to you!! Here is another picture of it (I think it shows up better in this one than the one in the previous post):

It is about a size 6/8, and you can have it for $75 (plus shipping, if it has to be sent somewhere). Just send me an email if you are interested or if you have any questions.

Wouldn't you love to have this pretty little thing?

Something Blue

More wedding wonderfullness!!

Perhaps that is a tad too gushy for this little project, but it is for a wedding, after all. Is not the occasion supposed to be all bubbly and iridescent?

The soon-to-be-bride in this case had a slight problem with her wedding garments. The gown itself is a simple, lovely white lace little thing. The sash with it, though, just did not do it for her. I would have to agree.

It is not that the sash itself is bad, per se; it just is not right for the dress. Obviously, I haven't a picture of it with the actual dress, but I can show it to you against a white lace background. The color, as you can see is champagne. Against the dress, it is really quite jarring. The color is the first thing that makes it wrong for the dress.

The second is that it is too long. The dress is floor-length with no train, and the bride is not a tall woman. This sash, even when tied in a bow, extends a few feet beyond the hem of the dress. It just does not look quite right.

The third difficulty with it is the weight. The thing is heavy. The dress is empire-waisted, which means that the sash has to be attached to the dress by means of a couple hooks that are inserted into thread loops at the waist seam. That makes for an awful lot of weight dragging on the bride as she walks, not to mention a lot of pull on the dress itself.

This sash just will not do. Here is its replacement:

Once again, my client decided to go with something slightly off the beaten path of wedding tradition. (I believe her shoes will match the sash, too.) The navy contrasts prettily with the white lace, and the single layer of fabric is nice and light. (The edges have a rolled, serged finish.) Additionally, it is a better length, since it was made especially for the lady who will be wearing it.

It is so nice to supply a bride with just what she wants.

Update: When my client came to get the runners I made for her, she said that the sash looked great with her dress when she tried it on at the final fitting. Her mother, who came with her, also exclaimed that it looked really good. I am quite pleased with such a report.

Not Your Average Wedding Gown

I must admit that I actually prefer non-traditional wedding gowns. Traditional ones are very lovely; do not get me wrong. However, I like something a little more unusual. This recent client of mine presented me with the opportunity to construct something somewhat out of the ordinary when it comes to wedding attire.

It is for a second wedding, and she wanted to be different. She looked at all the traditional nuptial couture and was unable to locate what she wanted. That is when she contacted me. Since she could not even find a picture of what she had in mind, she sent me what she called a "rough sketch" (which is a whole lot better than anything I could draw). This was my introduction to the project:

It is a two-piece dress. The bodice is a strapped corset; the skirt has an uneven hemline, with the front higher than the back. She said that she was thinking of a champagne shade of fabric. I told her I thought it would be beautiful. The material she ended up getting is more gold than champagne, but I think it made a gorgeous gown.

The bodice is boned with ribs on nine of its seams; it will not lose its shape. It is trimmed with the skirt fabric, and the same fabric was also used for the lacing. (The small picture at the top shows a detail of the bodice brocade and solid trim.) The skirt has a darker gold lining, which adds a little interest and subtle emphasis to the high/low hemline.

The wedding is scheduled for September, but my client was quite happy to have the dress taken care of early. She was decidedly pleased with how it turned out, saying that it is even better than she expected to be. Now that makes for job satisfaction.

Good Cause Epilogue

Remember the dress I made for the Sticks to Bricks silent auction? Since it did not fit the mother of the man who won it, I got to make another one. She tried on the one that was at the auction and decided that she would like the neckline raised a little and that she would prefer sleeves. (The original was sleeveless.)

She also wanted a different fabric. The fabric I used for the first dress was a pale lavender polyester; she wanted something a little more breathable, and she mentioned that she likes blue. However, she did not wish to vary the color very much from the original, since that one had made her son think of her. I set off to the fabric store to see what I could find.

I returned with an absolutely gorgeous piece of blue cotton, which is pictured at the top of the post. It has a pretty texture woven into it, and the finish on it makes it wrinkle-resistant. It has somewhat purple undertones to it, keeping it near the spectrum of the original fabric. It made a lovely dress.

The bodice is lined with a lightweight white poly/cotton blend. She was delighted with the fabric I chose, calling it a "happy medium" between the material used for the first dress and the color that she prefers.

I was quite pleased with how it all turned out, and so was she. She told me that she would wear it for her birthday. Additionally, her son was gratified because he was able to get her just what she wanted, making a happy ending for everyone involved.

Retro Baby

You know what is an adorable combination? A cute baby and a vintage pattern. The dainty styles of the older clothing are so sweet. This darling little dress was made from an original 1950s pattern, and it complements its wearer delightfully.

The fabric is a cotton calico with royal blue roses on a light blue background. The bodice has four little buttons down the front. The puffed sleeves and gathered skirt add plenty of snuggly fullness.

See what I mean? The girl and dress make a delightful pair!!

Ties inserted at the side seams make a cute bow in the back and allow for some adjustability in the fit.

It is so much fun to make old-fashioned little girl clothes!!

Nature's First Green is Gold...

It is not, though, a hard hue to hold when it is incorporated into a pretty dress. Actually, the dress is gold with a green vine, but that is a mere technicality. I think Mr. Frost's rhyme still applies.

This particular creation is a combination of two different decades: The sleeveless bodice is a modification of a 1950s pattern; the A-line skirt is from a pattern printed in 1976. The span of a score of years or so, however, does not detract in the slightest from the nice result.


It is also a combination of a couple different needlework techniques: sewing and crocheting. If you look closely at the above picture, you can see the pale green crocheted vine that winds around the body from the neckline to the hem. The small photo at the top is a detail of the neckline.


The fabric is a gold brocade, and the leaf pattern is a perfect background for the crocheted vine. Because of the zipper down the back, the vine is actually in two pieces, but the general effect is of one long sprig of greenery. Once again, the subtlety of detail is what takes this dress beyond the ordinary--and contradicts dear Robert's assertion that "nothing gold can stay."

When You Wish Upon a Sewing Machine...

Making children's clothing can be so much fun. It is always a delight to complete a cute little outfit, especially when it is for a special occasion.

In this instance, the occasion was a trip to Disney World. My client brought me three smocking plates (completed smocked designs) to be inserted into new outfits. Her family was going to Florida, and she wanted matching clothes for her children. Minnie Mouse silhouettes were to be inserted in the girls' sleeveless A-line shirts, and a Mickey Mouse silhouette was intended for the little boy's romper.


Are they not adorable? (Their older sister was still trying on her outfit.) All the pieces are fully lined, and all the tops unbutton at the shoulder. The girls' pants have elastic waistbands. Narrow red piping outlines the smocked insertions.

I hope they enjoyed their trip immensely. It is nice to think that my handiwork had the opportunity to go all over the "happiest place on earth."

Evening Elegance--For a Good Cause

I promised I would post some more about the dress I wore to the Sticks to Bricks charity dinner. I had to make a new dress for it, because I had nothing appropriate to wear that actually fit properly. However, I did not want to spend a great deal of money, either. That is when I remembered something in my fabric stash.

Anyone who does very much sewing has a fabric stash. Having loads of excess material seems to be a sort of disease for seamstresses. We buy fabric just because it is pretty or just because it is on sale or just because we will have some use for it someday. The fabric multiplies, too, and not necessarily through additional purchases. Once friends and family--even casual acquaintances, at times--discover that someone knows how to make things out of fabric, all kinds of textile gifts are suddenly bestowed. The fabric stash grows.

In this case, it was a very good thing.

One of my friends is another seamstress. She is retired now, but she sewed professionally for over forty years. She loved doing it, too. Her specialty was window treatments (she worked with an interior designer), but she made a good many other things, as well. When I bought my house and mentioned to her that I wanted to make a gold valance for the music room, she presented me with a good-sized bag of gold fabrics. Not just any gold fabrics, mind you. No, they were all silk. Such luxurious gorgeousness!

That bag of yet-unused gold silk is what I remembered when I needed to make an evening gown to wear to a black-tie dinner. There was enough of one of the fabrics to not only construct the dress but to also line it. The scraps remaining after the project was completed were not skimpy, either. And I happen to think the dress turned out well:

The small photo at the top of this post shows a close-up of the decorative stitching that goes all the way around the dress: neckline, button placket, and hem. It also trims the sleeves. (Yes, the "signature" photo at the top of the blog is a picture of the same thing, but the stitching shows up better in the one with this post.) Since it is the same color as the fabric, it is a very subtle detail, but it adds just the right touch.

The buttons are covered with the same fabric. I love using button forms. Closures that perfectly match the garment make all the difference between an obviously homemade product and one that prompts people to ask where the item was purchased.

The back of the gown is pretty, too:

The lacing, made of the same gold silk as the dress, gives interest to the back in addition to enabling a precise fit. I made a couple French tacks between the dress and the lining to ensure that the lining would not bunch wrong when the lacing is tightened.

Only a couple people at the dinner commented about the dress to me. However, I heard second-hand that the dress had gotten many compliments. One woman told me that she had been upstairs in the gallery overlooking the main room and had heard several people saying that it was a beautiful dress. That was nice to know.

Even better, though, was the joy of wearing such a gorgeous frock and the satisfaction of having made it myself.

Sewing for a Good Cause

The Sticks to Bricks charity dinner was held at the Levine Museum in Uptown Charlotte last night. Its purpose was to raise money to build a school in the Sudan. David Chadwick, pastor of the Forest Hills Church, and his wife, Marilynn--both of whom recently visited the Sudan--were a couple of the speakers; and Damien Horne provided some of the live music. Truly, an evening of culture.

Part of the event was a silent auction, which is how I became involved with the whole thing. A couple of my clients helped organize the function, and one of them asked if I would like to donate a dress to the auction. I was happy to oblige, and constructed this pretty little thing:

The main dress is made of an off-white satin with a somewhat violet hue, and the overlay is a lavender, sheer, crinkled, slightly-thicker-than-chiffon polyester. The bodice is lined with a fine cotton batiste, which makes it more comfortable to wear than a usual polyester lining would. It turned out quite nicely, and I heard several people gushing over it. For some reason, though, someone put on the card that it was a Karen Bedding dress, which is not my name; and no one knows whence came that name, either. It was very odd. However, my website was listed correctly on the card, and I am quite glad about that.

The eventual winner of the auction wanted to get the dress for his mother, but I overheard him tell someone near him that it would not fit her. Seizing the opportunity to introduce myself as the maker of the garment, I told him that I could make another one in her size. He checked with the people running the auction, and we worked out a deal: If he won the auction, I would take back this dress and make another one for his mother. He won, and I brought the dress home with me.

I will be posting more in the future about the dinner and the gorgeous dress I made to wear to it.

Fun Little Skirt

It is odd how a camera flash can change the color of something in a photo, is it not? The fabric shown to the left is actually black--black polyester microfiber, to be precise. It feels somewhat velvety, but it has no nap. Having no nap makes it really easy to do pattern layouts. Yay!

The image is a close-up of the stitching detail on a skirt I made recently. I used one of the pattern stitches on my wonderful little computerized sewing machine to add some subtle interest to the seamline between the skirt and the flounce around the edge. You see that bit of stitching in the lower right corner of the photo? That is the other front of the skirt: It is a faux wrap design. It actually has an elastic waist with a separate sash to tie over it. Easy to make (I think the decorative stitching took the longest of any part of the construction) and easy to wear. Such a fun little skirt...

The Mother of...Style?

It can be difficult to construct a skirt without a zipper. One must have some way to cinch the garment around the waist. Of course, there is always elastic, but it usually does not provide a very tailored fit. The design of the skirt has to be conducive to an elastic waistband in the first place, too.

A few weeks ago, I was in the predicament of needing a zipper for a skirt I was making--but I did not have one. Granted, zippers usually are not very expensive, but I wanted to use what I had on hand and not make a trip to the fabric store just for a zipper. (You might have noticed the high gas prices recently.)

So I dusted off my resourcefulness.

Last fall, I spent some time reading various materials from the 1940s, such as some Cornell Bulletins for Homemakers (archived online) or a copy of The New Encyclopedia of Modern Sewing. (Modern, in this case, is definitely relative: The copyright date is 1943.) If anyone knew how to be resourceful, it was the woman on the homefront during the Second World War. Nearly everything was in short supply--including zippers, because most of the metal was diverted to the war effort.

Anyway, when I began the skirt I was talking about and I ran up against the wall of having a need with nothing to fill it, I recalled a passage from one of the resources I had been perusing (I wish I could remember which one), in which the author mentioned that clothing designers became very creative during wartime in order to compensate for the lack of various things--such as zippers. One of the techniques mentioned was that of using lacings.

Aha! I did not have a zipper, but I could make a lacing. It was quite simple, actually, and it gave an ordinary corduroy skirt quite a striking feature. Perhaps I will have to make more items with similar closures...