Indigo Blue Handmade Dress (Plus a DIY Tutorial!)

While I hate getting dressed up in my day-to-day life (hi, leggings), I do really love the occasion to get fancy and have a good time - as long as it is occasional. This, I will note, is a huge shift from my style about 6 or 8 years ago (history of which is well documented on this blog). I used to love wearing heels - when I had nowhere to walk to. Now, comfortable shoes dominate my life, and tight dresses kind of make my stomach hurt. Is this what getting older feels like? If so, I'm into it. Comfort all the way, please!

That said, we have 3 weddings to attend this fall, and I'm a huge fan of getting dressed up for weddings, because they don't come around all that often. And if you're wearing heels, it's usually just for a few hours. (Spoiler alert: I don't wear heels even then.) But due to my style and taste changing, weight loss, and finding different priorities to ask of my clothing, I don't really have much wedding-appropriate attire. So obviously, I need to make a few dresses between now and November. :)

This is a little dress I made over the course of a weekend out of some lovely indigo-dyed cotton twill. I got the fabric in Chicago at the same place I picked up the fabric for this other dress - along with lots of other fabric you'll see being used sooner or later. I think all told this dress cost me about $5 in materials.

Part of the reason this dress came together so quickly was that I was using pattern pieces from my wedding dress! Having a princess seamed pattern that fits well makes designing so much quicker - I just frankensteined the pieces a little bit to make this high-necked sleeveless cut and low back.

And of course, it has pockets! If you're making your own clothes, putting in pockets is a must. 

Okay and finally.... here is a tutorial for it! I'm working on improving my video skills, and I think I can get a lot better at explaining how to do things. But I want to learn by doing, so I'm going to probably keep making imperfect tutorials and get better as I go! Hope you enjoy and maybe learn something! :)

diy little black dress

Man, I don't know what gets into me sometimes, but there are days where I decide I need to make a new outfit, right now, for an event that might be a mere few hours away. Ask my college roommate about the times I would stay up late sewing something to wear the next day - it happened quite often. It has been a while since I've been struck with this pressure - I mean, I was busy sewing a certain other dress for a few months there - but Saturday, with plans to go out dancing, I decided I had nothing to wear, and only a new dress would do. So I dug through my fabric stash.

By the way, I am now totally down for having a modest fabric stash if it is filled with things I've bought in recent years. Last time I moved, I went through my big bins of fabric and sold a bunch of it in a facebook group. I had been holding onto fabrics from high school. There was also a ridiculous amount of scraps amassed from old projects. It felt so good to pare things down to only the fabrics I really loved, even if I didn't have specific projects intended for them. 

In my stash I found an interesting cotton baby french terry, which I honestly don't remember purchasing. Apparently I got it from Mood. Maybe during their Black Friday sale? I wouldn't normally be drawn to a french terry for a summer dress, but it is actually a really nice weight for this swing style. It holds its own in the breeze, and basically feels like I'm wearing pajamas. It's super sleek on the face side so it doesn't collect cat hair very much at all, which makes it a pretty magical fabric for a girl with a tortoiseshell colored cat that loves to sit on everything.

So Saturday at 2pm, I decided to make this dress, knowing I had to leave for an engagement at 3. Good thing this baby's got FOUR SEAMS! Easy as pie. Once I nailed the fit, I just serged the whole darn thing, including the edges. Who has time for binding these days?! Mostly joking, but this fabric doesn't necessitate it at all. The overlock edge finish works just fine!

If you were wondering, it's pretty great for dancing in, as long as I don't spin too much. It's also great for wearing to work on those days you don't want to get out of your jammies. (Every day for me.)

My sunglasses and necklace are both gifts from Mike, and my shoes are from Etsy - I wore them for my wedding and now they are getting a lot of use because they are comfy as can be!

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The Just-About-the-Best-Day-Ever Dress

This dress is really special. I always have felt like there is a certain kind of magic when you wear a newly-made outfit for the first time, and this dress was no different. (Really, handmade clothes are a super power regardless of how new or old they are!) 

First, the fabric. The fabric! This is a beautiful ikat weave that I picked up at a stumbled-upon fabric sample sale from a really incredible Chicago company called Piece & Co. All of their fabrics are handcrafted by artisan women all over the world - in clean work environments with fair compensation. It was totally by happenstance that I ended up in this cool Chicago loft office filled with piles of some of the best textiles I've ever seen, and I have so much respect for the people who woven the gorgeous fabrics I got to purchase!

So this was one of the pieces of fabric I picked up -- it was already fated to be pretty great. I decided to make a dress in a silhouette I'm totally not used to wearing, but deemed it necessary because of the heat of summer. It's got a slight shirttail hem, a notched neckline with ties, and self bias binding along the hem, armholes, and neckline. And that's it! No darts, no zippers, no lining, no fuss. It took a day to finish. I made it entirely on my beloved Singer Featherweight (my main machine now - a gift from my dear aunt) - with french seams so it's all properly finished.

Oh but wait! Let me tell you about the magic of this dress! I wore it for the first time on the day I was offered my new position as a designer for kid's clothing. I had interviewed a couple weeks prior, and this was the day I found out. These photos were taken over lunch by a friend, before the meeting where I got the job -  but can you tell I was oozing happiness even so? Sometimes, a good, new, self-made outfit will do that (and more) for ya.

I legitimately feel this way pretty much every day ^. It's been the best job ever, and it started with this dress. It was for sure good luck. 

Mercurial Knitwear Collection

 Hello hello from snowy Minnesota! This is a four-piece knitwear collection I made in my cut & sew knits class this semester. The class was pretty easy, for the most part... I've been sewing knits for years (remember those t-shirt reconstructions?), so I got to find new ways to challenge myself by using interfacing, pairing fabrics with different stretch ratios, and inserting all kinds of pockets. It was all kinds of difficult to find proper fabrics--in fact, it was probably the hardest part of the class. Surprise, there's not much to choose from in the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin!

I did find some gems, though; most notably, this beautiful printed rayon/spandex lofty blend. It is a total dream to wear! These are my portfolio pages, following. We do this in pretty much every class,  and it only makes sense to present the work we've done in a concise fashion. Ignore the empty boxes where my fabric swatches go! These are just the electronic version of the pages... in the actual pages, I cut out the squares and under-mount the swatches.

 
 It is very important for these to clearly be technical pages. Thus, we add pattern corrections, fit alterations, sewing call-outs, and pattern development.

I am crazy about this hoodie and these leggings. Honestly, I wear them ALL THE TIME. More than I should. So comfy, so not sorry.

 I think I am going to put this jacket in the fashion show. I'm not positive, because I don't know what else I'm making, but it's a nice piece and I'm not letting myself wear it, just in case. It was my most difficult garment in the class--getting the zipper in and clean finishing it with the bottom band was near-impossible, rather head-ache inducing, and required a lot of finagling.

Aaaaand sequence of operations, pattern manipulation, call out of using the coverstitch machine, a beautiful fancy industrial machine with an air compression system (!) that just whirred like it couldn't be happier. Can you tell I loved it?

It's been an insanely busy year, and next year is shaping up to be even crazier. I'll have two jobs in the spring, classes like Functional Clothing Design & Knit Design Technology (knitting machine, here I come!), and an incredible summer internship coming up. And after that, I begin my senior year of college. How time flies.

Thank you for checking this stuff out. What do you have planned for the holidays? I'm home as usual, with the family, looking forward to staying cozy by the fire, and perhaps venturing out for some cross-country skiing. Whatever you have planned, have a Merry Christmas!

Bleak Midwinter

Oh hi!

It was a crazy semester. That's really the only reason I have for my absence here. I hardly slept, let alone made any clothes. I had never worked so hard on anything until I worked on my Line Development homework--learning to draw, design, and put together cohesive lines of clothing. Getting a portfolio together, learning photoshop... it all required a lot of time and effort and I seriously pushed myself to my limits. It was so, so worth it--worth skipping other classes to finish projects, worth pretty much letting go of my social life, worth all the consecutive nights stayed up before projects were due, sitting for 24 hours in one spot, working nonstop.

Because now that it's over, now that I'm home and can remember to eat normal meals, get a full nights sleep, and let go of the massive doses of caffeine, I can proudly look at my portfolio and know that it is a kind of quality I am proud to show potential employers, something I can bring to internship interviews. That I created something I'm proud of and loved doing it (for the most part) and know I'm still passionate about this--that's worth it, in the end.

Oh, and I achieved a 4.0 GPA for the first time! That was pretty gratifying, too.

I am sorry for any emails that went unanswered, attempts to contact me that were to no avail. I really let a lot of things go this fall. I'm playing catch-up, but if you tried to contact me and I didn't reply, do try again!



This is a dress I made spontaneously on New Year's Eve. It was the first garment I'd made in months! I was sick of everything in my closet, and I'd happened to throw two table cloths on top of each other while cleaning my sewing room. One was a thrift store find from the summer, and the other I had dyed several years ago with the intent of making something eventually. After staring at them a little while, I decided I needed a new dress to wear that night. So I copied a pattern from the dress I posted pictures of on my birthday, and got to work right then. Four hours later, I had myself a new dress and a couple hours left to make some desserts for our annual party.



It's really rather poorly thrown together on the inside--I didn't use seam finishes or anything--and the waist is a smidgen big on me. But it's fun and new and I'm okay if it doesn't last forever.





I also made my cowl: it was a little exercise in maintaining sanity during the semester. My friends and I went out, bought yarn and needles, and just sat and knit to unwind. It worked!

cowl & dress / handmade | jacket / gift | socks & gloves / target | boots / urban original



My New Year's Eve was lovely--food, music, friends, fun, and a bonfire, as usual! How was yours? What are your resolutions, if you made any? Hope your fall went well--tell me about it!

20

It's my birthday today. :) I have an agenda of things to do, so I'll leave you with a few pictures of a dress I made right before I came to school!



My dad & I were target practicing, and it's always way more fun to do it in a dress. I love using his .44 magnum (the big silver one) because it's extremely accurate and has so much power, but it's kind of heavy for me. My arms start shaking by the last few shots! The .42 is easier. We also shot his .22, pictured below in the non-posed pictures, haha.







Oh, yeah, and the dress! I used some fabric I had on hand, just a nice cotton plainweave. I slightly altered my little red dress pattern to fit me better, made a full gathered skirt with inseam pockets, and had pretty details like the tabs at the waist, a handpicked zipper (which I put in twice... the first time, I put it in backwards. Remind me not to sew at 11 at night while watching tv!), lace hem tape and a handstitched hem. It's a super comfy casual dress!



Twenty isn't really a landmark birthday, but I'm a little excited to no longer be a teenager. Now I get to do big kid things, like look at a house to rent for next year (the showing is on Monday!) and polish up my resume to apply for waitressing jobs while I'm at school. And pay bills, and stuff like that. Ah, growing up.

Tonight I'm celebrating with friends in the cities: going out for cheap food and eating cake. A friend whose birthday was about a week ago is coming too, and we'll wear birthday tiaras all night long! It's nice to be with my favorite people--my closest friends and my brother.

Hope you're all having a beautiful weekend!

Black Piped Dress Prototype

I am finally sewing.

And it has taken way too long for me to be able to make that statement this summer. But between working and taking an online class for a month, I never made the time actually sit down and start a project. I mean, I sort of did--I drafted a new bodice pattern a couple weeks ago, but didn't get any further than adding seam allowances and cleaning up my pencil lines. (The latter is a school habit pounded into me! If you had any chicken scratchy-lines, it was an automatic ten percent off the pattern grade. Ouch.)

But finally, I found a whole new pocket of the web, full of super-talented seamstresses who work with vintage patterns and use all the fancy finishing techniques I've been learning and (some of them) make and sell their own pattern lines! (I'll share links soon!) Inspiring doesn't even begin to describe it. I didn't have time to become necessarily disillusioned with making clothes, but I guess I haven't been chomping at the bit to get back to it. But after reading about these amazing women, I am completely re-invigorated.

When people ask me what I want to do after I graduate, as they inevitably tend to, I'm always a little unsure of how to respond. I have three more years, at least, to figure that out. Why narrow my options now? It's important to work towards goals and know what you want, sure, but right now I'm enjoying learning about every aspect of the industry. I also know that I change my mind all the time. First semester, I would tentatively say I'd like to be a technical designer. Having completed my freshman year, I now tell people I wouldn't mind being a patternmaker. But the truth is, I have no idea. I don't know if I'd care to make patterns for other people's designs, and I'm kind of terrified that the only options I'd have would be in, I don't know, sportswear or really practical clothing. I want to work with clothes that make people feel amazing--finely tailored garments and careful details, finer fabrics and inspired techniques.

But having your own patternmaking business? Can you imagine? Self-employment, your own designs, a challenging creative process from start to finish, the option to test your own patterns (thus, getting to sew), working with fit, problem solving, and the ability to inspire other sewers AND give them designs that make them feel great about themselves. I see no downside in this scenario as far as the process goes!

This is just a new thought for me to toss around. I know I'll end up working in the industry for a period of time, but it isn't too soon to think about the eventual future, is it?



Anyway. The main point of all this rambling is that I was very, very inspired to test out the pattern I'd drafted. So I made a muslin, and miraculously, it fit with very little adjustment. I went ahead and cut out my fabric--some nice, lightweight cotton--and underlined the bodice. I piped the neckline and armholes and it took forever, but it was so worth it. I took a little extra time on the skirt to give it inseam pockets, and it's totally lined. It has an elastic waist so there is some ease for fit--since I don't know who will be wearing it, I figured a looser style would be appropriate.





My favorite detail is the lace hem tape. I love this stuff! I figured a contrast would give it some fun kick if the inside hem ever showed! I insisted on doing tons of handstiching on this dress, including the invisible hem. I am so good at picking threads, let me tell you. It takes forever but it looks like a million bucks!



What do you think? I think it's too short for me, haha! But my plan has been to put it in the shop all along. Would you wear something of a similar style, in different fabrics with variation in details? What if it had a cut out in back?

And if you're still reading after all that, then you deserve a bucket of strawberries. Thanks for sticking with me throughout all my hiatuses, dearies!