Sneaky Peaky

I've started working on the first dress for my clothing line. I'm using the pink, gray, and black marc jacobs cotton eyelet I bought at Mood in LA. This dress is named "Anna", not for my sister, (sorry Anna), but for the stylish lady who co-writes a stylish blog. Have a Cute Day was the first blog to ever feature my sewing, so I asked Anna and Kjrsten if I could make dresses for them to feature my clothing line. They agreed to free clothes right away (who wouldn't?).

The Anna dress is going to be a color blocked style, with an a-line skirt and center front exposed zipper. I'm so excited for this dress and to see someone wear it like Anna. She sent me her bust cup size and her waist and hip circumfrence, and I altered my master pattern to her specific sizes. This is how I am going to do every order, so that each woman gets a customized fit, which is what I feel is so important in the postpartum period, and for every time of life in general! Postpartum or not, every woman has a body that isnt perfect, and the clothes for women, especially dresses, are meant to fit a "perfect", symmetrical and balanced body, no matter the size. If you aren't a B cup, clothing that is bought in a store is not going to fit right because because clothing at every store is sized to fit a B cup. So here is a solution: clothing that is sized to fit YOU personally, hand made by one girl (moi).

I hope you like it so far, Anna!

PS: the bodice and skirt are lined so that the eyelet isn't revealing. That would be weird.

Did anyone know...?

..that Joann'e will give you the leftover cardboard bolts if you ask for them? 

I had no idea until I went yesterday to buy some lining. I ended up buying a whole bolt of gray leopard ponte knit that I couldn't let go of. I imagined all my fabric from LA piled up in my office closet, disorganized and complete mess. I remembered how I wasn't supposed to buy anymore fabric (according to Steve). Then I saw the cutting lady put a cardboard bolt behind her in a giant pile. I asked her if I could have some for my growing planet of fabric at home. 

"OF COURSE! why didn't you say so?"

Peace at last with the invading fabric species.

The gray leopard ponte knit I couldn't live without.

The mess I lived with in the past, invading my closet. 

Winding up my pink Mar Jacob's eyelet I bought at Mood. 

Tidy and happy.

Going to Missouri tomorrow for a family reunion. Happy Pioneer Day Utah!

blogger is driving me insane.

My name is Ellen and it makes me happy when I have to take my bodice in.

Last night I sat at my desk wondering what I could do next after a billion hours of Poor Man's Wife orders: more PMW, finish drafting the first patterns for my clothing line, or work on snake dress. I voted the latter. 

I put together the whole bodice without the yoke top and tried on the bodice to see how my guesstimated princess seams had worked out. I have never made patterns with princess seams before, and princess seams that fit well are paramount for a well-fitting bodice. And I'm sorry, but well-fitting princess seams are more flattering than any other type of construction for a well-endowed woman. TO my pleasure, I had to take it in underneath my bust and in my tummy area. It made me happy. Pictured above is a pinned bodice ready for alteration. Struggling over the word 'bodice' Steve said: "that's the best fitting bodice I ever saw", when I showed him the finished product. I felt skinny. It made me happy.

Success?

On Saturday I was at the LaCaille bridal fair. I wasn't planning on doing this fair at all until last week when I got an email saying they had a booth cancellation and they were offering a 5x5' booth for half price (normally $700). I hadn't done a bridal fair since February, and I thought it was a good enough opportunity to get back in the circle of brides. Preferably, brides with money... and good taste. 

Steve took me to DI a couple days before to buy a table, tablecloth, and a few other nicknacks with the hope that the "poor" in "poor man's wife" wouldn't be too literal. When we pulled up to LaCaille at 10 am on Saturday, I saw the giant tables, 6' banners, and shiny tablecloths. It wasn't till I got inside until I realized how out of place I really was. I hurried to scrape off all the DI price tags off the wine glass that was going to hold my business cards I had made myself. It was high school all over again with my 1993 Saab hatchback breaking down every other weekend. Here I was, the poor man's wife. 

When the brides started to flow in at 11, I realized that I actually had the prime spot of the entire fair. It was right in front of the doors and the first booth the brides saw. I talked it up for three hours straight as the room became muggy and hot with so many stressed bodies inside. I met brides that were getting married on Halloween (my favorite), brides with no budget, brides who didn't know what their wedding colors were yet, and brides who brought their finaces (they were the surprising ones-- the appreciation for handmade goods was most noticeable in the grooms who took the time to actually come to a bridal fair). A koi fish pond flowed behind me, and I had to save an obnoxious kid from drowning in it by hurling him out the back door and sternly telling him to go find his mom. 

 

 I passed out about 500 business cards, got four others from different vendors, and sold two items on the spot. I think it was success, but I won't know until my poor man's wife inbox fills with orders. I'll tell you when I know. 

I got home exhausted, but decided to clean my sewing machine before going to bed. That machine is going to be my bread and butter for a long time. 

Working out of your home is no less tiring than working outside of it.

This Saturday I'm going to be selling my bridal veils and accessories at the La Caille Bridal Fair in Salt Lake City from 11-5 pm. I've been working all week to make sure I have enough stock to sell for the big day.



Having my own job, being my own boss, and working out of my home has always been a dream of mine. My dad runs his own architecture firm out of the garage of my his house. My grandpa ran and managed the Idaho Dairy Queens out of his home office. My aunt Leslie worked out of them home decorating beautiful houses in Salt Lake. All have been extremely successful making money and being able to support their families. My clothing line will all be sewn in my office, with my own hands. It is the dream I've always wanted because after years of working in retail sales I've never been one for the corporate world (unless I was running the corporation myself). I am a true entrepreneur at heart, I suppose.



My mother keeps telling me how lucky I am to live in Utah where home-based business is so huge and so encouraged. I see it as a blessing and a curse in that I can never separate my business life from my home life. when my husband comes home from his engineering jobs we talk fabric choices, brand name, and the cost of custom tags for about an hour before we start acting like husband and wife. But as I'm writing this, I realize that I just took an hour nap at 5 pm, went out to lunch with my mom for two hours, and I slept till 9.



I shouldn't be complaining. Working out of my home is fab-o.

Shameless

When Steve and I were in LA, we stopped by Rodeo Drive to walk around every designer clothing store and shamelessly pick through all the clothes, turning them inside out and seeing how everything was made. Steve, with his very casual plaid shirt, shorts, and Sambas waited by the door and looked completely comfortable and not at all out of place (which he should have felt, if he were normal).

I learned all the tricks, at least I think I did, about pleat construction, fabric selection-- Until I realized I had already learned all the tricks myself in school. I could sew just like all those seamstresses in the Chanel Fashion House. I was disappointed when I was expecting everything that should have been done to the hem when I turned it up and it was all there. Nothing new. No amazing trick-- all i learned were new design choices. 

Which is still very valuable, don't get me wrong.

Last night I finally cut out the snake dress. Remember that project I brought up about, oh, three months ago? Finally, the readers will have a new blog dress to look at. I deceided to make it a straight skirt, rather than an a-line with fullness, like I planned originally. I needed a lot of pieces for this dress.

I sewed one sleeve, which I'm copying from an Armani dress that I saw on Rodeo drive. Do you see the print on the fabric? it looks like snake skin! 

I shamelessly show off my new iphone.

Do you see this?

This is the blurry face of a woman who can't stop smiling because she has perfectly fitting wrap dress, under which she no longer needs to wear a camisole. The dress was altered to fit her petite shoulders, preventing the neckline from gaping open and cleavage hanging out. 

This is how a dress is supposed to fit people. Camisoles were only invented because clothing lines only make clothing to fit a B cup-- so that means the rest of us buy a larger size to fit our ample busts, letting our necks hang open and waistlines practically disappearing. 

My future clothing line will stop this problem. All the clothes will be made to fit cup sizes up to a DD. I'm even going to customize all orders by making each dress one at time with the waist and hip measurements dictating the size of each dress. You can't get more couture that this outside of the Chanel fashion house.

Excited yet? I am. My mind is running 24 hours a day on design, concept, and construction. It's going to be hard, but I can do hard things. 

Happy 4th. 

Making that first cut, sewing that first stitch...

....can be very scary.

Whitney from Rookie Cookie hired me to do some alterations on two wrap dresses in different colors that she just loves.  So of course that puts major pressure on me to get this right. 

The major problem with these dresses is, or with all clothing that isn't custom made, it is only made to fit a B-cup. All you well-endowed ladies out there know what i'm talking about: You buy a dress that fits your 36DD size, making it too big in the waist and shoulders. It is a plight many women have to deal with, and Whitney and I are two of those women. 

Whitney's dresses needed to be altered in the shoulders. The wrap style made her neckline gap open and the shoulder seam didn't rest on top of the shoulder, but drooped a little down the arm. No good. There is nothing I hate more than ill-fitting shoulders and a gaping neck. So uncomfortable and can be unflattering.

The first thing I needed to do was remove the sleeves and shorten them. The sleeves had these adorable cuffs on the wrists, but Whitney felt more comfortable with a shorter, elbow-length sleeve (another similarity between us). This cut has to be the scariest cut EVER. a shortened sleeve has to be straight, on grain, and of course, not too short (you can always take away more later). I kept the cuff and then gathered the new seam since it was larger than the circumference of the wrist seam (obviously). 

I then made the big leap, and used my brand new serger that my mom bought for me last week when I was visiting in San Diego. It was scary, to say the least. But man, this serger can sew and sew fast! I've never felt more "industry" than I did sewing on the serger. I felt powerful, even with that little blade that cuts the seam allowance as you sew (like I said, once you cut you can't put it back). 

A finished sleeve. I love buttons on a short sleeve!

Next I needed to alter the extended shoulder yoke on the bodice of the dress. The yoke seam was way to low and out of proportion on Whitney's body. I needed to take up the bodice part of the dress and suck out the extra fabric. 

The horizontal pins on the right side of the pic are where I needed to lower the seam.

Below is a detached seam and then a basted gathering stitch to make new gathers. 

Once the gathering was enough to fit into the shoulder yoke, I replaced the twill tape (which prevents the seam from stretching over time) and surged it all together again. Scary.

I then sewed the seam back into the arm scye, which I cut out a lot of fabric so her sleeve sat right on top of her shoulder. and, TA DA! A well fitting bodice!

I now have the other sleeve to do, and then the sleeves on the other dress as well. I have a lot of work to do. 

And what the hells-bells am I supposed to do with all this new fabric? Oh, right. Start a clothing line.