as per usual for a teenager...

...Liver sent me only a shot of her skirt, and forgot that she had a head. 'Tis a pity, but I guess you got a good look at her in the last post. I suppose the focus is the skirt, after all.

no one knew the earth was round until someone took a boat trip.

Last week I was in San Diego while my mother was at Education week at BYU and my dad was taking scouts on a river trip. Anna, my sister, and I drove down last Sunday with horrible traffic to take care of my sister while the parentals were gone. Liver (or Olivia, as she will annoyingly remind you once I say her nick name to another person) needed rides and moral support to her varsity tennis try-outs, as well as uninterrupted sisterly advice from day one. I don't know how she wasn't sick of us putting in our two cents about her life and and high school and boys, but apparently she likes it when we chime in so much. We spent the week eating out every meal, saw two movies, watched the third season of Alias as well as the second season of Gilmore Girls. It was great. I also gained 5 pounds which was not so great.

I promised while I was there I would teach her how to make a skirt. The pattern we used was one that I have used multiple times. I whip out this pattern usually late at night when I can't fall asleep, and I'll make myself a nice skirt for church on Sunday. It's an easy, flattering, and comfortable pattern. Liver also demanded to have pockets. it was totally necessary. Luckily, my favorite pattern had pockets.

Simplicity 2698

I brought the fabric with me to California, and I bought it at Yellow Bird Fabrics in Salt Lake. It's a great cotton chino with lycra (i'm a sucker for lycra). And Anna said it was a great floral print, so if Anna says it, it must be true.

I taught liver all the basics: how lay out a pattern on the fabric on grain, pinning correctly, how to cut out the notches, and how to backstitch. Liver does a lot of service with my mom making quilts for the homeless, so she could handle the whole sewing machine process, which was a relief. I made her practice sewing curves though. I didn't come all that way to teach a girl how to sew and then have her be all know-it-all about it. So I threw in some curve practices just to annoy her. she wasn't a genius at it, for once. 

cutting out the first pocket.

Liver thought this was the best way to cut out the awkward parts of the pattern. I reminded her to cut out all the easy angles first, and then cut out the rest. She then hopped off the table.

Success!!

Starting to sew.

Liver didn't think sewing at 5/8" was going to be very hard, no one does really until they try to sew 3 to 4 layers of fabric together. This is why I sewed the last half of the skirt myself, from the waistband, then zipper, then hem. Liver did a good chunk, however. She would not be happy if I told you differently. 

See, here is liv sewing the pockets. She did sew part of it.

Unfortuanelty, I have no picture of Liv in the actual skirt, as of yet. She hasn't sent it to me yet. She did start school on Monday, so I guess she has an excuse. I'll post it tomorrow. She looks really cute.

a long week

i got crazy and decided Monday night that i was going to try to make another dress in two days, to wear in time for my friend's wedding this Saturday (today). I bought gray and mustard yellow ponte knit when I was in LA last month, and since ponte knit is my new favorite material, I wanted to make a dress using both the yellow and gray. The top is from my evening gown I tried to finish before i graduated. let me tell you, ponte knit is amazing because it hugs to the body so well, while still being flattering. 

I had a hard time figuring out how to make the dress fancier for a wedding. Before the black roses and the ribbon, it was just a plain grey v-neck. I had no idea how to give it a little bit more umph, so that's when i called anna. 

anna is my sister. she lives in down town salt lake and loves clothing as much as I do. whenever we go shopping, we seem to buy the same items. we both have pointy oxfords, black capris from ann taylor, a liberty of london dress from target, the same short sleeved black coat from banana republic....the list goes on and on. you should see us during christmas shopping-- we become twins even though i have black hair and she is blonde (both died, however. our natural colors are exactly the same, so there ya go). anna loves all things with details like roses or ribbon. we both appreciate designers who make simple items seem special.

I called her up yesterday to come over and to help me with the dress and it's details. i asked her about the possibility of doing a giant gray bow above the waist yoke. She gave me that look that I know so well: the look of "you suggesting that is so funny and totally bizarre that i don't even know what to say to you" with a little chuckle. fine anna, you think of something. 

so we went to joanne's. we looked at one black lace trim that was so beautiful, but on a second look, it didn't seem quite fitting for the style of the dress. we looked at some black pleated ribbon trim that would echo the pleats of the skirt really well, but it was still too fancy still-- not the perfect balance between casual and fancy. went back and forth and back and forth at ribbons, sequins, pom-poms (not really), chains with tulle fringe, and we finally settled on making tulle roses to go up the neck on one side and stop at a shoulder. we then also decided on hand pleating a random pattern with ribbon around the neckline to meet the roses on either side. It was perfect, as you can see:

 

yes these roses are hand made. 

pleating on the skirt was hard to do, because I had to sew the skirt on top of the waist yoke, rather than right sides together where i could have just matched the raw edges. i had to totally guestimate the placement in the skirt and almost sew blind. i'd do it again though. it turned out great. 

love this dress. love love love. probably the best thing i've ever made.

going to california tomorrow with bridgette and anna for a week! will be sewing and will blog.

well, I did it.

I made a dress in two days, less than 48 hours. I drafted the patterns, cut it all out, interfaced the yokes and button extension, hemmed and surged until my fingertips were sore. I actually finished last night around 8 pm, and i preceded to wear my new dress to my good friend Ronnie's house warming party. I thought it an appropriate first-time wear. I think I call this dress "Ronnie", I mean, the girl gave me the idea for the belt anyway. She also loves animal prints and elbow length sleeves. It seems only a perfect name. 

Ronnie and I have been friends since freshman year. She is a year younger than me and we met through my other really good friend Elise. We both love Jane Austen ( I don't know of any Mormon girl who doesn't at least like JA), music, art, and movies. She doesn't love dogs as much as I do, but that's ok (for now). She just got married and I made all her hair pieces for her bridesmaids as well as her own hair comb. I think we'll be friends for a long time. I really love her. 

Anywho, here's the dress: 

This was my first time ever sewing a knit dress. I have only ever used knits for swimsuits (which I failed horribly in). Luckily, this material is a ponte knit, which is like a suiting knit that is uber soft and has a little structure to it. It isn't anything like a jersey, which is more pliable and thin. I'm not into jersey at all. I actually hate it. Ponte knit is the way to go.

I included in my style princess seams, a button placket, and a shoulder and front chest yoke that stays open in the front always. This is a nursing capable dress. 

I have enough material to make at least 2 more of the Ronnie dress. If you are interested in buying one and having it custom made with your bra size, waist and hip measurements, please email me. Bridgette not included. Nor is my bike.

At this moment

I am watching Project Runway, exhausted after an entire day of sewing, while the back of my mind and fingers tingle to keep sewing. I decided to start a whole new project today. My snake dress is entirely skee-wampus and not working out. I had mmy husband pin my skirt until his fingertips were all pricked to no avial. I need to go see the Doc, my BYU sewing teacher, to help me fix it. In the mean time, I took my leopard ponte knit and started a whole new dress for myself. This happens to me a lot-- i start a project, it doesn't work out perfectly well, and so I bag it for the time being and start a new project in hopes for a success. To be honest, this happens more than I would like it too.

cutting out

 On top of starting a new project, I wanted to make an entire dress in two days, making a pattern, sewing and fitting it all in 48 hours. Today, I got the pattern done, the cutting, the interfacing, and I also attempted to do a style principle that I have never done before: a center front button placket. I taught myself how to actually make a placket pattern in my old textbook, and then just made up how to sew it as I went along (bite the bullet).

placket pattern

dress pattern with placket cut-out

 The placket turned out pretty good. I have no idea if I did it the "right" way, but it does work and it looks the way it is supposed to. Luckily, i was wearing a knit skirt with a placket neckline as i was sewing, so i was constantly looking down and turning my neckline inside out.

Finished product

I ate today: three brownies and two diet cokes. Went to the bank in the morning even though i hadn't brushed my teeth yet. I think tomorrow will be the same if I force myself to finish my project by tomorrow night.

Meet Bridgette

I'm not sewing today. I'm playing with my new dog. Steve and I adopted Bridgette from the Salt Lake Humane Society yesterday. This lab/dachshund mix is the joy of my life.

Feast your eyes on those ears!!

Step 2

For the next phase in Anna's dress, I put together the gray over skirt. It looks short, but there will be a pink underskirt that goes to the knee. I cut out the over skirt on the bias, to get the best flattering flare that fabric can muster. Once I sew that, I have the zipper to put in and the sleeves. I think I may do the petal sleeves I used for the first dress I made for my blog. I think that would be best for this style: comfortable, but still flattering. The sleeves will be black. I was worried because it does look a little weird with the two colors right this moment, but the black sleeves and pink skirt will balance the whole style (i hope).

I think it will look like a Neapolitan ice cream sundae when it's done.

I hope you like it so far!