strawberry fields

I realized when I posted about my quilt that I had never posted about when my sister, my niece and I all of wore our strawberry dresses. we did a photo shoot and everything of all of wearing them together. so here it is a few years late, but here’s our strawberry dresses!

my niece’s dress no longer fits her she grew a lot in the past few years. my sisters skirt and my dress however do still fit so we can still twin if ever we decide too.
my dress I never bloged about because I made it before I had this blog. I made up the design, no pattern. after trying out a pattern for the bodice I found in a magazine that was sooooo bad. the skirt part of the dress I had already made up, but I didn’t think I would be able to make the bodice on my own. in the end the bodice from the magazine pattern was weird, nothing went together right and it didn’t fit so I scraped it and decided to totally redesign what I wanted. I did something completely different then I had originally planed but I love the way it turned out. I really like it better then what I had originally thought I wanted.


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strawberry skirt.

I finished making the strawberry skirt for my sister. I had to take a break from it for various reasons. I still think the scallops should have been slightly more shallow, but it was the first attempt I ever did at making real scallops so I am content with them. the skirt is fully lined, and has an attached red ruffled with white swirly do’s appliqued on it. which took longer then I had anticipated. I have done appliques this way before on my 1860’s skirt. which was on a slightly larger scale, so I had figured this would not take nearly as long. I was wrong though. it did a little less time but nearly just as long, which surprised me. the skirt is gathered onto a red waist band encasing elastic for a bit of contrast. I also put in three pin tuck pleats on the skirt and lace to dress it up a bit, and to match the dress I made for my niece and the dress I made for me. sometime this summer if we get a full day without rain we’re going to go on a picnic all dressed alike in our strawberry outfits. how cute will that be? definitely something to look forward too, I do adore picnics.
and now for some detail pics.







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strawberry dress

about two years ago I made my niece this dress. I had actually made one for myself that is nearly identical (in my size obviously) when she saw mine on my dress form she fell in love with it, begging me to make her one just like it. and since I had about four yards left from my dress I told her I would. and since then she has worn it, and worn it, and worn it. the last time I saw her in it though I told her I thought she had about grown out of it. the bodice still fit in the width but, the dress was getting way too short. which apparently her mother had shared the same opinion telling her she would only get to wear it a few more times then that would be it. her face melted when she thought she wouldn’t get to wear it anymore. and come on how can one resist a cute little six year olds tears? I told her since I still had about two yards left I could make it longer for her . indecently this dress is not the skirt I had previously posted about. same fabric though. the plan is sometime this summer to all dress alike and go on picnic. and no I have not finished the skirt, some things got in the way, but hopefully in the next few weeks I will have that done as well.


and so here it is. I lengthened it four inches. I had left enough in the straps to let them down an inch, took out one pleat on the skirt and completely redid the center bodice piece making it two inches longer , which also meant the zipper had to be replaced. I could get another inch out of the hem but that would require taking all the lace off the bottom and for now its long enough with just the four added inches. the piece I replaced is a bit brighter then the rest of the dress but unless you look really closely I don’ t think its that obvious. and it always makes me happy when I make something for someone and they love it. to me wearing something till its worn out is such a compliment.

* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

strawberry skirt

not much to write about on the sewing stage till now. I had started a few projects which all turned into major fails. which was alright, I set them aside for maybe later projects. after thinking about several things to make I finally decided on making a skirt for my sister which I told her I would do a while ago.

so first thing to do figure out how wide I want the skirt. then getting a can of tuna, and a small can of condensed milk.... WAH! I thought this was a sewing a blog!
oh it is, let me explain. I am making scallops on the bottom of the skirt. first sew a facing to the bottom then draw the half circles. I needed to get the circles even and with enough curve, which is something I can not free hand (yes I have tried it) so I measured up three inches and then drew around the tuna, can, and then the milk can with Tailors chalk, rotating the cans as I went.




I wish I had chosen to only go two inches the scallops are bit deeper then I thought they would be, I also whish I would have used a large can of tomatoes, and the tuna, to make the scallops slightly larger. but that’s alright this is the first time I have done proper scallops.

after marking them I sewed along the markings.



next cut out the scallops about 1/4” away from the stitching with pinking sheers.

next flip the scallops right side out, press and you have scallops!


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*