polka dot dresses!

all the polka dots!


we went out for ice cream at a fifties themed ice cream shop. they make their own ice cream and its amazing and creamy. my sister and I really did eat the ice cream too but it was too hard to take pictures and eat an ice cream cone at the same time.



we then went to a park and did some photos, its a new park so the chimney was amazingly clean.in fact I don't think it had ever been used, otherwise we would not have been playing in it with our new dresses.



and of course while at the park we had to do some spinning in the fields!

the only thing I was really disappointed about was I forgot the tripod so we didn't get any pictures of all three of us together. but maybe we can all get dressed up again some day and get some more pictures. it was a lot of fun. and I think that for winning a contest to make one dress its pretty cool I was able to make three.

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Black polka dot dress

this time the dress is for my sister.

back in February I was given this black polka dot fabric. I had every intention of making myself a sundress with it for this summer. then I won the red polka dot fabric, and while yes I could have had two polka dot dresses I decided one for now would be fine, and asked my sister if she would like a dress. of course she said yes. she happens to be the same size as the pattern so that made it all the easier. plus being that I used the same pattern as the one I made my red dress from it went together more quickly.
the one issue I do have with the pattern is I don’t like how the pleats and darts line up. I know that I am being ticky here but I really wanted the darts and the pleats to line up evenly, but the pattern has the darts hitting in the middle of a pleat. to me it has a cleaner line to all be even together, so I I shifted the pleats a bit to get the look I wanted. I had to do this on my red dress as well but I figured it was because I had to resize mine. but like I said I am just being ticky here.

here is how I lined it up.

and I was really irritated at walmart because they were all out of the half inch bias tape, (the nearest fabric store is an hour away.) they are so bad at keeping things in stock. they did have the quarter inch folded bias tape, so I opted to buy that and press it flat, which works but its so much easier and really looks better, not to have to press it. this will be it for the polka dots for now. at least the sewing aspect of it. I hope to get the three of us together really soon to do a photo shoot. won’t that be so fun!

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

red polka dot dress....#2

in having about a yard and a half left of the red polka dot fabric I decided to make my niece her own dress. she really liked my dress when I showed it to her, so I made hers close to mine but with a few differences. first of all no pleats. I wanted to makes something that was a bit more simple. pleats take a while to get just right. and I didn’t want to do a gathered skirt for no other reason then I just didn’t want too. I opted to do a circle skirt because they twirl so well! and twirling is of the utmost importance when your seven. (or even at my age really.) plus a circle skirt is really easy. I attached it to a bodice from one of my patterns. and yea I had a dress.


but was it really that simple? no not really. the dress it self was rather simple, and putting to stripes on the skirt was easy. but putting the stripes on the bodice was a whole other matter. I had to put them on in just the right order so as to have them lay the way I wanted. which was to have the stripe on the straps placed under the stripes going across the bodice. which meant I had to put them on first. except one problem putting them on first sewed down the inside facings. and I needed the edges of the bodice stripes to be on the inside of the seams, which meant I had to attach them first. otherwise I couldn’t get the stripes under the facing and even though no one will really see the inside of the dress other then me. my niece and her mother I couldn’t stand the thoughts of the stripes simply over lapping the facings and showing on the inside. so I very carefully measured attaching the ends of the facings on the bodice stripes then put on the strap stripes, and then finally secured the bodice stripes that went across.

originally I was only going to put one stripe across the bodice like mine has, but my niece asked for two. she also asked for four on the skirt. I gave in to the ones on the bodice, but told her she was out of luck on the skirt. the reason I gave her was I didn’t have enough bias strip, which was true, but I also thought four stripes might be a bit much on such a small dress. I also did the bows a bit differently on her dress, making the “ribbons” hang down as apposed to be straight across as mine are. I also only gave her the two in the front cause I am lazy like that. she was so excited when I gave her the dress, twirling and telling me she loved it.
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brave pillow sham

I randomly had this thought that I never did post the pillow sham I made my sister for Christmas. so here it is! and only what, five months late? yep is brave themed. with brave fabric in the center, solid blue around for the border and blue ribbon to tie in the seams and . the back is solid red. the red and the blue were from my stash. I don’t really remember a whole lot about making it other then I’m not the best at mitered corners and that frustrated me. I really need to work on improving that.

it was cute though when she opened it and was all surprised about the fabric because I bought it with her there. trying to do the sneaky thing where I put it under the other fabric I was buying. but I was sure she had seen it since the checkout lady didn’t know to not let my sister see it. and I couldn’t say anything to her without drawing attention to the fabric. but somehow it was still a surprise and that made me happy.


I should have pressed the sham though and put a pillow in it for the pictures but I didn’t think of it at the time. since I did take the pictures months ago.

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1950's red polka dot dress

so about two months ago I won a contest from sew retro rose in which I received fabric , a pattern and notions to make a dress. two weeks ago I finally got started in it. I should have been blogging about it as I went, but I haven’t been. the day I received the fabric in the mail I took everything out and checked it over. I was very excited but was in the middle of working on my black bow dress. I was going to try to finish that before starting on this dress, but I got to the point I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on the black bow dress and set it aside.

the pattern was a little big for me so I had to do some math and figuring to resize it. I did make a mock up of the bodice since I can’t exactly got more fabric. I mean I am sure I could find something similar, but it wouldn’t be exact. so I was being very careful with the measuring. in the end though there was plenty of fabric for the dress. I have about a yard and half left. which I am making plans for as I write this.


I had to lengthen the bodice a bit, which is normal for me. but then I lengthened it too much. which I didn’t realize till I had the dress all put together and I tried it on. here I was thinking I nearly done with the dress but I was no where near finished not only did I make the bodice to long I didn’t have the darts, and seams lined up with the pleats. it just looked so off. so I tore the bodice back off shortened it by three quarters of an inch which still made it an inch longer then the original pattern. and I made sure that this time when I put it all back together everything lined up the way I wanted it too. and I was ready to hem it. it took me a little while to decide exactly what length I wanted finally choosing, and sewing it up. then I added the white bias strips to the bottom of the skirt. I think it gives it a nice finished look.


then came the jacket. I had some trouble with this, but not with the putting it together it went together really nicely. no the problem was the collar pieces of the pattern were not there! I looked and looked but the pieces were not there. so I set the pattern aside and thought what should I? I have mentioned before I am not very good at drafting my own patterns, but finally I thought I can at least try. so I cut out everything except the collar and started putting the jacket together. I figured it would be eaiser to figure out the shape for the collar if I had something to put it on. I made a collar mock up out of some pink fabric I have, and once I was satisfied I went ahead and put it on. I was hoping to finish last night, but as it got later and later I thought I should put this aside till morning. so this morning I woke up and got right too it. I love the way it turned out. at first I wasn’t sure I would like the jacket, but in the end I really do. and my most favorite part of both the dress and the jacket are the bows!




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black bow dress.....

so I am currently in the middle of sewing my black bow dress. which is not even cut out in its entirety because I am unsure of the way I want to finish it. so I am working in stages while I come up with exactly what I want to do. I have the idea for the bodice completed so I am working on putting that together. here is how far I have gotten ......


it was coming together very nicely, I was just about to put the under stitching around the back neck piece when to my horror I found a hole! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I cut the piece on a fold and it must have been on the underside, so I didn‘t see it. I wish I had seen it before I sewed the whole thing together. I contemplated for just a moment trying to repair the hole, but I knew I would never be happy with it. so now I am tearing apart a huge amount of what I just put together. I have enough fabric to re-cut the piece but still, I hate having to redo it, and of course I have put this together in a rather complex manor so yes more then one would think has to come apart.

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black bow dress

so every once in a while I get this brilliant idea that I can draft my own pattern.... yeah I can't. I do try sometimes. and I can make a skirt without a pattern but that is about it. taking a class would probably help. that and having the proper tools. but classes are A.expensive, and B.too far away. so I think I need to stick to already made patterns.
I decided to make a dress out of some white with black bows fabric. I have an idea to model it with a historical 1700's inspiration, only short. not incredibly short but about knee length is what I am going for. I have had this fabric in my stash for some time. its actually curtains I picked up years ago for incredibly cheap thinking oh this would make a cute dress. then shoved it in the stash for later. I think now is good time for later. I am not the fastest at sewing. and still need to cut this out. but I do have a plan. after my fail of making my own pattern I remembered I have a pattern I can work with that, (yea)and it happens to be my size. I have never used this pattern before, but its close to the right shape and I am good at reworking a patterns shape to fit my needs. much better then trying to make my own.

this is the fabric, not the pink though its just sitting there with my fabric.

this is so not the shape I was going for! which is why I am giving in and going to use a pattern.

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