mission: dress impossible

good evening, mr. phelps.

your mission, should you choose to accept it: one girl’s dress, size 8, for a piano recital.

the twists: it’s wednesday night. the recital is saturday.
also, it’s a black and white theme.
oh, and you felt super motherly when you heard about it, so you let your daughter “design” it herself on the way to the fabric store.
and pick the fabrics.

i’m never one to shy away from a challenge. in fact, i’d have to say i do some of my best work under severe time constraints. so when ava’s piano teacher came out and said okay, here’s the rest of the info for saturday’s recital. it’s a “black + white” color theme, i did a quick mental closet review and found nothing.

and by “nothing”, of course i mean i could have put her in a black skirt and white tee, but…really? i think not. so, we’ll sew.

it was 5 pm, dinner and the family were waiting at the park. but we hopped in the car and well the piano place is halfway between our house and the fabric store so we can just quick run there before heading home, right? and i threw ava a pen and scrap of paper from my purse—why don’t you draw some ideas for your dress?

she loves a one shouldered dress, and drew a sort of piano-keyish design across the bottom. i suggested turning it into a gored skirt so it became a nod to piano keys, rather than a piano costume, and she was on board. i’m fairly certain that 8 year olds are not known for their subtlety, so my challenge generally is to pull the reigns in a bit when she picks fabric for projects.

OUR POWERS COMBINED led to something pretty dang cute, i think.

what i realized later was that i had inadvertently steered ava towards a rather difficult to pattern dress. it has no waist seam—those white piece are solid from the bodice through to the hem. :/ let’s just say there was a LOT of math involved. and we all know how much i love math.

shoot, if you’re gonna give yourself a mission: impossible, might as well make it a mission: superimpossible + MATH.

i made my own pattern pieces—one for the white and one for the black. i would have loved to have the strap continuous too—but you’ve got to cry mercy at some point. so that was a separate piece sewn on the top.

the eight white pieces had to each be one eighth of her bust/waist/hem circumference + seam allowance. i measured and cut all my fabric and said to jeremy “either i just accomplished my greatest mathematical feat EVER….or i just wasted a bunch of fabric.”

the end result was somewhere in the middle—my measurements were spot on. pinned, the dress fit like a glove. but i stupidly forgot to give a little extra seam allowance on the two pieces that would hold the zipper. so i had to add a small additional piece in that threw off the fit in the back a little.

and that’s how it goes: a little give and take—in the design and in the construction. ava’s like PIANO!!! and i’m like…ummm, how about ‘nod to a piano.’ some things you’re like YESSSS and you high five yourself because, well, it’s 11:30 and everyone else is sleeping and there’s no one else to high five. and some things you’re like NOOOOOO SMASH ALL THE THINGS AND THROW MY SEWING MACHINE OUT THE WINDOW!!!!

so, because of the additional side piece there are some fit issues that make me hulk pound. gaping in the back that i should have compensated for, and the shoulder strap didn’t lay quite right. but i spent a total of 4 hours on this dress—which was all i could squeeze out between the thursday and friday that were already booked up.

and it’s mitigated a bit by that crazy awesome invisible zipper. bet you didn’t even see it there, didja? since i had no one to high five at the moment i instagrammed that bad boy. thank you, instafriends, for your validation in the form of “likes”.

(this was back in may, so she was still casted. that particular one was covered in this awesome tie-dye print fiberglass. )

we went with a heavier white bottom weight fabric for the body of the dress—something that didn’t wrinkle as easily and would not be see-through. for the black inserts we found this tone-on-tone black cotton covered with music notes. see? subtlety and compromise.

i let her have her choice for the bow though.

and the two little buttons we added to the strap to give it some extra bling bling.

and the real reward is that, despite her nonsmiling face (seriously, ava-of-the-future. you scowl every time i take your picture. WHHHYYYY?) she really loved this dress, and i loved being able to tell people it was her design and her fabric choices coughcough guided by mommy coughcough.

and as one final touch, big sister did her nails to coordinate.

this blog post will self-destruct in five seconds. ;)

love all.

once upon a time i read a study explaining why a little bit of competition can be good for a marriage. their test? pairs tennis. the couples that played on opposite sides of the net, well…let’s just say they had a better time then the couples who played as partners.

works for me.
a little competition. check. keeping the fire burning. got it.
except…jeremy and i maybe compete a little differently than many couples.
i mean, we used to play tennis. but with five kiddos it’s a little hard to find the time for that these days. so there’s less “DOUBLE FAULT!” and more “let’s see who’s got the bigger fabric pile!”
oooooh.
he sends me videos of his sharp new fabric scissors. bragger.
we trade sewing tips.

what can i say? it works for us.

hello, my name is shannon and i’m married to an upholsterer. so yes, my husband has a bigger fabric stash than i do. i’m so ashamed.

but it has it’s benefits—namely lots and lots of scraps. and the scraps you get from large upholstery projects aren’t tiny bits and pieces—they can be anything from 1/2 to 5 or 6 yards or more. unfortunately a lot of them are not really usable for clothing. but every once in a while i snag a piece that can be.

so it was with this purple fabric. i’ve had it sitting in my sewing room for probably three years or more. and a couple of months ago i got around to using it for ava.

it’s pretty heavy, and this is actually the wrong side of the fabric. but i thought the texture was so interesting i went for it. there are flecks of gold and light blue and dark purple running through. i threw the fabric into the washer and dryer before i did anything with it. i figured i’d make sure it could withstand that before i put the time into sewing something with it. surprisingly it came through with flying colors.

also, excessive use of the word through/threw in one paragraph. flag on the play.

i had just enough to make a long circle skirt, and of course the math is from dana’s circle skirt tutorial. i seriously must refer back to her math instructions like 3x a week.

but circle skirts are just so fun for twirling. what more could a little girl ask for?

i used a 1/2 yard of deep purple knit from jo-ann’s for the top. a simple boat neck and 3/4 length sleeves.

fun tidbit: when i attached the skirt to the top it was so heavy it pulled the knit waistband down much more than i expected. i ended up having to hack a good 3 inches off the waist band and reattaching the skirt! the perils of making clothing from upholstery weight fabrics.

the flower was a last minute addition—just circles cut from remnants of both fabrics, sewn together and glued to a safety pin. 

also—i’m super proud of the stitching on that neck. high five.

this dress turned out pretty and very feminine and super easy to wear—it just slips on over her head. and i love ava in a boat neck. plus it cost me about $4, so…yeah.

sometimes workin’ with what ya got can lead to good things! who knew?! :)

also…this child? almost impossible to take pictures of. she’s got no head in most of these, because…well, this:

the handmade revolution

FAIR WARNING: long post and huge soapbox ahead. continue at your own risk.
this is not where this post was going to go when i made these dresses.



this is not where this post was going to go when i posted the photo on instagram.



this is not where this post was going to go when i took the photos of my girls wearing these dresses.



but somewhere along the line things changed. and this post became something completely different.
here’s the thing: these dresses were inspired by the dresses made by jessica at dreamcatcher baby. and i had all intentions of saying that in the original post—credit where it’s due.



i competed against jessica in sewvivor, and she did awesome. she was selling these adorable baby girl dresses and coordinating boy bowties at the time, and shortly after sewvivor ended her dresses got picked up and “pinned” by a big name blogger…and the rest was history. jessica’s business has virtually (literally and figuratively) exploded over the last few months. she’s got pre-orders, pre-sales, dresses that sell out as fast as her two little hands can make them (whilst juggling a husband, young son and newborn baby boy).
and rightly so: her dresses are impeccably made, and her fabric choices and pattern mixing is top notch. the bows on the fronts of the dresses always have the pattern perfectly centered—a little detail a fellow seamstress can appreciate. it speaks to an extra minute or two spent planning, rather than just churning these bad boys out as fast as she possibly can—chopping that fabric whichever way gets the most cuts out of each yard.

unfortunately, the supply/demand ratio and the popularity of her dresses make their price out of my reach.
fortunately, i sew.
so i made my own version of her adorable dresses for my littles. what i planned on doing was posting about them with a link to her shop for anyone interested.

no tutorial.

why not?

truth bomb: i’ve copied/been inspired by/whatever you want to call it etsy sellers in the past. sometimes i post the things i make-most times i don’t. there are many things i make that never see the light of blogging. they’re for my own personal enjoyment, and too close to someone’s hard won success in their little shop. i can’t justify telling someone else how to do these things, at the expense of another’s livelihood.


(image source)

but then that raises the question: where’s the line? when is it okay to say “hey i copied this from XYZ shop and here’s a tutorial to make your own” and when is it not? because isn’t that like…80% of what’s blogged?

in the blogging world it seems like a rather unspoken rule that that copy-and-paste type inspiration is okay if you’re taking from the big guys: the anthropologies, the pottery barns, the west elms. but not from the little guys: the etsy sellers, the big cartel sellers, the independent pattern makers.
i admit—this is kind of the line i follow to. but why is that okay? i’m not being smart—i genuinely want to know why and when this is okay. is it because we’re taking from a faceless “big corporation” vs. just one or two or three people working in the back bedroom of their suburban home?

and then the reverse comes in to play: the accusations of stores like urban outfitters ripping off the hard work and content of etsy sellers. (go ahead and google…there’s a ton of it out there).

when i see a must-have pillow at Big Store selling for $45 i think hey, i could do that in my home for $5 worth of supplies, and tell other people how to do it on my blog! when i see a cute or funny printable on etsy for $20+ i think hey, i could do that on photoshop in my bed and print it out and it’s costing me like 50 cents for paper and ink …and not show anyone.

again: stick it to the Big Stores, protect the little guy.

same with dream catcher baby’s dresses: i love them. but they are far out of my reach—especially for two (or three…or four…) of them. and here’s the part where i have drop another brutal truth bomb, knowing that jessica may well read this—they’re really very basic sundresses…empire waist, full skirt, bow on bodice. any home sewist with basic knowledge can make it on their own quickly and easily. my first dress from measurements to finished hem took just over an hour—while i did 10 other things in the meantime. and i did a similarly shaped dress last summer—same basic idea, just without the big bow on the front.

but that’s really beside the point, isn’t it?
the reality is ease of creation < how much people are willing to pay.

(image source)

the fact that i can make this dress myself cheaper than i can buy one from her basically has nothing to do with the dresses jessica is successfully selling. because as long as there are people out there willing to fork over the money for a Dream Catcher Baby original, then she’s fine.

but then…again i ask—where’s the line? if i post a tutorial showing how to make an easy high waisted, full skirted sundress, am i stealing from her? what if i add a bow to the front? what if i make the bow and dress two different fabrics? at what point am i “stealing” from her? and how much do i have to change to make it “mine”? and is it different if i open up my own etsy shop and sell something similar?

+

so what prompted all this? well, jessica had quite the blowup on her instagram account not long ago. the pictures have since been deleted—and i don’t blame her. a comment from one person along the lines of “i wish you weren’t so expensive and i wish i had money” spiraled out of control—people attacking her prices and people defending her work.

the one comment that really got to me was someone who said basically “i can make 2 or 3 of these dresses at home for the price she’s charging.”

i’ll admit it—when i saw what she’s getting for these dresses i almost choked. whoa!

but let’s stop and think about it for a second: yes. you or i can run out to the fabric store and buy the yard of fabric and fat quarter and (using a coupon OF COURSE) whip up one or two of these dresses for a mere what…$6? go crazy—buy designer—$12?

so we can sniff down our noses at the etsy sellers and their foolish customers and post comments like “bah. made it myself for 1/32nd of the price you fools are paying.”

but now…what if someone wants to pay you to make one for their daughter.

well now. suddenly you are spending your time picking just the right fabrics for her daughter. and sewing for her daughter. and pressing it and packaging it and mailing it. oh, wait. now you’re in it for $18 or $20 with shipping because boxes and pretty tissue paper don’t grow on trees…and you still didn’t charge anything for your time. cause you’re nice like that.

and now everyone LOVES your two dresses. and LOTS of people want them. yayyyy me! kermit arms all over! so now you’re buying bolts of fabric and storing them in your home, and your sewing machine and your serger are churning away for hours each day…oops—gotta get them serviced at $100 each—and you’re spending hours listing each dress on etsy and driving to the post office and communicating with Susie from Nebraska who wants this one for her sister’s wedding but can you make the bow a little bigger and can the fabric be a touch bluer and can i have it in 3 days? and then etsy takes a cut. and paypal

takes a cut. and uncle sam takes a cut.

how much is your time worth? because after you dish out for ALL of that, you still have yourself to pay. this isn’t charity. this isn’t dressing other people’s children out of the kindness of your heart.
ask yourself: what do i make at my job per hour? why should a seamstress’ time be worth any less?
sewing isn’t some magical art. this isn’t sleeping beauty, i don’t have a magic wand to conjure up dresses with. it’s real HARD, frustrating, tiring WORK. you get cramped hands from cutting, painful sewer’s back from leaning over your machine for hours, a tired brain from figuring and measuring and all.the.math.



if you can do it yourself—rock on with your bad self. i can, and i did. but if you can’t, and you’d like me to do it for you—THIS is how much it will cost. and if you don’t like that well then have a nice day no hard feelings.



if you want to scoff at a handmade dress because you can buy a dress at walmart for $8 then go ahead and go to walmart and buy your $8 dress. maybe you want to take a look at the non-monetary ‘cost’ of that dress before you get up on that high horse you’re riding, though.

because guess what—jessica can make 2 or 3 of these dresses FOR HERSELF very easily too. but if you want her to give up her free time—her time spent with her babies and man—her time spent watching dvr’d reruns and double fisting popcorn in her sweats on the couch—then THIS is how much it will cost you. and she shouldn’t have to apologize for that.

truth bomb #3: i’m as guilty as the next seamstress of under valuing myself. when people ask me to do work and offer to pay me i mentally tally up hours and then tell them a number…much less. and that’s why i find myself sewing for people late at night, hand stitching things for what amounts to $3 or $5 per hour. would you work for that? my husband just gave my sewing-freely-for-others-self the smackdown. no more, he said. at least for now. i’ve taken on too many things and stressed myself out over them too much lately.

alida makes wrote a post about this a few weeks ago. it’s a good read.

sooo…where do we go from here? i’m curious what your thoughts are on the matter. let’s talk.

disclaimer: if i’ve ever sewn for you…know that i did it happily and enjoyed doing it. i’m not talking about you, or us, in any of this. :)

easy as vintage pie

a couple of months ago melly of the amazing melly sews asked if i would join in the fun of her 30 days of sundresses again this year—and of course i said YES! (SERIOUSLY—the girl is ah-mazing. from her pattern making and publishing, to her techie tutorials and drafting services and sewing abilities and series coordinating…melly, you make me want to be a better person.)

maybe you remember my offering from last year—the lettuce hem maxi dress. it was easy enough…but i wondered if i could do something even easier this time around!

well looky here. an even easier sundress. and i think i may like it even better than last years (which, as a sidepoint—also the last time i sewed for myself i believe.shameful.)

okay, so a lot of us busty gals cry about knits. i know i do! those cute woven shirtdresses are a serious no-go when you’re bigger than a b-cup. but the truth is that knits are a chesty chicks BFF. it’s approximately one bazillion times easier to make something that fits you from knit than woven materials. and if you’re starting with an already made tank? two bazillion times ;)

so, that’s what i did. i started with a basic tank. but when it comes to me + dresses + modesty i feel neck showing + shoulders = no bueno. it’s kind of a one or the other thing. why? i dunno. just how i feel. shoulders + neck = hussy. so i hacked off the bottom of my tank and used it to fill in the neck, creating an asymmetrical collar thingy. then i added a new waistband, which i shirred with elastic thread in the back, and a full skirt with pockets. it slips on over my head—no zippers or buttons to worry about, and i can wear it with or without the belt.

basically…i kind of love it.

now of course, as usual, i wanted to take nice bright photos and work up a photographed step by step tutorial…nope. with five kiddos home all day for summer break it’s just not happening. all the sewing is happening at night.

and all the finished-product-picture-taking is occurring in the rain. oops.

so i made the executive decision to break out the old drawing skillzzz for this tutorial, which i believe may turn out to be infinitely better. for o1) now i can just sew and take notes and go illustrate later, making the sewing process faster and more enjoyable for moi, and (possibly more importantly) o2) i can illustrate myself with the pouty lips and long luscious eyelashes i’ve always wanted. kiss, kiss. mwah.lets get serious: this is crazy stupid easy. from start to finish, with no clear plan (just a vague idea), and taking notes as i went—this took me about 2 1/2 hours.

SUPPLIES
one tank top
2 yards of any kind of matching fabric
coordinating thread and elastic thread
optional: buttons for top and a belt if ya wanna.

i used a red $4 tank from old navy, and this super soft “good fortune” by kate spain for moda that i’ve been hoarding for oooh…maybe a year or so! this could easily be modified using a tank with sleeves if you want even more coverage. and this would translate easily into a girl’s dress too!

INSTRUC-TEY-ON-EHS

* i use a 1/2” seam allowance whenever it matters.

slip on your tank and mark with a pin or fabric marker a point under your bust. don’t stretch the tank, just mark where it naturally settles.

REMOVE THE TANK before proceeding. <---super important

1/2” below your mark cut the tank off in a straight line.

not this crazy wavy line i drew. not sure why i did that.

cut off the hem of the tank also. the hem is lovely, but we don’t need it. discard it. or, ummm…make a bow for your cat.

waste not, want not.

take that middle section of your tank and cut it open at one side seam, trimming off the seam/stitching from the area.

refold it long ways, right sides together, and stitch the short ends closed. clip the corners and turn it right side out. give it a press. this is now your collar piece.

to attach it to the tank top—start about 1/4 of the way up on one side of the neckline. stretch and pin the new collar piece, right sides together, raw edge of collar to neck of shirt, all the way arouuunnnd the collar, back where you started, and overlapping a bit.

i found it easier to pin the beginning, pin the end (overlapping where i began by about 2”) and then stretch and ease the rest of the neckline/collar pieces together.

sew them together with a stretch stitch or small zigzag. flip the collar up into position, press the seam allowance down and top stitch around the edge.

i tried it on at this point and fiddled with the collar a bit. once i got it laying how i wanted i tacked it in place.

now the waistband:

measure just under your bust.

now take a realllly, REALLY deep breath and check the measurement again.
divide that number in half, add 1” and that’s the length of the front half of your waistband.
that number in half plus 6” is the length of the back half of your waistband.

that 6” you’re adding is to give you the space you need to slip the dress off and on. if your bust to underbust measurements are significantly large (and i mean really, REALLY large. because mine is pretty large. so you must be a boobie monster)  you may need to increase it a smidge. i can wiggle myself into this—it’s not loose, but i’m not worried about busting stitches—and i have about a 7” difference between the fullest part of my bust vs. just under my bust.

i made my waistband 6” high, making it about 5” finished size. i kind of wish i had done it at 5”, giving me 4” finished size. look in the mirror with your tape measure and see what you think looks best.

so let’s say you measure 30” around just under your bust. then you take a deeep breath and it’s 32”. you’d cut one piece at 17”x6” (half + 1”)  and one piece 22”x6” (half + 6”). got it?

save yourself some trouble later and mark the center of each waistband piece, top and bottom. just fold it in half and put a little snip in.

now, we shirr.

wind the elastic thread on your bobbin. why yes, i do put my bobbin on my machine and hold the thread in my hand and wind it that way. most people say to wind it by hand. i’m a rebel. plus i’m impatient. ain’t nobody got time for dat. if you need more help on sewing with elastic thread, there are good references HERE and HERE.

sew lines of shirring across the length of your longer waistband piece. i did 10 rows of shirring spaced approx. 3/8 of an inch apart. that gave me about 3/4" seam allowance top and bottom.

then sew your waistband pieces together at the side seams, right sides together.

hmmm…sew at side seams. possible sewing blog name?

now you’re going to sew your waistband to your top. match up the side seams and the center front and center back (remember those little snips i told you to put in?)

you’ll probably have to ease the tank into the front a bit, and ease the waist band into the tank back a bit. remember: you want to attach the tank top ABOVE the first row of shirring! you want the tank and the waistband to all stretch when you’re putting the dress on!

press your seam allowance up and top stitch. use a stretch stitch or a long straight stitch and gently stretch the fabric as you do this.SKIRT
cut two pieces of fabric: width of fabric x whatever length you want plus about 3” for  hem and seam allowance. better to go a little longer—you can always hem it shorter but it’s harder to add fabric back on. i cut my pieces 27” long.

again—mark the center of your back and front skirt pieces with a small snip.

if you want pockets cut out 4 pocket pieces also. what shape are pocket pieces? glad you asked. go HERE to see my instructions on pockets.sew your pocket pieces to your skirt, and your skirt sides together. run a gathering stitch around the top of the skirt.

i like splitting my gathering stiches into 4 sections—side seam to front center, then to the other side, then side to back center, and back center to the other side. i find it’s easier to control my gathering if it’s divided up a little more.once your skirt is gathered to the same size as your top, fit them right sides together, lining up your center marks and side seams.

sew the skirt and top together. remember to sew the skirt to the waistband in the back BELOW the last row of shirring, so the skirt will stretch when you slip your dress on.
i generally do at least two rows of stitching on the waist, just for safety’s sake ;)
press your seam allowance down, and finish it off however you desire (pinking shears, overlock, leave it be…whatever floats your boat.)

last steps: hem that bad boy and give it a final press. i do a 1/4” turn up and press, then a 2” turn up and stitch down so there’s no raw edges.
i put two buttons on the collar just for looks, but that’s totally optional.

thus concludes your sundress tutorial, as illustrated by googiemomma. i’m available for commission illustration work, fyi.

stick a fork in it cause that trash is done.
maybe not a fork. that’s weird. plus you did a lot of hard work. bare minimum: high five yourself.

i didn’t initially intend for this to have such a vintage look. but i guess a full-skirted sundress just kind of gravitates towards a vintage look. i don’t mind..add a big high sock bun and red lips for days and there you have it: one super simple sundress.

i am yelling at myself: STAND UP STRAIGHT!!!

sorry for the wonky colors in these pics—my camera was very unhappy with the bright reds + dull grey bricks + overcast skies. and it literally started pouring as soon as we got out of the car. as you can see in the above shot.

one last sidepoint: i had another spot in mind for photos, but ran out of time in the morning and didn’t get to go until after my kiddo’s dentist appointments (yes, i went to the dentist like this. i felt so 50’s housewifey). and by the time we left elliot was an hour late for her nap and the meltdown clock was ticking. so we went right across the street to the now-empty old walmart building. i thought the grey bricks and green grass would be cool.
well, i was right…the backdrop was fine. HOWEVER. i think we found the local drunk hangout, because the smell of pee was so unbelievably overwhelming that it was all we could do to get these quick shots before taking off. it was TERRIBLE.

which is also why i have to cut my face off in most of these shots. it’s me, throwing up in my mouth. blerg.

MELLY—thanks so much for letting me join the SUMMER SUNDRESS SERIES again! it’s so much fun! all you readers—have you checked out all the other awesome sundress action happening over there? you should!!