SHABBY APPLE DRESSES

It’s been awhile since I posted, but I wanted to dip in and give you a little update on my latest project.

A couple of months ago, I ran across an adorable clothing website called Shabby Apple. They specialize in ready to wear dresses for ladies of all sizes, shapes, and ages. Being a mom with little girls, I especially appreciate shabby apples design aesthetics. They focus on beautiful designs in comfortable fabrics that are modestly appropriate AND stylish. (An unusual duo – trust me I’ve looked around)

So, here’s the fun part. They’ve invited their readers to design a dress for their Spring line.  Of course, I had to enter. The dress has to be at least knee length, with sleeves, and no cleavage allowed (Woo! Hoo! Finally!)

For my design, I looked to the 1920’s and 30’s for inspiration. The flapper dresses  were a little too boxy for my taste, but the fitted waists and bell-shaped skirts of the early 30’s gave me a few ideas.

The dress bodice of my design has cap sleeves, and is  fitted with a center placket and 6  buttons. The midriff is lined and trimmed with machine stitching. A faux belt in contrasting color cinches the waist. The skirt front has a pleated inset. The back has a center zip closure.

Options: In my design I included a pleated inset to add more coverage to the bustline. For more versatility (I love options!), I’d suggest a detachable inset. The dress would then work in a solid color as a layering piece over blouses, and depending on the fabric, this versatility would make it an excellent transitional piece in the Fall.  

Fabric suggestions: Cotton blend, Linen

Lately, I’ve been working to finish two denim skirts for my girls. All was going well until my Kenmore of 6 years decided to give out on me the other day. There’s something going on with the bobbin “thingy”. (Forgive my amateur verbage, but I really don’t know what it’s called.)  The under threading is skipping stitches and keeps causing everything to lock up every few rotations.

I was a little bumbed out about the whole thing because I was in the middle of a project and didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to finish the skirts on my serger, so I had to figure something out.

When we moved into our house 2 years ago, the previous owner left a vintage sewing table with a built in sewing machine by Centennial. I vaguely remember trying to get more info online, with no success. Since I had my own working machine at the time, I kind of ignored the little vintage one and used the table to set up my work station. 

Well, much to my surprise, it works! It’s slow, but at least I was able to finish my seams. I already don’t have a need for it anymore because I found a $25 vintage Kenmore yesterday that runs beautifully  (Woo! Hoo!).  I’ll be closing my little Centennial up once again, but I’m very thankful that she was around to come to my rescue.

Keep sewing,

-Calandra

Okay. So, this post has nothing to do with sewing or creativity, but it’s pretty  funny, so I thought I’d share.

We live in a very lively household. With six kids, two parents, and a dog, there’s always something interesting going on. The other evening, our girls came running downstairs exclaiming that their was something  !DISGUSTING!  outside of their window, and they were afraid to go into  their room.  Well, convinced (mom’s intuition) that my girls were just trying to get out of cleaning their room, I sent their older brother up to investigate. My oldest son (age 9) is our resident unidentified creature catcher. He loves nature and is always willing to come to mommy’s rescue when there’s  something icky crawling around that I can’t identify.

Much to my surprise the resident verminator  also ran to the top of the stairs in horror, exclaiming that their was, in fact, an ugly “hedgehog looking thing” on the outside of the girl’s window.

(Time out: Now I’m concerned. What could possibly be lurking outside of the girl’s window  – on the 2nd floor- that even my little nature boy can’t identify?)

Well, I did what any brave mom would do: I held my breath, tried to appear brave, and ventured upstairs to take a look for myself.  Much to my relief, it was just a baby squirrel that got  caught on the ledge of the window, and all the kids could see was its sqooshy tail – hence the “hedgehog”.  (Ha! Ha!) I’m so glad that mommy was  hero for a day – even with my heart in my throat!)

Thanks little squirrly!

I’ve been trying my hand at hat drafting lately, but was having a hard time figuring out how to add  lining. I purchased McCall’s 5541 some months back and pulled the beret pattern out yesterday to give it a try. I made this little beret for my lovely mother, and even convinced her to model it for me. (Thanks , Mom!!!) 

 The pattern instructions were super easy to follow. I adjusted the pattern piece upward by .25 inches which was fairly simple since I only had to adjust 3 pattern pieces.

-Calandra

I’m still wiping the sweat from my brow after submitting my design for PR’s Advanced Beginner’s Contest. I keep asking myself, “What was  I thinking?”This was one tough assignmemt!  But, isn’t that how we grow? By stretching ourselves beyond that which we’re comfortable? I heard someone comment recently that “if we don’t know that something is difficult, what’s to keep us from trying? I couldn ‘t agree more.

I set out to learn how to add godets to a garment but ended up learning so much more. My garment was no where near complete in my mind, and I’m not quite sure where I went wrong, but it was still worth the effort! As far as the godets are concerned, I think they turned out fairly well for a first attempt. I did learn the following that I’ll be carrying with me the next time I set out to design an outfit from scratch:

1. If using a slash to insert your godet (as opposed to a seam), reinforce your godet for stability. If not ,the fabric will pull significantly at the point of insertion and possibly tear the delicate threads at the top of your slash. This happend to me and I ended up having to hand sew the point of the godet to repair the damage.

2. I mentioned this before, but it’s so important for the final design: Allow the godet to hang from its point of insertion for about 24 hours before sewing in completely. Since the godet’s sides are cut on the bias, they need to stretch out before attaching to the garment. I didn’t have a difficult time with this because my dress fell on the bias so both fabrics (linen blends) had the same amount of stretch.

3.  Improvise! Improvise!  Improvise! Some design elements just don’t translate well. I experienced this with the back of my dress. Initially I made my own straps (4) and placed them asymmetrically so that they mirrored the outline of the front of the dress (If that makes sense). Unfortunately, the linen fabric was too soft for the straps and didn’t have the support that I was looking for. So, I opted for dark brown single fold bias tape instead. It didn’t blend as well as I’d wanted color wise, but it did provide the support that I was looking for. The lattice design just kind of came as I searched for something visually interesting. Since I’d dropped the idea of godets on the back of the dress, I figured the lattice design could provide some interest.

4. The assymetrical style of the dress made it nearly impossible to get in and out of it – even with the 20 inch zipper.  Instead of sewing the upper portion of the dress together at the shoulder, I opted to place a button at the end. The challenge was encasing the lattice portion of the back so that I could add a button. Here’s the design that I came up with:

(Not very stylish, but functional)

All in all, I think the biggest lesson I learned is that if I’m going to take an “organic” approach to designing, then I have to allow myself plenty of room for mistakes, improvisation, and fun. It’s impossible to sqoosh 20 hours of work into 5 or 6 (Ha!)

Keep sewing!

Calandra (Rebija)

Just wanted to upload some pictures up of my dress progress. I’ve almost completed the front of the dress, but I still have a LOT of work to do. I’ve had a difficult time with setting the left dart on the bodic because the fabric on that side of the dress falls on the bias, so the extra stretch is proving to be a challenge.

Changes so far: I’ve  decided to use a navy linen for the accents (including the godets).

I’ll try to explain what I’m doing as I go along, but feel free to ask me questions if something doesn’t make sense.

Used tailor’s chalk to draw the asymmetrical portion of the bodice. It’s not an exact science for me. I just basically eyeball everything and pray for the best! (smile)

It took  some time to smooth out the bodice with the darts. I continued to get puckering around the neckline and under the left arm, but I think we’re doing okay now.

After drawing the godets on the fabric, I cut them out and attached just the top portion of the godet to the garment.  They will hang there for about 24 hours  before attaching them fully.

Special Note: I am a very organic type of sewer, so there are a lot of things that I do by “feel”. I don’t always know the correct terms for things, so I just describe them the best way that I can. Please feel free to make suggestions or corrections where needed. (I’d appreciate the help!)

Thanks for looking.

-Calandra (Rebija)

So, my high school class is celebrating it’s 20 year reunion this year and I’m having some serious 80’s flashbacks! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend this time because I’m  3 states away with lots of little responsibilities to attend to. But, that hasn’t kept me from reminiscing.

I ran across my senior prom picture with the poofy hair (and hat!!!!), lace, satin, and bubble skirt (Ha! Ha! Ha!) It’s really not as bad as it sounds. Anyway, I thought I’d pay homage to that “time gone by”, and create something a little more sophisticated – something I might wear to a prom if it were today.

I’m entering this piece in the Pattern Review contest for Advanced beginners. I’m supposed to work on a skill that I’ve never tackled before, so I added godets to the sketch. (Should be interesting!!!) The  deadline is this Sunday. Still lovin’ the draping method, so I’ll be working my way around the dress form. I’m way behind the curve on this one, but I’m still gonna give it my best!

Here’s my sketch  and a few of the beginning pics:

Do these little folds in the fabric have a name? Pin tucks, maybe?

 (Torso Embellishment)

Uugggghhhh!  Darts are not my friend…at all. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but still. Putting in a few darts wasn’t supposed to be so challenging, right?

I’ll be the first to admit that I am technically challenged when it comes to sewing terms and describing exactly what I’m doing. I’m more of an organic person when it comes to sewing. I like the feel and weight of fabric in all its many textures. I enjoy the art of manipulating a square piece of cloth over a dress form until my imagination is sparked. I especially enjoy taking a flat discarded piece of material and reinvigorating it. Up-cycling is cool! Basically, I just do what I do and learn as I go.

My challenge in interpreting my sketch was in figuring out how to use darts to add shape to the garment. I wanted the contour to begin right beneath the bust area and extend to just above the hips. What the sketch shows  as 2 discreet darts in the front of the skirt portion of the dress, has turned into 6 very long contour darts around the entire piece. I suppose I could have figured out a way to limit the number of darts by cutting the fabric a little differently, however, flat pattern making is not a strength of mine. Instead I opted to use one continueous piece of fabric for the skirt portion. I just molded the fabric as I went along taking special care to keep the grainlines straight. (Not a lot of fun, but it’s working)  Here are some pics.

 

I’ve spent a little time over the last few days playing around with the fabrics for my contest dress. Since draping is not a precise drafting method (at least not for me), I wanted to make sure that I placed the fabric properly before cutting.  I haven’t started sewing, yet, but after pinning, I have a general idea of what the dress might look like.  I also began working on the darting of the bodice. I’ll begin pinning more precisely in the days to come. Here’s a look:

Well, I took the plunge! After a 6 month hiatus, I finally have a little extra time to sew. I’m so excited! I entered the My Pattern contest to practice the draping method. I like draping because of the instant gratification factor. I can design as I go, and since I’m a visual person – as well as impatient- draping allows me to go from sketch to 3D design almost instantly. So anyway, here’s my sketch:

I’m using a beautiful vintage cotton floral for the bodice and a linen blend for the skirt. I’ve started a work in progress on www.sewing.pattern.com , but I’ll also be blogging my progress as I go.

-Calandra