Cambie Dress in Ombre. And Tie Dye.

This dress started out as diaper linen last year. I bought a 20 yard roll from Fabric-store.com and used about half to make diapers. The rest has been used for many various things. Linings, caps, undershirts and the like. Last winter, in boredom, I dyed a 5 yard piece bright kelley green. And I never did anything with it.

Over the summer I thought it would be nice to make that bright kelley green linen into a Cambie dress. I procrastinated (as usual) and finally by the time I cut into the fabric to sew up my new gown I found out I am pregnant. 

I decided to make it anyway. To accommodate a growing bump I shortened the waistline by 2". This should fit well enough until winter, and I probably will not wear the dress again til next spring. And by then, the baby will be here. 

There was just one problem with the dress. (well, actually, there were several problems. I had to pretty much take the whole dress apart and refit it and resew it but we shall not speak of that.) The problem? The color. Bright green just doesn't do it for me. 

I got a box of dye remover and removed as much of the dye as possible. It didn't all quite come out but the dress was a much nicer color of pale green. After experimenting with ombre dying my gauze dress in the post previous, I bought a little jug of dark green dye and another of denim blue dye. 

On a whim, I decided to tie dye. I was in a slightly rebellious mood. And I wanted something very unique. I rubber-banded the heck of out of the dress in parallel rows top to bottom and began to dip it in the dye. This time, I dipped the entire garment first and then slowly raised it from the dye, and added more dye as time went on so that the bottom would be much darker than the top. 

After it had sat in the dye about a half hour I rinsed it in the shower and popped it in the wash machine, still rubber-banded. After the final rinse I snipped off the bands and voila, there was my dress. I love it!

It has a pale green undertone and the rubber banded stripes are that pale green. Then there are shades of teal and blue and green and grey. . .just the colors I like. 

There is plenty of room below the raised waist for growing Baby. It is a very comfortable style. The bodice is still a bit loose, so, thus far, I like to wear belts with it. For the pictures Judah took for me today I wore my very versatile black velveteen swiss waist snitched from my 1860's wardrobe. I was going for an 1860's-ish vibe with the dress anyhow; with full box pleated skirts and the dart fitted bodice and the visual dropped shoulder due to the cut of the sleeves. And black goes with anything. 

I wore this dress yesterday with a slightly less obnoxious belt; a simple leather one that ties round the waist. I like both looks and will experiment with more. And of course, it can be worn belt-less, too, as Baby grows.

We took the above photo at a cemetery we visited. Baby Anne toddled around, touching the rough stones, tracing the letters, looking at them curiously. 

She was not afraid. It is not a resting place of the dead so much as it is a remembrance of the living. We like cemeteries. There is so much to learn. There are so many feelings. 

Love,

Sarah

An Ombre Dyed Gauze Hippie Dress

I have been going through my clothes lately, trying to weed out what I don't wear and find out what new things I need to make or purchase. I came across a little white gauze dress I made a few summers ago. I wore it a few times but it was never a staple. The fact it was white was enough to make me pass over it when selecting an outfit because, well, I have small children. Plus, the way it is cut the dress requires a strapless bra and I have never had good results with a strapless bra. You may as well wear nothing by way of support.

I was inspired this time, though, to make this over into something useable. I just finished a new dress that I want to ombre dye but I was nervous about dyeing it without practicing first. This dress was just the thing for a trial run!

I had half a bottle of RIT wine colored liquid dye. I dumped it in a plastic bucket with hot water and a cup of salt and stirred it. I wetted my dress and then dyed it by slowly lowering it into the dye.

It took about a half hour and the dress came out with four (five if you could the very top) rather distinct shades. It wasn't as dramatic a look as I had planned, but I was still very happy with how it worked and now this dress has gone from an impractical white gown to a very serviceable dark colored dress that will be cool and comfortable for the remainder of the summer.

And what better way to fix the problem of the strapless bra than to wear a blouse underneath? I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Now I feel supported and covered, which are good things! This particular blouse is from my dirndl outfit. I really like it because it stops just below the bust and is fitted there with elastic, so it doesn't ride up or cause unflattering bunching at the waistline as many blouses are prone to do.

The zipper in the back didn't dye, unfortunately. And I'm not very good at putting in zippers and was even less so back when I made this. So. . .you can see the zipper. But I've decided to not worry about it, and to just wear the dress and be happy.

Now to tackle the linen dress. I wanted to dye it in shades of blue but almost everything I make or wear is blue. . .so I think I will try green this time. Or maybe brown, though that may look rather like I just dragged my dress through the mud instead of actually dying it. Orange and cream? It would be pumpkiny and pumpkiny is good for this time of the year!

Love,
Sarah

P.S. Thank you all for your really kind congratulations! You all are the best! I am due in April (I think) and so far, so good. Except names. I have one picked out for both a boy and a girl but David is being contrary and has decided he detests them. Sigh. I think after compromising with 4 I deserve at least one child to name all by myself, right?

Experiments in Underwear

I haven't been able to go out yet to buy specific panty fabric, or even a double needle (though I did get a pack of ball point ones at Wal Mart on my quick errand trip yesterday.) David is away for the weekend and rather than drag all 4 kids with me to Jo Anns (my oldest informed he would rather die than have to suffer the agony of going there) I decided to work on some practice underwear with stuff I already had here.

My problem is, I have no jersey. I don't sew with it. I have cottons, wools, linens and even some silks. But hardly anything modern and definitely nothing stretchy. So I decided to try an old t shirt and ended up experimenting with several cut-down garments made of knit fabric.

Panties #1:

These were the first panties I tried. I selected my size based on my hip measurement and cut out the pattern from Cloth Habit. I sewed them up exactly according to the pattern and these were the result. I loved them. The fabric was a t shirt I hardly ever wear though I loved the fabric and the print and the little sparkly rhinestones embedded in the cloth.

How did they work out? 

They didn't. Well, okay. They fit. Sort of. But just barely. They stretched and. . .stayed stretched. I like firm fitting undergarments and these weren't doing it. And the crutch area was really really long. So to make them fit I had to pull them high, which looked ridiculous and was uncomfortable. If I wore them comfortably on my hips the crutch sagged down and that wasn't comfortable either. This was probably due to a combination of my fabric stretching as well as a really long crutch area on the pattern itself.

Panties #2:

I decided that since the jersey t shirt I used for my first pair did not work well I needed to use a really lightweight, very stretchy fabric that would spring back to its natural shape after being stretched. I didn't have any t shirts like that, but I did have a dress that I have only worn a few times. It's not a very flattering cut but I love the fabric. The only downfall is that it is not a natural fiber. However, I decided to try it. For the pattern I modified the size I cut for trial #1 by shortening the crutch area by 1.5" and also shaving some width off the sides by slicing and overlapping the pattern in the middle. I also decided to use my own measurements for the elastic for the waistband and legs instead of the measurements provided in the pattern. Since my lace is very stretchy, these measurements were significantly smaller than the ones provided in the pattern.

How did they work out? 

These were almost perfect! I loved the fit. The only thing I wanted to change was the tightness of the leg. They felt a bit loose in the back. I also wanted to add a smidge more coverage to the back. Though these are a conservative style it is a common feature of these "boyshorts" to only cover about half your rear. I decided I could live with that, for these pair, but wanted to add more coverage to any future pairs. Otherwise I loved these. The fabric was perfect. Still, they are a bit too "fancy" for my liking for plain old everyday wear.

Panties #3:

I decided I wanted to try cotton jersey again. After all, that is what I normally wear on a day to day basis. It's comfortable and washes well and breathes. I used a sleeveless t shirt of David's to try these. It is a lighter weight jersey than the t shirt I used for my first attempt. I modified my pattern from #2 to add a bit more coverage in the back and to decrease the width of the leg a tad, in the back.

How did they work out? 

These came out very tolerably. They fit tighter than the ones above, but I think that is because this jersey does not stretch as much as the fabric I used for #2 and it is heavier than the fabric as well. They still fit, but if I make more in jersey like this I will add a bit of width to account for less stretch of the fabric. The "gathering" at the leg openings and waist is more noticeable in this fabric since the lace is much lighter in weight than the fabric. Still, I am very pleased with these and will definitely wear them. And yes, I picked the lace off the #1 pair and reused it for these. I couldn't bear to waste my pretty lace, even if it was only 50 cents a yard.

Panties #4:

These I made from more of David's grey t shirt. I wanted to try a different style for variety so used an old pair of store bought panties for a pattern, as per the tutorial on Come and See the Seitz. I cut these all in one piece and added a lining to the middle with another layer of jersey. Then I sewed on the lace and sewed up the sides. This went very quickly and these probably took about 15 minutes to make start to finish.

How did they work out? 

The fit is really great with these though I would like a slightly higher waistline and a narrower crutch. I like the fact there is no seam going down the center front or center back. When worn, these look nearly the same as the panties from the Cloth Habit pattern. The elastic gathers more fabric in, so it looks puckery when the panties are laid out flat but since the lace has a lot more stretchiness than the jersey, it all smooths out to a very good fit once on the body.

Thoughts: 

I really need a good lightweight jersey. I would also like to make a few more sets in fancier fabric, since it just feels so nice. Maybe I will transition from practical mama panties into something more delicate and feminine. But in the meantime I will be looking for nice very light jersey when I go out! I hope to hit the Labor Day sales at Jo Anns tomorrow evening so perhaps I will find something useful there.

Out of the three fabrics I tried for the experimental panties, I definitely liked the way the slinky dress fabric worked the best. It works well with the elastic and has a good stretch recovery. I wish I could find natural fabric that behaves the same way.

One thing is for sure: this is fun! After my initial frustration/disappointment/anger/despair/weeping/wailing over the first pair, I found I really enjoyed the process of making these. They go together so quickly and its nice to be able to control the fit instead of having to make do with something off the rack. I may even try stretch lace sometime! Who knows!

Love,
Sarah

Stretch Lace! Modern Panty-Sewing, Here We Come

I just got my package in for some stretch lace I ordered from Lace Heaven. I am so excited to use these lovely colors. Pretty! Now to find some cute fabrics to go with them. That's where I will get confused and frustrated. I don't think I'll try stretch lace or mesh or anything weird like that, but cotton jersey is weird and modern enough.

I've decided to try to make my own modern underwear. I hate paying so much for new ones and the cheaper ones fall apart and are not comfortable. Not to mention they are ugly anyhow. So we'll give this go. I plan to use the free pattern from Cloth Habit and may also try the panty tutorial from Come and See the Seitz.

After corsets and drawers and chemises and hoop skirts, a 2-piece panty pattern shouldn't be too hard, right?

I'm terrified.

But we'll plow on. I need to overcome my fear of knit fabrics and ball point needles. I. Will. Do. This.

Love,
Sarah

My Birthday Dress for 27

A few weeks ago I had my Golden Birthday. I was twenty seven on the twenty-seventh! When I was a little girl my friends all had their golden birthdays and I was envious of that glorious event. 27 seemed an infinite time off. 27 was, well, old.

But now that I have reached that significant milestone, 27 is not so bad. I have my faithful and hard working husband and four adorable (and rambunctious) children. I am still me. Wifehood and motherhood have not altered my personality except to perhaps make me more appreciative of The Moment, as now I see with some sorrow how fast time goes by. I can still do what I like to do. I live in an old country home and I have chickens and a garden just like I always wanted. I have a sewing room and a kitchen to get creative in. Every day is a new adventure. Life is turning out pretty decently.

My birthday fell on Memorial Day. Though a holiday we had planned to spend outdoors the day greeted us with much rain and rain continued til the evening. (We then went for a walk in the woods, but sadly were accosted with swarms of vicious mosquitoes and returned home, peppered with red bites and rather miserable and exhausted.)

I spent the afternoon trying to drape a new dress bodice pattern. Last year I received some striped blue cotton seersucker for my birthday and I never did make it up. This year I find myself in want of a few new summer dresses so I was determined to find a suitable style for the seersucker. I browsed lots of pattern sites and dreamed of dress designs but nothing seemed to really jump out at me until I saw Gertie's post about her new Cambie Dress.

I was really drawn to the bodice style. I loved the fitted bodice and the sleeves were perfect! I looked up the pattern on the Sewaholic website and decided this was the perfect style for my seersucker fabric. Of course, being me, I decided to try to drape a pattern that was similar in style instead of actually purchasing the pattern. I was a little worried this style would not be suitable for my figure since I am more of an hourglass shape than the pear shape the Sewaholic patterns are designed for. If the style ended up not working for me I didn't want to have spent a lot of money on a pattern I could not use.

It was fairly straightforward to drape a basic bodice. It goes to the natural waist and is simply fitted with 2 darts in the front and 2 darts in the back. The interesting feature is the sleeve, which is cut in one with the back bodice and then gathers down to attach to the front bodice. Nifty.

I made a few mockups of my rough draped pattern and tweaked the fit til I was happy with it. Now that this dress is done, I can see a few changes I will make to the pattern before making more dresses. Namely I want more coverage on the arm so will add width to the cut-in-one sleeve. And I need to take in the darts a bit more under the bust as I am getting a bit of wrinkling (having a large difference between bust and underbust measurements is a real pain in the rear end to deal with. Grr.)

Instead of the slim A line skirt or full gathered skirt the original pattern calls for I decided to make my own skirt and ended up with a moderately full upper skirt attached to a fuller flounce at the bottom. I like this style a lot as it does not require much by way of yardage and is just a style I am naturally drawn to. I made it just above ankle length which is just about perfect for everyday use. I often wear shorter skirts, but I love the feminine feeling that wearing longer skirts gives!

I even succeeded in putting in an invisible zipper without having to rip it out and resew it three or four times! Yeah!

The bodice is lined with sturdy white cotton and is also interlined with the same cotton. I knew I would want more sturdiness to the bodice since it is such a fitted style and there is no boning to help it keep its shape. The interlining helps tremendously! The skirt is unlined. The neckline and the sleeve edges are piped with self fabric piping to prevent the lining from peeking to the outside.

All in all its really a perfect dress! I love the style! It's fun and twirly and feels neat and tidy to wear. I cannot nurse in it, which is its only downfall, but as Anne is not breastfeeding constantly anymore (mostly just in the morning, or before she goes to bed at night) I find I can wear garments like this more for daily wear if I feed her before dressing for the day and after undressing for the night. I think this style could be altered to be breastfeeding friendly by making the front in two pieces and having it overlap and button, or perhaps even zip up the front.

I have fabric to make several more though I may change up the skirt styles a bit for the others. In the meantime I am working on a Judy Garland Dorothy Dress for a friend and that is taking up my sewing interest at the moment. It is such fun to see come together!

Love,
Sarah

A Greenish-Blue Dress for the Wedding

I hope you all had a good weekend. It was warm and lovely and we spent much time outside revelling in the sun and the wind and walking barefooted upon the greening grass. Well, Anne did not much care for the greening grass, at least touching it with her feet.

In fact, she did not really care to have any physical contact with the natural world but consented to gloomily tolerate it from the safety of my arms.

I hope we can remedy that over the summer. A child of mine who does not like to be outside?

I was also able to work on the dress for the wedding and although I didn't quite finish it I do not have much more work to do to it before it is wearable. So, here is the fabric; a lightweight knit. Probably something nasty like polyester. But it was cheap.

I printed out the Tanit-Isis pattern, carefully taped the pieces together and then tried to determine which size to cut. Based my measurements, I should have cut a size M or L. But since the elastic shirring does not take up *that* much fabric I decided to cut a size XS for the width of the dress, but a size M for the shoulders and the kimono sleeves. It seemed to work out perfectly.

Of course, sewing the dress did not work out quite perfectly. I tried to fully line the dress with lightweight white fabric but it made the whole thing heavy and bulky so I had to rip the dress apart and take out the lining. I then resewed it but the machine kept skipping stitches if the seams were even slighly bulky - like the shoulder seams. So I had to do those by hand and then bound the seams by hand. I sewed the flat seams with a zig zag stitch and since the fabric wanted to stretch as I sewed it I have to go back and resew a seam for a few inches near the bottom of the skirt on one side as it looks puckery at the moment.

The part that *did* go smoothly was the elastic shirring. It was *so* easy and shirred up the dress to exactly the right size. I deviated from the original pattern in 2 ways. 1: I flared the skirt so it took up the whole width of the 60" wide fabric instead of cutting more narrowly as per the pattern. 2: I added tabs at the shoulder to pull the neckline into a sweetheart shape in the front. This is much more flattering for me since my bust size made the draped shoulders look rather ridiculous and out of proportion. I didn't add tabs to the back neckline, but I may.

I also added a long self fabric sash. It helps extend the look of the waist.

I really like how it looks although I have to admit it sort of reminds me of vintage night-wear. It has passed the approval of both my sisters though, one who is very modern in her sense of fashion and the other who is very conservative and painfully embarrassed by anything that is "revealing". Come to think about it, this dress is actually very 1980's. I have pictures of my mom and her friends at her wedding back in 1985 and pictures of my mom from her highschool years and many of the dresses had a similar feel. I also have a pattern from the 1980's that has a very similar style. So, who knows? It is what it is. But it's me.

I do wish my waist was smaller as this style makes it look huge but maybe I can make a girdle or something this week to wear underneath it and to help smooth things out.

I still need to find shoes to wear with it. And jewelry. I think I'll wear the green dress for the rehearsal dinner Friday night. So it wasn't a waste of money to get it.

A few more days! I'm so excited. I hope I don't cry at the wedding but I think I will. It's hard to believe my little brother is all grown up!

Love,
Sarah

I Sewed With Elastic Thread!

First, thank you all so much for your really in depth advice about makeup. Based on your responses, I went out and got an eyeliner pencil, mascara and light colored eye shadow and some neutral lip gloss in a shade called "nude". I found some tutorials online about how to apply eyeshadow and basic makeup. So, I tried it all out. I got some ivory concealer and already had some clear powder.

I don't think I will use the 3 colors of eyeshadow the tutorial I found said to use. I got a package that had 2 colorways, each with 3 shades. I tried the lighter of the 2 colors using the various colors for browbone, eyelid and crease as per the tutorial but it was waaaaaayy too much. The very light violet by itself looks okay, and the eyeliner looks sort of okay (almost too much though) and the mascara looks okay. The lipgloss is a huge improvement over the lipstick - thanks for suggesting that! It's enough to make me look like I am dressed up, but hopefully not enough to make people stop and think "oh my gosh she looks so weird she doesn't normally look like that does she??"

Anyway, I also got some new fabric to make a different dress for the wedding. I had wanted to make my own dress anyway, but couldn't find fabric I liked/could afford and so in desperation I went out and got that bright green dress. It *is* a cute dress but guess what? I found some fabric I liked! And it was only $1.50 a yard in the Wal Mart bargain bin. It's a really pretty pale silvery-blue-green. It is super lightweight so I'm lining it and am making the Grecian Sundress from the free Tanit-Isis pattern.

It's so cute when she pulls up to a standing position because she looks impossibly tiny to be standing on her own two little legs. 

It calls for shirring with elastic thread - something I had never done before. I got the thread and was scared to try to use it. I like the shirred look but usually obtain that through other ways, like casings and elastic, or stretching-elastic-as-you-sew-it or something like that. I had a little bit of yellow calico left from a project I did this week for a friend from church and so I decided to try out the shirring technique on a small garment since it wouldn't be as big of a waste if it didn't come out right.

But it *did* come out!

I was excited and thrilled. I am still nervous about using it on my dress but I hope it comes out like I plan. If not, well, I always have the bright green dress I can wear instead.

For the dress I cut a narrow rectangle approximately double her waist measure in width and from her armpit to just below her knee in length. I hemmed the top normally and then shirred for about 4". I attached a ruffle at the bottom of the skirt (double the width of the skirt) and then made little ruffled shoulder straps to attach at the top. It seriously took an hour, maybe. So easy! But such cute results.

Love,
Sarah

A Pumpkin Dress for Anne

Back in the Spring, when I was shopping at garage sales for little girl clothes, I came across a little long sleeved shirt that had a big orange pumpkin on the front of it. It was a larger size than I thought the baby would need for the fall but I snatched it up anyway. My father's favorite color is orange and when I was little he called me "pumpkin". I had to get it! It would be perfect for his first granddaughter.

Now it is full autumn and I have been wanting to have Anne wear this shirt before Christmas is upon us and pumpkins and harvesty colors will be a thing of the past. I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into an outfit for her, though. She doesn't have any pants that match the color scheme and I prefer to keep her in dresses, anyway.

The other day I pulled out an enormous floral shirt that my grandma gave me back when I was pregnant, thinking I could use it during my last weeks of pregnancy. Even then, it was far too large! But I liked the material so I kept it, thinking I would cut it down into a dress for the baby at some point. When I pulled it out I realized that there was indeed orange in the print so I decided I would combine the pumpkin shirt with this shirt so Anne can finally wear it.

It was an easy thing to cut off the bottom of the pumpkin shirt. There was a small yellow stain on the lower portion of the shirt anyway that would not come out with washing. Then from the front of the enormous floral blouse I cut a rectangle for a skirt.

I sewed the floral skirt piece into a tube, using a french seam to finish everything off nicely. I hemmed the tube,

gathered it to fit the waist of the pumpkin shirt,

and sewed the two together. Easy! (why hadn't I thought of this before???)

The waistline was still enormous for the baby so I sewed some elastic to the waist seam of the dress to give it a bit more shape.

All done!

Anne obligingly smiled for pictures but it was very difficult to keep her hands out of her mouth. She is in that "I must gnaw everything" stage and the other day she surprised me by swiping some mashed potatoes off my plate during dinner and stuffing them into her perpetually-open mouth. Then she cried for more.

Oh, and aren't these little knitted socks just darling?! I found them at the thrift store the other day. 25 cents was a great deal. They are a little large but that just means she can wear them for a longer period of time!

Love,
Sarah

Eyelet Baby Gown

Many months ago I found a very pretty eyelet valance at the thrift store. It was wide and very, very long and only two dollars. I bought it, intending to make the baby a gown with it at some point. We had just found out we were having a girl and I had very few girl clothes for a baby. I envisioned sewing her up a dainty wardrobe of pretty frocks.

However, I did not count on the generosity of friends and family. Little Anne is now very amply supplied with clothes for at least the duration of her first year; little dresses and jumpers and frilly skirts and sleepers and nightgowns and hats, socks, headbands, shoes, sweaters and snowsuits, and onesies beyond necessity. (I counted twenty-six newborn size onesies when I last took stock of the drawers I am keeping her newborn clothes in). Making a lot of baby dresses then seemed to be a waste of time since she really does not need anything extra at all.

I still did want to make a White Dress. There just seems to be something so old fashioned and holy about a baby all in white. . .something pure and sacred and beautiful and fleeting. I decided to hold off on making the gown until closer to my due date. So, this past Saturday, as we did *not* go to the Civil War event (the heat index was 102), I made the little white gown and baby cap. It went together very quickly.

For the pattern I just traced the bodice from one of the dresses she already has. I added little loose gathered sleeves and a little ruffle at the neckline. It was fun playing around with the eyelet design. The skirt is just a tube gathered to the bodice and another strip of eyelet, topstitched to the waist, makes the waistband. I'm hoping it will be big enough for her to wear for a while. When she is little the gown will be quite long, of course, but as she grows the skirt will come to above her feet and the waistline will become more empire than natural. I made sure to make the armholes and the neck opening plenty big for this reason. The baby cap pattern is an 1860's one I used for the boys.

I have so much of this curtain left over. I wonder if I should save it to make something else for her when she gets bigger or if I should make something for myself. ;) It's an awesome feeling knowing you are repurposing fabric and that you got it for such a good price! Even cheap eyelet from Jo Anns is $10/yard and is a poly/cotton blend. (In passing, I totally have been disappointed and disgusted with the offerings Jo Anns has had lately. Their prices are just SO HIGH and the fabric feels SO LOUSY to the touch.)

Now that the dress is done I think I am really all ready for the baby to get here. Except for diaper pins. I still need to get some of those. I passed the 34 week mark (always a nervous time for me since little David was born at 34 weeks) so am feeling pretty good about that. Now she can come whenever she is ready. I feel like I'm lugging around a ripe watermelon!

Love,
Sarah