Oh Spoonflower, you are awesome.

Yes those are teeth. I know, gross, but also awesome, right?

I have spent quite literally all day making fabric designs on Spoonflower.com. On the left is my absolute favorite design of the day. I'm glad I'm putting those mad Illustrator skillz of mine to use. My students would be so proud of me.

I made another one where the teeth rotate, and I have a bunch of recolors of the above design as well. I can't wait until the swatches come so I can see if these will be useful. It would be neat to make an apron or a pillowcase out of these. I could even see myself making a dress out of the rotate-y one, but I'd have to really force myself to wear something that light out of the house. I'd have to be careful to not eat anything ever in it, because I tend to have mysterious food accidents every single time I wear light-colored clothing out of the house.  I really wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not.

A closeup of my fancy-pants gold
tooth. I'm really digging the highlights.

I also ordered a Day of the Dead print for my next dress. I'm going to force myself to NOT make a bias strip dress, but I'll still use this pattern as a base. Maybe I'll appliqué a giant sugar skull on it or something? I can guarantee there will be a ruffle somewhere on it because I freaking love those things.

I want to create more designs but I'm very handicapped. My desire to create complex patterns combined with my inability to figure out how to work out the tiling is causing me to stall out at the gate. If anyone out there has a recommendation for a decent Illustrator or Photoshop template (or other program) that would help me tile patterns more quickly, please leave a comment.

Carry on

I have spent all day sewing, with one short dinner break in the middle. I cannot BELIEVE how much work I've put into this dress. Today, I did the following:


• Cut top into final shape
• Lined straps with interfacing and houndstooth cotton to correct the strap-stretching problem in Dress #1
• Edged entire top with houndstooth strips
• Made petticoat ruffle (had to re-do gathering 3 times because of stupid problems)
• Attached petticoat to dress at waist
• Sewed on pink strip at the waist and houndstooth strip to finish off lining


This may not sound like a whole lot, but almost everything on that list was like a giant I.Q. test for me. I basically did the straps backwards. The proper order would have been to cut out the interfacing and lining fabric when I cut the straps, attach everything but the lining when I made the base dress, and then attach the lining and the edging after doing all the bias strips. Instead, I spent 6 hours (not a typo) trying to add the interfacing and the lining without making the bodice look like I intended to hide ears of corn in my bra.

I'm not quite done, but all that's left is either fun stuff or finishing-type details that aren't a huge biggie. Still to do:

• Figure out what to do (if anything) with the black space at the bottom
• Check the back of the dress to see if the petticoat is really hanging a bit low there or if I'm hallucinating
• Hem dress so the petticoat peeks out evenly on all sides
• Edge dress bottom with houndstooth bas strip
• Attach either a black ribbon or more houndstooth bas strips to the line of stitching on the petticoat ruffle
• Sleep. Seriously.

Anyway, I'm mere steps away from the end, and here is the result:

The "oink" print on the wall makes this
look even more like something Miss Piggy
would wear, but whatever. I like it.

I promised myself I would go to bed when I finished the petticoat and attached it to Dress #2. I just did that. Once I post this I can go to freaking bed. Self-imposed goals sound so responsible unless you're someone like me, who seems to only make these types of goals when it will result in never going to bed, ever.

Stopping traffic is fun.

Thank you Elisabeth Moch for the perfect illustration

Today I ran some errands and I had a really crazy trip. I kept getting comments on my dress from strangers on the street. Like, lots of comments. A group of dudes passed my by and one said "oh my god you are SO beautiful!" and his friends were all "yeah man, she is!" It was really polite and friendly, like he was making an observation, not weird, creepy, I-want-to-get-in-your-pants-ish. It was neat.

Then I was walking down a busy sidewalk in the center of Harvard and this woman chased me down from across the street to ask me where I bought my "spectacular" dress. She said she was a designer and she asked me all kinds of questions about the construction. When I told her that I made it she gushed about what a good job I'd done. What a nice lady! I left that encounter with the biggest grin on my face.

So yeah, today has been a great day.

That's not so bad? BAHAHAHAHA no.

Ok, so I was a little bit delusional when I wrote that last post. Well, at least the last paragraph. If I had been doing exactly the same type of top as the last dress it would have been true, but I forgot that I was making a "minor" change that was actually kind of major.

Those straps look so harmless. Don't believe their lies.

The straps. Oh god, the horrible, horrible straps.

I didn't finish the top edge of the bodice before adding the straps like I did last time. Instead, I added the straps and then added more strips to them so they continued the dress pattern more fluidly. I like this in theory, but in practice it is fire devil. Why? Because the bodice has a seam there and I can't just add the straps to those pattern pieces.

Instead, I have to attach the straps separately, which makes a new curved seam right at the top edge of a bias strip. This makes the edge of the strip look weird and ripply unless it's sewn exactly right. Try hand sewing it exactly right in three different colors of thread on a curved seam so the seam is as invisible as possible. Wait, don't. I wouldn't wish that on you. You're probably a nice person.

Hours later I have a dress that may or may not look like a trainwreck right at cleavage height. You know, the place where people will probably look because, well, cleavage. Steve is asleep and I can't torture him by going into the bedroom and turning on the lights so I can use the full length mirror. I think I fixed the problem? I think the straps are even? If not, I'll have to rip about a million, tiny, almost invisible stitches and undo hours of work.

No. Just, no. Please no?

My mother said something earlier today that has become my mantra for this whole sewing adventure. They had their kitchen redone, and the contractor said something profound after the third time they had to tear down and rebuild the housing for the fridge: "Don't worry, it's only time." Yeah, it sucks to possibly have to undo something that took forever, but it's not like it'll kill me to redo it.

Still to do:
• Attach straps to the back
• Finish adding strips to the straps
• Cut top into final shape
• Edge entire top with houndstooth strips
• Make petticoat ruffle
• Attach petticoat to dress at waist
• Sew on pink strip at the waist
• Figure out what to do (if anything) with the black space at the bottom
• Hem dress so the petticoat peeks out.
• Receive back massage to undo knots in neck caused by stress

It's only time, it's only time, it's only time..... dammit.

Oh, and...

I realize I totally skipped the whole "pictures of the dress so far" part of that post. Here you go:

The fun part of adding the strips: topstitching!

Another fun part: playing with crazy patterns!

The dress at around 11AM...

... around 3PM...

...1AM...

This morning.

I still have to finish adding the little strips around the bottom edge, work out how to cover the ugly-as-hell tops of those little strips, attach the lining, make ruffles for the bottom of the petticoat, attach the petticoat, and attach the straps, then hem the dress and edge the bodice with houndstooth bias tape. That sounds like a lot, but it's actually not so bad. Maybe a few more days if I stay on task? I totally won't stay on task, but still, it's a goal.

Trip to Joanne's with mom.

I'm more than halfway through Dress #2 and my eyes are already onto new projects. As much as I want to make another dress just like this, I recognize that I should probably broaden my horizons a little if I want to actually learn to sew. Thus, the haul from Joanne's, as shown below:

Project #3: Bikini (with a little skirt to cover the badonk)
I have one bathing suit that's great except for one problem: the bottom is white. I kind of hate wearing white. It looks nice with my skin tone, but all I can think of is how terrified I am to stain it. Also, I'd like to have a second bathing suit in case something happens to the first one. Plus, buying a serger was basically a dare to myself to make either a swimsuit or some kind of dancewear or ice skating uniform. I'll get more use out of the bikini, so it's kind of a no brainer.

Black stretch fabric. Trust me, the other colors
were godawful. Boring photo, I know.

Tons of DIY bathing suit links insist that this won't take long. However, I don't believe them for several reasons. 1) I don't have a pattern and that scares me. 2) I don't look like the people who made the swimsuits. I can't just make a bandeau top and leave the house. I need.... support. 3) I don't have a pattern. It's worth counting twice because no guidance = scary.

One of the above fabrics is powermesh.
Does this make that photo more interesting?

Project #4: Corset (or, the project where I really test my ability to sew curved seams.)
Challenge time! My body is extremely corset-friendly because of my crazy waist-to-hip ratio, so this should work well with my natural shape. This involves more advanced curved-seam-sewing and working with new materials such as boning, a busk, and grommets. It's an excuse to try wacky embellishments that I might not wear on a daytime outfit like the dresses. I'll be using these fabrics:

Front and back panels - ivory cotton with little
black cameo shapes that are just asking for
something to be sewn in the middle. Buttons?

Side panels - coffee brown and black cotton. 

Trim - tan and dark brown cotton with a
weird tentacle-meets-damask pattern on it.

Lining - awesomely rigid canvas in
beige and dark blue stripe. I plan to
tea-stain this to better match the brown
in the fabric above.

I have no idea where I'll wear this, but I'll have to invent an occasion. Next year's Steampunk City in Waltham? No idea. I don't care. I'll wear it around my house or put it on a mannequin or something. I can't wait to have something really crazy and extravagant to play with, and if I can get this sewn in time for our trip to Provincetown I'll totally be able to bring it with me and hand-sew the buttons on the beach.

Lastly, I got some notions that aren't really that exciting to post. I will, however, post pics of the awesome little sewing box I got, because it was 40% off and it has a hilariously goofy print all over it:

It has dogs on it! DOGS! I like dogs.

Perfect for keeping the table clean when
it's too hot to sew upstairs and I have
to move downstairs. Also, for travel.

I can't wait to start these. I can't wait! This will motivate me to finish the dress more quickly. I'd better get right on that now.

Breaking through the bias-tape-making barrier

He thinks I'm making him a pink
fluffy toilet. I kind of hate him for this.

Ok, so I kind of lied in my last post. I wasn't only holding out on working on Dress #2 because of the heat (though MAN did that contribute). I was being a lazy jerk because I didn't want to cut out all the bas strips. You see, making continuous bias strips is a pretty slow process when you don't have a cutting table. You have to lay the fabric flat on the floor to cut and measure it while also preventing the pets from crawling all over it. Effort! This is best done on a flat, hard surface away from animals. I do not actually have a space like this in my apartment.

Not shown: the little purple bruise
on my thumb that appeared around
hour four. I am a total baby.

I tried to do this on our wall-to-wall-carpeting stricken floor and it took me about three hours to do a passable job on a half yard of fabric because I had to keep re-doing it when the measurements were off. Also, the effort of rolling around on the floor with a yardstick and tailor's chalk was hard enough in the hundred degree heat without being swatted at by the cat and aggressively snuggled by the dog. Thus, I stopped after that half yard and watched three days worth of reality TV while sitting in a deep slouch on the sofa and periodically screaming "IT'S HOT AND I HATE IT!!!" at my husband, who I decided was completely to blame for this horrible weather.

The temperature went down a bit yesterday and I promised myself I would dig in and cut the strips until I was done. My reward would be sleep. Either because I'm extra ADHD this week or because my hands weren't made for hours of cutting with plastic-handled scissors, it was slow going and it took me all day. I cut about 4 yards of fabric, bound each color into its own continuous roll, and passed out somewhere in the neighborhood of 3AM.

Pictured: my entire day yesterday.
Speed and I don't hold hands.

Someone more efficient would have been able to do this more, well, efficiently, but at least I finished it eventually. Now I have enough continuous bias tape to cover several dresses, and I'll likely use the excess to make an apron or something to go with this dress. I don't know if it's the pink or what, but it makes me want to bake cupcakes and do other girly-ass things, and I suspect I'll be pissed if I cover it with cake flour and confectioner's sugar.

More pics soon. I spent most of today applying the strips to the dress and I'm pretty far along. It's PINK, though, which makes me nervous. It definitely looks like a giant piñata, and I can't tell if this is a good thing or not. I'd like for it to be funky, but not so crazy that I look like I'm going to make balloon animals at a 5 year old's birthday party.