Tuesday, June 9, 2009

a little...ahem...weekend sewing...

johnson-266

johnson-265b

Yes, I am yet another Heather Ross Weekend Sewing junkie. And to make this dress ever easier to sew, there's an awesome video tutorial on Martha Stewart's website starring the super helpful Heather herself! I have been, in all honesty, very unnecessarily scared to death of shirring/smocking (not the old fashioned kind of smocking that takes actual insane patience), but felt incredibly lame after watching the tutorial and making the dress. Oh, and a bit of no-brainer advice for you newbie "shirrers", only the bobbin gets the elastic thread. Try it in your machine and you'll wind up with a lump of fabric that looks reminiscent of a chewed piece of gum!!

i added a little band of elastic in the bottom hem, and we wound up with a really cute, simple bubble dress! I plan to make a few more dresses and shirts for the girly girl using this tutorial.

Give this dress a try, it's so cute, so easy, and season appropriate...I want to make one for myself in a cotton gauze or linen blend.

On another inspiring note, I was browsing through the book racks at the fabric store the other day, and found the coolest book that I'm not even sure how I've managed to miss! It's clearly been out for awhile, and has sweet inspiration (and patterns) for my all time favorite summer clothing piece...the flippy skrt. I seriously want to make every single skirt in this book! And trust me, with my current fabric stash and minimal post-electrical-fire wardrobe, this is entirely possible...

free-style-handmade-bags-and-skirts

6 comments:

  1. that little dress is SO cute! i wish my sewing skills were up to par...there are so many things i want to make for the new baby girl...sigh.

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  2. I sure wish I knew how to sew. someday. I hope I will learn. the dress is so cute.

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  3. I seriously am just learning how to sew and this was sooooo easy! I think that folding and ironing the straps was the most difficult part, that's why I loved it so much, lol...

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  4. the dress is very cute, and the little girl inside it!

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  5. Nice fabric for that summerdress and for such a sweet girl! Adorable!

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  6. This is my first visit to your wonderful blog. Your little model is adorable! I love the dress you made. It turned out beautiful.

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