Sewing

Just Me

Rachel — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:37:20 GMT

I know it’s been a very long time since I’ve written a post. There has been a lot of traveling going on of late. I’m leaving in two days to go to NJ where my family lives for the next four weeks so things will be pretty quiet here again. I have a lot of ideas and plans for Mamma Made when I return (including a new and improved blog/website!) and hopefully I will be able to start to sell some of my sewing kits. Fun fun. I thought that this post could be a little catch up about me and I am going to share some pictures of what’s been going on.

After going to England with Danielson and playing All Tomorrow’s Parties I had a couple weeks to recuperate, finish up school with the girls, and my parents came out. Here is my Dad with the girls before we left.

They stayed for 2 weeks and watched the kids so that Jon and I could go to Copenhagen, Denmark. It was one of the most fantastic trips I have ever been on. I absolutely love Denmark and the people are so incredibly nice and helpful. It is one of the quietest cities I have ever been to because most of the people ride bicycles around instead of cars. This is because to buy a car you have to pay 180% tax. Crazy, eh? But, quiet city!

Handsome husband.

On one of our last days we took a boat tour through the canals and it was put together by the conference Jon spoke at. It was on All Summer Eve which is the longest day of the year and historically that was the day they would burn their witches. I made a joke asking if they waited until the longest day because they had so many witches to take care of. They said that everyone burned witches back then but the only difference was that they would send theirs back to Germany where they came from. (Ouch!) I can jest because I have some German blood in me!!! :) This is what we saw along the canal ride.

After Denmark we stopped in New York City for a long weekend and I met up with my sister Megan and her son Peter. He is the cutest little boy! Who can resist this face?

I had a blast with my little sister and we walked the town and got to see Wicked on Broadway. I did take pictures but most of them turned out really blurry. Here’s one at the show, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Blurry.

And yes, my beautiful little sister is pregnant!

After getting back from our trips and sending my parents back East I have been resting. It’s been a great summer so far and I’ve actually tried to sew a couple things for myself! I haven’t been inspired to do that for a really long time. The problem with that is that you spend money on fabric, patterns, and notions, spend the time to make the garments and at the end of the day, will you really wear them? Do they really look that great on you? I don’t know about you, but I can try on a million dresses before I find the perfect one. So who’s to say that just because you sew it, it will be the perfect one????

I wanted to make a quick throw on cotton jersey dress for the summer because I will be spending a week at Lake George and a week in Ocean City so comfort will be key. I rarely work with stretch fabrics even though I would love to get into the habit because they are so comfortable! I saw this pattern Simplicity 2647 and I thought that the short version would be perfect.

It was easy to cut out and once I got the sewing technique down it was pretty easy. The problem was that they had you attach the straps in the worst place! I ended up ripping them out (which after you sew/serge is quite a task) and fixing the bodice so that I didn’t feel like I was falling out of it. Now that it is finished and I am comfortable wearing it out of the house there is another problem. It just feels too dressy. This is not a “hang out by the beach” jersey dress. So all that time, effort…wasted???? It’s the big sewing debate.

So I whip up another dress that is definitely more casual, but not very comfortable. I wouldn’t wear this either.

(Ran out of time to finish this before I leave…so I’m just posting it. See you in some weeks!)

Love,

Orange

Rachel — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 23:49:48 GMT

Remember this, Lilly Hannah?

Love,

And What About Green

Rachel — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:24:18 GMT

Here is my “green” color scheme for the Tent Dress.

Love,

The Tent Dress Revisited

Rachel — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:18:02 GMT

I had created a tent dress for a Spoonflower competition. It was exciting because it was the first time that I was digitizing my Mamma Made patterns so it was a huge challenge and so much fun. Here was the results of my work:

It came together pretty quickly, but there were a couple problems with the pattern. You can see in this picture that the armscye is just too tight and puckers. I had also chosen to work with the Upholstery weight fabric which in hindsight was not a good idea. The printing was crisp and clear, but after a washing, the dress crinkled so very badly in the way that even if you iron it you can still see the creases. The colors faded a bit too. This is why it is UPHOLSTERY fabric and not clothing. Now, some upholstery fabrics work beautifully for clothing and I’ve used them many times against the “grain” of sewing. I think it’s really good to work outside of the box a bit.

Memory Lane Example

This is a side trip down memory lane. I was designing a garment for a fashion show in 2000 and I decided to use this upholstery weight fabric. I had no idea how it would work out and it was pretty pricey so I hoped well. I washed and dried it and the weight of it was just perfect. It ended up being soft yet heavy handed enough that it was perfect for my jacket which I hand tailored. Yuck. In these old pictures I am actually talking to my sister Megan on the phone.

I remember her very distinctly telling me that I was crazy. Look closely at the pattern and you will notice that I matched every seam and square and the jacket had many fitted pieces to it. Here it is in the show.

Crappy picture next to show you my blue ribbon! I won!

And a nice picture of my old friend Giovanni and myself. I haven’t seen him for years but I’m sure he’s a famous fashion designer now.

The fabric for my outfit I had bought in Philadelphia with my mother and sister I’m pretty sure. And no, after three children, I will NEVER fit into that waistband again. :)

Back to the Present

So, back to the Green Flower Tent Dress. I stashed the dress away and unfortunately Eleanor has not worn it since this day we took the pictures. BUT! I’m bringing back the tent dress with new revisions because...

Little kids look adorable in swinging tent dresses
It is so stinkin’ easy to sew

Talk about instant gratification! So, I fixed the tight armscye and I actually took a bit of the width out of the swing dress. It was a bit TOO swingy. (Is that even possible? Yes, I think so.) And from now on, I will ONLY print on the Organic Cotton Sateen. I’m telling you, I found my perfect fabric.

I’m working on a green version as well.

Love,

Pink and White

Rachel — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:42:19 GMT

From my last Elephant Dress post I asked if anyone had any suggestions for a new color scheme. Lochlanina suggested pink and white so I decided to explore. What could be more challenging than to use pink and white?

Color

In general, I have a hard time with pink. There are so many predictable children’s looks that go along with your “bubble gum” flavor. I found a color scheme I was really inspired by and things kind of took off after that.

I love this pink. It’s pink without being coral or too sweet. Although the white in this scheme is not bright white, I think it’s perfect. The tan flavors and the maroon mature the pink just a bit.

Pink and White

Here is my creation of the Pink and White Elephant Dress:

The center back of the dress (as you notice) has a rather thick maroon stripe. Part of the stripe is seam allowance for the back zipper. For this design I also widened the back skirt a bit so it will actually be slightly gathered and have a little added fullness.

It’s funny how I started off thinking I would just switch some colors around on the blue and white elephant dress, but it just didn’t want to be. That’s the fun part of creating, isn’t it?

Love,

Something New

Rachel — Wed, 26 May 2010 07:51:17 GMT

Tonight I was inspired to work on an old idea and make it new again. My dear friend Mary (of royalforest) and I decided to collaborate and work on a design using the concept of the Tree of Life. I am fascinated and love the depth of symbolism of the Tree and the fruits of the spirit. (If you are curious and want to follow the original creative process of the tree, just type “tree” in the search button.)

Then Mary updated the fabric with much cooler colors.

I thought it would be fun and interesting to bring this concept to a garment.

I was first inspired by this color palate:

There is something playful and unusual about this color combination. Something a child could and would wear, but definitely not the norm.

I started to play around a bit, and this is what I created.

I thought it would be nice to have a fuller gathered skirt and this will hide some of the busyness of the trees without losing the design interest. Not sure if this garment could use some sleeves or something. It’s kind of busy, but another element could tone it down a bit.

Off to bed! I meant to go to bed early…

Love,

Presenting The Elephant Dress Pattern

Rachel — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:29:43 GMT

Hello friends! I received my fabric from Spoonflower and I was extremely pleased. I think I have found the perfect fabric for clothing--the Organic Cotton Sateen! I LOVE it! It is so soft and yet has a really nice sturdiness to it. Here is Eleanor holding her fabric. She was very excited.

The dress went together very easily. My pattern was almost exactly right on. Just a couple of tweaks and it will be perfect. I was glad that I added the extra blue to the fabric because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to add sleeves or something else. I ended up adding a nice ruffle to the hem and some ties at the shoulders. It turned out really sweet.

The printing turned out nice and crisp. When I am completely satisfied with this pattern, I will be offering the kit for sale on my site. I am going to be doing another color-way, however, as I think it’s pretty unusual for a girl’s favorite colors to be blue and green combined with elephants. Any ideas and/or suggestions?

Love,

The Elephant Dress is Back

Rachel — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:49:04 GMT

My husband upgraded my flash in my computer and I can work on designs again. Eleanor’s 3rd birthday is coming up and her favorite animal in the world is the elephant. I finished working on, uploaded, and ordered her Elephant Dress from Spoonflower. If I’m happy with the outcome of the pattern, I will let people order off of Spoonflower for their own personal use. Here is what the finished dress will look like:

This is what I ordered from Spoonflower with all the pieces laid out. I ordered the Cotton Sateen to give it a richer feel and had some extra fabric on the layout, so I added some more blue in case I want to make a sash or sleeves. We’ll see. I want to see how the main pieces come together first. It will also be interesting to see the real colors printed out as I chose them from my “pre-printed Spoonflower swatch” and they look different on the computer screen. I haven’t ordered the Cotton Sateen yet so I’m excited to see how that looks/feels. After my experience with my Tent Dress, I decided that the upholstery weight fabric is just not a good choice for clothing. It prints up really nicely, but after a wash the colors diminish and lose some of their sharpness and the fabric crinkles up horribly. The type of crinkles that even after pressing you can still see lines. And who wants to press anyways?

Regardless, I know that Eleanor will LOVE it. And that’s all that matters to me.

Love,

Frustrated

Rachel — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:44:19 GMT

I’m going to post about the drapes I’ve been trying to make…notice I say trying. I bought fabric from Spoonflower to make them and when it arrived I was very excited. The fabric looks great. I’m extremely happy with the design and the printing.

I ordered 5 yards because each panel needs 2 1/2 yards. The first thing I needed to adjust and figure is that the printing starts at the left side and however it ends on the right side with the repeating is just how it is. This caused a slight problem in that when you put both cut panels together, they aren’t uniform. The right side of panel A is the drifting repeat pattern and the left side of panel B is the clear starting pattern. Does that make sense? I needed to cut the fabric down so that both panels look uniform when they hang next to each other on the rod. Cutting down the fabric makes it necessary for me to use another fabric to make the panels wider to fit our windows.

The next challenge is that I need to use sun-blocking lining which for any of you that have used it know that it’s a pain to work with. It’s thick and rubbery and it so difficult to keep smooth. We have a projector screen TV and it’s important for optimum movie viewing to have the light completely blocked.

The final challenge is that my husband thought it would look nice to have a solid red border around the 3 edges of each panel to bring out the red flowers and I agreed with him. However, this third fabric is yet another weight and all three of the fabrics are fighting against each other and look just horrible. Yesterday I was so frustrated I took the drapes down and folded them into a pile in my office with intentions to just start over with something else.

THEY ARE JUST STUPID RECTANGLES! WHAT IS THE DEAL???????

Drapes open. Right drape is not finished on bottom because the sides are already pulling.

Left panel drape with side pulling and bringing left corner up off the floor. I measured the hem with them hanging and the length should have brought the corner right to the floor.

“Oh, why don’t you just bite the bullet, pick it out, smooth all the layers and put it back together again? They could look really nice and you already put so much time into it.”

I DID!!!! This is what it looks like after I picked it out, laid it on the floor, put a million pins in it to keep it in place, and then sewed it back together.

So, now you can see why I haven’t posted and what my latest endeavor has been. I did finally decide today that it’s actually human to show the projects you work on that just look like CRAP.

Love,

Spoonflower Green Flower Tent Dress

Rachel — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:42:13 GMT

Finally! I’ve had a chance to whip up this little thing. This is my design from the Spoonflower Children’s pattern contest. I will show you the pictures and then share my comments at the end of the post.

We actually received the fabric on Christmas Eve and here is Eleanor with it. I don’t think she actually “got it” of course. She just loves the green flowers because green is her favorite color.

My 2 eldest girls holding up the fabric. I don’t know why Rosemary is making that crazy face.

I sewed up the dress last night and it went together very easily. Here is Ellie modeling this morning.

This mountain is in our backyard. Can you believe it? I still can’t.

My sweetie pie. Finally one girl who got my crazy red East Coast hair. Enough of the California blonds!

All in all, I’m satisfied with the dress. However, for those of you that know me, satisfaction just isn’t good enough. There are things that definitely need to be modified.

I had the dress printed on the upholstery weight fabric. I liked the idea of having a sturdier feel to this dress, but after sewing it up I realized it was a mistake. This dress is a tent dress and is supposed to flow nicely. The dress doesn’t flow at all—it kind of holds it’s shape. When I get it printed on the quilter’s weight, the cloth won’t be so white, which is kind of a bummer. I like the contrast between the colors.
The armscye is too tight. In general I feel that children’s garments go way overboard with the enormous arm holes but I need to let the bottom down at least a 1/2”. I also would prefer for the straps to be just a little thicker, maybe 1/2”.
The dress fits too perfectly. I need to add an extra 1/2”-1” for a little growing room.
I also need to lengthen the dress an 1”. I did the tiniest of hems, so I kind of faked it.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell! Eleanor couldn’t be more pleased with her dress and this is just the beginning for me with designing garments on fabric. I am so fascinated with digitizing my patterns and getting them to a place where I am completely satisfied and proud of my work.

Love,