Mamma Made

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,

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,

Lilly Love Birds

Rachel — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:22:54 GMT

You can officially vote for the best birds of the week at Spoonflower. You really should go and check it out. There are some amazing designs out there.

Once I was on a roll, I decided to continue experimenting with this bird pattern. These are my new flats to share with you.

I’ll zoom in so you can see the pattern on the front bodice.

This is so much fun! I just wish my computer would stop crashing on me!

Love,

My Little Love Birds

Rachel — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:10:40 GMT

I decided to create a dress from the “Love Birds” fabric design I created for Spoonflower.

I have digitally laid out all of the pieces except for the sleeves. The images you see here aren’t accurate but show the composition of the pieces. I’m also going to play around with a different color scheme after I write this up.

Here it is!

Love,