Fit for a Wedding

As if I didn't have enough dresses made already!

This was a dress I made for a September wedding.

It's made with dark blue polyester georgette and a polyester lining.

The bodice is gathered and attached to a braided circular strap piece that wraps around the back.

The skirt is a full circle skirt attached to the bodice with a 2" wide waist piece.

So even though I got to wear this dress once, it really wasn't enough. How about somebody gets married again sometime soon or something? Weddings are my favorite :)

It's Spring!

Spring is finally here! It seems like every dress I make lately is one that I want to wear to a picnic or something of that sort. This one is no exception.

I made this dress out of a blue cotton woven that I picked up really inexpensively. I think it ended up costing about $3 total. The bust is shirred at the top and gathered toward the center at the bottom.

Split by a waist belt, the skirt portion has box pleats all around the waist.

The dress closes in the back, with 3 brown and brass buttons with crests on them, which my friend Megan so generously gave me. (I love buttons!)

Here is a picture of the back of the dress. The bodice holds up nicely as a strapless, but I'm considering adding some straps.

The dress is lined with the same material as the self, to give the bodice support and the skirt fullness.

So to add straps or not to add straps? And then, of course, I need to decide what kind of straps they should be if I decide there should be straps. What do you think?

Somebody please plan a party or picnic (or four of each), because I have far too many dresses to wear this Spring/Summer.

Welcome Home, Ginger!

Over the weekend, my dad got a new golden retriever puppy. She's 9 weeks old, and everyone had a really difficult time finding a name for her. Eventually, it was decided that she would be named Ginger.

Excited for the new pup, I got busy right away with making her a welcome home dress :)
I decided I'd make a golden dress for our new goldie!

The dress was made with a knit yellow material with golden mono-filament fibers stitched in. It has a full circle skirt and 3/4 length sleeves. Since it's a knit, it can simply be pulled over the little pup's head.

I finished off the look by adding a light pink satin sash, which is connected to the dress at the back, and ties on the side of her belly.

I don't know how many of you have ever put a dress on a brand new puppy, but chances are good many of you haven't. I've gotta tell you, it's pretty difficult. She kept wiggling away and trying to run around the house. So I apologize if the dress can't easily be viewed in these pictures, but she was a crazy little wiggler! Anyway, welcome home, Ginger! I hope you like wearing dresses :)

Garden Party Dress

I made this dress one day during spring break. It's a white eyelet bodice with a sweetheart neckline and halter, with a green skirt and straps. The skirt has box pleats sewn in around the waist.

The right side opens with 5 gold buttons with crests on them, and 4 clear hidden buttons below those.

The left side has a mock opening to mimic the right side, with the same panel and 5 gold buttons.


I made the center back bodice with a matching white eyelet puckered, elastic fabric to ensure the dress would fit perfectly. The green halter straps begin where the elastic fabric ends, and increase in thickness until they are unattached from the dress in the front.


I named this dress "Garden Party Dress" because it reminds me of springtime. I can't wait to wear it to an outside party, picnic, or something of that sort.

Dream Dress: Coming Soon...

(Click the picture to enlarge!)

A little while ago, I woke up from a deep sleep and freaked out. I had a dream I was at a party wearing a gorgeous dress, and I needed to sketch it before I forgot it the next morning. It had a full skirt with pleats, and an intricately folded bodice with a loosely knit layer of lace over top.

The skirt will be made of a thick white matte satin. It will have a bronze-gold flowery pattern on it, which will be sparkly. I'll probably make this pattern myself, so I can have full control of the design. The flowers will be covered in sparkly glitter.

The glitter will be either a darker shade, or a lighter, more golden hue.

This bodice is similar to the one I had in mind. It twists over the bust in the same way, but my version would be more texturally complicated with more twists and folds. You can see this by my sketch. I like the fabric that they used for this bodice too.

These are some other alternatives to the fabric for the bodice. Just like the glitter, I could either go with a more pure golden option, or more of a bronzed gold.

The boatneck lace bodice would be something like this one. I like how loosely knit the web is here, and it's exactly what I had in mind for my future dress. The edges of the neck and armholes would be finished with a crisp white satin binding.
Hopefully I'll run into some money sometime soon, so I can make my dream (literally) into a flowy golden reality.

Boucle Peacoat

I made this peacoat a little while back. It's constructed with acrylic/wool boucle material for the self, a polyester satin lining, and has layers of fused fleece and interlinings in the middle for warmth.

It's accented with black 100% wool cuffs on the sleeves and hem, as well as the collar. It has welt pockets on the sides, and black anchor buttons down the center.

So here comes Spring, and I'm excited for it. Sadly though, that means I need to say a sweet goodbye to my little coat that fits me so well and keeps me so warm in the coldest months as I put it away for hibernation. Until next year, little peacoat.

Lily-pad Princess and Baby Sunshine

This year I got really excited for the arrival of Spring. I wanted to make some dresses that were really playful and ornate, so luckily I have two young nieces to make them for. The older niece loves tutus and anything that makes her feel like a princess. I named her dress "Lily-pad Princess" because the inspiration for the skirt was a lily-pad with pink flowers.


The dress was made of lime green cotton jersey-knit, with pink sparkle polyester knit trim on the sleeves. The skirt is lined with light pink satin, and covered in hot pink and lime green tulle flowers.

She really thinks she is a princess now. She loves her new dress and wears it everywhere she goes (even the grocery store)!



This was the original sketch I had drawn up for the lily-pad princess dress.

My younger niece doesn't mess around. She's a simple lady, and doesn't want anything to inhibit her playful games or get in the way.

Her dress is fairly simple, with a royal blue polka dot woven material. The bodice is lined in matching fabric, with a shirred skirt and back closure. It has 4 yellow flower buttons on the back.

I hand sewed an orange and yellow sun onto the bodice. I made sure to sew it extra securely so she could play as hard as she wanted, without fear of snapping a stitch.

These two beautiful gals can now play in their fun, Springtime dresses, and waste the day away in the sun.