Shirt Dresses and Shrouded Robes

I realized recently that Mina, despite appearances, is growing. This realization came when I tried to dress her in her Easter dress and she couldn't move her arms.  Her beautiful, colorful plaid silk Easter dress was too small. I went to Hancock's and bought some printed cotton from their sale table. It had a bird print that looked vintage in an ugly/interesting sort of way.  I loved it. 

Patterning the dress was quick, I used her blouse pattern as a base.

I swapped in sharper collar and puffed sleeves. I made the skirt extra full and followed suit with the diaper cover. For a pattern that came together so quickly, the dress took a long time to finish. 

She wore it for the first time to Cooper's service. I realized after I finished it that it was really done, it needed pockets, belt loops and a belt. The body of the dress was too big, I got a little carried away with adding ease. Maybe that just means she will be able to wear it next year?

The extra fullness means it floats out when she twirls or rides on the teeter totter. 

I really want to make a few more! 

My current project is my brother's Comic Con costume. Last year he went as Henchman 21 from Venture Brothers. It was a really fun costume that turned out better than I anticipated. 

This year he is dressing as an assassin from the video game Skyrim. Initially I felt like it was going to be too big of a challenge, the costume is kind of complicated. 

But, then craziness ruled out and I agreed to make it. We met so I could take some measurements and we could talk about the specifics. 

Once we broke it down into separate elements it became much more manageable. 

I sketched and took notes while he showed me the character on the game. I took the information and made a mock up out of some polyester that had a good weight to it. After a fitting I finalized the pattern. 

Now I need to buy the fabric and make costume. I hope I don't mess it up!

Mina's Easter dress!

Last year I made two Easter dresses for Mina AND a bonnet.  This year I unintentionally kept up the two dress tradition but only one is actually useful.

As with all of my projects I started out with a few sketches.  I had a few ideas that turned into three dress designs.

Then I did what any modern person would do, I posted the picture on Instagram and asked for opinions. The first and third dresses were pretty similar to dresses I had designed in the past.  I think that is why the shirt dress got the most votes.

It had been a little while since I had built something for Mina so I took her measurements and made a sloper.  I'm glad I did because it was kind of messed up.  It really didn't help that she was so wiggly when I was trying to fit her!

I made the pattern, serged the pieces and was feeling pretty good about my progress.

 I felt so good that I put the button holes in and sewed buttons.

 It didn't fit.  The shoulder seams were in the wrong place, the sleeves were oddly tight, the collar wasn't the right size, the skirt wasn't full enough and the lapel wasn't laying flat.  It was not a happy thing to discover on Thursday night.

I had a Stake training for Primary so I held off on the alterations until Friday.  I wanted to sleep on it and decide how to proceed in the morning.  I altered the pattern and cut out the new dress during Mina's nap time.  Some how I had this much done by Friday night:

I waited to open the last button hole until I tried the dress on Mina.  I wasn't sure about the length and I was pretty gun shy after the first disaster.  Luckily it fit and after a very busy Saturday I had it ready before I went to bed.

I even had time to make chocolate covered peanut butter eggs!  

Sure, they aren't pretty but since when does CHOCOLATE need to be overly pretty?

 Easter morning rolled around and Mina seemed pretty happy to find her basket.

I didn't get a decent picture before church so I put a bib on Mina and hoped she would leave it on during nursery.  Imagine my delight when I saw that SHE KEPT IT ON! HER DRESS WAS NOT COVERED IN NURSERY TREATS!

Then it was time to attempt to take a decent picture of Mina in her dress.

She would not hold still.

Or smile.

Or look at me.

 Or hold still.
So, I asked James to entertain her.

She was smiling at James who was playing with her swing.

Our little girl is growing up entirely too fast.

The last few months

And once again I am updating a few months' worth of projects on my neglected blog. Is it really neglected if no one reads it? 

I made another coat for Mina because the first one was too narrow for multiple layers or even a sweater underneath. I decided to use box pleats to get enough room in the body of the coat. I love the bright turquoise lining and the way it peaks out when the coat moves. 

Mina wore it without closures for a while. I wasn't sure what to use or the color to choose because of the coat's color. In the end I used some silver filigree buttons. 

Excuse the funny red cast in the picture, the playground equipment is very bright. 

I fell in love with the cute double collar on a few items in the Fall/Winter Hucklebones collection. I bought a really pretty purple turtleneck at the DI and decided it would be a great dress for Mina. The combination of the double collar and cuffs has lead to a few funny comments at church. Namely, "school marm" and pilgrim. 

I picked up a large piece of light weight dark teal wool at the "give and take" table at Relief Society on night. I loved the color and the fact it wasn't overly scratchy. I used a BabyGap dress as inspiration for the jumper. 

This is actually the second version of the jumper, the first was too narrow and short. I think Mina will be able to wear this one for quite a while. She wore it to her first official day of nursery. 

I made this colonial dress for my friend's daughter. She picked out the pattern and materials. I think it turned out really well. It was a very fun project!

Last up, monkey wings. My Mom's school, Oak Hills, is presenting "The Wizard of Oz" next month. I was asked to create 8 sets of monkey wings for the winged monkeys. I brainstormed a structure for the form and then created a set of prototype wings. Last week I took the wings to rehearsal and luckily, they worked. 

My hands were so sore from clipping all of the curves on the scalloped edges. 16 individual wings means a lot of curves to clip. I made the framework for the wings out of a dry cleaning hanger because that type of hanger is lightweight and it bends well. After that I added the felt wing and stitched them together. I made a harness out of woven elastic, foam core board and Velcro. I glued everything together after that. 

I think it was a success. We'll see how they hold up during rehearsals and performances. 

I'm kind of embarrassed

I'm way behind on blogging about projects.
Here we go...
My Mom's Lucy Wilde costume.  I still haven't seen Despicable Me 2 so I watched the trailer a couple of times and I looked at pictures from the movie. Here is my sketch of the coat and the approximation of the pattern pieces.

 My Mom was hesitant to spray her hair orange so I styled a wig.  I really could have used my friend Molly's expertise with that part!

 Mina the Ewok.  I was pretty happy with the results.  I made little boots but they kept falling off and one got lost. So, pink tennis shoes were her footwear for Halloween.

 I threw my costume together.  The pants were made from stretch denim with ribbon trim on the sides.  I was going to include a side zipper but opted to make them like stretch pants. I figured that my poncho would cover up the waist so I didn't even bother with a waist band.  I was also kind of nervous about how the pants would fit due to pregnancy bloat.  They seemed to work out fine and the poncho covered EVERYTHING!

This next project took a really long time.  It wasn't any more difficult that anything I made before it was just that I felt so rotten.  I had some problems with the lining and the iron. I remedied both by using a larger pressing cloth.  I wound up cutting THREE SLEEVE LININGS for one arm because I melted two of them. In the process I of melting the first one I burned my hand. My patience went out the window during my first trimester.

In the original sketch the sleeves as well as the pockets and yoke were going to be cut from the striped sweater.  I didn't have enough so I used the gray for the hood, sleeves and body of the coat. I painted the toggles black with acrylic paint and added black buttons to the sleeves for decoration. 

Last up, Mina's coat for this winter.  She can still fit in her coat from last year but it's kind of short.  Okay, really short. I took her measurements and started patterning.  I hoped that her wiggles didn't mess up the measurements too much.  

I was inspired to use a double collar after I saw this adorable picture on the Hucklebones website.

The shirt isn't available now but I loved the look of the collar.  I think I'll revisit it for a dress or a cute top.  

 Mina's coat was once a cashmere sweater that I bought for $5 at DownEast in Logan.  I was a poor grad student and I couldn't believe my luck! The sweater bit the dust in the washer so I washed it a few more times and then dried it in the dryer.  I shrunk up nicely and now Mina has a cute new coat.

 It's closer to purple rather than bright magenta.  I'm still working on my photography skills.

Recent projects

One of the fun things about freelancing is the variety of projects I get to complete.  This past week I finished a wedding dress, a Clara Barton costume and a romper. It sounds really random but that is how things go!

The wedding dress was for one of my childhood friends. She found a cute dress on-line but knew that she wanted a higher neckline and sleeves.

So, she bought two!  I draped a new bodice and used the fabric from the spare dress to construct it!  It was a little time consuming but all in all it was a really fun project!

The Clara Barton costume was for my cousin's school project.  I couldn't find any pictures of Clara Barton dressed as a Civil War nurse but I did find this doll:

Emily (my aunt) found a large long sleeved shirtdress at the DI which I used as the base for the dress.  Grace came up for a "fitting" so I knew how small to make a the dress.  It was pretty funny to see her wearing a dress covered in safety pins. After that I cut the dress apart and put it back together again. 

Emily bought a cheap white sheet that I used for the apron, collar and petticoat.

 I'm pretty happy with the end result, even though she does look a little bit like a maid.  It's an elementary school project, not a play!

 I made another romper for Mina out of the extra dress fabric from the last post. I over estimated the fabric from the baby dress, I really need to work on my estimating skills.

I used the pattern from her orange romper but I altered it so the arm holes are smaller, the body is longer and the waist band is a little higher. 

The only thing I would change is the width of the crotch, her diaper shows between her legs.  It's pretty nit-picky because you only really see it if you change her diaper.  Other than that, I'm really happy with the end result.