Mexico dress

Back in elementary school/middle school my best friend Kat and I took sewing lessons at Jo-ann fabrics. I made needle cases, a cat that looks more like a monkey, a button up pink plaid sleeveless shirt (my fashion sense was lacking), a bathing suit, etc.... After lessons ended I continued to sew but not for long.


after a few too many tequila shots, I may not look so great... but at least the dress does.

After recently (within the past two years) stumblingupon a sewing blog I found a cute bag to make so I went to Jo-anns and bought 4 super cute fabrics. The bags I made ended up being non-sew and NOT worthy of being on this blog, however the reason I bring them up is because I saved my favorite fabric for the last bag, then decided it was too pretty for a bag. (also it was a satiny fabric and the bags weren't very sturdy)..... Thus was the birth of the Mexico Dress. My first attempt at a dress, with no pattern, using myself as a mannequin. The final dress came out as shown. Although, after wearing it in mexico, and lending it to my lovely friend Katie for a romantic weekend at Smith Mountain Lake, I decided to revamp it.



Katie makes a lovely model for the Mexico dress. Isn't she purty?



 It was slightly too small anyway so I converted it into a high waisted skirt. Basically I cut off the top portion and added a thick black elastic band. In the end turns out I can't breathe when I wear it, so I may be passing it on to one of my smaller friends sometime. Anyone want it?



What's next?

So since I've finished the pillows I haven't made anything else. Jackie has requested a pillow, however I have not start on that yet. I'm not quite sure what I want to create next, although the more I shop around for a dress to the AUSA Marshall Reception and Dinner, the more tempted I am to attempt to make myself my own Black tie appropriate dress. While shopping at the mall with Jess and her mom, we came across this dress... http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=577149&CategoryID=5449&LinkType=#fn=SLEEVE_LENGTH%3DOne%20Shoulder%26SPECIAL_OCCASIONS%3DEvening/Formal%26sp%3D1%26spc%3D30   Although it's a bit out of my price range for 1 evening of wear so if I were to create  something I would kind of want it to look like this. However, if that's to be the case then I better get started now.
I'm also thinking that I could transform the style of dress I made for Chrissy (previous post) into a one-shoulder type emsemble.
Any ideas are more than welcome. Also, I need a +1 if anyone is interested hahaha

belated Prom!



I started making dresses because I figured a simple tube top elastic dress can't be that hard. I wore one that I made to a "winter track formal" and my friends loved it. Chrissy loved it so much she trusted me to make her dress for the sorority formal. This would be the first dress I made for someone else. It was very nervous, especially since she told me she had never gone to prom and this was her first formal affair! Normally when I make a dress I basically sew it onto myself and it tends to fit. Making a dress for someone else was going to be a challenge, especially since Chrissy couldn't sit next to me 24/7 to be my mannequin. Luckily, she's about the same size as me so it wasn't too challenging. We went to Jo-ann's together and picked out some nice fabric, something pretty but comfy. We settled on a hawaiian flower-esque jersey for the bottom and a ivory top portion. Then I got to work. At some point during the process I was talking to her boyfriend Davis, we decided it would be a good idea to recreate the prom feel and he went and ordered her a corsage :) Awww. Finally the dress was finished, all it needed was a little hemming so chrissy came over so I could do some pinning. The night of the formal, just like prom night, we gathered and took the typical prom pictures. I think the dress came out nicely, and she said she got a lot of compliments and people were amazed when she said "yeah my friend made it for me." I'm glad I could be a part of Chrissy's first formal, and I have no problem making her one for this year if she wants... maybe I could even make something a little more elaborate if she gives me more than the 2 weeks notice she gave me this time. Pics below.  (When I get home from work I'll post a pic of the dress by itself)

Davis and Chrissy looking so happy to be going to this formal!

Corsage time with Logan in the background

First blog!

So in my spare time (which I have a lot of) I like to sew. I also like to do other things, but they aren't worth blogging about. This blog will mostly be pictures of what I've been making. If I really get into it maybe I'll even add some tutorials!
This weekend was the start of my pillow project. My cousin Tayler is getting an apartment at Radford so she needed some new throw pillows for her bed and her couch. Her room's color theme is red, white and black. Since her comforter is red we decided black and white pillows would be ideal. We picked two sizes, a long rectangle (sort of a mini body pillow, if you will) and two squares. The long pillow has rows of ruffles which turned out much better than i had expected it too since it was my first try with gathering/sewing ruffles. We found two cute red buttons on clearance that were perfect for an envelop styled pillow for the two squares. For the couch in the living room I'm making some super cute hot pink ruffle-y pillows. Sadly, my laptop is about to blow up so I'm afraid to upload pictures into iphoto right now, so I will add them in the near future from another computer.

This is the long black ruffle-y one, before making it slighty smalled and ironing the ruffles. I'll post a better quality picture later :)

pillow #2... there will be 2 of these

Stay tuned...
Ok, wow I fail at blogging. Anyways. Here are the pictures of the rest of the pillows

All pillows have been completed. The two pink ones are for my cousins living room and the black and white ones are to go with her red bedspread :)

Ruffling was not fun.... but I really enjoy the end product in the following picture

my last and final pillow... also my favorite. making it was a pain but i may have to make myself some like this.

Making these pillows gave me something to do and I enjoy making things for other people. Although, Tayler should feel honored as she is only the second person who I've made something for them special order.

I need to decide which project to write about next.