A Spring Wardrobe

Well, as you may remember, blogs are wonderful things. This time I say that because my blog seems to have some psychological effect on me. After posting my entry about my dress and being intimidated about it, I finished it in the next couple of days. That is the second time it has happened like that. There is something about expressing your fears, in this case blogging about them, that allows you to get over them. Very strange and powerful.

The dress

turned out okay. I am pleased with it for several reasons.

1. I can actually wear it. This is my second dress, but it is the first one I will wear. The first one ended up looking like a hospital gown and I ended up cutting it off and using it as a skirt.

2. It contains a lot of firsts. My first sleeves (for me), collar, and button placket. I think they all turned out pretty good.

Things I still need to work on and change:

1. I need to remember to add pockets. I know that can mess with the style of some clothes, but with this dress it would have been fine. I could have added them in the seam and since it is quite loose at the hips (due to #2 below) it would have allowed me to carry tissues or little toys. I always say that the clothing industry is trying to keep women down by either not adding pockets or making them so small that nothing can fit in them. Do you realize what an advantage men have over us by being able to carry around their most needed supplies in their pockets? It is a conspiracy, I say!

2. I really need to figure out how to size myself. I am even contemplating making one of those duct tape dress forms of myself. Hubby is ready! We watched the videos the other night and it is amazing how happy men can get just thinking about using duct tape. I tried to fix my sizing on this dress by taking in the waist at the sides, but it caused it to lie a bit oddly at the hips. I could have added darts, but I thought that odd also since it has gathering at the top back. I don’t think darts and gathers belong on the same dress. However, since my knowledge of garment making is quite limited, I could be wrong.

So, I finished my dress. I also repurposed two of my old shirts for Easter dresses for the girls.

I like them lots, but neither girl seems thrilled. They will wear them anyway for at least that one day! I am thinking of having them wear leggings and leaving the dresses open after the third button so that the under skirts show more. I made the extra ladybug under skirts because I thought the shirts were a little thin for dresses.  I also thought it tied in well with the red buttons and ladybug ruffles.

After the dresses, I started on shorts. I made two pairs of shorts last year, but to be honest, I sort of wimped out and made them like pajama bottoms – no zipper, just drawstring. They are not the type of shorts I would buy at a store. Well, during one of those sales I am so fond of, I bought a pattern for “real” shorts. I have now made two pairs (the second one from one of hubby’s old shirts) and I love them. They DO look like shorts I would have bought. Yay!

They also have some of the problems store bought clothes have. The first pair is just a bit tight around the hips and gapes a little in the back. Story of my life! (FYI while trying on the shorts to take this photo, I decided they were not too tight, just too low.  I don't know if it was just another day or if washing them loosened them.)

I tried to make the second pair a bit bigger in two ways. I wanted a little more room in the hips and I wanted the waist to be higher. For those who know me that is strange, but these were really low waisted. I added an inch to the crotch area to raise up the waistband. I also tried to add a bit of fabric on the side of the front section of the shorts to make them roomier. Unfortunately, with the way the pockets are inserted, I needed to have increased the size of them and I didn’t realize that until construction. I ended up cutting off the extra fabric and just decreasing the seam allowance from 5/8” to ½”. It WORKED!

I am super thrilled with my progress in garment sewing, but I’m sort of projectless now that I don’t need anymore dresses or shorts. I may have to start on tops soon. I need to use some of my Easter fabric for the girls, but hate making things that I know won’t be worn more than once or twice. Suggestions for my next project are welcome (as long as they don’t involve stuffed animals. Sophia gives that suggestion every other day!)

Come on Spring!