Making Changes

After taking lots of pictures, and seeing how the fabrics were working together, I decided to make a change. While I did like the colors of the three fold fabrics, I was growing concerned that the gold organza was going cause restriction in movement. The lace/net is very flexible, and will move well when the dancer kicks. The organza seemed to not be moving as freely when I lifted up the hem. I don’t want the skirt to behave in an unexpected way, so thought it best to eliminate any chance of that occurring. So I took off the sparkle organza….but not to worry about the loss of that bit of sparkle, because the bottom most layer is the black sparkle organza and I think it will be just lovely. So here are some photos of today’s progress.

This is the front. The lace looks a bit off for the picture, but that is just because it is not centered. I was working on the back when I took these pictures and did not rearrange the front!

This shows the side and how the dress gets gradually longer as it goes around the back. This was requested by the dancer, and I think it a nice choice for a Senior dancer.

This is the back. It is still being pinned, and has not been properly hemmed. The hemming of this is tough as it must be hand basted and then machine sewn so each diamond matches up. I don’t want any loose ends hanging out. Plus I can’t actually sew the back seam until I add the final layer of fabric! So many steps. If I don’t make sure that it will match up nicely now, it could cause problems later….it is worth the time to do the checking at this point.
I am hoping to finish this tomorrow so I can get it in the mail by Wednesday!

Skirt in Progress

So I’ve started construction for the Irish Dance skirt. I’m a pretty visual person when it comes to sewing. I can picture things in my head pretty well when it comes to how things get made, how they should look in the end, and most of the steps along the way. When it comes to color and fabric, sometimes funny things can happen. When you put different fabrics together, many times the colors can change. Not only can they create all new colors by being combined, they can also completely change color! Sometimes the light can make them reflect differently, and distance also plays a part. I like to put my fabrics together and take lots of photos to see just how they will look once I start the construction process. Sometimes I start with pinning them, sometimes I actually sew to check out the hang factor as well. Here are some of the photos I’ve taken for this dancing skirt. They are mostly to check color and hang.

These first two photos are all about color. The gold in each of these fabrics is slightly different, the shine is also slightly different. I really needed to see how it would look, and I am really happy with the final result. I think the pictures both with and without the flash give a nice idea of how well they are blending. There is a nice sparkle which will look great under the lights, but not so much that it will distract.

This is a gold plisse fabric that the dancer specifically requested. This is a view from the backside of the front just after I have pleated that section. The lengths are not correct yet. That will come soon. I am working out how each will function with the other….what is light, what is heavy, what will pull, and how much room there will be for kicking. It’s coming along!

These are the top layer of fabrics. Since the lengths are not accurate it does look like the gold and black mesh is really weighting the other layers down…but once that one is cut to it’s proper length I think it will have a nice shape. The colors look nice and that is right what I was hoping for. The bottom and longest layer will be black and that should tie this all together very nicely!

Keep checking back, there is lots more to come.

Little Sister Dress and Dancing Skirt

I made the decision!! I added the lace. I did hear the comments from those who did not care for it. I also appreciated the comments from those who liked it. I just hope that in person the lace is a plus rather than a minus. I quickly changed patterns and went to work on the little sister dress!

I’ll get some better photos when the weather permits outside picture taking again. For now it is nothing but snow.

Over the holiday I answered a quick plea to make a wonderful dancer a skirt for her final year of college. She had seen a skirt on her dressmakers website that inspired her to have a new one made for herself. It was Ann Donahue’s site, and since she no longer makes dresses, she put out a call for another dressmaker to take up the task. I responded because I also happen to love the skirt in question!
If you want to see the original, it is on Taoknitters site and is the Teal and Purple skirt that goes underneath the Teal and Purple Tunic dress.
Since the dancer will not be getting a full dress, we will need to modify the skirt just a bit to make it wearable with a leotard or other type of bodice. I’ve come up with a plan really based on some of the other skirts that Ann has made to go with her Tunic dresses. Here are some of the fabrics that will be used in the skirt.

The first photo shows some Black Sparkle Organza, Gold Crinkle Satin, and a very unusual Gold and Black lace type fabric. Here is a better shot of that.

The dancer requested something in a lace that was not flowers, but more unusual or asymmetrical. The colors don’t all show up great in the photo, but they will look very nice together. I went with the black organza after realizing how heavy the skirt would be if I used a satin as the very bottom layer. Plus it will add a very nice shimmer to the skirt which was one of the very appealing aspects of the original. Construction has begun, and I’ll keep the blog updated as it comes along.

Working Ahead

Each year I feel like I have an obligation to contribute certain kinds of items for various fundraisers. I suppose we all do! For the past several years, I have made and contributed many Irish Dance AG doll dresses for my daughter’s various Hooley’s. (Irish dance recital/fundraiser) While I still love making the solo dresses for the doll’s, it really is a very small part of what I do, and sometimes …..well almost always….there are children who are crushed when they are not the lucky winner. The parents love the dresses….but I think sometimes they are crushed when they find out how much the dresses cost if they want to purchase one! If you want to see photos of the doll dresses, just search through my flickr albums….they are almost all there.

I decided to do something different this year! After my summer of sundresses, I thought it would be cute to make a big sister, little sister matching sundress set. It may not be the huge hit that the doll dresses are, but it also won’t be the huge disappointment either. I’ve really enjoyed making the sundresses, and by now I can pretty much make one in a day. Usually…..till I met this pattern….

Now I’ve used lots of Simplicity patterns. I use a new one for each dress, because that is what holds my interest….trying something new. But this one only tried my patience!! It is very counterintuitive. It also makes no sense, and could be done so much easier. Being the orderly person I am, I try to follow the sewing directions included. I could see when i looked this one over that something was amiss….but I went along with it thinking that there “must be a reason” for things to be put together in such a backward way. Nope…no reason…..just stupidity! So I’d advise anyone who happens upon this post to steer clear of this particular pattern….it’s a mess.

So here is a picture of the dress….it is not quite final as I am trying to decide on one last detail…..

The final detail is whether or not to include the lace trim at the neckline. I like it, think it brightens up the top of the dress, and is a visual focal point that is a plus. My fashion conscious daughter says ” No Mommy don’t do it!!! It’s old, old, old!!!” I think it will appeal to the exact person who is purchasing tickets to win this dress….the Mom! She thinks only a Grandma would wear something with this lace on it. Mind you it is not cheapo bargain bin lace either, it’s very $$ Venice lace. (Not that she cares!)

So if anyone wants to chime in…leave a comment or drop me an e-mail….I’m open to suggestions. This dress won’t be raffled off until May….but I have open time now….and will not in May, so hence the Working Ahead! Happy New Years to All.

Pattern Drafting

I am a big big fan of the feis dress pattern.  What I really like about it, is that it is so adaptable.  I’ve used it as the basis for several dresses even though none of them has been a traditional 3 panel dress.  In fact I think I’ve only made one real 3 panel dress from this pattern!  Once I understood how it worked, I could use the pieces to achieve almost any end.  I have come up with my own skirt patterns for a few dresses, and used the bodice pieces from Feisdress.

I’ve been deep in pattern alteration mode for the new school dresses I am working on.  They are multi-paneled, with  four in front, and three in the pleat area.  Eventually I will need to make this skirt in many sizes, so I’ve been trying to find a cohesive system for altering the original pattern.  It seems like there should be a mathematical formula to figure this out, and quite possibly there is.  I do have an addendum to the pattern with some interesting numbers that I can’t seem to decipher.  So here I am folding and refolding paper!  I did a careful photographic study of other paneled dresses to see what looks the  most visually pleasing….in terms of equal panel sizes and spacing.

There are actually three layers here.  The top four panels, the three in the pleats, and then the base layer that keeps things from getting too wide or slim.  These dresses are more traditional in appearance, and we are going for the fully stiffened look.  I think I’ve got it, and with a bit of tinkering to get the spacing even in each pleat I am very happy with the final result.  Seems like such a simple thing….till you start folding, and folding and folding!

Holiday Activities

Apple Pie

Oh Yea!!!  It’s a Deep Dish Apple Pie!  Made by my daughter!!  She is in her second year of Family and Consumer Science class….(Home Ec. for us old timers) and had an assignment to make a pie at home.  She had to use the pie crust recipe from school (double batch for this beauty) and we picked my Mom’s family recipe.  The pie came out great, and we all enjoyed it quite a bit.  She did not whine too much while doing all of this….a real treat for me!!  We even managed to use up all the apples we had left from our family Apple picking trip.

Middle School Flute and Brass Ensembles

Took this quick photo after the kids finished performing at our local SAMS club.  Looks like they had a great time.  Each group played for about fifteen minutes, and then the kids received free pizza and a drink.  This happens right after school is over, so they don’t miss any classes.  There have been so many concerts lately that rehearsals have caused many classes to be excused.  Why am I the only one complaining about that???  LOL   Tomorrow several of the girls will be back at SAMS to perform with OPUS which is the girls Select Choir.  Sadly Trevor was sent home from school sick today so he and I did not get to see the actual performance.  Maybe we will tomorrow!

It goes on like THIS!!

We had Christmas tree decorating.  As you can see it went very well!  Love how those decorating tips get passed down from family member to family member!  Warms me right up.

Little Brother Prevails

Good job Trevor!!!  He is our tree guard…..keeps the tree safe from all threats…be they feline or sibling.

We opted to use almost all unbreakable ornaments this year.  It’s Lyra’s first Christmas.  Oddly though the cats seem to be reversing position….Lyra is being very good, and Cassini is trying to climb higher than she managed last year.  Thank goodness there is only seven more days!

Home For The Holidays at The Roberson

The kids had a really fun dance out at The Roberson Museum.  We were able to lend most of the girls solo dresses for the day.  The museum requested them to be really dressed up!  They had lots of fun, and danced for an hour and a half!

Well there is still lots of sewing work going on!  Drafting up the patterns for the Duffy School dresses.  That is going very well.  Getting the embroidery finalized for that as well.  It’s nice to take a break from the work to enjoy all of the holiday activities with the kids.  Trevor has a holiday party at his Karate Studio on Monday as well as his class party that same day.  Only one more year of those for him!  He just mentioned yesterday that he is starting to look forward to Middle School!!  Happy Holidays everyone!!

Fall Season Activities

For the past five years I have spent Thanksgiving weekend in Philadelphia at the Oireachtas.  This year my daughter decided to take the year off!  No competition for irish dance probably until the late Spring or Summer.  It was a good decision for so many reasons.  She will be competing in her Modern Dance for Amber Perkins School of the Arts, which has brought her so much happiness, and new challenges this year.  We are looking forward to it, and after this year of dancing six days a week Tara believes that when she returns to irish competition she will be much stronger and happier for having taken a break.

I have been busier than ever with the sewing end of Irish Dance activities!  That has made me quite happy as I’ve had some wonderful projects to work on.  I’ve had some school costumes for two of the schools I sew for.  While that is a repetitive task….I appreciate the steadfastness of knowing what to expect and producing a reliable costume.  I make skirts for both of these schools, so it is also nice knowing that these costumes don’t require a full out wrestling match while trying to assemble all of their parts!!

I’ve also completed a darling AG solo dress for the cutest little dancer in the U9 age group!!  With the expert help and workmanship of Ann Donahue we were really able to make a brilliant reproduction of this dancer’s dress.

Below is a lovely photo of the dancer.  Although my photos don’t show the colors of the doll dress very accurately, they indeed are a very bright neon pink, white and black!  Ann did the digitizing and stitching out of the bodice and sleeves!  What a great job she did too.  I was speechless when they came in the mail.  I did the sewing of the skirt, back of bodice, cape, bloomers, and headbands.  This was a lot of fun because it was so different than anything I had done before.  I could visualize the puffball skirt in my mind, and then the construction went just as I expected.    I do hope the family has been pleased with the outcome!

Darling dancer in her solo

Next up……

It’s always great to finish a project that has been in development for a long time.  It was nice to complete the American Girl reproduction dress.  There was a tremendous feeling of satisfaction.  Funny though how that only lasts so long, and the next project starts infecting my mind!  I usually try to have a few projects in development while sewing/embroidering a current one.  When I am working with an associate for the embroidery portion of a project, I work even harder on development issues.  So here’s what has been percolating in the last few months…..

1st up….another American Girl dress.  This was ordered several months ago.  Right now the materials have been purchased, except for the black velvet.

I searched the NYC garment district for all of the fabrics in this dress and was quite successful, except for the black velvet.  It has a silver thread woven into the fabric vertically and I could find nothing even close to it.  The customer has agreed to go with regular velvet, and it will look great.    The digitizing and some of the embroidery will be done once again by Ann Donahue.   This is a new pattern for the doll dresses and will surely take some trial and error to get the placement of the designs just right.  Looking forward to the challenge.

Big project

This is a color sample card of fabrics for some new school dresses.  I have been working with a dance school down in Maryland to help develop their first school costumes.  This has been very exciting!  They have a very eye catching palette which will be fantastic on any stage they find themselves performing.  The costume is more traditional with a nice bit of modern style.  I’ve appreciated getting to know the owner and teacher of the school.  Ann Donahue of Feisdress is working very closely with us as she will be digitizing their designs.  The school owner designed the costume herself, and it is a well thought out effort.  I think she will be tickled pink when she sees her kids dancing in these costumes.

Sewing and construction of these dresses is still a few months off.  It’s been a great time to really pick the colors, fabrics, sources, and make the final design decisions.  Coming up with an affordable yet nice school dress really does need careful consideration.  It’s been great to give it the time it needs.  These dresses are meant to last a long time,  wear well, look good, and hold their value.   I think we are near the end of the development phase.  I’m sure there will still be a few surprises along the way….but that’s the fun part!

And just to keep my fingers happy while doing the development work……

This little bag was made from a free pattern from the Happy Zombie blog.  It’s called a poochie bag.  Only…I did not do the poochie part!  I just did not quite “get” the instructions for how to make them.  The author called them milk carton corners….which I could visualize,  but then could not transpose that onto the fabric.  It was a quick little Sunday night project, just something to fill the need of wanting to sew.  I’d had a neighbor on my mind all week, and while I was making this bag, the two seemed to come together.  So this bag became a little something for her to brighten her day, and I could write her a note and leave it inside the bag to let her know I’ve been thinking about her.

Reproduction Dress Finished

It has taken nearly a year for this project from beginning to end.  It was well worth the journey.   Here are some photos of the dress…..

Dress in Full Round

The dress has one small triangular section of stiffener in the front center.  The rest is completely soft.  The detail of the embroidery which was digitized and stitched out by Ann Donahue of Feisdress is completely amazing.  Hats off to her because I don’t believe there is anyone else in the world who could have done this.  To copy the embroidery in such accurate detail from photographs, and then stitch it out with such a beautiful detail is truly a work of art.  It did take a very long time, but it was agreed by all that it was worth the wait.

Dress laid out in presentation box

Here you can see the very small pleats in the front.  It does help it lay right on the doll, and is just how the original dress was constructed.

Dress on American Girl Nellie

In the photo the dress seems a bit longer than it really it.  They did wear the dresses longer 25 years ago, so it is the appropriate length.  Dresses did fall below the knee at that time.  Nellie is our doll, and this photo is just for display.  The family has purchased their own doll who will wear this dress and will take her place as a family heirloom.  Please do not copy this photo or post it anywhere else without permission.  The family really only wants to see the dress on their own doll.  They will send pictures of that as soon as possible.  The collar looks beautiful and was such a perfect touch.  It so completed the authenticity of this reproduction.  Thank you to Kristine Baker for her detailed work.

Back with cape

In the original dress the back medallion was split by the zipper.  It was created in two parts to allow for zipper insertion.  We had to go a different route.  The medallion was moved down so it could be included whole.  What a job for Ann to make a complete medallion out of one that was done in two sections!  Then there really was not enough fabric to insert the zipper which was needed for the dress to be put on the doll.  We discussed several solutions, including a side zipper, or maybe making the dress two pieces.  In the end, what I did was create a button hole for the skirt portion of the zipper area.  I then used the edge of the sewn fabric to sew down the zip.  I fray checked the whole area and it seems very sturdy and stable.  It did not pucker at all, and thus the medallion lays flat and is displayed nicely.

Full side view

Bloomers, socks and headband

The headband was a chainstitched band of orange bordered by two chainstitched bands of gold.  They were sewn onto a strip of boning covered in black velvet.  All done with invisible thread.  The little touches can make a huge difference, and a proper presentation really adds to the customer reaction and ultimate enjoyment.

There is no doubt this was a labor of love.  It could not have been done without the hard work of all involved.  Many thanks to Ann and Kristine as well as the Kearney and Sheridan Families.

I’ve been very busy this week!

Here is a sneak peak…….

This is a glimpse of a final project that was created by three different dressmakers from three different states, for a customer in another country!  Whew….just saying all that is tiring!   More soon……