2018 Archives • Page 4 of 4 • Jessica Smith Creates

July 16, 2018August 22, 2022

Birthday Dress 2018

Remember when I made a shirtdress a few years ago?

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I still love that dress and I wear it a lot, but there was an incident that made me not want to make another right away. I had made it for Indie Pattern Month 2016, I think, and when I posted on the Monthly Stitch site I got a comment that was… less than flattering. I had gushed about how well it fit “out of the package,” and I can argue both for my point, and theirs. On the plus side it closed without gaping without changing any pattern pieces and felt so comfortable, on the minus I needed an FBA and a substantial swayback adjustment and the fabric shows every wrinkle (including the gathering) that exists but doesn’t need to be emphasized.

The Monthly Stitch moderators are amazing, and Melissa removed the comment before I even saw it and sent both me and the commenter an email, and informed the commenter that straight up insults are not allowed and are unhelpful. Especially to new sewists. Now, it hurt me a little to be called a new sewist, which was a bit prideful, looking back, but it really is true. Now looking at the pictures of the dress (as my body has changed a little so it fits differently now), I can see where the commenter saw problems even if I now know that the suggestions they had were unhelpful and somewhat incorrect. For the record, looking at pictures of someone else on the internet is no comparison to fitting in person.

It’s a couple years later, and the comment and email discussion still hurts, but I decided this year I was going to make a new one for my birthday to remove the bad feelings associated with the first.

So.

Now for the fun part.

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The birthday dress itself!

I bought this sunny linen from Joann Fabrics a couple months ago, and I didn’t have a plan, but then I remembered the Vintage Shirtdress pattern from Sew Over It. It was time.

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First I altered the pattern. I made a swayback adjustment, made a small FBA, took in the armscye by a smidge, and lengthened the bodice by about an inch. I think the fit is much improved! I like the loose waist on me, since it means that gaping is less of an issue, especially when I have a big dinner! Also, belting it has happened when I want to look sleek!

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Cutting and sewing went smoothly for this one. I machine sewed the bias to the armscye, and hand sewed the hem facing to the dress. I also used the t-shirt heat press (and vinyl cutter) at my local makerspace to put grey vinyl flowers on the front bottom of the dress!

Oh and pockets. I reinforced the pockets by drafting them to reach the waistband, and it makes them so much better!

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The buttonholes went well, though I think I positioned them a little too far out from the edge, but it’s too late now! I don’t get gaping, persay, but the fabric does jut out a little strangely particularly around the waistband, and the top button is fond of unbuttoning itself. I’m going to put some hooks and eyes into the top of the dress to help with that…

I love my birthday dress, and now I know that any fitting issues that you or I may see is something I can work out in the future!

For some reason I decided that I just had to show you guys my new bonsai plant too… Enjoy my only slightly not-derpy picture with it!

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May 4, 2018October 13, 2018

Nettie Tee Dress

This post is going to be short! In late October I went on a cutting spree where I cut out a tooooon of garments, some of which have still not been sewn up…

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This was one of them. I took my altered Nettie tshirt pattern (standard versions of which don’t even get a mention on the blog because its my go to for daily t-shirts), and just extended the hem as far as I could. I gave it a flat hem, so the sides do hang down a little lower than the front, but I kinda like that.

This fabric is one of my last pieces from a Hancock Fabrics going out of business shopping spree.

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When I was getting it cut, the lady blanched and said, “I don’t know who would ever find this an attractive piece of fabric.”

And I replied, “Well it kinda matches my hair.” I think she realized that she had said that thought out loud and didn’t say anything after that… For four more cuts.

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It’s a polyester textured lace pattern in a rust brown. Which does mean that it has holes in it, so I have to use a slip. This one is made from a cotton broadcloth, and is cut on the bias. It peeks through just a little, and I love it!

Simple sweet dress, easy to sew, easy to wear, I wish it had pockets, but I still haven’t figured out how to make that happen for this design…

April 18, 2018August 22, 2022

Aqua Wedding Guest Outfit

Hey everyone! I’m going to try to post my backlog of projects, so this is the start… this isn’t quite a year old yet, but I do have pictures of it (unlike many of my other projects), so here it is!

Last spring I was invited to my cousin’s wedding. He’s the first of my cousins on my dad’s side to get married, so it was a big deal for the family. So I made a full outfit.

I had intended to make a dress, but I didn’t end up with that. I made a Onyx top and a Fumeterre skirt. My rationale was that I had two days to make this, and I wanted to make the pieces wearable in real life too… If I had made it this year, I’d probably have replaced the Onyx top with the Ogden cami (more on those in a future post), but I had just made a lot of Onyx’s and I knew they’d fit me well.

So, it started with scouring the Fabric.com website for suitable fabrics, and I ended up getting three yards of this lovely seafoam rayon sateen by Telio, which is sadly not stocked anymore.

I cut out the same size of Fumeterre that I had for my two tone version that I posted last year, but when I was sewing it up I realized I didn’t really need to put in a closure, that I could just use elastic in the waistband, so I decided to make it as simply as possible so no pockets and no closure. I did add a half lining, so that there would be some amount of protection. I think I hemmed it by machine, which was messy, but its also on the floor, so no one is gonna see it.

Then I cut out the Onyx top. And this is when I realized that I did not have enough fabric left to come out with a standard version. I made alterations so that it had a yoke on the front and the back, which solved the problem, and made an easy way to use facings , which I then burrito’d into the yoke. I used the same lining fabric from the skirt as the yoke fabric. Sewing it together occurred when I was super hungry and dying, since it was the day before I left for a work trip, but it was all put together!

So then the painting. While I was on the work trip, I painted suns and dots onto the skirt and the top, using Jacquard Lumiere copper paint, which is my favorite paint in the history of ever… Then I let them dry and I ironed it, which is supposed to set the paint and also keep the fabric supple.

The wedding was lovely, and I still love both pieces. I wear the skirt more than the top, but I think its because I love flowy skirts sooooooo much!