Graduation Dress

I graduated from college three years ago today! College went by in a flash, and so has life after college. Being an adult is hard work sometimes, but so far I've loved each phase of life more than the last!

Not a great shot of the dress, but the only pic where I'm not bundled in a coat and beanie!

I made myself a maroon dress a few years ago in my pattern making class. I'd hardly worn it at all, but I decided it was the perfect dress to wear to graduation. In the dead of winter, maroon was a fitting color. Plus, it looked amazing with my new cream coat, a graduation gift from my parents!

Also, I still miss working at the costume shop.

Baby Blessing Dress

In my children's clothing class in college, one of the assignments was a baby blessing dress. I won't get any use out of it any time soon, but I am saving it for my baby girl some day!

I used two types of white tricot fabric: sheer and opaque. The bodice, sleeves, and both skirt layers all have sheer tricot laying over opaque tricot. The two layers gives the fabric a really pretty sheen. 

Tricot is perfect for a blessing dress because it is super soft and stretchy.

The two long skirt layers. Each layer is finished off with thick satin ribbon. 

I wasn't sure what embellishments/trim to add to the dress at the time. I'm glad I kept it simple because my style is always evolving and my options are endless! I can always add lace or more ribbon later. 

Embroidered Rooster

Im my textiles class, one of the projects we did was embroidery. It was toward the end of the semester in December and Christmas was right around the corner, so I made a Christmas present for my mom.

Her kitchen is gorgeous, and every once in a while she tosses in some kind of farmhouse design element. She loves roosters, so naturally I embroidered a rooster on a dish towel for her. It was the perfect gift, because she also loves dish towels! Growing up, we weren't allowed to use any of her dish towels for anything except drying hands. They were all too pretty. 

It was a time consuming process! The tail was my favorite part. I only had four different colors, so I had to get creative and combine threads to create different colors. 

I wish I would have embroidered his whole body, instead of just outlining it. Overall I was happy with how it turned out. 

Once I gave this towel to my mom, she announced a new rule to the family: no using this dish towel, not even for drying hands. It is strictly decorative. I was honored!

More Baby Clothes

When I visited my parent's house a while ago, I went through my box of handmade baby clothes. It is full of things I made in my children's clothing class in school that I have been saving for nephews, nieces, or my own babies. 

Here are a few of my favorite items:

Striped fleece sleeper

I made this weeks after learning that my sister was pregnant with her first child. I was so excited, and even though I didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl, I got to work on the baby clothes! This one turned out a little feminine, so it has yet to find a home. 

Strange towel bibs

These are so funny to me! I posted a picture of Henry in one of these bibs a while ago. I made a bunch of them because they are so easy to make and convenient to have around. I have yet to decide if they are the most practical design for a bib...

Newborn cap and booties

Classic newborn cap and booties. I've made a few sets of these for baby showers throughout the years. They, too, are easy to make and so cute on little newborns!

Wedding Dress: First Draft

One of the most fulfilling classes I ever took was Bridal. I had the opportunity in the Spring of 2013 to sew a wedding dress! Each person in the class (about 12 students) either made a dress for themselves, a friend, or a client. I made mine with the intention of storing it in the back of my closet until my wedding. I began dating Jesse half way through that semester, and he probably thought it was a little strange that I was already making my wedding dress...

My inspiration:

The Inspiration! Source

I love this dress! The lace is gorgeous and the silhouette is to die for! I wanted to look as amazing in my dress as Eva Herzigova looks in this dress.

I came up with a sketch.

Looking at Eva's dress, i's' hard to tell where the seam lines and darts are, but I was able to come up with a pattern that closely matched. 

Instead of making the dress out of very expensive silk, I made a mock up dress out of old sheets I found at Deseret Industries!

The hideous sheets...

Some shoulder and sleeve design detail. 

I have a silk blouse with 3/4 length sleeves with beautiful pleated detail. I wanted to do the same thing on these sleeves. I also added a bit of fullness to the shoulder.



I lined it up so that the skirt seams and the bodice darts matched up at the waist.

I was eager to get started on the real deal! I used an ivory raw silk fabric (love the sheen) that I got in Los Angeles at the fabric district with my mom.
There were a few things I new I wanted in my wedding dress fabric: something with texture, something natural (no synthetic fabrics), and I didn't care for lace. 

The neck edge, sleeve edges, and hem all had a thin chiffon border (inspired by Eva's dress). I love the way it finished the edges!

After twelve weeks of work, it was finally done!

To be honest, I don't love this dress nearly as much as I love the recreation I did later that year. However, I was really proud of myself for making a wedding dress!

As soon as I finished, I already knew what I would change about it: I wanted a more subtle skirt shape, I wanted the bodice to fit my body better, and I wanted to add lace somehow. 

I even had the opportunity to model my dress in a fashion show at the end of the semester!

Ready to go on..

On the runway!

About a year later, I took the dress completely apart, removed most of the underlining layers, shortened the sleeves, refit the bodice, reshaped the skirt, added tons of lace and got married!

Sketching

I look at creating clothing as a series of steps. First there is an idea or inspiration, then the design, then the sketch, then pattern making, prep (cutting, serging, etc.), and sewing. 

Sewing is what I am most familiar with. 

Pattern making has been my favorite since I started learning how a few years ago. 

Sketching is what I need the most practice with. 

My very first time sketching a design was a few years ago. It was an eye opening experience for me because I wasn't half bad at it! I really loved sketching and brainstorming ideas. 

I bought myself this Fashionary sketch book. Each page has three faint sloper outlines. There are also pages of helpful info involving design.

This page shows all different types of coats and shirts.

I refer to this page regularly! It translates all those symbols on clothing care instructions.

I find inspiration in things that I see, often adding my own flare and style to it. 

I've also learned that fabric is a very important aspect of design. To achieve the look desired, the fabric choice is critical. I like to specify next to each design what color and type of fabric I imagined for the piece. 

For a Fashion Design and Merchandising class I took, we had to come up with an imaginary fashion line with six different looks and a theme. We had to know who our target customer was and what the price range would be, among other things. 

This project came easily to me because I had so many sketches ready to go! My target customer would be someone just like me: someone who is willing to pay a little extra money for quality fabric and construction. My target customer is someone who want to be the best dressed person in the room. 

I would rather have one beautifully well made, expensive dress than have twenty poorly made, cheap dresses. Hands down.  

My Love for Costumes

I've always had a thing for costumes. 

It seems like everyone has their thing that they pay close attention to in movies or TV. For some it's the special effects. For others it's the dialogue or the camera angles. For some it's the costumes. That's me. I love me a good costume.

Despite that, I never had a passion for theater. 

However, for the first three years of college, I would walk past the Costume Shop on my way home each day, see the dress forms and sewing machines through the window and find myself wishing that I could get paid to sew. That would be the life! My senior year, I finally mustered up the courage to apply. I there until I graduated. I only wish I had applied three years sooner!

After the experience of working so closely with the theater productions, I have a new-found appreciation for theater and the work that goes into it. 

So much fabric!

When I graduated, my parents wanted a tour of the costume shop I had told them so much about. We took these pictures as we walked around.

The storage room was filled with costumes, sorted by era. The system of racks moves to the row selected.

There are so many textures, styles, and prints!

Surprisingly enough, I learned a lot about history from working here. In order to find the piece you were looking for, you had to know the difference between Edwardian and Victorian. I found it fascinating how greatly fashion has changed over time and the factors that influenced it, like war and revolutions. 

The cutting table is where Patty, my boss, worked her magic. She was a master pattern maker and an incredible seamstress. Each of us would sit at a sewing machine and get to work. There were often visitors, sometimes students and sometimes a helpless wanderer with button-less pants in need of our services. 

Often, we would play cheesy romantic comedies as we worked. We couldn't very well watch the movie, but we could listen! 

Wildlife Wednesday

In my textiles class, we learned about all sorts of textiles, weaves, knits, synthetic fibers, natural fibers, and dyes. I learned some very useful things about fabric. It has made me a better seamstress. 

One of our projects was creating a stencil and transferring it to fabric. We traced our stencils on freezer paper because it is waxed on one side and can be temporarily ironed onto the fabric. 

I chose to make something for my new boyfriend, Jesse. 

If you knew Jesse, you'd know that he loves snakes! I found a really cool image of a snake online, traced it on the freezer paper, traced the outline with a razor, and ironed it onto the shirt. Then I painted it, starting with light blue and progressing to black. 

He even wore it on a Skype date during our semester apart!

Unintentional coordination! Dressing up for Wildlife Wednesday when we were in college was HUGE.

It's kind of cheesy, I know, but Jesse is so sweet, he would happily wear anything I make for him, no matter how embarrassing! 

Color Block Baby Sleeper

A few weeks ago I went to my sisters baby shower. I realized the night before that I didn't have a gift! I hurried and dug up my fabric collection and layer out all of my knit fabrics. I had some patterned, some pink, some stripes, and a LOT of blue. I decided to use all of them!

With baby clothes, I'm never picky about my fabric because it requires such small amounts and I use whatever I have already. I have noticed that I tend to go with the color block, straight-out-of-the-90's style (exhibit A). 

So much blue! Perfect for a baby boy outfit.

A few of my baby patterns. I decided to make a sleeper because it had the most pattern pieces for color blocking.

I never take pictures mid process, but I did manage to catch one.

Work in progress!

Sleeve detail

Foot detail

And the finished product! I used a grey zipper because it was all I had.. 

The adorable elbow patches were Jesse's idea! I loved the idea so much, I almost cried! Now we can consider it a team effort, right? 

I was really happy with how it turned out and my sister loved it, too! Her due date is a week away and I can't wait to see him in it!

Sewing for Babies

Sewing clothes for babies might be the greatest thing in the world. I cannot wait to sew clothes for my future babies!

About three years ago, I took a Children's Clothing Construction class as part of my minor in Clothing Construction. Around that same time, I found out my sister was expecting a baby! My first nephew! Everything I made in that class (with the exception of the little white blessing dress) was for my man, Henry.

One of the projects we made was this little sweatsuit.

Even I can admit.. It looks like something that escaped from the 90's, but he is still so darn cute! 

Another ugly-but-cute project was this poncho bib. It is made from a dish towel and some ribbing. So simple!

He looks unsure, but he warmed up to the bib.

A few months after Henry was born, my sister-in-law announced she was expecting a baby. My second nephew! I went straight to work at making him his own sweatsuit, too. I will never grow tired of sewing for these babies!

The Costume Shop

I graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho in December of 2013. I majored in Health Science with an emphasis in Community and Worksite Wellness and I minored in Clothing Construction. 

I took every sewing class the university offered, but it still wasn't enough! I wanted to work as a seamstress. My senior year I worked for the Theater Department Costume Shop making costumes for productions. The BYU-Idaho Theater webpage shows some of the past theater productions, many of which I worked on during my year of working there. 

Here are a few screenshots from that website:

Each semester the theater department put on two production, Giving us about six weeks to construct every costume in time for the show.

There were usually about six of us employed each semester. I usually worked a few hours most days a week. On an ordinary work day, would come in after class, grab something from the rack that needed work, and sit at a sewing machine and sew for a few hours. 

We had visitors, did fittings, ran errands, and often listened to movies as we worked. When available, we would watch the movie rendition of the theater production we were constructing for. I learned a lot about theater and even more about sewing. My boss was a great seamstress and pattern maker and I loved working for her. 

I only wish I had applied as a freshman and not waited until I was a senior.