Color Block Sleeper Update

Quick update on my previous post: My nephew is KILLING IT in the onesie I made him.

He is now seven weeks old, a solid 15 pounds, and still fits in his color block onesie.

I can't get enough of him! Or that outfit!

These pictures are from when he was only a week old, swimming in his outfit!

First Annual Prom Season: Success!

Prom just passed! I did a few alterations for some of the girls from church. I know how hard it is to find a modest, beautiful prom dress and it felt so good to be able to transform these dresses. 

Becky's dress:

Before

After!

Becky's dress was a beautiful bright coral color. I raised the hem 4 inches and built up the shoulders and sleeves. I was really nervous to do such a major alteration, but after searching for some pictures of added sleeves and seeing this post, I knew it would look great.
I'd never done anything quite like this before, so it was definitely a learning experience. I am so pleased with how it turned out, though! The fabric had a lot of stretch, so I had a lot of piecing to do. The seams throughout the shoulders, however, make it look uniform with the criss-cross detail on the bodice.
When I was all finished, I had a piece of fabric smaller than my hand left over. It was a close call!



Kimmy's dress:

Before...

I forgot to get an after picture of Kimmy's dress... But I raised the hem 6 inches and added 1 1/2 inches to the neckline. I ruffled the added piece so it would look uniform with the rest of the bodice.

The Sunday after Prom, all the young women wore their gorgeous dresses to church! It was so fun to see everyone all dressed up.

Since then, I've gotten a few inquiries each week about alterations or projects from people at church. I've learned over the years that sewing skills don't need to be advertised. Once people learn that I sew, they never forget! 

In college, I lived in a house with eleven roommates (yes, ELEVEN!), and I kept busy with all of their projects each semester. Regularly, I would come home from classes and find a skirt and two pairs of jeans at the foot of my bed in need of some repair. The word is slowly spreading and I have a feeling I will be very busy with projects from now on.

Pleated Skirt

My last trip up to Salt Lake City, my Oma gave me two big file boxes full of fabric! In the 80's, she was a real estate agent and she used to make all of her little pant suits and skirts (if you knew her, you'd know how adorable that must have been).

One of the larger pieces of fabric was this gorgeous orange fabric that was thick and had lots of texture. 

The material to the right is the orange fabric I used.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make a pleated skirt! I got the idea for it here. The fabric was the perfect weight for a skirt like this. 

Jesse snapped this picture of me wearing it over my pants right when I finished making it. 

I gave it to my beautiful sister-in-law, Rebekah, for Christmas! She sent me this picture of her wearing it to church the week after and it makes me so happy! We have the same waist size, so I may just have to make 2 of everything from now on. 

Wedding Dress: Final Draft

Jesse and I got engaged in June 2014. It came as a total surprise to me, so I was NOT prepared! Our engagement was three short months, so I got to work immediately on my dress.
I used my dress form throughout the whole process. It doesn't have my exact measurements, but it is pretty close. Even still, it made the whole process easier. I matched it to the height I would be with my wedding shoes on - a whopping 6'3" - so I could make the skirt the perfect length. 

The raw silk in ivory and the lace in white turned out beautiful. The slight color difference adds detail to the lace and makes it pop much more than if they were the same exact color.

I spent so many hours on this dress! I tried it on every day as I worked on it to make sure it fit me perfectly. 

The darts on the bodice were fitted to me perfectly. I was unhappy with how the first dress fit, so I made sure this one was just right. 

I hand stitched extra lace flowers onto the bodice. I wanted the whole thing covered.

One of my favorite details: the belt!

The perfect belt!! From BHLDN

I love looking back at our wedding pictures! 

From our pre wedding shoot a few days before the wedding. I was still doing some finishing touches on the dress on the drive to the beach for pictures! So stressful.. 

My biggest mistake was wearing brand new shoes. My feet were toast after two hours!

Wedding Pictures by Nickell Blair Photography

Whenever I visit my parents' house, I end up going to my old closet and looking at my wedding dress for a few seconds.
I'm so glad I didn't pass up the opportunity to make my wedding dress. I probably could have saved myself the trouble and bought a better-made, better-looking dress elsewhere, but I'm so glad I didn't. I've got this new sense of pride in what I did. I learned so much and I am a better seamstress now than I was before.
Plus, it's one more thing I have in common with my wonderful mother-in-law, Jennifer, who also made her own wedding dress!

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!