Dress Finished!

I strapped myself to my sewing machine this morning and sewed like a dog to get the tester pattern done. It was fun be on the ground floor of a design. I wouldn't mind being involved with another one. But maybe I should wait awhile. The sewing season at Hancock's is in high gear. So we are busier now, it seems like back to school happens and then everyone is in a rush of costumes, Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once. But then again, smocking and sewing is a stress reliever if I ever saw one. The store manager is back at work about 80%. I'm so thankful she's able to be back at work. I don't think I was cut out to be a store manager. At least, not of a chain store. Maybe of my own store would be easier or would that be just another set of problems. Hmmm. . . .

You can see in this pic how lustrous the satin batiste is! I did a little embroidery on the cuff to tie it into the collar.

Here's what my version of the hem looks like. There was embroidery I could have put just above the top most tuck, but chose to put on lace instead. Check out Fine Stitchery for fabric and lace. And she will soon have pattern and/or kit for this dress.

Well, you may think I'm crazy, but I pleated up a dress front for another dress. This one is for my friend Leola. I'm using Gail Doane's book again. I love that book!

Happy smocking everyone!

Collar for Pattern Testing

Isn't the collar lovely?! I love it. The embroidery doesn't exactly match the embroidery on the pattern I'm testing for Ellie Inspired, but Laura does want it to be a little individual. I love the satin batiste, again as with the previous post, it's a dream to stitch on. And don't you just love the luster of it?!

Well, tonight I will be a little more sewing on the dress. I need to attach the bodice lining and sash ties. I decided to use satin ribbon. My daughter never liked fabric ties as they made her back hurt when we went to church and sat down. I had never thought about that when making her dresses, but she is right the know on the bow would make my back hurt. I figured a little princess should not be complaining her dress hurts her to wear it. After all, I want a little girl to wear the dress. So no more big knots on the back of dresses. I will use ribbon or organza. Organza gives you a nice giant bow, but without the huge knot in the back. Well, onto the sewing machine.

Happy smocking everyone!

Pattern Testing

I finished the smocking on the tester pattern for Ellie Inspired. If you like in the pic, you'd love it in person. The pic just does not do the crystals justice. Not one bit. I'm thinking of stitching some bullion roses in the hearts at the bottom, but first I'm going to work on the embroidery on the collar. I'll know more of the direction I want to go after that. I'm pretty pleased with the dress so far.

The fabric is from www.finestitchery.com It's satin batiste, isn't it beautiful fabric?! It's a dream to stitch on and I did fuse French Fuse the the back to plump up the pleats. I used silk floss from Splendor #S995 and the white floss is DMC B5200. Oh, I can't forget the swarofski crystals I think every girls gotta have some bling, esp. the little princesses we sew for. Okay, now on to the collar.

Happy smocking everyone.

Stash Challenge Dress

Finally finished my dress. I stitched the buttonholes by hand while I was watching Hallmark Channel tonight. Got my fabric in the mail today for the pattern testing dress I'm going to do for an Ellie Inspired pattern to be. I'm going to use a satin batiste. It's wonderfully soft fabric in the palest shade of baby pink. Yum!

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day for me. I've got to go into work for a couple of hours and work on unpacking some freight. Our freight truck is coming Monday afternoon. I also have a dress front to pleat up for a customer to make an blessing dress and trace off a pattern for her. Then I need to pleat up a dress front for me to work on in my new fabric. I think I'm going to use silk floss for the smocking. I'm sure it will look wonderful with the satin batiste.

Happy smocking everyone!

For the Stash Challenge

I've had the smocking finished for a couple of days, but hadn't had time to take a pic. Usually I don't use a flash when taking pics, but I had to on this one. The pic w/o a flash was way too orange, yuck. I don't do orange anything.

My inspiration was "Angel" issue 88 AS&E and fabric is from Hancock Fabrics.  One of these days I will smock up a match to the original dress in the magazine. I did change the smock plate some. In the past I've mixed cottons and organza and the dresses have turned out lovely. But I couldn't find any ribbon, organza, satin, velvet, nothing except solid poly/cotton broadcloth that I was happy with on the color. Such is life when designing a dress. I used one strand red metallic floss and one strand cotton floss for the smocking. And an xmas dress just has to have bling, so I stitched in beads. I'm thinking of using some gold lame piping for an added zing. But I may change my mind later. Sometimes what we envision and what reality holds are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Hopefully I will get to sew this dress up tomorrow. The store manager is on a leave of absence right now. So I'm kind of playing boss. Gotta keep sewing to keep myself grounded.

Happy smocking everyone!

A Picture to Share

Gramma to girls asked I not share girls faces, so out of respect for her and concern for kids safety, I'm not posting that part of the pic. But I think the girls dresses turned out great and I think the girls both love their dresses. I love giving gifts to cute girls like these.

I've had a cold to deal with this last week. Don't you just hate a summer cold. Miserable if you ask me. The next thing I'm working on is testing for Laura over at Ellie Inspired. I've chose to make the dress out of sateen and it's going to be beautiful just you wait. Well, I'm off to the grocery store. Happy smocking everyone!