Square One

In the midst of my work on Rachel’s bridal gown, my family moved to a new home. Needless to say, it’s been a busy, hectic, exciting, stressful, wonderful time. We’ll be staying put for a good long time now, and I’m excited to be able to decorate, settle in, really make this home our own. So, I let my Girly-Girl decide how she wanted to decorate her new bedroom, and she picked butterflies. And because I sew, and because I find myself compelled to create more work for myself, I offered to make her a quilt.

I have never sewn a quilt before. I’ve been sewing for pleasure for around fifteen years, and my business is nearly two years old… but mainly I’ve made clothing. Quilting always seemed to a Florida girl like me like the sort of task that took forever to complete and resulted in something you could only use once or twice a year (cause let’s face it… it’s hot here all but maybe two weeks of the year!) My Girly-Girl has changed my mind. 🙂 She likes a nice cozy warm blanket, and she likes bright colors, strong patterns, and unique designs. A quilt for her will be worth every stitch!

We’re making solid squares with hand drawn appliqued butterflies (and on a few of the squares, flowers, bees, caterpillars, dragonflies). The appliques are machine stitched but the antennae are hand embroidered. Without further ado, here is the very first quilt square I ever made:

Hopefully, I’ll be able to post pics of the final product soon enough (it is still in progress for now!)

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Rachel’s Corset

My newest client Rachel was asked to be maid of honor at her friend’s wedding a couple of months ago – an honor of course, but there was a slight problem. The bride chose strapless gowns for her bridesmaids, and Rachel’s curvy figure demanded better support than an off-the-rack strapless bra was going to provide. Rachel asked a mutual friend, Ann-Michelle, to help her find a suitable corset at one of the lingerie shops in the mall. Ann-Michelle told her for a suitable corset, the mall was not the place to go!

I discussed the options for corsets with Rachel. We talked about the sort of shape and cut she wanted (fairly long lined, coming to a V at the front), the neckline (sweetheart), and kind of closure (front busk, back lacing), as well as the degree of shaping and support that would be appropriate (supportive enough to have a showdown with gravity and win). We also talked about fabrics. Rachel’s corset was going to be worn to her friend’s wedding, but also to her own a few months later, so we definitely wanted fabrics that had a beautiful, bridal feel to them. The time frame was tight and didn’t allow us to shop around, but I had some gorgeous cream and pale gold silk brocade in stock and Rachel really loved it! There wasn’t quite enough for the whole corset, so we made one panel in an accent fabric – champagne satin – which ultimately emphasized the hourglass shape the corset created. I hand dyed the laces champagne as well, to match. The fashion fabrics sit over two layers of sturdy cotton corset fabric so the corset is strong and durable. The entire bodice is supported by 22 pieces of flat and spiral steel bonings, as well as the front busk. We met during the construction of her corset for fittings and made a few adjustments (both for fit, and to ensure the neckline of the corset didn’t show above the neckline of her bridesmaid gown). A good fit is infinitely more comfortable, and more supportive as well!

The end result was exactly what she’d needed. Rachel was thrilled! She told me she’d been dreading her friend’s wedding a bit when she hadn’t known how she was going to manage the strapless gown, but with the corset she was looking forward to it again. After the wedding, she sent me a message to let me know it had been comfortable the whole day, and she’d even found an opportunity to wear it again since. Music to a corset maker’s ears!

Craft Hope project 8

I’d like to take a moment today to depart from my usual talk of dressmaking to address a current need. For those of you who don’t know, I live in Florida, a little north of Tampa and not terribly far from some of the most beautiful beaches in the continental U.S…. for the moment, anyway. I’ve been fairly overwhelmed reading about the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: worried, angry, frustrated, horrified, grief-stricken. The implications are staggering, for our environment, our already struggling economy, and the world our kids will inherit. And the spill hasn’t been stopped yet; thousands of barrels of toxic crude oil are continuing to spew into the Gulf, contaminating the fragile ecosystems in the Gulf and along its coastlines.

So I was beyond delighted when a Facebook friend linked to Craft Hope’s latest project, which offers those of us who sew (and also those who knit, crochet, or who make/use fabrics in other ways) to contribute something of tangible worth to the ongoing clean up efforts. Craft Hope Project 8 is calling for handmade rags, the size of wash cloths and hand towels, which will be used to help clean oiled animals rescued along the Gulf coast. They are also accepting donations of Dawn liquid dish detergent, needed to wash the oil away without harm to the animals. The donations will be used to assist The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, the Audubon Nature Institute, and the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge in their cleanup efforts.

As a dressmaker, I go through a lot of fabric. And for years I’ve been reluctant to throw away any piece of fabric large enough that I can imagine some future use for it – even if it’s clearly too small to be used for adult clothing. So I have accumulated a large and varied scrap pile, and yesterday I spent time picking through the pile to pull out any fabrics soft enough and absorbant enough to be useful for the clean up efforts. I cut them down to the smaller sizes needed, and today I’m shipping them off to Craft Hope to be added to the donations from others.

For those of you in Florida, if you are looking for additional options to volunteer, there’s a handy guide on this website listing volunteer groups by county.

A Day at the Office

I love this job. 🙂