The Bebe Dress

Today was a fairly warm and wet day in Minnesota. However, I didn't let the rain stop me from having a photoshoot wearing my new dress! The best part is, the umbrella matches my dress perfectly! The dress is The Bebe Dress from Serendipity Studio. I got the pattern and the fabric for my birthday last summer and I just got started making it after Christmas. My mom did a wonderful job picking out the fabric - it has my favorite colors in it!

I wanted to finish this dress before the new year, so I could say I made two dresses in 2012. Although I was up sewing on New Year's eve, I didn't get it all done. Now I can say this is my first clothing project in 2013!

This is the second dress I've made, and the fit is perfect. I did make a muslin because I didn't want to mess anything up. Kay Whitt's patterns are always so easy to follow. I did ask her a few questions and she responded very quickly! The only changes I made were lengthening the skirt (since the pattern is made for someone with a height of 5'4 and I am 5'7). I also made an XS bodice and a S skirt, since my measurements didn't match up exactly and the pattern provides directions for doing so.

There are several variations provided in the pattern! I made mine with a pleated skirt, the shorter sleeve, a contrasting waistline band, and a bias hemband. There are darts in the front and side bodice too. The dress has an invisible zipper, which I had several problems with.

It was fun taking pictures in the rain!

The zipper seemed to go in alright. I used Kay's fabulous tutorial for putting an invisible zipper in with a regular zipper foot. I have put a few invisible zippers in before, so I had an idea of what I needed to do. First, I ended up sewing one side of the zipper on backwards, so I had to take it out. That was the only minor (or so it seemed) problem I ran into at that point. I finished the dress, put in the facing and the hemband and everything seemed fine. The dress looked great! Until....

I tried the dress on, the zipper got stuck and it broke! I could not believe it! All that work and the zipper decides to break. No matter how hard we tried, the zipper would not budge. I was very upset and I ended up putting the dress away for a few days. After an email to Kay Whitt, she told me I could leave the facings in but I would have to take the back seam out in order to replace the zipper.

 

I have to admit, it was a pain to replace the zipper, especially with the facings still in place. Once I sat down to finally do it, it didn't take too long though. The worst part was ripping it out. The zipper stops about 1/2 inch from the top of the back as you can see in the above photo. It's the only thing I don't like about the dress, but it's not really noticeable. Does anyone have any tips for making the top of the zipper look neat on a dress? This is something I need to work on in future projects.

This dress will definitely be a new favorite. I plan on wearing it a lot this coming spring and summer. I might even make another dress with this pattern - the gathered version would be fun to try.

Here's a close up of my earrings. My aunt made them and gave them to me for Christmas. I think they are very pretty and they go well with my new dress! 

~Elizabeth

Black and White

This past week I have been sewing up a storm! This is the first skirt I made, the Corinne Pleated Skirt from Sew Serendipity. The pleated portion of the skirt was made with forty 2 1/2 inch strips. I used a jelly roll with black and white fabric, bought on eBay.

At first, I thought the skirt would be too busy with all the prints, but I really like how it turned out. It is very full and it hangs nice. I used a green cotton fabric for the yoke to add some color.

The pattern gave two options for a waistband - elastic or drawstring. I decided to do an elastic waistband. I like the length. It falls about mid-calf on me.

In my opinion, the skirt was very easy and fun to make! If you don't have a serger (I don't) finishing the edges takes some time. It is worth it in the end though! There is a lot of pressing and topstitching to help the pleats lie flat. The directions are very well written, with many diagrams to go with each step.


Skirts are one of my favorite things to make, so I was very excited when a new blog I found, crafterhours, announced Skirt week. There are many different categories, including A-line skirts, full skirts, straight skirts and children skirts. I will definitely will be participating and I hope you will too! You can enter any skirt made since July 1, 2011 and you have until June 8, 2012 to enter them into the flickr pool. You can find more information here.


~Elizabeth

New Skirt!

Hello!

It has been a few days since my last post, but I've been busy sewing! Yesterday, I finished a skirt that I have been trying to make. It took me three tries, but I finally got it right! The skirt is from the pattern "Stella Strip Skirt," by Serendipity Studio. There aren't any pattern pieces because the skirt is made entirely from 2 1/2 inch strips. You can make it any length you would like. The skirt has pleats, and it was my first time working with pleats. That is one reason I messed up on the first try. I sewed the pleats backwards!! It was very upsetting at first, especially since I used my favorite fabric. I decided to try again. The pleats looked great, but it didn't fit! I made the wrong size!! Finally on my third try, everything went well. I sewed the pleats the right way, I made the right size and I only had to use the seam ripper for minor mistakes. I had one issue with the waistband though. The waistband has four rows of 3/8" elastic, and it was supposed to lay flat. Well, mine wasn't laying flat so I emailed the designer, Kay Whitt. She is a genius! She knew right away what the problem was - I didn't pull the first two rows of elastic tight enough. Sure enough, after I did that the problem was fixed.

Without further ado, here are pictures of my new skirt.

Me wearing my new skirt.

Close up of my new skirt.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures! This skirt was very easy to make, once I made it the right size and understood the pleats. It took me two days to make. I will be wearing it for my high school graduation and entering in the fair for my 4-H clothing project!