Tag: dressmaking

Remaking My First Sewing Project Four Years Later

Last September, I felt this aching in my creative heart to make what I didn’t make well the first go around. A project that some would say was insane to attempt as a beginner because of the difficult nature of velvet and the frustration that is sewing with stretch fabric. The dress pictured below was my first wearable garment. I saw the same purple stretch fabric on sale for Halloween at my local Joann’s and my heart skipped a beat. It still exists – I could try again!

You see the first dress I made was constructed so poorly that I ended up cutting it down into a skirt because I was embarrassed to continue wearing it out. After all, the bodice was bunching up and gathered strangely in the back. I lacked the confidence to keep going and try to alter the dress for success. I see now that it would have been an easy make to take out the gathers and bunches of fabric for clean seams, but that kind of thought came with trial and error. I needed a bit more experience and patience to make it right, and at the time in 2020, my younger self was not willing to wait.

But what if I am living in the past? My mind thought, maybe I should let it be and let the dress be a learning experience. I put the purple velvet down and left it, it was not on sale, it would be a sizeable impulse purchase at 15.99 a yard for 4 yards. I can’t justify 60 USD for a passing whim, that would be a poor use of money. So I left the daydream and moved on. Still thinking about that fabric. Another few weeks passed, finding myself in my local Joann’s again. It was my favorite place to explore. I went to the shopping plaza over the weekend where Joann’s remains live boarded up with the lights still on. It was eerie. I found myself thinking about what was blocked off inside? Was the fabric slumbering in the bolts, waiting to be made into something new? Would the yarn ever find a home in a fiber artist’s hands? It felt like a mistake, a bad dream, but it was not. It is over and now it is just a memory.

Anyway, on the second trip to Joann’s during the Halloween sales, I found my purple beloved. The bolt was still full, now marked down to 7 USD a yard. But this time I couldn’t get the project out of my mind. I’m glad I did give in to the creative urge or this project would be left without an ending. At the time, I had no idea Joann’s was going to go under. I thought I had plenty of time to remake this when in reality the window was closing. As I worked on this dress in 2025, I followed Joann’s story with frustration and weight of expectation. This remake is the final try, for this fabric I will never find again.

I made a different dress from the original and that surprised me. I believed going into the remake project that I would duplicate the same dress but with better technique. Instead, it was a project of feel. This time, I had a dress form I could drape the garment on. I had fabric clips with securely held the the slippery fabric together while on the dress form or for a quick test of fit on my own form. This time I understood proportion and where this dress would fit into my wardrobe instead of making a dress that only went with my moto jacket. I reinforced the shoulders and was thoughtful about my stitching, to make the garment strong. I added darts to pull the dress in where it was fitting baggy instead of leaving it like a velvet sack.

It became something new and I am okay with that. None of us are the same as we were years ago, we grow and evolve with every passing year. Making a dress for now, with the spirit and the fabric of my first garment, but with a new neckline and a new fit I think is an inevitability of learning and growth. I had the patience this time to try on the dress, mark what was not fitting right, and go back to work until it was correct. That was not something I was willing to do when I started, because it was all so new and confusing, but with time and practice, those new concepts became a familiar old friend. Like this tan carpet. It wasn’t until I looked at the 2020 mirror photo and the 2025 mirror photo that I saw it. The carpet in the house we bought looks just like the carpet in our apartment in Meadville. How random is that?

I have one more section of the purple velvet left over that I plan to make something with, possibly a mini dress, a blouse, or maybe a jacket. I think knowing this fabric is a relic now, makes me feel unwilling to finish this scrap project, because once it is done. I’m going to feel like my time experimenting with fabric from my first craft store is done. A chapter of my sewing life is over, and I hate saying goodbye. I’m a sentimental person. When things end, I take it hard. I dwell on the loss and muse on it. It might be unhealthy. It certainly makes life harder as a person who wants to keep things alive that are gone, it’s why I think I was drawn to study history in college.

As I keep making things, some of these projects become an archive of crafting past. What are some things in your own life that have moved from the present to part of your past? Does it surprise you to consider these things as your history instead of your current story? Thank you, reader, for joining me again down this sewing memory lane. I hope you have a wonderful day!

How to Make Curved Seams Lay Flat

When I first heard of making small snipping cuts into the curves of seams for necklines and arm openings, I thought this was a bunch of nonsense. An extra step that only overachieving sewing people do. But once I gave it a try – there was night and day difference with how non-stretch fabrics draped against the form. The comfort and fit has been a level up to professional feeling. It’s totally worth it and I can’t believe I was stubbornly against putting the extra effort in. Looking back, there were definitely projects I made that I didn’t like because the neckline and arm openings fit wonky. If only I had tried this weird sounding hack.

In the curve of seams, make a very small cut in the seam allowance, not the actual part of the seam you are going to sew. For structural integrity that’s important. You don’t want your seam to have a cut or it will rip. The cuts in the seam allowance give the illusion of stretch and help the non-stretch fabric curve without warping the line of the curve. It creates shape without bulk and proper fit. The quality of a garment, I’m learning is not the fabric quality alone, it’s the planning and care put into the construction. Proper pattern cutting can make or break the fit of the look you are going for.

Potato Technology’s Version of a Vintage Shirtwaist Dress

You will recognize this fabric if you’ve been here since I shared my Spring/Summer 2023 collection. I originally purchased it for a Christmas present project as part of my Autumn/Winter 2022 Collection for a pair of pants. I happened to not share it on the site. With the extra yardage, I made a blouse and a matching skirt I styled in 2023 as separates and a set.

This got me thinking, should I just make it a dress? So I did, I sewed the two together with mixed results. I liked the dramatic drape of the shoulders in contrast with the defined waist but the fabric is thin and I knew I wouldn’t wear it as a long sleeve garment. So I chopped the sleeves to a flutter sleeve option.

This felt even worse when I wore it as a short-sleeved dress. The dress was constructed well, the fabric of good quality, and the color scheme flattering but I did not reach for it. The sleeves made me feel weird and wide instead of cute. I didn’t feel like me. Have you ever experienced that with a garment or a project you have made? There’s nothing technically wrong with what you made or what you tried on, but it feels off. This left me with one more option. No sleeves.

So I chopped the sleeves entirely and that’s when I felt like I struck gold! It looks like a dress my Grandma used to wear. Shirtwaist dresses were her staple dress and I see why. They are versatile and practical. I can dress this up or down. I can layer over or under for different looks. It’s a dress I know I’ll be making again with a proper button placket and pockets for sure.

Potato Technology S/S 2024 Dress Collection

This collection is a combination of new items that I self-drafted and made this year and two dresses that I made in previous years that gave a refresh for a new garment. The ability to change up my wardrobe from existing items in my closet is one of my favorite aspects of sewing!

L to R: Bunny Swing Dress with Puff Sleeves, Heatwave Dress with Buttons, Plaid for Days Jumper Dress, Loyalty-Respect-Banana! Pinafore Dress, Blueberry Print T-shirt Dress, Potato Technology’s Strawberry Dress for 2024, Liz’s Shirtwaist Dress in Red Currant, A Classic Little Pink Dress in Polka Dot, Regina Phalange Dress with Lace Stripe

L to R Fabric: Joann Fabric Easter Collection (2024), Vintage Deadstock from my Gram’s Quilting Stash, Mood Fabrics and Hobby Lobby (2022), Joann Fabric Curious George Licensed (2024), Vintage Deadstock from my Gram’s Quilting Stash, Hobby Lobby and Joann Fabrics(2023), Mood Fabrics (2022), Vintage Deadstock from my Gram’s Quilting Stash, Joann Fabric Halloween Collection (2023)

Getting Creative with My Stash: The Black Raspberry Slip Dress

I’ve been challenging myself to be a more frugal sewist this year, using up my stash of fabric and resisting buying fabric that catches my eye. It has been harder than I thought. Mood Fabrics is pretty relentless with its advertisements, Hobby Lobby’s every two-week fabric sale calls, and Joann Fabrics sends me flyers and coupons on the regular, but I had this feeling I needed to be more budget-conscious this year and it is starting to make sense why (more on that later).

To do this, I rolled up my sleeves and dug into my storage closet, to my Gram’s quilting fabric stash and got creative. These two fabrics spoke to me, but the yardage of the ditzy floral was small maybe a half yard? This is the most frustrating thing about using deadstock fabrics, vintage or remnants, you get the yardage left and that’s that. I wanted to play around with bias tape finishing with a contrast fabric, which I thought the black floral would compliment the ditzy floral. Originally my plan was to make a camisole top, but the more I thought about I questioned if I would wear it and with what? Instead, I pivoted and used the rest of the black floral to lengthen the top into a dress. To keep it cohesive I color-blocked the fabrics – black floral straps, ditzy floral bodice, black floral skirt, and lower ditzy floral skirt.

This was a new style for me, I usually stick to one fabric but this was fun and from this experience, I feel more inspired to design garments from a scrapy style. It opens up a whole crayon box of possibilities for remnants, smaller yardage purchases, pattern mixing, and contrast piping! This is going to be a fun new world!

I decided to draft my own pattern for this dress by draping the bodice on the form. I created the straps by joining the pieces of bias tape at the top of the triangle bust piece for a seamless transition and to add strength. I added a side zipper to tailor the garment closer to the body but account for the zero amount of stretch in this fabric. It reminds me of a slip dress but I feel more comfortable in it because it is a cotton fabric. There is more structure and opacity. The dress has a more casual vibe where I can style it with a t-shirt underneath if I desire to.

I think subconsciously, I was inspired by Lorelai Gilmore’s dress styling in these episodes. I love her style and I have found that the styles she wears on the show suit my body type and personality more than Rory’s dresses. It’s a dress style I hope to experiment with more by using different fabrics and textures.

#44 – Reset Over Resolutions

I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution girl, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seriously done that or just made a joking one in my head when I was a teen cause I thought that’s what you were supposed to do. What I do like doing instead is resetting my habits and schedule after Christmas. Because no matter what phase I am in my life that week between Christmas and New Year’s seems to wreck my daily schedule and motivation like no other.

Blocks of Productivity

My plan was literally to plan, I opened Google Docs and made myself a table for a daily schedule. I have tasks I want to be doing each day or every other day – devotions, exercise, Japanese learning, writing, sewing, knitting, art, and cleaning. Without the schedule, I tend to fixate on one thing all day or jump around not making progress on much of anything except for getting through my YouTube music playlists. My solution? Blocking my time like college. Spending a chunk of time, an hour or two, the most three on a given task to get things done and keep my motivation up.

In the morning I’ve decided I have the option to do devotions, Kanji study, art (natural light dependent), or writing. In the afternoon I prefer knitting, sewing, or writing. Intersperse cleaning and exercise in between tasks. The results? One week in and I’d say, I like it! I’ve made progress on my Kanji vocabulary goals – learning 60 Kanji between two lessons. Blocking the Japanese lessons for first in the morning for two hours is the best time for my brain to absorb it. Knitting or sewing in the afternoon has helped me through that mid-afternoon slump.

It’s also allowed me a way to walk away from sewing if I am not enjoying the process. Instead of devoting a whole day to sewing like I did in the past, blocking sewing to a few hours in the afternoon lets my mind feel like I can accomplish a project and still feel okay walking away after an hour. Because sometimes sewing can make me angry. Yesterday, sewing made me quite mad after my three of my hems jammed into the needle plate. The hem was driven down by the needle and unable to be removed without stitch ripping and eventually ripping a hole in the hem. I was angry and ready to be done and instead of angry sewing, I pivoted to something else knowing I could pick up tomorrow and I would because of my new schedule.

Balance in Writing

Another motivator that prompted me to reset my daily schedule was the writing ideas I had. I mentioned before that I have a fiction idea that I have tabled for now for a more pressing idea, a non-fiction fashion research project. This is going to be a big project that needs structure to get done because I have not researched since college and it intimidates me a bit to think of doing that again without the access of inter-library-loan. I don’t know how straightforward the process is going to be on my own without the resources and my mentor to encourage me forward.

I’ve started writing poetry again, mainly to cope with big emotions, something I want to discuss further in a separate post. I’m enjoying it. I enjoy how it makes me feel to write for the fun of it again. I’ve been writing for the fun of it more and more. Last week, I wrote two lengthy pieces that could be blog posts, but I’m not sure if they are “done” yet if that makes sense. And then there is this blog, I need to be more consistent. A reset I am after this month is to get consistent and if necessary make a content calendar to keep myself on task like I used to in my digital marketing job.

Sunshine Come Back

I want to paint more, to sketch daily, and I truly feel handcuffed by the weather. This fall and winter it has been exceptionally dreary. Like we get hints of sunshine and then the gray rolls in. Today, it is mid-morning and the sun has technically risen but I can’t see it behind the sleet, the dark shadows cast by the gray clouds, and the racing wind. It is hecking depressing and I like rainy days and spooky gray skies, but this is truly messing with the art. I need to figure out a lighting situation. Once I do that I hope to get sketching and painting consistently again. Either way, Spring will come or my lighting solution will.

Seasons of Fashion

My sewing and knitting waves of creation follow seasons, the weather seasons, and not the fashion seasons because I can’t keep up and tend to forget that fashion seasons are the opposite of what you would think they would be. That being said, I made a big push in the fall to wrap up cold weather projects before December and since November, I have taken my foot off the gas pedal. But this coasting has to come to an end at some point and that is what this schedule is for because I have purchased fabric for some big, ambitious makes and those are going to take time. For knitting, I’d like to develop more knitting patterns and start looking at launching a shop in some capacity either with patterns or finished goods. I feel more confident in my knitting skills right now than in my sewing skills, but I am going to challenge myself to track my patterns for sewing this year.

This reminds me, I need to transfer a self-drafted pattern I cut out yesterday to my brown kraft paper before I sew up the side and finish the garment. I should go do that before I forget!

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