4/30/11: May-Every-Day -- A Month's Worth of Posts

Did you know? May is tomorrow. . . A big event in my book for it is my favorite month of the year. And is throughout this coming May I will be trying out something a little bit different--or maybe I should say BIG--here on my blog. I will be doing daily posts for the entire month! Yikes!

So far I've been one spontaneous blogger, posting maybe once or twice a week. Finding things to post about has never been a problem for me; searching and finding the time is where the trouble lies. But I am going to give it my best shot anyway and I have a long list of topics I will be covering. Tutorials, vintage needlework magazine snippets, my crafting space, my works in progress, interviews, and a May giveaway is what I have in store. I already have a few posts scheduled!

So starting tomorrow morning my May-Every-Day project will begin and I do hope you enjoy reading it all!

4/29/11: A New Way to Add Length to a Dress - Part 3

And now I bring you the third installment of the "A New Way to Add Length to a Dress" series of posts. In my previous two posts I talked about how I wanted to add length to my June Wrap dress and how I drafted my underskirt pattern.

This time I will be showing you how I sewed my underskirt together. But before I begin I want to clarify something. Remember me telling you how I messed up my drafted pattern by not adding enough waistline fullness? I said. . .

Earlier, I wrote up a post about it but had to take it off the blog temporarily, for I made a mistake during the drafting process and I didn't want you to be led down the wrong road. So what did I exactly screw up? It was the widening of the waist. I didn't widen the waist enough to allow the underskirt to slide over my hips when I tried to put it on. Yeah, sounds like an obviously step to make but I completely overlooked it! Don't you just hate when that happens?

This was especially disappointing news to me, because I already cut the skirt out and sewed it together. I didn't realize my mistake until I started working on the elastic waistband. Nonetheless, I did manage to make the underskirt work; I simply inserted a side zipper.

Well, in the instructions below I will NOT be showing you what I did to fix my problem by adding a zipper. I will be showing only what I should have done, i.e. make a casing and insert elastic.

OK, now on to the sewing!

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4/20/11: A New Way to Add Length to a Dress -- Part 2

Hi everyone! So here I am again to explain how I made a half slip that will be used to add length to my June Wrap dress. I am calling it an underskirt. Earlier, I wrote up a post about it but had to take it off the blog temporarily, for I made a mistake during the drafting process and I didn't want you to be led down the wrong road. So what did I exactly screw up? It was the widening of the waist. I didn't widen the waist enough to allow the underskirt to slide over my hips when I tried to put it on. Yeah, sounds like an obviously step to make but I completely overlooked it! Don't you just hate when that happens?

This was especially disappointing news to me, because I already cut the skirt out and sewed it together. I didn't realize my mistake until I started working on the elastic waistband. Nonetheless, I did manage to make the underskirt work; I simply inserted a side zipper.

So the original post is back, but revised. I changed some of my figures to match what I should have done. So without further ado, let me present to you the new and approved "A New Way to Add Length to a Dress -- Part 2."

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In my previous post I mentioned about a polka dot dress, called the June Wrap, I bought last year which was designed by my eldest sister. When it was available at Christa-Taylor (an independent clothing store that went out of business in 2010), this is what you would have found on their website:

Gorgeous, huh?

It also came in three other colors:

Sorry about the small image. . . It was the only one I could find!

My eldest sister has the green one and my younger sister chose the black.

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And because the dress hem falls above my knees (a length I don't like much), I am going to add length to the dress without altering the actual dress. How can this be done?

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4/16/11: An Apology

Oh my, where shall I begin?

Well, on April 15 I posted about how I made a sewing pattern that will be used to add length to my June Wrap dress. I since then deleted this post because as I was sewing this morning, I ran into a major problem caused by a mistake made during the drafting process. Ugh! So I had to bring down my recent post so I wouldn't lead anyone down the wrong road.

This episode really teaches me that I should go through the entire project before posting a how-to. I really thought I had everything pinpointed and accurate, but I was definitely wrong!

I do hope to get a revised edition of my pattern making after I sew everything together. I do apologize for my mistake!

P.S. I thought I should mention here what exactly I have 'up my sleeve' in regards to this dress lengthener of mine. I know some of you probably didn't catch a glimpse of my previous post so I don't want to leave you in the dark any longer! The way I am adding length to my June Wrap without altering the dress itself, is by making a long half slip with a lower panel that will match the dress' polka dot fabric. It will make the dress appear as if it has another layer and by using a similar fabric, it will look like it is one with the dress.

I am calling it a skirt extension, or as commenter Jemajo says, an underskirt. (I think I will stick with underskirt, actually! I like the sound of that term more.)

4/4/11: Vintage Pattern Giveaway

It is true that I own a couple vintage patterns (the oldest is from 1943), but I won't be giving any of those away. I just wanted to announce a giveaway that is being held on the DixieDIY blog. Check it out here.

Dixie, the author the blog, is one amazing sewing enthusiast among other things, so be sure to click and browse the rest of her blog. She even has downloadable sewing patterns available and all of them were designed by her!