Craft Area Organization

I got organized last weekend! Living in a small condo, I've resorted to storing my supplies throughout the place - a little of this here and a little of that there. I'm lucky enough that my living room has a nice sized corner with a view for me to have the things I use most close by.

Beads everywhere.


To the left...


the right...


and the rest of the room...

Simplicity 2365 Button-down Tunic

I got the fabric for this a few days after I bought the pattern and even though I knew I had less fabric than the pattern required, I was going to make it work. Oh yeah; it was the end of the bolt AND it's plaid. I decided I wanted The style and sleeve length of view 'C' with the shorter over all length.

After some fussing around with my pattern pieces, I was able to me everything fit and I prepared it to sew. I had buttons in my stash which matched the greens, the blue and I even had some really cool vintage ones that were turquoise and white. I could not decide which ones to use, so I asked my boyfriend what he thought...he's pretty good at helping me make aesthetic decisions like this. He agreed that they all matched, but thought they all stood out too much and suggested that I use light yellow buttons. This meant I would have to make a trip to the store to buy buttons and matching thread before I could proceed. It was worth it though, as his suggestion turned out to be a perfect fit.

I wore it to work today and I had my boyfriend snap a few pictures when I got home. I did not like any of them! I must be camera shy because the only way I can ever get a picture that I'd dare post on here is when I take it myself. It was this or the dress form!

The thing I liked most about this design is the sleeves. They are pretty cute and were easy to make. I adjusted the buttons on the front for a custom fit. Unless I use this pattern to make some sort of dress, I don't see myself making this again. I have a pattern similar to this, McCall's 8470, which I would like to work on soon. I also might go down a size up top. Because of the bagginess, I thought I could get away with an allover size 16, but I'm spotting slight gaposis on the chest. I can probably fix that at some point...I still love it and will wear it again and again :o)

Handmade Dress Form

I love sewing! Would I ever want to quit my day job and become a full time seamstress? Eh, probably not. My mom is great at sewing and I've been sewing for a long time - maybe since I was twelve years old. The foundation of my love for sewing definitely comes from my mom. Everything else I learned about this craft I have picked up on my own through research, experimentation and of course, following instructions.

I've almost always followed store bought patterns and lately I have come to the conclusion that I am shaped differently than bodies these sewing patterns are made for. What's the point of taking the time to craft a beautiful garment out of fabric that I love, if it's not going to be tailored to fit me specifically? So, I decided to make a dress form. I looked through some books and searched online for help. Here is what I found to be most helpful:

Mimi Goodwin's $7 video download
The free version of Mimi's video here
The Stitch Lounge Girl's book, Subversive Seamster
Having a ready made dress form on a stand that I could use for my DIY dress form
Having a boyfriend with insulator and other construction skills

I combined some techniques used in the book and in Mimi's video and also added a few of my own.



What I did differently:

1. I used rolled up paper for the neck - there is NO way to wrap my neck in tape....for so many reasons.


2. We constructed a shoulder support using a leftover piece of dowel which happened to be the same size a the width of my shoulders. That dowel was then screwed to the top of the the main dowel and then shoved into place.

3. We hung the dress form upside down and filled it with Touch and Seal spray foam. You have to do this outside because of the fumes and potential for a slight mess factor. This stuff expanded nicely into most of the upper body's curves and did a fine job holding the support dowels in place.



4. After letting the foam do what it does and dry for a few hours I finished stuffing the booty and hip area with Polyfil, working around the hardened foam.

5. We cut a piece of foam board to match the bottom, cut a hole in it and taped it into place.

Here she is modeling the last dress I made before the dress form!