The Handknit Hat...

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your time with family and friends over the holidays. With so many days off  enjoy knitting. What I like to make most are hats. You can knit intricate designs, learn new techniques, but not have a long drawn out project. Most the time I can get a hat done in one or two days, depending on how much time I have.

This particular hat was made with 100% alpaca wool. The way the yarn was spun made it the most soft yarn I have ever set hands on. It is simply gorgeous! I bought the pattern on etsy. It is knit in wedges, so I learned how that is done on this hat. The nice thing about each wedge being knit is you can change the size easily by knitting as many wedges as it takes to go around your head.

Anyways, here it is!

Tuesday Tips...Understitching Your Lining

One very useful tip for sewing is to under-stitch when sewing a garment with lining. Under-stitching is used to hold down your lining so that it does not show and also to make the seam less bulky. This technique is often used on necklines. After connecting the lining to the main fabric, iron the seam and then turn the seam allowance so that it lies under the lining piece.

Next, sew the lining to the seam allowance an 1/8 inch away from your seam. Make sure that you only sew the lining and the seam allowance together, not the main fabric. (I used white thread so you could see it easily but a matching thread would be best)

When you are finished sewing press your lining.

When this is done you will have a beautiful neckline with no lining showing on the outside.

Tuesday Tips for Better Sewing

What difference can pressing a seam make? Believe it or not pressing is one of the major differences between a professional seamstress and beginner. When every seam is pressed it creates a smooth, almost invisible finished look. When they are not pressed you tend to notice all the seams more, they are bubbly and not flattering to the garment. I like to press all my seams open. This creates less bulk in the garment for a more comfortable wear.


You just have to make pressing a habit. It will become a sewing lifestyle that you cannot live without. 

Custom Crib Bedding...

Recently, we sewed crib bedding for a friend who was preparing to have her first child.  She was looking for a classy design using the neutral colors of taupe and cream.

The materials we used were from Ty Pennington...  
Home Decor Impressions Tudor Taupe
Home Decor Impressions Lace Taupe

For the design we took a basic crib bumper look, added a solid taupe ruffle around the whole top edge. We then made the ties about 1 1/2" wide so they would tie a classy bow. For the crib sheet and one side of the blanket we used a cream minky material. Minky is super soft so it is very nice for babies. The crib skirt we made a three tiered ruffle all the way around, using the three coordinating materials. 

As in most designs you never want to stick with just one material, it is always nice to have three materials that coordinate nicely. This creates a pleasing yet balanced look!

Uniform Alterations

For the past two weeks we've been working on a large amount of alterations, most of them being WA State Patrol uniforms.  It required hemming the pants and sleeves and taking in the side seams of most of the shirts. Altogether we altered about 50 different pieces of clothing. It was a big task but we found out that uniform alterations is definitely something we want to get more into doing.

There was lots of hemming to be done

And a nice big pile of scraps from the many trimmings!

Eloise really liked helping us too!

Heirloom Christmas Party Dresses...

The last couple of weeks we have been sewing up some Christmas party dresses. The thing I loved about both the styles we made, was that they were heirloom dresses. What I mean by that is, they have unique details that you would see on a lot of dresses in the olden days.

Pintucks on the bodice, with hand embroidery over top, dupioni silk, flat piping on the collar, sleeves and bodice, and buttons down the back instead of a zipper.

On the second dress, we made it of a chiffon bodice, with elegant long sleeves, and a cuff with lace and buttons. The collar is edged in the same lace as a the cuff, and the buttons down the center front complete the look. The skirt is made of a suiting material that has a rose velvet print over top.

All the details on these dresses display a vintage look, that is appealing to the modern eye.

A Fall Dress, Cozy hats, new furniture!

Lately at Bella Jean we have been working on some fun fall items. We are making a custom dress for a customer. The unique thing about this dress is, it looks like a skirt and blouse, but it is really a dress! Corduroy is a great fabric for these fall days. It's soft and has great texture with the lines.

Knitting is also a nice hobby for these dark chilly evenings. The other night we made a hat for a friend. We used organic cotton yarn, which is super soft and has a wavy texture. It also is more eye catching to use different colors on one hat, so we used cream and pink, as well as a variegated yarn to spice it up. To top it off we added a large flower for the side. I think Maddie likes her hat!

We also acquired a new piece of furniture...It is another great little work station!

What went on this week!

This week we had a lot of orders for little children's clothing. A few baby dresses, one 8 yr. old dress and one toddler pageant dress. It's been a while since we had this many children's clothes to make in a week because mostly we either do alterations or custom adult clothing. Besides the little dresses we also had two custom women's dresses we made, a maternity jean skirt, doll dresses and a few other little things. It was definitely a cranking week and that's the way we like it. It was so much fun setting goals for ourselves everyday and trying to beat each goal. I think it helped us get more accomplished! 

All the little dresses we made!

Here you can really tell how small the dolls are!

Just a Reminder that You're All Invited!!!

I just wanted to remind you all that you're invited to our open house tomorrow and Friday from 10:00am to 5:00pm. You won't want to miss the good refreshments and the discount too!

What Was Accomplished Yesterday...

Yesterday was a full day from start to finish! It started with getting some "beginnings" of 2 dresses put together for my cousin. When those were finished I started an alteration on a wedding dress.

This time we are adding a panel in the back to make the dress a little bigger.

Here's my pattern piece I made

After those were finished we got to babysite Eloise in the shop for about an hour. This was so much fun. She loved playing with the balls and just laying on her blanket. She would talk and laugh and it was so cute!

Remember this jumper? I made it from one that Eloise had when she was that size. Look how much she has grown?

For the next couple hours we had sewing classes. Later in the evening we wanted to get some painting done in the shop extension so we painted the ceiling. We also when to Home Depot and got a couple more sample paints to try on the wall. Which one do you like?

Painting the ceiling

These are the two we are deciding between. What do you think?

Custom Wedding Dress Alterations

We at Bella Jean specialize in custom alterations. In this case, we had a customer come to us needing their wedding dress made 2 sizes smaller, as well as hemmed and a bustle added. During this process we had fittings to ensure exact size. We also took pictures of the wedding dress before we did anything so we could have them for references along the way. For the bustle we looked at a few other wedding dresses for ideas on how to put it up.

The customer also wanted her mothers veil customized for herself. Because her dress had lace, as well as her mothers veil, we just replace the original lace with lace from her dress. In the end the customer was very pleased and we enjoyed sewing this for her!

Making a Perfect Fit with Custom Clothing Alterations

One of the foremost parts of our business is alterations. Recently we have been altering a wedding dress. First we take pictures of every detail needing altered so we can have a reference to continually go back to. This is one of the most important things I've learned in performing alterations. Please feel free to email me for more tips on the best process for altering clothing.

 We do hemming for all styles of pants.

We can replace zippers in coats, vests, dresses, cushions and more. Replacing zippers is very enjoyable for me.

Thank you, Veronica