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.

Completed Swiss Dot Eyelet Dresses

Last week we completed our dresses we made ourselves with the fabric from San Francisco. We added lace down the front of the bodice from the bag we were given of antique lace. We also added some other trims to give it a vintage dress look. Let me know what you think!

Royal Wedding Dress in Detail...

Being seamstresses, I couldn't help but look at many pictures of the wedding dress of Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge. It was designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. I loved all the detail. The intricate lace handwork on the bodice and sleeves gave the dress a traditional feminine look.
 
The Design:
The lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace.  The lace design was hand-engineered (appliquéd) using the Carrickmacross lace-making technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s.  Individual flowers have been hand-cut from lace and hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle to create a unique and organic design, which incorporates the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock.
Hand-cut English lace and French Chantilly lace has been used throughout the bodice and skirt, and has been used for the underskirt trim.  With laces coming from different sources, much care was taken to ensure that each flower was the same colour.  The whole process was overseen and put together by hand by Ms Burton and her team.
The dress is made with ivory and white satin gazar.  The skirt echoes an opening flower, with white satin gazar arches and pleats.  The train measures two metres 70 centimetres.  The ivory satin bodice, which is narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips, draws on the Victorian tradition of corsetry and is a hallmark of Alexander McQueen’s designs.  The back is finished with 58 gazar and organza covered buttons fastened by Rouleau loops.  The underskirt is made of silk tulle trimmed with Cluny lace.

Click here to find out more about the dress.

I was very inspired to make a dress with some of the different details that I saw. If you are a bride who is looking for a wedding dress that has any of these different details, let us know and we would be happy to create your dream...

Check out the lace detail!

Also the little girl bridesmaids dresses were very cute! I loved the how the little girls dresses were pleated on the skirt and had a trim at the bottom. The puff sleeves were adorable! The sashes were also pleated along the length...very nice detail!

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?

Uniqueness in the details...Summer Dress

A few weeks ago we sewed Eloise a summer dress that she could wear in Maui. We wanted this dress to be unique and stand out. So we took into consideration every little detail we could think of. For the straps we shirred them...that is putting elastic thread in the bobbin and sewing straight lines. We also used this technique for the back bodice. This technique made it easy to get on and off and she can wear it for a longer amount of time. Using a coordinating material for a bottom band, also adds a great element. We then looked at all our trims and decided ric rac would look splendid! We applied it to the bodice waist seam and the bottom band seam. Buttons also add a great little element... So we applied them on top of the ric rac. Lastly we added little bows where the straps met the bodice...

Every little detail added so much to this dress! So next time you go to make something, think about what you can add that will make it unique and stand out!

New Dresses

This is a dress we designed with a little bit of a vintage look. Making cute toddler dresses are very fun to do. This one is for sale on Etsy.These are custom dresses we are doing for customers. The 3 on the right are from a Grandma to a granddaughter that she enjoys dressing. The others are for a set of twins. So they have to look alike. We still dress alike quite a bit of the time.

What's in our Window?

There it is. It can be seen from the road, but we haven't checked how well cars going quickly can see them.Here is one of the dresses hanging in the window.

This is a custom dress for a customer. We do adult clothing also, although toddler clothing is our specialty.