Time for a Christmas Dress!

 Hello all,

I'm finally back with a project that I'm excited to show you: a Christmas dress! 

This dress took portions of two days to make, and the sewing process was very smooth compared to many dresses I've wrestled with! 

I apologize for the lesser quality of some of my photos. I think I'll switch over to a new camera soon.

The dress features a long, full pleated skirt. 

I top-stitched ~4-5 inches down the front pleats so the pleats would not flare out in places they were not wanted :)

The sleeves turned out VERY puffy, so I put a tuck in each one to gather in some of the excess and shape the sleeve. I remember first noticing this style on a dress that my grandmother had made, and was inspired by it. 

Making a tuck like this is very easy - turn the sleeve inside out and sew the two layers (front and back) together, vertically, near the edge of the sleeve. 

When you turn the sleeve back right-side-out, you'll have a cute sleeve tuck. 

For the collar on this dress I was inspired by this blouse. I like the idea of a collar that is sewn into the shoulder seams instead of wrapping all the way around the back of the dress. Instead of the collar ending in a charming tie however, I pulled the ends down into the waistline.

To God be the glory, 

Miss Humphrey

The Results of our Shopping Spree

 Hello all,

I'm back again with some of the dresses that you saw in the last post. These are the two we brought home. I altered one of them to make it modest. The other dress was already modest when we found it - a rare thing in a modern clothing store!

~The beautiful sleeve~

I inserted some lace into the V-neck of this dress to make it modest. It is now lightweight, becoming, and perfect for summer. Can you see a similarity in the eyelet lace pattern and the fabric paisley print? The lace was picked out to go with the dress by total coincidence!

 

This is the other dress I brought home. It was perfect the way it was - so feminine and charming! It is the perfect dress to wear in a field of Queen Anne's Lace in the country.

 

Hopefully you have enjoyed the last two posts on choosing storebought dresses. The first post was written by a guest author, Mrs. Humphrey from The Pleasant Times. If you didn't see it, please go check it out and leave her a nice comment!

To God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

Fiddle Camp Wardrobe Planning

 Hello all! 

I'm pretty excited - next week, I'm headed to Fiddle Camp! I thought I'd share what I'm planning to wear for the four days of camp. 

These are not special, fancy outfits. Actually, it's a good sample of what I wear day-to-day! Comfort matters more to me than style on a 90 degree day, but that's not saying that I have to wear something plain and ugly, or skimpy and revealing. 

Do you want to guess how much use this Edwardian walking skirt gets? A lot!! It's a great, everyday jean skirt, but its gores and delicate waistband save it from being boring :) It goes with the western, 1800s style that is so dear to my heart, and I can wear it with every blouse I own, which is wonderful!!

The plaid shirt is the Stillwater Supply Co. brand. My mother and I purchased them on sale at Bi-mart.  These are very nice western shirts!

This is a one-piece style dress I made earlier on in my sewing hobby, and while it is definitely not perfect, I like it! I might wear it as a jumper instead of a sort-of sleeveless dress. I might improve a few things on it before I take it to camp - we'll see!

On the last day of camp, we're having class performances. I plan to wear my blue circle dress on that day for something a little more dressy!

We mustn't forget the cowboy hat!

And there you have it, my wardrobe planning for 2023 fiddle camp.

 I'm so happy to get to wear homemade clothes much of the time. The world of sewing unlocks beautiful possibilities!

Have a great mid-July, everyone!

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

His Commands Are Not Burdensome

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

--1 John 5:3

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

--Proverbs 1:7

"Obeying commands about modesty is so hard! All these rules your parents put on you for how they want you to dress are so constrictive. You know what? There's one day in your life when you can wear whatever you want! Hey, your female attendants can even wear what they want! What's more, you and your friends can get drunk (or give an opportunity to others to do so) if you really want to. You can play that rock music as loud as you want and dance to it. It's called your wedding day!"

Does that not sound quite right? I wonder why. Oh! Maybe it's because the Bible says much to the opposite. 

"In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;"

--1 Timothy 2:9

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

--1 Timothy 4:12

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;"

--Ephesians 5:18

I wonder how Christian girls read the first verse of these three and then go on to wear completely immodest clothes for their wedding, (or to someone else's; looking at you, bridesmaids.) Especially when there are such sweet, beautiful alternatives to culture's dictates about wedding apparel. 

More skin showing = prettier. Wrong. To be proven in this article. 

More skin showing = more attractive. Hmm. The point of a wedding is getting married to one man. Do you really love him? Show him that by saving yourself for him, starting on your wedding day.

I have a question. What is your purpose for wearing 1/2 a dress to your wedding? Is it to glorify God? I'm guessing not. 

Is it because you really wanted a pretty dress and this was the ONLY one you could find?? Nope. 

Is it because it's your only chance to wear a fancy and immodest dress, per tradition? Well, it is not your only chance. You don't have the option at all to be immodest as a Christian woman.

It's time for ladies to stop going with the flow. We need to stick out, be different, and represent Christ in a non-Christian world. A wedding is a great opportunity to be a good example to others. What other time can you be assured to have the rapt attention of at 100+ people on you and what you're wearing? Be an example to the young ladies who haven't had a wedding yet. Show them how gorgeous and innocent a modest wedding can be. 

A "modest wedding dress" does not imply being plain, long-sleeved, and choke-necked. My wedding dress isn't going to look like that. No, I plan to have a lot of fun designing the prettiest, best thing I can come up with! I'm not Amish, (and you aren't, either, if you're reading this post online!) but I am a part of Christ's body and His representative on earth. I need to act accordingly.

By the way, I'm not Mormon either, in case you wondered. :)

Let me assure you that you aren't missing out on anything by attaching shoulders to a dress. You aren't missing out on anything by having a dress with a back on it, for goodness' sakes! And you are sure of God's good opinion of you if you are careful to include Him with your special-day decisions.

A note to the bride: If you can't be sure that your sweet bridesmaids will choose modest apparel, think about choosing their designs for them. They have to do what you want them to! :)

"Adorn yourself in modest apparel" has got to be one of the easiest commands to obey in the Bible. There's so many options that are beautiful, and won't hurt other people's consciences! 

If you wouldn't comfortably wear the dress to the grocery store or to Sunday morning worship service (on account of how much of you it exposes,) let me suggest that you should re-think the design of your special dress. 

My mother and I were enjoying looking at what the web has to offer in terms of modest dresses for the bride. If you can't sew - or don't want to - there are tons of wedding dresses out there that are quite beautiful.

Here's a few sites that I've seen out there that have some nice dresses to offer: (Note: I do not endorse everything I see on every single website.)

https://www.elizabethcooperdesign.com/store/c10/Modest_Wedding_Dresses.html

This dress captured my heart :)

https://fantasy-bridal.com/categories/modest-wedding-dresses?

https://www.moncheribridals.com/modest-by-mon-cheri

Once you see how beautiful a modest wedding dress can be, you will realize that you're missing out by not looking at the alternatives!

And of course, if you're not excited by what you see, you can always design your own! (Plus...sewing your own will be a lot cheaper...)

~A few handmade designs~

Another trend I've been seeing in Christian wedding planning is to serve alcohol at the reception.  

Yes, I know that the Bible allows the drinking of alcohol as long as you don't get drunk. But as my mother and I were talking about this, she pointed out something interesting: 

As a young person, you don't know your tolerance for strong drink. You don't know how much it takes to make you drunk. What if you actually have a tendency to become addicted, and that first drink starts you off? 

As the host/hostess of a wedding, you don't know your guests' tolerance for strong drink. What if they have never had wine before, drink a little bit, think it is delicious, and discover that they have a strong tendency to become addicted? Perhaps, if the occasion had not been offered to them in Christian society, they wouldn't have taken their first drink and made a crucial, life-affecting mistake.

Sure wouldn't want that one on my conscience.

We recently went to a very nice wedding where no strong drinks were served. Everyone was happy and sociable, and nobody missed the alcohol! 

My mother has written a very good post about alcohol and "social drinking" on her blog. You might enjoy it!

Well, I don't usually write rants on my blog, but this is one I've had saved up in my plans for awhile. Thanks for reading!

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

"Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:"

--Proverbs 7:4

"For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it."

--Proverbs 8:11

How I Made This Dress, Part 1

 Hello all,

I'm pretty excited about this new dress! It is a little different than the designs that I usually make. I documented a lot of the process so I could share it with you. Here goes Part 1!

The inspiration for this dress was this 1940's tiered dress, and the fabric came from Joanns.

First, I Visualized My Design

Here was my rough drawing of what I planned to make. Yes, the finished product turned out different. I changed some things...and forgot some things because I was not paying attention to my drawing. Just being honest!

 I used another dress I made to give me some dimensions for the bodice. I folded it in 1/2 and laid in on my folded fabric. (Look at this post to see how I fold my fabric)

My front (lower) and back (higher) neckline 

More lines :) I made my armholes and shoulders larger than my original markings, because I was cutting a yoke out of this bodice, which meant that I needed room for its seam allowances. 

Speaking of the yoke, I used this measuring tape as a sort of compass to make the yoke the right distance from the neckline.

I cut the back neckline and the armhole out. I opted to cut the armhole a little differently than I had drawn. 

I also drew a line for the bottom of my bodice, but I didn't end up cutting it at all! I had planned to cut it before I attached the skirt after sewing the bodice, so I could make sure that the bodice was the length I wanted it to be. But I left it with a low-waist at the end.

Cutting my front neckline

I decided to make my neckline a little bigger

The yoke

For the yoke lining, I salvaged some muslin from my sewing scraps. 

I had to do the yoke lining in 2 pieces, but it turned out fine. I made sure to leave seam allowances for the connecting seams so the lining would still fit my yoke once its pieces were sewn together.

I sewed the lining to the yoke, (with the yoke on the right side of the fabric) and snipped into the seam allowance. This is to make the curves of a neckline lie flat and smooth when you flip a lining or facing to the inside.

Now it was time to sew the yoke to the bodice.

I sewed an arc of lace to the main piece of the bodice first, and then added the yoke. This way, my lace could not move around while I sewed the yoke and bodice together, and I used that first seam as a guide for where to sew my yoke on. My lace didn't get completely enclosed in a seam this way :)

Then I sewed the back of the bodice to the back of the yoke...

I top-stitched above my lace, folding the seam behind it upwards so that my lace would lie down and not up.

I sewed the side seams together.

Well, that'll be all for this post. Stay tuned for more of the process!

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

Dress Renovation! Plus a Sweet Fabric Find

 Hello all,

Thank you so very much for stopping by the blog today! 

I have discovered a fun way to use my creative sewing energy. I have begun to rescue clothing items I've sewn that were uncomfortable or dissatisfying in some way, and give them a second life. 

My first renovation project was this pink dress. I probably made it 1-2 years ago, and it needed some help. The idea of hydrangea fabric paired with eyelet deserved a second try! 

What was wrong with the dress:

The collar was crooked. 

The waistband was crooked.

The sleeves weren't crooked, but I didn't care for them.

What I changed on the dress:

I replaced the collar with a simple facing. Another time I might attempt a sewn-in collar. I had better success with a detachable collar, like the sailor collar in my beach dress post.

I re-did the waistband. I unpicked it and re-used the material to upgrade it.

I replaced the sleeves with fun, eyelet cap sleeves. 

I replaced the ties in the back with a strip of elastic.

I apologize for the poor quality for a few of my photos!

The back

After doing this dress renovation, I think I'll keep going with some of the other dresses in my shelf. There are a lot of them waiting for me :)

Before I end this post, I wanted to show you some new fabric I found at Joanns...I intend to turn it into a cute summertime garment!

Isn't that a gorgeous print?

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey