How I Made This Dress, Part 2...SLEEVES

 Hello all,

Here's another installment of photos and explanations from my recent dress project! Enjoy!

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

We left off in the last post with a sleeveless bodice. This post is about how I made the puffed sleeves!

To start off with, I laid my bodice by the section of fabric I had cut my bodice from. In the photo above, the armhole of the bodice is mirrored against the place where it was cut from. Note: the fold is at the top here. 

Cutting straight down from the top gives me this shape. FYI: The sleeve is facing the other direction than from the last photo.

I rolled the straight edge of the sleeve over twice and hemmed it.

In this picture I'm making a small cut into the folded sleeve to tell me how far to sew gathering stitches.

Here's my first row of gathering stitches: not back-stitched at the end, stitch length 5 on my machine.

I sewed another row next to it.

Then comes the fun part...making the gathers! I gathered until the left side of the sleeve was about the same size as the armhole.

I sewed the ends of the sleeve together. I didn't sew over the hem, though, because I'd need access the hem to string my elastic through.

It was time to attach the sleeve to the bodice. I put the sleeve around the armhole backwards, with right sides of the fabric together, and sewed around the armhole. I don't remember pinning it, but I might have.

Aligning the bottom of the sleeve and the top of the armhole.

Ta-da!! 

It would have been cute to leave it as a sort of butterfly sleeve, but its destiny was to be a puffed sleeve...

I cut 2 pieces of 1/4" elastic a little larger than the circumference of my upper arm. 

I attached a safety pin to one end, and threaded it through my hem/casing, When the end of the elastic was about to disappear into the casing, (it's a good thing to watch for) I stopped and sewed it down. 

When it was about to come out the other end, I sewed it down on that side too. Be careful not to sew over your safety pin when you secure that end of the elastic, by the way!

Then I stitched the rest of the under-arm seam shut, right over my elastic and hem.

I distributed the gathers around the sleeve opening.

Then...I made another sleeve ;).

I hope you enjoyed this sort-of-tutorial!

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

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

An exciting end to my project...

 Hello all,

I have another circle dress to show you! If you remember, I showed a sneak peak of the fabric in this post, and I finally got around to sewing it up recently. 

It was a project I worked on for awhile, and I would say it's definitely success from a failure...this free-hand/homemade pattern dress was NOT working out for awhile! A change in design and some prayers later I am really happy with it :) 

I used the sash and sailor's collar in this photo from this dress.

The bodice is lined.

I do apologize for the finger-printed mirror;) 

My grandma says that ruffles are my signature. Maybe they are! I love a good bit of eyelet lace!

This is another no-zipper dress. Unlike the earlier version of this dress that I was working on, it is very comfortable and easy to get on!

The 2/3 circle skirt was cut too big for this particular bodice, but a few carefully placed pleats worked well to fix that problem. Free-hand sewing can be very frustrating...and very rewarding!

I did a simple puffed sleeve, gathered at the bottom by elastic.

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

How About Some Beach?

 Hello all, 

I apologize for this post being late!

I decided to show you my beach dress this time. I made it free-hand last year, and I like the end result.

Makes me want to do some beach dresses in different colors!

I'd also like to experiment with a different collar design.

 

The collar is separate from the dress. It is attached by a hook-and-eye in the front of the bodice. I like that I can take it off when I want to wash the dress.

I also like that the collar covers my zipper closure.

In case you are curious about the sleeves

 

 

What have you been creating recently?

 

to God be the glory,

 Miss Humphrey

 

The Easiest Circle Skirt I've Ever Made....

 Hello all,

Happy May! I thought I'd show you a neat project I did recently. How would you like to see a skirt made out of a tablecloth??

My neighbor bought the tablecloth and gave it to me along with the idea to make it into a skirt. 

I cut a hole in the middle of the tablecloth, and a straight line down to the hem to make a seam; that way I could insert an invisible zipper. My favorite part of a tablecloth circle skirt is the fact that it is pre-hemmed!

There was not enough material left for a waistband...but similar fabric was to be found in my mother's stash. I did a narrow waistband, inserted the zipper, and I was DONE!

With a belt

Isn't this cheery fabric?

Hopefully you enjoyed this post...keep checking back! 

Thanks so much for visiting the blog...I really appreciate your views and comments.

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey