Rediscovering Sewing Skills
My daughter’s birthday was coming up, so I wanted to make an unique present this time. After seeing a feather dress in a fashion show on the TV, I decided that I wanted to design something that had a movement texture. In my fabric stash, I found a remanent fabric of a dress I made many years ago for my mom. It was just enough for my project, so I got to work. After developing the pattern, which took a good amount of time (including mock-ups to confirm fitting), I was able to work on the dress. The dress is completely lined inside and is now my daughter’s favorite dress. The dress was not only beautiful, but it turned out to be practical too.
With the pattern developed and as we were enjoying the last weeks of summer, I decided to make her a last-minute summer dress. I finally got to apply some embroidery I had and finish it up with some hand-embroidery pick touches on the top part of the dress. I truly enjoyed the process and the best part was seeing how much she likes and enjoys her dresses.
Having the pattern ready and updated, I feel the process for making this dress was much faster and easier. This dress is also lined on the top and has a lot of volume for movement at the bottom.
Since I was so involved with the sewing machine, I decided to venture into some small projects between dresses.
The first one was a small bag with two matching scrunchies. I also make a blouse for myself that match. With the scrunchies being so fast and easy, I was able to make additional ones using fabric I already have.
With the first small bag completed, I wondered about making a leather version of it. Overall, it works although it came with some challenges. One of them was how thick it got when multiple parts came together at the corner.
I think this leather version was overall a success, but I think I will redesign the pattern to make it as simpler as possible to minimize bulky corners. Also, for this type of projects it makes a difference if you have a leather sewing machine, which I do not currently have.