Flower girl dress

First photo of the flower girl dress I made for my cousin Heidi's wedding. I am so proud of how good it turned out! More to come soon!

I turn squares into dresses and look good doing it.

I have really gotten interested in this sewing business.

In fact, I really like it!

I can absolutely, positutely, not-half-assedly check off #8, to make a dress I will actually wear.

I made this dress:

Turns out I didn't take a good picture of my dress that night.
This is it - just take that green fabric down to my knees.
(... I'm on the left.)

for my birthday this year. And it looks cute 'n all, but at the time I was not all that excited to wear it again. Partially because I was cheating and hadn't really finished it - the zipper didn't match up, I didn't actually hem it, and it fit funny in the bodice.

I cast it aside, but was nowhere near giving up. I am simply amazed, every time, when this long stretch of folded fabric becomes something wearable. I found another pattern and some beautiful fabric from bon bon and made this cuteness:

[Picture coming soon, lo siento!]

I wore it to my cousin L's baby shower and her sister (another cousin, of course) complimented me, saying it was cute. When I blurted (with pride!) that I made it myself, she absolutely inflated my ego and asked if I would make the flower girl dress for her wedding in September. How do I properly illustrate bursting with sunshine and happiness in a blog? It's basically that I felt like this:

but all of that colorful wonderfulness was inside. Pictures will be up soon, but I haven't felt this proud about an accomplishment in a long time. I look at it and beam. It's hanging up in my loft just so that I see it when I wake up and affirm that I am freakin' awesome.

PLUS I have turned birthday dress into a kind of Franken-dress; adding pockets, taking in the sides, and basically trying anything new on that dress. And I like it enough that I wore it to work, so we have us a checked-off #8 !

Update: #8 - Not going so well.

Let me explain.

I made a dress to wear to my birthday dinner a few weeks back. (I'll post a pic soon!) I like it well enough but if I am completely honest with myself, I won't wear it that often. That means I can't in good conscience check this one off.

Why, you ask? Two main reasons:
1. It's shoddy craftsmanship. I got anxious to finish and it shows, from the zipper being uneven to not hemming it and quite a few places in between. When you start looking closer, you wouldn't wear it, either.
2. It's dressy enough that I would want to wear it somewhere nice. Dinner or a banquet or something. Trouble is I don't get to many of those in my old age. And if I were attending one, I probably need to look professional at the same time... which means your bra strap can't sneak out (they're conniving little buggers!).

So I begin fresh! New pattern, amazingly wonderful fabric from Bon Bon Atelier, and a refreshed excitement to check off an item! The picture in this post is the main fabric that I'm using. I hope to post more progress pictures soon!

Progress Report: #8 - Sew a dress that I actually will wear

Quite a few of the items on my list are going to take skill and time to accomplish, so I thought I'd issue a progress report on one that I'm particularly excited about: #8 - sewing a dress that I'll actually wear.

This progress report is provided by my crafty friend Leslie, who is a very driven crafter. She's made jewelry, decoupage boxes, knit things and more (and done it well, I might add). Most importantly she bullied encouraged me to go to a sewing class at a local craft store, Bon Bon Atelier, back in November to make "retro aprons." These looked very complicated to a neophyte sewer such as I was - lots of layers, strings that tie in the back, and a gathered front that was oh-so-cute! Fortunately for me, the teacher/store owner was gloriously patient with me and my apron turned out muy adorable - so much so that I made two as gifts for Christmas and one again as a birthday present for my niece in February:

I made it reversible, to double as a cape!

Anywho, this led to the next Big Project To Be Tackled, a real-live skirt! (Also known as an apron, completed.) Leslie had chosen a cute pattern and had already made the skirt once before I headed to her apartment one rainy Saturday in March. This proved handy for me, because I can't read a pattern. (Oops...)

This particular project took me hours to complete. It was frustrating, and there was a lot of stitching followed by unstitching followed by re-stitching. Also, the waistband is permanently sewn on upside-down and the zipper is crooked. Also, Leslie's cat kept trying to investigate by way of jumping up onto the table.

BUT. The finished product (if you don't know about the waistband or zipper issues) is freakin' CUTE. And I get compliments when I wear it before people know that I made it, which is cool. And! It has pockets! I made pockets!

I'm going to re-attempt this skirt before moving on to other, Even Bigger projects. I have some old shirts with cuteness on them that I want to incorporate somehow. And I like that the pattern casual enough to wear on weekends but also dressy enough to wear around my office. You can never have too many of those in your wardrobe.