Today I Made A Dress For You

Today was a beautiful day.  The temperature was perfect and there is just enough breeze that my windchames played little tunes that at times I thought I recognized from my childhood....row, row, row your boat.

This afternoon we will have our first Charlottesville SewAlong…during the same time the Annual Dress A Girl Tea Party will be taking place all the way across the country in Arizona....200 people will be in attendance there. In other parts of the country today other volunteers are making dresses, at churches, in social halls, at schools, and at homes.

In a country far from here a mother is smiling at her little girl wearing a dress that was lovingly made by a Dress A Girl volunteer. And there are other little girls waiting for their very first dress. That is the little girl that I am sewing for….the little girl without a dress.

I think about these little girls a lot. I can picture them in my mind, I hold them in my heart, and I want to reach out and say "today I made you a beautiful dress."

13 days of Blog-less-ness

WOW has it really been 13 days since I posted on my blog?

I received a HUGE box of dresses from Debbie, my Dress A Girl friend in Richmond. The colors are bright and cheery and it was literally like opening a box of sunshine. I am in awe of her generous and loving spirit. I Below is a sneak peek of Debbie dresses.... I removed them from the box and sat them on my ironing board for a quick photo...look at all the colorful fabrics and ties?  This wasn't a group project...this was all Debbie's sewing.

A number of people have signed up for the SewAlong. I am so excited that I am having difficulty focusing on things that really need to be done….like this blog.

Jeanne donated a large box of plastic beads to Dress A Girl. We talked about what we could do with them and came up with the idea that beaded bracelets might be a project that some group might be willing to take on. As luck would have it, I met Monica who is the leader of a scout troop that very afternoon. They were searching for a project!

I have been working on a strategy to make the new Dress A Girl labels easier to see on dark and printed fabrics and I think I have discovered a way. I have ironed a continuous row of iron on stickers onto a piece of grosgrain ribbon and then cut them apart with pinking shears. I will report back the best way to attach them.

Meanwhile I have a sewing machine that is calling out to me from the other room. I need to get started on some dresses. I have so many ideas!

Have a peace-filled day and keep your umbrella close by…it looks like rain.

Panties Here, Panties There, Panties Everywhere

Yesterday I was all about panties.  I went to the Goodwill and purchased some t-shirts.  I walked down row after row of shirts stretching them and found about a dozen that I thought were perfect.  When I got home I tossed everything in the washer and sat down to review the tutorial.

The unisex panty pattern that I chose was from Etsy (link below).

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62428988/boy-cut-brief-unisex-underwear-pattern?ref=sr_list_2&ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=girls+underwear+pattern&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

After the t-shirts came out of the dryer: I removed the sleeves and set them aside, I removed the neck band or collar and tossed them, and then I cut the shoulder and side seams.  I took the main pieces front and back, and pressed them well.  Since the pattern was one piece and I planned on making multiples I made a posterboard pattern so I could trace the pattern onto the fabric.  I cut these pieces out by hand.

Using my rotary cutter and stretchiest fabric I cut out all the bands.

After I cut everything out I assembled them using a stretch stitch that both seams and over casts the edges.  The tutorial that comes with the pattern is excellent and well worth the investment.  And look at these darling panties! 

What do I have on the agenda today?  Panties of course!

Tired of Looking at Myself

I am tired of looking at myself everytime I open my blog.  So I swapped my profile photo for this one of my Aunt Viola. She's cute and makes me smile. 

Vi posed for this photo 85 years ago when she was around 4 years old.

Maybe in the future I will go back to my old profile photo but for now I'm lovin' this photograph.

You're Invited to Sew-Along

Imagine a World where Every Little Girl

owned at least One Dress….

What if that dress was made by you?

You are invited to attend a Sew-Along on

Sunday, May 22nd at 1:00

We will be making simple Pillow Case Dresses

so bring your sewing tools and pillowcases!

Les Fabriques will furnish sewing machines for us to use

and a 15% discount for materials used for dresses.

There is something for everyone to do even if you can't sew. 

Location: Les Fabriques

1895 Seminole Trail

Charlottesville, VA 22901

(at their new location across from Lowe’s)

Questions?

You can contact me Karen at DressAGirl@charlottesville.net or

Carla at Les Fabriques at design@LesFabriquesInc.com

Check us out on Facebook Dress A Girl Around The World - Virginia

Come Sew With Me

Last Monday’s interview isn’t generating as much interest as I had hope. The Dress A Girl interview was on three television stations and it ran on the evening time slot and then again in the morning.

I have received two phone calls- one was from a woman with beads that she thought we might be able to use. The other woman wanted me to make dresses for the flower girls in her wedding scheduled for June 2012, and that is pretty much it.

Tho I am happy to have caught the eye of at least two people I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that I was disappointed.

However with that said I have met some wonderful people all of which I have really enjoyed talking to. I have found that people are quite receptive to a conversation so I am beginning to think a television spot might not be the best way to reach out to the ‘caring community’ that I live in.

May 22.… Les Fabriques a local fabric store is sponsoring a Sew-Along for Dress A Girl. Maybe I 'll call the local paper to see if they would be interested in coming to the Sew-Along.  I hope to meet a lot of new people.

I am still finishing up my dresses for the Dress A Girl contest.  I will snap a photo before I send them off. 

Wish me luck!

RIP My Old Iron

It happened yesterday.  My iron died.  One moment we were ironing away and the next time I went to pick it up it was luke warm and fading fast.  I stopped what I was doing "I need an iron, I can't live without an iron."  I hopped in my car and headed into town.  I was a woman on a mission.

I have not had a lot of luck with irons. I had a Rowenta but that wore out after only a year and a half, then I went with a Black and Decker it had a short life as well.  I finally gave up and bought the cheapest iron I could find...a Sunbeam.  It lasted just over 6 months.

I don't know about you but I sort of have relationships with my appliances...my sweet toaster who doesn't object when I jam 4 pieces of bread in to two slots, my vacuum that had sucked up legos and my boys underpants when I was too tired (or lazy) to pick them up, and last but not least my iron. 

I don't like my appliances to break and I don't like buying a new ones. 

My first stop on my quest for a new iron was a local fabric store because I had a 50% off coupon, but the girl as the register said "you obviously didn't read the fine print, irons are not included." I left the Simplicity iron on the shelf because I wasn't 'in-love' with it anyway.   I headed over to Lowes. 

Lowes had three irons, two of which looked like vintage irons of the 60's, the other one had an inch of dust on it and the label on the bottom of it has permanenly bonded to it.  So I jumped in my trusty VW and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond...And there it was The Shark!  Reasonably priced, sleek, self-cleaning....yep this was an iron that I could learn to love.

I stuck it under my arm, wandered to check out, and headed home.

When I got home I bagged up my old Sunbeam and carried it to the dumpster.  Rest in peace my old friend we made yards of beautiful bias tape together.  You'll be missed!

Sew-er's Block

I love where I am right now with my sewing.  For several weeks before I got involved with Dress A Girl I had a serious case of sew-er’s block.  I would walk in my new sewing room AND it just wasn’t there.  Sewing and designing kids clothes is my passion so it was a bit of a desperate feeling when I lost my motivation.  I worried about this a lot.

Ever since I heard about Dress A Girl but I have felt energized.  I am not kidding when I say I am designing in my head all the time, when I’m doing all the mundane chores of daily living but I am sewing in my mind.

It was a beautiful day today.  I worked outside, re-potted my tomatoes, cut out all the dresses I plan on making tomorrow.

One Shirt- Two Dresses

Last week I lucked out and found a XXL Eddie Bauer shirt at the Goodwill. It is a beautiful piece of fabric…green and blue check. I cut the sleeves off and tossed them to the side and laid out a little dress using the shirt button band on the front of the dress. I found a great red gingham shirt and cut it into bias strips for the ties and I was good to go.

When I finished up the dress, and was clearing off my table it struck me that there was enough fabric in the sleeves to make a second dress. So I cut the cuffs off the sleeves and cut them up the side so that they laid open. I ended up with a dress front and back with a sleeve placket a little off center. The curve of the top of the sleeve made a nice curve on the hem.

I had to cut a little strip to run the elastic through, I put a piece of bias tape around the curved hem.

Aren’t they just the cutest little dresses?

Slow Poke Karen

I am sitting here with two dresses cut out and one put together and I worked all afternoon! I AM really slow.

Recently I have been suffering from a little ‘dress-envy.’ Look at all these sew-er’s AND all of their beautiful dresses! How will I ever speed up production?

I confess I am a perfectionist that certainly doesn‘t help. I do change the color of the thread a lot, I tear out seams, and go back and hand sew little edges that I missed with my sewing machine.

Every night when I turn out the lights, sewing machine included, I promise myself that tomorrow I will push myself just a little harder to make some serious time with my sewing AND everyday about mid-afternoon I realize that I am poking along “maybe tomorrow” I tell myself.

On Saturday, Les Fabriques fabric store is having an Open House. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of interesting people AND maybe some speedy sew-ers.  I could use a few tips to speed up production.

WOOF WOOF

Today I went to a fabric store to pick up a few notions…that’s all!  A sweet woman, kind of shy approached me “would you like my 25% off coupon, I’m not going to use it.” I felt like she had handed me a sack of gold! I wanted to reach out and give her a bear hug.

Now not only did I have enough money to cover the contents of my cart, I had even more money to spend. Notice how 25% means more to spend rather than money to save? :^) So I purchased even more thread and elastic.

And for those of you who heard me complain about my Simplicity bias tape maker (in an earlier post) I am going to take a lesson from a friend on how to “make fabulous bias tape” with my bias tape maker.

I will go with an open mind. I promise. I am of the firm belief that you can teach an old dog new tricks.  WOOF WOOF

Heart Tags & Hem Trim

A couple of days ago Sean (my son Jon's friend) posted photos of the Kingdom of Tonga on Facebook. Sean is in the Peace Corps.  In one of photos, two little girls are posing with Sean for a photo…immediately I began to think about Dress A Girl. I wrote to Sean’s mother to ask about the Tongan children in the photo. Do they need dresses? She has written to her son Sean to find out. Stay tuned…

Meanwhile….

I found the sweetest little heart tags that sew neatly into the side seam at the hem or on the side of a pocket. The tags folds in half so there is a heart on each side. I think they’re perfect. I found them on eBay. I have also been playing around with the top stitching on the hem to see if I could cover it up. I tried rick rack, fancy machine stitching, and bias trim. I really like the bias trim.

I just heard that it’s going to snow this weekend. How can that be?  It was eighty two days ago!  Oh well back to the refuge of my warm little sewing room.

Bias Tape Folder $6... Ralph Lauren Sheet...$1 Cute Pillowcase Dress...Priceless!

Call me old fashioned but I like to make my own bias tape. The other day while I was looking for something to spend my money on I purchased one of those bias tape makers by Clover.

I have an electric one by Simplicity but we have a love/hate relationship. It wants to choose the fabric every time we work together. BUT when I want to choose the fabric it revolts by jamming up which requires a fast thinking and a speedy rescue. In theory it is a great idea however for now it makes a good doorstop for my sewing room. But I digress.

Last week there was a big sheet sale at our local Goodwill…$1.00 each. I found a pretty blue and white striped Ralph Lauren sheet blue that I cut into stacks of 2” strips. ~drum roll~ I stuck a strip in to the little Clover tape folder and off I went.

While I was cheering myself on….my husband wandered in. He's a nice guy and is always ready to lend a helping hand...so he held the unfolded strip and directed it into the tape folder while I sprayed and ironed. 

I give this little gadget a thumbs up.

I may eventually learn to love my Simplicity bias tape maker but for now I don't have time to argue with it.

There’s a nice breeze today and I want to keep my door open so I can catch it. :^) Where’s that doorstop?

Have a peace-filled weekend my friends.

Confession

One of the things that I love the most about Dress A Girl is the simplicity of the pillowcase dress. All you need is a pillowcase, a bit of elastic, and some ribbon and voila a cute little dress!

I was so taken by my first pillowcase dress that I wanted to make another one AND I did!  I put my precious little dresses on hangers and hung them so that when I walked past my sewing room I could glance in and admire them. I really did!

Sheets, Shirts & Tees

On the way home from my mother 86^th birthday lunch today I stopped by the Goodwill. It has become one of my favorite places to shop. In fact I haven't been in a department store for over a year since I discovered  the Goodwill.

Today I splurged... I bought 7 sheets $1.00 each (pink, 2 blue, 2 white, pink & lime striped, stars) and one of them was still in the package! I can make at least 4 dresses out of each sheet (28 dresses).

I also bought 5 darling t-shirts $2.00 each (5 t-shirt dresses), 5 striped men’s shirts $3.50 each, which will make (10 dresses).
That’s 50 upcycled earth friendly dresses for $38.00. Less than $1.00 per dress. What a deal!

19,192 Dresses

Hi my name is Karen. I design and sew upcycled kids clothing, but best of all I work with a program called Dress A Girl Around the World.

One sentence on the Dress A Girl website grabbed my attention “Imagine a World Where Every Little Girl Owns at Least One Dress…And what if that dress was made by you!” “Awesome” I said outloud. “Sign me up.”

To date Dress A Girl has delivered an amazing 19,192 dresses to 36 countries.

Please consider sponsering a Dress A Girl event or Sew-Along with your friends, family, club, or church. 

I can't wait to get started...how about you?

http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/