Currently this little blog is in it's starter stages. By that I mean it's a lovely little template I found and not what it actually will look like when I've got the time to sit and design it.
But for the moment I think going forward is more important than worrying about the stylish choices of CSS and making my own graphics.
This blog is going to be my dress blog, and it will be filled with photo's, rantings, sketch ideas, blunders, and hopefully some home runs. It is my intention to really start making some truly amazing clothing for other peopler and not just myself,
A little about me. I am a self learned dressmaker. *gasp!* I know, it's so avante' gaurd. But it's the truth, I haven't taken anything above the very very basic this-is-how-you-sew-in-a-straight-line class. So, you ask, "Why do you think you can make clothes for other people?". Frankly because I can.
I started making clothes for myself about 5 years ago. I wanted a lovely long floor length circle sirt in burgandy to wear on New Year's Eve and intrusted my mom who could sew to do it for me. Needless to say it took my mother WAY longer than I had anticpated to make this skirt. So the next time I wanted a dress (and it didn't take long because they just don't make skirts and dresses that I like!) was for a cousin's wedding and I decided to just do it myself. A foolhardy thing to do I know.
I picked out one of the cute 1950's retro patterns of Butterick B4513. But as with most commercial patterns the picture of the dress and the pattern didn't quite match up. The orignal pattern was just a circle skirt (which I knew did not have quite the fullness of the picture) and a elastic waist (which I hate). So I decided to alter it. And I did.
I added more volume to the skirt by cartridge pleating much more fabric in the back ( a technique I found on the interwebs while looking at ren faire dresses). I got rid of the elastic in the waist in favor of a buttoned waistband and made the back of the dress lace up to take care of the new closure for the waistband and get rid of the extra fabric. In fact here is the sketch I did of all my alterations.
Needless to say it was a hefty endeavor for a first dress, and no I did not make a mock-up, I just did like I do and dove in head first. Surprisingly it turned out well. On reflection I could have done with less volume in the back, a box pleat would have sufficed, and the waist band hit at a funny part of my torso and should have come up about an inch or two to extentuate the smallest part of me. But ah well. I have since given the dress away after it hanging in my closet forever with only one wear in it's history. I'll have to see if I can get a photo of it from the new owner.
The pandora's box was opened and now I knew I could make myself whatever the hell I wanted to, it didn't matter if they didn't have the exact pattern for it.
From there came experiments in ren faire garb, historical patterns and techniques, gothic lolita skirts, lots of costumes, ritual wear and the discovery of the wonders of jersey knit.
Which brings us to the now.
I make a lot of clothes for myself, a lot of repurposed stuff, a lot of historical costume stuff. I frequently find myself frustrated at not being able to find the type of clothes I want to wear (like winter dresses, where the hell did they go?). And more frequently find myself liking things in stores, but the prices for the quality. Surely I cannot be alone in this.
In fact I know I'm not. Because a have a large group of friends who all feel the same way in varying degrees. Some of them lack the time or interest to sew, and some of them just don't think they can. It seems a shame they should be without beautiful quality unique clothes to dress, play, and enjoy in. So this is my endeavor to change that, and to see if I can make a business for myself out of it.
Thanks for listening, if you made it this far I'll let you in on a little secret. Within the next few days will come the first real post of the blog and it will cover the creation of the casually elegant goddess dress ;)
Stay tuned.
Branwen
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