It feels good to be loved!

Thank you so much for this special mention, Triangle Honeymoon! You just illustrated why I love making each and every dress.

delivered!

Last week I delivered sixteen (16!) dresses to Babiology! I was so proud to finish them and take them in as one big collection. One of the owners, Velvet Baker, had presented me with twenty-two dress shirts and I had so much fun transforming them for their store. 

I was a bit overwhelmed at first with this commission but quickly got into the pace of making more than one dress in more than one size at a time. I found it was quite therapeutic, actually. 

We wanted all of the dresses to be long-sleeve for the fall and winter so I designed three different styles in sizes ranging from 18 months to 5T. I am eager to hear how well they sell. I am most excited about hearing feedback on the designs and craft. 

Here are a few photographs of some of the dresses that will soon be for sale at Babiology!

recent work

I have been blessed with a ton of commissions over the past two months so I thought I would share a few images. 

This was my Dad's shirt. It was is great condition and I remember him wearing it often. I thought it would be fun to play with shoulder straps that tie different ways. I made them extra long so that I could tie a bow in the back or in the front or double wrap the waist and use a simple knot tie in the back. (I made this for my daughter, so technically not a commission.)

My sweet friend (and an incredible mother) commissioned this dress for her sister's baby shower. She brought me one of their father's shirts and I made a dress for her soon-to-be-born niece and her son. I loved the yellow seersucker fabric.

I love a little girl in blue! This dress will be perfect for its owner. It's very simple but stays true to the original shirt (with just a touch of femininity). Hopefully she will enjoy wearing it.

 

This shirt started out as a womens dress shirt and a few things I really liked about it was the color and the cuffs. There is a little grey line (!) throughout the fabric so I played that up by accentuating the button placket with grey bias tape along the edge. I used the original sleeve and cuffs but shortened them so that they would hit about 3/4 length. The dress is size 3T. 

One of my husband's oldest childhood friends has been really kind to support my work and recently asked me to make a dress for his daughter (size 4T) and a coordinating belt for his older son. I loved working this blue and white oxford fabric (and they are UNC fans so the color combination works double-duty!).  My favorite part is the way the shoulder straps attach to the back of the dress. I used the sleeve buttons and fabric to piece these in. (I only wish I had ironed it a bit better before taking these photos...)

My great-uncle commissioned this dress for his son's daughter. He has a blue shirt just like this yellow one he brought me to transform and he's going to wear it when he gives this dress as a birthday gift. (He loves the sentimental stuff as much as I do!)

missing, but still in action!

So....this blog is in serious need of an update!

Lately, I have been so busy physically making dresses that I haven't had any time to talk about making dresses. My sincere apologies...though I am happy to have this problem!

One of the big projects I am working on is a collection of 22 dresses for a fantastic boutique children's consignment store in Raleigh called Babiology.  It was such an honor to be asked to make some dresses to sell in their store. The 22 shirts belonged to the husband of one of the owners and I am working on several different long-sleeve (fall/winter) styles in a variety of sizes from 18 months to 5T.

Here's a sneak peak at two of the dresses. I hope to have the full collection to the store by the middle of October. 

twenty

I have tackled quite a few designs made from striped shirts (here and here and here and here) but I haven't really explored what I could do with the actual stripe pattern. I thought it would be challenging to utilize the stripe in a diagonal in some way. 

This shirt is from a very generous pile of great women's dress shirts that my sister-in-law's mother gave to me. In the bag of loot were two shirts that were exactly the same except for color. There was a blue and white stripe and a brown and white stripe. I decided that since this would be a new design I would use the brown and white stripe as my sample and then make another from the blue and white later.

The only trouble with transforming stripes into a diagonal pattern is that it takes more fabric. I had to use the entire back of the shirt and both sleeves in order to have enough fabric for the skirt portion of the dress. I realized that piecing the fabric into a chevron pattern would be the best solution aesthetically and realistically given the amount of material I had to work with (this would be a little easier with a larger-sized men's shirt). 

Below is the way the design looked when I first pieced the bodice and skirt together but I realized quickly that the rounded neckline was not working with the angular pattern of the fabric. I changed it to a V neck. 

This is the way the design started but I realized quickly that rounded neckline was not working with the angular pattern of the fabric so I changed it to a V neck. 

 
The back of the dress is high to the back of the neck and is taken from the front button placket of the shirt. 

 
A detachable belt ties at the waist and is made with fabric remaining from the front button placket of the shirt.