sneak peek

On Election Day, I thought it would be appropriate to give a sneak peek at a project currently on my sewing table. 

All I can say right now is that I am truly honored and humbled to be working on a dress for a VERY important occasion coming up at the beginning of December.

Stay tuned.

September 16, 2012

A month has passed already, but I do not want to miss an opportunity to document that September 16, 2012 was a very special day. 

Noah, Adeline and I were baptized and our little family of four joined a beloved church. 

I wanted Adeline to have something special to wear for the service, but I really couldn't imagine her in a traditional baptismal gown. I decided to make a dress for her from one of my husband's shirts. The empire waist is high to accentuate the long skirt and the original shirt button placket is incorporated at the back of the dress. I hoped it would be simple, sweet and understated.

After the service, we had our family to our home for lunch and dessert and were thrilled to also celebrate my Grandma's 85th birthday on the same day. It will certainly be a day to remember for many reasons. 

better than money

I am so thankful that I have discovered something that I love to do that brings joy to so many. It's really all I could ever ask for. 

Thank you, Amber, for taking the time to let me know what your Little Grey Line dress meant to you and your precious family. 

http://www.amberbyrdphotography.com/2012/06/05/lila-byrd-may-2012/ 

back to work

Well, it's been seven weeks since my son was born, and our little family of four is finally getting into a rhythm that feels slightly normal. 

Of course, it's a new "normal"...one I am figuring out a little better each day. Though a little unsure as to how I am going to pull it all off, I'm excited to dust off my sewing machine and begin designing and fabricating again.

I have completed two custom dresses since Noah's arrival. Friday, I received three orders and yet another this weekend, so it looks like Little Grey Line is officially back in business!

giving back

I was honored to be able to contribute several of my dresses to silent auctions for charity this past year. It is a very simple way for me to give back a little and I have found that it also allows me to meet many wonderful people that I would never have met otherwise!


My daughter's preschool held a silent auction for their scholarship fund in the fall and I recently made the dress for the winner.  With the winning bid, she was able to pick any style and size she wanted from my gallery. 


The dress started out as a classic oxford and I transformed it into the "Laura Ashley" dress on request. 

This dress was sized for a four year old (5T) and I literally used 95%+ of the shirt fabric to make this dress. (The shirt was only a men's medium.) It was certainly a challenge of means to make sure I had enough fabric to complete the dress and especially the long shoulder straps. Patterning each dress based on the specifics of each shirt is a true challenge and one of my favorite parts of the design process. 

little grey line and the tooth fairy

Although dress shirts are very common artifacts of clothing, there are still many components and variations with each shirt.  There are different types of collars, cuffs, pockets, button plackets, fabrics.... 

Each of these simple variations helps drive every design I create. They provide inspiration and, although they are subtle, they are critical to making each and every dress unique. 

Today I thought I would try to make something unique and new with one of the shirts in my stash and decided to transform this particular shirt into a pillow and celebrate the pocket. 

My daughter isn't quite ready for a visit from the Tooth Fairy (she's only three), but I think this will make a really cute "tooth fairy pillow" when the time comes!

something new

Lately, I have been so busy filling orders that I haven't had time to create anything new, but today it was a pleasure to have some time to create a new design. 


Since my ruffle front dress style has become so popular, I thought it would be fun to come up with a new take on it. 

I started with my father-in-law's classic blue oxford for the dress and then used some left over fabric from a dress I made a few weeks back. (I love keeping all the dress shirt scraps and trying to find ways to use them.)

I am really excited with how the new ruffle front turned out and all the possibilities that it presents. I'm going to continue working on a series of dresses with new ruffle front designs and will keep you updated on the progress. 

busy, busy, busy (busy!)

For the past month I have been very busy trying to get my personal life and business life in order since the newest member of our family is estimated to arrive Easter Sunday, April 8th. Wow, when I put it in writing I realize just how soon (could be less than 11 days...) things will be changing! 

In anticipation of the arrival, I have been trying to turn around my dress orders as fast as possible and I just recently stopped long enough to realize just how many dresses I have made the last few months. I feel truly blessed to have worked on each of these special artifacts.

Here are a few images of the latest Little Grey Line originals (you can see Style 10 has become quite popular which I just love): 

heirloom

While the majority of my work lately has been focused on transforming men's dress shirts, I was recently tasked with a very special request: take these two nightgowns and redesign them into summer dresses. 
  

With the first dress I was inspired to showcase the eyelet fabric located on the bottom of the gown and at the same time I wanted to incorporate the feminine ribbon and lace detail at the neckline in a new way. The result was a simple bodice that meets a slightly gathered skirt trimmed with original lace detail. I repurposed the original shoulder straps from the gown as the ties at the back of the dress. 

For the second dress, I decided to keep the original design of the gown in tact and altered it to fit the new scale of an 18 month old. 

The sweet little girl who will soon wear these dresses will probably have no idea that she's wearing an heirloom, but her grandmother (who originally wore these gowns) and her mother will surely cherish them. It was an honor to work on these truly precious artifacts. 

I am hopeful and excited that these two dresses will open an additional realm of work for Little Grey Line.


UPDATE:  One of the gown dresses didn't fit perfectly so I was able to alter it by redesigning the neckline. The added monogram truly makes the dress in my opinion. 

a dress for a big sister

I have been making a great deal of dresses lately through commissions I have received, but I try to sneak in one for my daughter, Adeline, every chance I get. 

This shirt was one that my husband could no longer wear since losing some weight recently. It is a really beautiful white dress shirt with thin navy blue and purple pin stripes so I wanted to do something special with it. 

Since Adeline will be a big sister in less than two months, I thought it would be fun to make a special dress just for her. Before we found out that our second child would be a boy, I was saving everything I made in case baby number two was a girl. Now that we know Adeline will be our only daughter I feel more comfortable personalizing the things I make for her, thus the monogram.

This dress incorporates a new sleeve design which I really love. I used a portion of the original shirt sleeve, but rotated the seam that is usually located on the underside of the arm to the top to add a new detail. Additionally, I fashioned it into a modified lantern sleeve which is fitted on the upper-arm and then fuller at the fore arm and wrist. 

Adeline wore this dress Saturday to a baby shower my sister hosted for our soon-to-arrive little boy. What special memories I will have of her in this dress. 

two of a kind

These two dresses were made for a pair of friends, Piper and Phebe. Piper's mother is a friend from high school who has been so generous to spread the word about Little Grey Line. During the past two weeks, she has helped me get six orders with more to come thanks to her and her many friends.

Both original dress shirts were really nice to begin with, but I think they make even better dresses!

I really love this classic sundress style because the long straps allow it to be styled in several different ways. 

I delivered these dresses to my friend this morning and her precious daughter couldn't wait to put her new dress on when she saw it after preschool; the best compliment a three year old could ever give me!

Here's beautiful Piper modeling her dress. Many, many thanks to her mother for these pictures and all of the support!