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.