Dress Tutorial

So - please let me preface this by saying,....I am not a seamstress.  I did take grade eight home economics.  But that sadly qualifies me for very little.  Ummm....although I DID get an A.  Yeah.  I thought that would impress! :)  But these directions may not be completely complete... or easy to understand. Let me know if you have questions....and I'll pass them along to my grade eight home ec teacher! :)

I must say that there is very little that I enjoy doing more than making girly things for my little princess.  So as I cleaned out my fabric left overs I was inspired to make her something pretty!  I've seen a version of this dress around and figured I could figure it out if I tried really hard....after all, did I mention grade eight home economics??? ;)

I started with three fabrics:
(made a size 5 girls dress) - (seams were 1/2")

Bodice - cut four pieces: 13" x 6" - cutting out corner for armholes

Shoulder straps - cut four pieces: 15" x 3"
Skirt - cut two pieces: 19" x 25 1/2"
Skirt Hem Trim - cut two pieces: 6 1/2" x 25 1/2"

Shoulder Straps
Sew two strips, right side together along two lengths and diagonally along one end.  Trim edges and turn right side out.  Press.

Repeat with second set of strips.

Bodice
Sew one set of bodice pieces, right side together, along two ends under arm holes. Press seams apart.  Repeat with other set of bodice pieces (becomes lining).

Place lining bodice inside bodice, right sides together.  Match side seams and pin raw edges together.  Pin two straps inside the the top of bodice and lining (this is the back of the dress).

Sew bodice lining to bodice along the top and around arm holes.  Do not sew along the bottom raw edge.

Turn right side out.  Press and edge stitch along the top and around arms of bodice.

Turn bodice lining out and press raw bottom hem up 1/2".

Skirt
Sew right sides together along the two sides of the skirt.

Skirt Trim
Sew right sides together along the two ends of trim strips.  Press seams apart.

Fold trim in half and press.  Press one edge under 1/2" all the way around trim bottom (this becomes the backside of trim), leaving one edge down.

Pin right side of trim front to right side of skirt edge.  Sew together and press seam down towards trim.

Fold trim band up and hand sew hem along the inside of skirt.

Gather the top edge of skirt.    Pin skirt to front of bodice, right sides together, matching sides seams and keeping gathers even across the front and back of skirt.

Sew along pinned raw edges. and press seam up towards bodice, making sure bodice lining stays free.

Turn bodice lining down over raw seam and hand sew pressed bottom of bodice lining to the skirt/bodice.

Finally sew a button hole on either side of the bodice front top.  Pull shoulder straps through front button holes and tie.

Have a great day! :)

Laundry Room - Second Edition

So - here's the progress from stage two on the laundry room.


I wanted a proper dumping ground for shoes and coats - given that this entrance comes right off our car port and the front entrance has no closet and minimal room.  Eventually I want to build lockers with drawers along the bottom to hide everyone's shoes - but - needed something for the interim.


I had a giant oak shelf gifted to us for our wedding - but not really feeling it any more.  So...

some flat black paint -

and some cute little baskets to catch all the mitts and hats for the winter.  One for each kid...

And I used this little nook to create my sewing storage with an old kitchen cupboard we picked up on Craigslist.

Before

After

New door lock and handle  - and bu-bye to the pink/brown/paint experiment from the previous owners...

sadly no funds for drywall right now - but I got a room full of paint left-overs so cleaned up the two tone pegboard for the time being. 

better no?

Laundry Room

so - remember my ugly little laundry room?  

(and just to get credit for work already done, I've once again gone back to pre-possession pictures...)

so - we took out the small little cold room - because well....I do laundry more than I can preserves.  I actually think I do laundry more than I wash my hair.  'er....and this to suggest I do ALOT of laundry - not to suggest I don't shower...awkward... :) but we also tore out the summer kitchen - which I THINK is designed for use to FILL the cold room?? and well...I wash my hair more than I cook.  So really no need for two stoves.  

Sadly, however, removing the wall and cabinets also revealed cement floors - yet uncovered by peel and stick fake hardwood floor tiles.  Not that floors without peel and stick fake hardwood floor tiles are a bad thing.  but patchy dirty nasty paint peeling cement floors are also not cool.  K - there's actually just nothing cool about this room.

but - this week-end we spent many many hours on our hands and knees doing this...

Pretty sure some of those babies were placed directly on the wet concrete because well....it sucked!  I need a manicure and a back massage.  But all this to say - now, when I do laundry and drop half the load on the floor on their way to the dryer....I am LESS likely to have to rewash them.  K - I wasn't ENTIRELY likely to do it before either....but now I can feel less guilty about it.  

But any of you have any helpful tips that would have popped those suckers right off the floor and saved me my back and about ten hours of my life....?? :) (Not that I REALLY want to hear them now...!!)

Ralna

Week-end Accomplishment :)

Just so you all don't think I've been slacking.....this JUST may be the most ambitious before and after to date.  It took months and months of prep, laying the groundwork to make this enormous undertaking even possible...ummm..."enormous" - yes, yes, I just may now be. :)


Anyway,  here she be....


Before

After

                                  
 ...don't judge.


Hope you had a great THANKSGIVING! :)


Ralna

Polka-Dot Sit Down

Here's another before and after find from the local auction....$3.75 for the chair...$40 for the fabric.  AMAZING find as the wood finishing was in amazing condition.  The upholstery however had a few mystery stains (no thank-you) and a rip in the back - some pilling and wear...not so pretty.

After...

But I am LOVING the polka dots and simple lines of the chair.  I have another coordinating fabric and chair that is also on the to-do list that I think will look great with this one.  Mmmmm.  :) Yes - I MAY be developing an addiction to trashy chairs....but when do you NOT need something to sit on??

Master Ensuite Progress

So - It's seems a little redundant to say that this room is not done - as I have yet to finish ANY room in our house,...but it's a little progress and if I waited to show you my house until it was done...well,...we would have very little to talk about. :) Again - with the attention span of a gnat and the money of a....umm....a person with no money...(nice save.), I was able to focus long enough to paint the room - but do little else.  baby steps! :)


So - here's the progress.

Before

Apparently these were taken before I learned how to turn on the autofocus.  Sorry....

After

Yeah - the seashell is still there... Sadly, I don't notice it anymore so my motivation to change it has been distracted...

The stripes show up more in person - but they are still pretty subtle.  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!! :)

Next time as a special treat - maybe I'll even take the four seconds to fold the towel... probably won't make the bed in the background though! :)

But - off to chase something shiny..... :)  Have a great day!


Ralna

Finished Craigslist Find

I finally bit the bullet and dug out the sandpaper today.  I gotta say - I was SERIOUSLY chicken!  But I think it was a definite improvement and brings out the detail in the carved arms.  My first actual attempt at "weathering" with the paint layering, sanding, and I finished it with a super light stain wash on and off - which totally changed the look as well and I think matched it to the fabric even more!  Tried not to stress too much about it being perfect and "symmetrically" and evenly distressed - silence the OCD part of myself - because I guess that is technically the whole point of distressing - to make it look old and naturally "UN-perfect".  But it's hard...there's still the sick little part of me inside that wants to go back and match ever "wear" with an equally worn mirror reflection on the other side.  I need help don't I?

And because it's always fun to do a good before and after....

Have a great night...


Ralna

Project Hopping.

So - back from a family wedding in Winnipeg and trying to get myself motivated to accomplish something around here....but gotta say...NOT really feeling it.  To be honest, I look around here and see SOO many things that need to be done and I just don't have the focus to finish any one thing.


So - I washed and dried the new fabric that I bought to make some outdoor pillows ('cuz you know, September is when that should be done...) and Christmas gift projects, started cutting out the patterns, but then got distracted by re-arranging the family room (Why? - yeah...dunno), and mid-re-arrange...momentarily decided that I should paint another wall (and only one) in the family room (because only one of four is presently done - ....no explanation for that whatsoever.) so cleared all the stuff away from the one wall...only to find the hand rails from our staircase that have not be reinstalled since we moved in.  So - this obviously sparked my decision to sand down said handrail to paint it for re-install.  So - while waiting for the first coat of paint to dry....tried to come up with a plan for finally decorating our entryway and started dragging out old frames and pictures and paint color chips for the front door...


And this is the moment where it finally occurred to me that perhaps,.....PERHAPS....I've been hanging out with my kids too much and should MAYBE try and prolong my attention span to something for more than nine minutes.


All this to say -....absolutely NOTHING to show you mom and Trina - but here's a new post! :)