Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I'm a stay at home of 3 beautiful children and I love to sew! I have been sewing ever since I was a little girl and my gran taught me everything from machine-sewing to cross-stitch. I started making Barbie clothes this past Christmas for my daughter and I loved it! It's so much fun to design and create fashions for the ultimate model - Barbie! I opened a shop on Etsy in May of this year and I have met a lot of talented artists that I enjoy networking with. So, take some time to look around, read my posts, and enjoy!

Crystal

Etsy: www.BarbieBoutiqueBasics.etsy.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BarbiesBoutqieBasics

Friday, September 9, 2011

Custom Ordered Set of 15 Dresses

Ok, I confess... I'm a horrible blogger! I just haven't been inspired to write! And I've been struggling with finding a way to juggle it all... being a Mommy & wife, working part-time, creating, facebook-ing, etsy-ing, blogging... clearly blogging has fallen by the wayside. BUT I'm back and I'm going to blog EVERY Friday - even if it kills me LOL!

So, this Friday, I want to talk about what I'm currently working on, which is really exciting for me. I have a dress that I designed the pattern for - it's a simple V-neck, sleeveless dress that is knee-length and pretty classy looking, if I do say so myself! But here, take a look and you can decide:
I love this dress and it is fairly simple to create - I've made it in several colors and it is currently being sold locally at Kids Bazaar.And now I am working on customizing for a customer using Barbie fabric that she sent me. This new print for the dress is great - it's black and white with just a dash of pink! And I'm making a matching drawstring bag with black lace and pink embroidery floss. It will look similar to this:
I'm going to change it just a smidge by adding a second drawstring so that the purse will pull open/closed. I just started putting the purses together last night and I hope to finish them up tonight. The dresses are complete minus hand sewing on the snaps. I meant to take photos last night, but got caught up with other Etsy things, so here are the photos from 3 nights ago...
Did I mention that the customer wants 15 of them? How exciting is that! Her friends are going to receive this dress and matching purse for Christmas - what a great friend, huh? I'm hoping to have everything 100% complete by next Thursday so I can get these posted by Friday - can I do it? Of course!

A little more about the pattern - This dress is altered from a knit top pattern that I had. I added some width to the back to account for the lack of stretch in non-stretch knit fabrics. I lengthened the lowered edge and flared it out some to give the dress a more A-line silhouette. The bodice gathers in front just a smidge where it connects to the skirt of the dress. The waistline at that connection point is raised to an empire waist. When the dress is complete, it will have ribbon trim along that line. However, the photo I showed you earlier, has a bow to one-side. This customer opted not to included that bow. I normally prefer Velcro closures as they are easier and quicker to sew on than snaps, but, as I mentioned, these dresses will close with snaps, per the customer's request.

I'm very excited to be working on this custom order. I love creating for people and this one is definitely a pleasure! I'll update with more photos soon - maybe even tonight!

Lots of Love,
Crystal

UPDATE: I got three of the dresses 100% complete (snaps even!) yesterday!! Yay! Here's what they look like:
Pin It

2 comments:

  1. This sounds like an exciting project. I love hearing the details of how you choose the materials,adjust the pattern etc.This is a creative endeavor. Not everyone is wise or brave enough to do what you do and I am impressed that you do it on such tiny items.Keep sharing we enjoy readig it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I love sharing my creative process... I think next week I'll talk about my new strip dresses... Maybe I'll find inspiration after all!

    ReplyDelete