Ballet Dress Hack, sort of...

What do you do when you ought to be working on legit projects or things on a time deadline or stuff that needs to get done before your vacation next week? Naturally, you make a perfectly unnecessary top and put off the other important stuff 'til later.

I found this black, thermal knit fabric on Girl Charlee (damn you, Susan!) and immediately I knew I had to have it. I mean - BOWS! It has BOWS ON IT! BOOOOOOWWWWWWWSSSSSS!

I made this top by adapting my ballet dress pattern (now also on Etsy!). I shortened the skirt and slashed and spread it to make nearly a full circle skirt and made it into a peplum. PEPLUMS AND BOWS, PEOPLE!!!

I also shortened the sleeves. Not as exciting as peplums or bows.

Then there was, um, accidental changes. For some reason  the front bodice piece from test print of another of my patterns got stuffed in my Ballet Dress envelope (ugh, I've got to be more organized!). It's based on the same block but not exactly the same. I realized I used the wrong piece when I found that my front neckline was a lot wider than the back...

Another problem - that bodice was designed with a waistband so it was a bit shorter than my normal Ballet Dress bodice piece. I managed to make it work at the side seams but uh, it's a little shorter in the front. Oops. I didn't have enough fabric to cut another piece so I just went with it. Bows make up for all mistakes.

And I made my neck collar a little wider than the ballet dress pattern because like in my last turn at making this pattern I was using a fabric that was only stretchy in the non-printed parts. I worried I'd have the same problem as last time where the collar would get distorted if it was too narrow.

Anyway, ignoring some minor mishaps I really love this top! I can already tell I'm gonna get a lot of wear out of it. BOWS B*TCHES!!!

SwimAlong!

Man, I feel like I'm working on a gazillion different projects but because of that none of them ever seem to get finished... At some point I'm going to finish them all and flood this blog with sewing goodies.

In the mean time I wanted to let you in on some stuff I'm doing, perhaps stuff you'd want to get involved in, too.

So, have you heard of SwimAlong 2013? It's music to my ears! You know me and swim suits - I love 'em! Well, I love sewing them anyway. Even though I rarely go swimming. The most swimming I do is usually in a river or a creek somewhere here in Austin. Austinites are really into floating down rivers in tubes or hiking out to some waterfall and splashing around on the rocks. Did you know I grew up right next to the beach and I had a pool at my condo building, too? Yeah, I had all this access to swimming and I hardly ever used it. If only I sewed my own swim suits in high school.

Anyway, Kadiddlehopper and Three Dresses Project are hosting SwimAlong, a swimwear sew-along. You can pick whatever pattern or design you like. The gals are offering helpful construction posts and lots of inspiration.

For my suit I'm going to be adapting Ohh Lulu's lovely lingerie patterns for swim wear spandex (and I promise to show you how so you can do it, too). How cute would the Gracie and Bambi patterns be for a bikini?

I bought a half yard of this wild and crazy swimwear knit from Stitched Fabric Boutique here in Austin. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to use it. I'm thinking of mixing it with some solid black so the tacky, 70's explosion doesn't overwhelm me.

This fabric is really abstract and artsy but what you can't completely visualize from this pic is the shiny gold splotches and squiggles all over it.

If you're a little insane like me and actually like this print I found it on Spandex House's website. For some reason their site doesn't have individual pages for each fabric so if this search link doesn't work then just search for the fabric with this product number: PS-3772. There are two other colorways for it, as well: PS-3771 and PS-3770.

Anyone else planning on participating?

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In other news - my patterns are now up on Etsy! Etsy finally decided to get on the downloadable-product bandwagon so now you can buy from Etsy and instantly download your patterns!

Adding Bra Strap Carriers to your dresses and tops

This is my new favorite method to making bra strap carriers. I've heard these called many things - carriers, holders, lingerie strap-straps, whatever. Basically they're belt loops for your bra straps.

Do you have shirts that constantly slip off your shoulders when you wear them? Or the other way around - do your bra straps refuse to stay in place? These nifty things help with both those problems. I've added them to clothes like the ones above that have wide or deep necklines. Attaching your shirt to your bra straps really helps and you can add these to clothes even after you've made them.

You'll need two sets of sew on snaps, thread, scissors, very narrow ribbon (I'm using 1/8"), and your sewing machine.

First, stitch the bottom part of the snap to your shirt/dress on the inside of the shoulder seam. I'm sewing it on to a facing but you can also sew to the lining or the seam allowances, just don't stitch through to the outside.

Start with your knot underneath the facing/seam allowance if you can, you want to reduce bulk around the snap so the snaps can hold together well. I made a basic blanket stitch around my snap and tied my knot under the facing when I finished.

Next cut a 2.5" length of ribbon (more if you've got really wide bra straps, less if you're working on a tank top or something with narrow shoulder straps) and thread it through the upper snap and match up the edges of the ribbon.

Attach the upper snap to the bottom snap and pin the ribbon flat along the shoulder seam.

Using a short, narrow zig zag stitch, sew over the ribbon close to the edges. Don't stitch across more than two or three times or else you risk putting too many holes in the ribbon. Trim your ribbon ends if needed.

Repeat for the other shoulder.

Now when you wear your dress/top you can unsnap your carrier, tuck your bra strap under and snap it all back in place.

The reason I like this ribbon method is because I used to use a length of serger chain but sometimes the threads would break or come untied from snap. Threading the ribbon through the snap helps reduce bulk compared to tying a knot at the snap.