Mastering...

The next thing I am mastering is PATTERNMAKING!!  I have made two dresses for my nieces - one for each of them and it was a beeyotch.

See images above. The top one is for a six year old and the bottom is for an eight year old.  The 8 year old's dress took me FOUR tries to make.  Yes, FOUR TRIES!  Here's why.  I had to make a pattern.


A wise girlfriend of mine (who happens to be a pro sewer) suggested that I buy a top from the store, turn it inside out and trace around it to make a pattern.  Then I can just return the top.  She gave me some crazy-fangled way to turn the body into the sleeves to make a precise pattern, but of course being an amateur I didn't pull it off properly AT ALL.  First of all, I bought a size 10-12 top.  Don't ask me why.  Lately, my brain doesn't function all that great.  Hah!

Then from the pattern that I cut, the top that I made could fit me!  Horrified.  I also had thought to make the skirt portion extra long because that's how the babe likes her dresses.  Well, duh, an 8 year old is not going to want an extra long skirt!  So, needless to say, the first dress turned out ridiculous.  So, being the brilliant person that I am I thought, well I will just turn this dress inside out and sew in a 1/2 inch from both sides and the sleeves.  And bring the skirt up.  That sort of worked but the dress still didn't look so great.  After I made the 6 year old's dress (of which I could make a pattern from one of D's tops deconstructed), I felt bad that the 8 yr old's was so shabby looking.  So, I took the whole thing apart and remade the bodice and sleeve with a new pattern.  I ended up just cutting up the top that I had bought.  Now I'm not returning it...oh well.  But since the top was for a 10 year old, I tried to make adjustments by looking at this post and it was terribly confusing so I just eyeballed it.  The above is what I got.  It looks okay, but if you look closely, you can see that the sleeves are a bit too slim I think.  We shall see when the girls get it...if it actually fits.  I might have to make a whole other new dress if this one doesn't fit and just mail it out later.  BUT, the 6 year old's dress truly turned out pretty perfectly.  Maybe it could've used a collar though.

Meanwhile, I love the above mentioned post.  I am determined to learn how to make patterns and use all those cool tools that Sense & Sensibility had on her site.  New Year's Resolutions...