Sew Perfect for Every Body!

I decided that it would be easier to make the changes to the dress if I had a body double so I made some changes to my dress form. I started with one pillow but that was not enough to get the measurment that I needed. So I used two pillows. This gave me a waist measurement of 42 inches. This is okay because when my client was here she was 40 inches. Then I covered it with the batting. I pulled the string from the dress form through the batting which elimate the uniboob effect. I put the clean white sheet on the floor and put the dress on the form. It is so much easier to remove the last stitches in the top of the dress once it was on the dress form. The piece that I add will be shaped like a wedge. 2 inches wide at the top, 6 inches wide at the waist and 8 inches at the hip. To keep the dress easy to walk in the bottom of the wedge will be about 10 inches wide. I am also thinking that I need to add more inches for additional growth. I have no idea how big her waist will become. So room...

I have been sewing since I was 14 years of age. It was mostly out of necessity, I was tall and nothing fit. My mother was always right by my side but by the age of 14 she just no longer were there. She was busy with other stuff and left the sewing to me and if I had a question she would help. I would spend hours listening to my music and sewing. After a while I started making things for other people. After 5 cocktail dresses, Prom dresses, Mother of the bride dresses Maternity dresses Maternity shirts Clothing for little girls and lots of other things as well I have been called to replace zippers, change the hemline of skirts or dresses and pants, and at times called to make this smaller and or make this bigger. I have recently been hired to make alterations to a bridesmaid dress. By the time of the wedding she will be 5 months pregnant. Right now her waist is 40 inches. I have seam ripper in hand and it is time to open up some seams! She will return on August 1st and we wil...

Here is the before picture. You can see how big the armhole is and although it may not be clear the dress just hangs on me. I started my reconstruction of the dress by removing the side seams stitching and based on my measurement resewed the seams with a 1 ½ inch seam allowance on both sides. Checked the fit again and it felt so much better. I could not find the right color ribbon in my notions to give the dress the empire waist look so I just decided to put that on hold. One day I may add that ribbon. Here is the after picture courtesy of hubby who did not want to take the picture! Just looking at the pictures you really cannot see a difference in the way it fits but it does feel better and the little designers like it. A friend at work saw this outfit and asked if I had made the blouse. This picture was also taken by an unwilling hubby. I said that I did and she ask if she could borrow the pattern so her stepmother could make one for her. I told her I would bring it to her on Monday....

Auntie and Crazy Cousin made it to the airport and arrived in Chicago. I was relieved when I got the phone call because they worry me. Now they are on vacation for 14days and I have 14 days to get my car back on the road. I did not take them to the airport my sister did. This enabled me to stay in bed until 12:30. I am so glad that the house was clean so I did not feel guilty being lazy. Today the sewing room in clean enough to be messed up again. I got started on making some changes to the dress. I took the sides in 1 and ½ inches and redid the hem. It’s a little shorter but not really too short, I do not wear minis. I searched for ribbon in my stash of trims to see if Betty’s suggestion would work. The ribbon trim would give it an Empire Waist look which you see a lot of this summer. So I guess I will give it a try. I guess the real problem I had with the dress is that I did not like the way I felt when I had it on. I think that, Dresses should make you feel pretty. Suits s...