Pink dress
December 13th to 22nd 2021
chiffon, ribbon, interfacing, elastic
I bought about two hundred vintage sewing patterns secondhand and failed to get my sister something for Christmas. So I made a selkie inspired dress in nine days. I’d say I learned to give myself more time but I did not. I really relish in the flex of working a full time job and finishing a dress using a material I had never worked with before in a quick turn around. I did learn that keeping multiple sewing machines is a positive quirk to have when you overwork your Singer Heavy Duty you can switch to a back up machine without missing a beat.
Imogen
May 20th to 26th 2022
charmeuse, interfacing, satin, embroidery floss, polymer clay, bed sheet, buttons
A commissioned cosplay of the character Imogen Temult from Critical Role campaign 3 (I haven’t started c3 yet, so no spoilers) I sourced the brown imitation leather harness as I got the green light to actually make the cosplay two weeks before the client's deadline and did not have time to make a harness from scratch with my current resources. I combined several blouse patterns for the dress and just did two panels for the skirt. I originally used purple plastic buttons but I elected to swap them with handmade polymer clay buttons to match better. The client also asked for shorts 48 hours before the deadline so I bleached and cut off a pair of jeans and altered them at the final fitting. The crunch time required for this ensemble was exciting and satisfying but I would give myself more time to find a different material because while the charmeuse is pretty it snags too much for an adventurer sleeping under the stars.
LSP dress
February to May 2022
bed sheets, fabric dye, interfacing, zipper, sheer curtains repurposed, press button snaps embroidery floss, safety pin, repurposed star from a hair clip, acrylic paint, paint marker
“I’m a blossoming debutante on a warpath.” Lumpy Space Princess is the epitome of confidence. I made this for a friend over several months. First I dyed a light purple bed sheet a bit darker which resulted in a blotchiness from my small boiling pot that looked really cool but was not what I was going for so I worked around it. Second I made the Squeez-E-Mart applique which you can read more about under embroidery. Then I constructed the base dress as a standalone garment adding a side zipper as the pattern didn’t have a closure and a pocket because to not add pockets is unforgivable. I made the slip dress out of sheer curtains I sourced second hand and hand stitched together with upholstery thread and a whip stitch for strength. I added press button snaps on the slip dress and under the front and back cuff along the neckline. I used a soldering iron and a butane torch to create the frayed skirt as preliminary tests confirmed cutting the strips would cause the garment to fall apart and hemming the frays loses the “trash” look. Finally, I took apart a hair clip that had a plastic star decoration, primed it white, colored over it with a yellow acrylic paint marker, and gorilla glued a safety pin to the back. This is a standalone purple dress that can be turned into a conceptual cosplay.
Tris dress
April 2021
rayon, tulle, interfacing, horsehair braid, boning, hook and eye closure
So I’ve been in the same dungeons & dragons campaign since 2018 with dearly ridiculous friends. This gown was made for a session in which one of my friends officiated a wedding between two characters played by one person. Afterwards another friend gave a speech for his imaginary daughter’s wedding toast entirely in Spanish. Everyone was in formal wear. I love them all so much. What I learned from this dress was: give yourself more time when combining patterns as the bodice may not work as intended and you have to drape a new one. I also learned that just because you can make a similar shape out of a heavy wire hanger does not mean that you will be happy with the results, hence the multiple bodices pictured.
Swifty dress
May 2021
satin, interfacing, ribbon, grommets
My sister turned 22 years old on June 11th of 2021 so, feeling 22, she requested a Taylor Swift inspired dress arrive before her birthday. I went with the 2016 Grammys red carpet look and learned that ironing your fabric is essential when working with easily creased materials. Also that having your subject for fittings is a make or break with form hugging garments.
Yellow overalls
February 2021
zipper, bed sheets, buttons ribbon, snap closure
I wanted a yellow overall dress, I made one. A lot of the time I have multiple projects going at once so it’s hard to say how long one piece took to finish. I used a two inch satin ribbon as seam binding where the skirt meets the bib because the gathers made for a lot of fabric. At this stage I was uncertain of my abilities so I would cut larger seam allowances. I think this is still useful especially when draping or making garments for other people that I will need to fit to them as the excess fabric is easy to cut away if needed.
White blouse
March 2021
bed sheet, lace, buttons
I used the Mood Sewciety Flora blouse pattern to the letter for this blouse and some rainbow buttons for that queer touch. This is essentially a fitted pillowcase with a button placket and I absolutely recommend wearing that anywhere and everywhere.
Moth skirt
October 2021
polyester tapestries, bed sheet, interfacing, zipper
Interesting patterned fabric is expensive and I love to repurpose materials. This was a bit of a test for me so I purchased five of the cheapest tapestries I actually would wear from Amazon, pocketed the complimentary wall hooks to hang the tapestries, and steamed all five to learn I’d use about three and a half. I added the white inner lining because I was not confident the tapestry would hold up in a washing machine by itself. I’m happy to report that with the liner it has survived multiple spin cycles.
Black skirt
April 2022
thrifted black satin gown, 2 inch elastic, zipper
I thrifted a gown to practice with the material but ended up loving the skirt. After wearing the whole dress to a formal event, altered to add a corset back, I cut the bodice off and created a waistband and a zipper to make a floor length side slit partially gathered skirt.
Maroon skirt
March 2021
bed sheet, interfacing, zipper
This is honestly my favorite skirt I own. The pockets can fit a Nintendo Switch and the length is perfect. I used the waistband pattern piece from the yellow overall dress but drafted the skirt panels and pockets myself. I will forever be chasing the perfection of this skirt with every garment I make.
Blue skirt
March 2021
bed sheet, interfacing, zipper
I had a lot of this fabric so I decided to try my hand at French seams. It's very satisfying but not necessarily worth the time if you have a serger. I used my own pattern from the maroon skirt with a larger seam allowance for the French seams.
Plaid skirt
November 2020
quilting fabric, interfacing, zipper
This is the first wearable garment I made. I used a circle skirt calculator online and looked up what waist band pattern pieces were supposed to look like on pinterest. I have since taken this apart and put it back together to neaten up the seams on a better machine. This is the piece that taught me stabilizers are invaluable,
Grey Dress
November 23rd 2022
Grey stretch knit fabric
I love to work with secondhand materials, I bought this material in a lot of 3 bins full of vintage fabrics so I have no information on what the fiber content is but there are some very fun ways to identify fabrics. The pattern for this dress free and can be found on The Littlest Studio. I made this dress in a few hours as a sort of palette cleanse after becoming frustrated with the results of a week long project I really love the result and I want to play with the bodice pattern in the future to experiment with visually snteresting folds fostered by irregular seams.
Strawberry Jacket
October 2022
repurposed dress fabric, jean jacket
Around July of 2020 a side of the internet became obsessed with Lirika Matoshi's strawberry dress. The obsession resulted in a tsunami of cheap copies being sold by fast fashion companies. I bought one of these copies sceondhand, elected to use it for materials rather than clothing and took it apart. I found what I wanted to do with the material when I came across Rayna Lee Parks's Dragon Denim cut-out jean jackets. I absoulutely adore her designs and would love to learn more about her assembly process but for now I handstitched my own reclaimed materials version.
Yellow star boots
December 2021
white size 8 vinyl chelsea boots, acrylic paint marker, sealant
I saw a pair of striking boots on a website for suspiciously low price, I reverse image searched to find the actual creator, they were sold out at the time. I made my own. I enjoyed the process of carefully drawing straight lines on a curved surface. It was relaxing.
