New phone, better posting capabilities

Today's project is a bridesmaid dress. The size was ordered for the hips on this girl and her top isn't as big as the measurements on this dress. She's also a little short waisted so we're taking the skirt up a little too.

Short phone entries ...

So I can't really find the time to do elaborate blogging. However, I'm realizing more and more the genius of smart phones.  So here's a test entry for this morning.

A while back I made the crepe dress from Colette patterns. I idolize Sarai and love her designs.  I made the dress reversible ... but did **NOT** realize that this big of polka dots would look so... Minnie Mouse. Working on accessories to tone down the Minnie factor ...

How in the WORLD did it get to be September?!

So... I knew I was busy, but MAY? REALLY?  This was going to be the year I began blogging!  Apparently I'm too busy for that! 

So, this is the first season Mom has ever had an employee and we weren't quite sure what kind of workload to take to keep us both sewing, but this is just plain ridiculous!  I think with the economy being what it is, more people are inclined to get things they have fixed rather than buy new.  On top of that, the bridal industry has just gotten so out of control and we are drowning in bridal gowns right now... something about 9/10/11 and then 11/11/11 for dates this year...

In totally selfish news, I went to SR HARRIS!!  Its a fabric outlet in Mpls, MN and since Mom hates a fair amount of my clothes, the shop bought me fabric for clothing to wear to work.  I'm currently working on a jeans pattern  to make it fit me a little better (they lied when the said bootcut, it's more of a trouser...) and as soon as I can figure out how to make a dressform actually resemble my shape, I have a bunch of knit fabric for making layering tanks (that actually fit cuz I have the longest torso ever and G cup girls).

Tricks and something I found today...

So here's a seam ripping tool we use all the time.  It is a scalpel available at any farm store.  They are disposable and so worth it.  Much easier to handle than a razor blade, which is what they had us using at David's bridal.  Here I'm removing the trim from a lace dress so we can hem the dress.




And here's something I found last night (I used the word today in my title very loosely... as in the last 24 hours...)

This is a pattern making site and they have software available, but they also give instructions for drafting the old fashioned way.  I am reading about Peter's Jeans Sew Along and Tailor Taylor talked about drafting his own pattern and it got me thinking.  I hate my jeans and they are the best fitting I've found so far, but I just continually have the pesky problem of either finding things with such a HIGH rise in them that it reminds me of the mom jeans SNL skit, "because you're no longer a woman" ~OR~ such a SHORT rise that I get plummer crack (HIGHLY EMBARRASING!!)

 

Anyway, here's some examples of things from the website:



Complete with detailed drafting instructions and then pages later for turning this into a jeans pattern (or other types of pants if preferred...  Love it.  I'm feeling a project coming on!! (Like I don't have enough of those going already!!)

Most days in the shop...

Most days in the shop, my lot in life is fixing these canvas filters for food processing company.  As far as I understand it, the shaft of the filters are hooked into a machine that agitate food products and the end result are dry mixes like kool aid, cake mixes, etc. The filters brand new cost around 1500 dollars. The company saves money by having us fix the filters instead of replacing them.  Sometimes the washing machine tears a hole in the body that needs to be patched. That's where I come in. The filters are cumbersome and mom has so much other work to do, like wedding dresses and prom dresses. So I spend my days fixing these filters.  Some of them have a bit of a greasy texture, hence the need for an apron. 

Apron

An Apron for working on the canvases that are yucky... 

A hand picked zipper