Finally making some progress on this prototype! I like how it's turning out! The skirt is going to be awesome! #muslin #sewing #dress #wedding #weddingdress #pinsandneedles #fashiondesign #draping
Xuebing Du
KIROKAZE
taylor price

Janaina Medeiros
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
wallacepolsom

祝日 / Permanent Vacation

blake kathryn

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NASA

⁂

Kiana Khansmith

titsay
Jules of Nature
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

★
cherry valley forever
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
occasionally subtle

#extradirty
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@ellenpfeiffer
Finally making some progress on this prototype! I like how it's turning out! The skirt is going to be awesome! #muslin #sewing #dress #wedding #weddingdress #pinsandneedles #fashiondesign #draping
After a brief hiatus from sewing, I'm back! Lots of dresses to start designing and sewing! Fun fun! #pinsandneedles #dresses #sewing #design #diy #abeautifulmess
Making good progress today! #karacoywedding #sewing #fashiondesign #muslin #prototype #bridesmaid #dresses #bridesmaiddsresses
Made some good progress tonight! #karacoywedding #sewing #bridesmaid #bridesmaiddsresses #weddings #dresses #fashiondesign #fashion #design #muslin #bodice
Starting a huge new project! Drumroll....... 5 bridesmaid dresses and 3 flower-girl dresses!!!! Instead of just posting the typical one picture when I'm finished, I'm gonna be posting about it throughout the whole journey using #karacoywedding So excited to have this opportunity! Here we go! #sewing #bridesmaid #bridesmaiddsresses #dresses #fashion #fashiondesign #design #diy #homemade #muslin #weddings #pinsandneedles
Just a another simple game day dress! I love sewing! #sewing #fashion #design #fashiondesign #gamedaydress #purple #chevron #fabric #supplies #pinsandneedles #scissors #custommade #homemade #oneofakind #teamspirit #love #sewinglove
My sewing blog, Pins & Needles, turned 2 years old today! Can't believe it's been that long! It's been a great journey and, there's still tons to come! #pinsandneedles #pins&needles #sewing #fashion #fashiondesign #design #homemade #custommade #dresses #purses #blogging #blog #tumblr #2years #birthday #ABeautifulMess
Another game day dress!! Made two ribbons... I like yellow the best. What do you think? #sewing #gamedaydress #steelers #fashion #fashiondesign #design #dresses #diy #custom #homemade #chevron #football #forsale
I finally finished a new dress!! You can see the beginning and finished looks above. This one is more formal. It could be a cocktail dress or casual.
Originally I hadn’t planned the black belt and stripes. When I started sewing, I forgot to adjust my dress form to be the right size for my body. About halfway through I realized the dress was way too small for me in the rib cage! I decided to take out the sides and insert a layered black stripe down both sides. I used a combination of bias tape and extra lining fabric to create a tuxedo-type stripes down the side and around the waist. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I’m actually really glad I made that mistake, because the dress wouldn’t be nearly as unique and cute as it turned out to be otherwise.
I didn’t take step-by-step photos this time. I had no plans when I bought this fabric. It was just an experiment that I took moment by moment.
Next, I have more game day dresses in the works. It’s football season!! Wooop! I’ll post the finished garments when I’m done!
Throwback Thursday! My very first sewing project when I was a kid! I'm on the left :) #tbt #sewing #fashion #fashiondesign #diy #dresses #homemade #ABeautifulMess
Another game day dress for my friend @jacqueh this time an OSU one! #sewing #diy #gamedaydress #osu #fashion #design #fashiondesign #homemade #custom #prettygirlssew #spiritdress #oklahomastate
At the Rangers vs. Yankees game at Rangers Staduim! Finally got to wear my game day dress! #rangers #yankees #gamedaydress #arlington #texas #baseball
Game Day Dresses
My friend Joy had the great idea to make "game day dresses" with some cute Rangers t-shirts that she found. We loved the color and they had a great design on the front. This would be an easy project if you can find some cheap sports team shirts, because you only need a front logo. The back of the shirt doesn't matter.
First, I put the shirt on my dress form, or you could put it on yourself, and pinned around the form-to give me an idea of where to cut the new bodice.
After cutting out the front piece, keeping a one inch seam allowance, I placed it underneath (on the stomach area of the t-shirt) and cut out an identical back piece.
Next, put them together, with the outside facing in, and pin then sew the sides together.
Then pin an elastic band around the top- leaving some room at the top to sew it down inside, like so:
When you sew, if you want it to be tighter around the top, stretch the elastic while keeping the fabric slack.
Then, fold it down inside so the elastic is hidden, and sew it down. Here I folded the top down to show this seam inside:
Now it's time for the skirt portion. We used a jersey-knit chevron fabric. I decided to make some small pleats around the top.
After this I turned the top and bottom inside out and sewed them together.
I forgot to do this one mine, but on my friend's dress I made pockets. I don't have pictures, but you have to make the skirt in two portions- the front and back. Sewing pockets between the two. I have more details about this in other skirt how-to posts.
Finally, hem the bottom, make any adjustments, and add a cute ribbon around the waist. I also added little belt loops on the side- to keep the ribbon in place. I just used extra t-shirt fabric, folded it in half a couple times, and sewed it down.
Here's a couple pics of the finished product!
Sorry I've been gone for so long!
Here's why:
...but seriously, I've been so crazy busy lately!
Like this:
And this is what I like doing with my rare free time:
...but with my cat, of course.
Linen Summer Dress
Sorry for the long absence! I've been procrastinating a little lately. I've been working on this dress for several weeks now, and it's been sitting in my apartment with just the zipper left to install. Today I finally finished it!
This is, by far, my most ambitious project yet. I designed this dress myself, made a pattern from scratch, and spent a lot of time making sure it looked tailored and perfect. I had originally wanted to make a color-block dress, but when I went to the fabric store, I saw this floral print and fell in love! So, I changed the design a little to be more appropriate for floral linen fabric. Here's how I did it:
I did most of this in the middle of the night- hence the bad picture lighting. Sorry.
I started with the skirt, since that's the easiest part. I pinned a bunch of little, one-inch pleats all the way across and sewed them in place.
Then I measured out the hem and sewed that down- making sure it was exactly the same height all the way across.
This took a while because my cat decided to help...ahem, mess up all my ironing. Remember, this is linen, so like the slightest breeze would cause it to wrinkle...you can imagine what a chubby cat would do to it. .
Now comes the hard part- the bodice. I've never made anything like this before, so I was super intimidated. I took another dress that had a similar style and traced the bodice on some paper to create the pattern. This I used for the back piece.
After cutting out this piece, I traced it on a silky thin fabric that I used for the lining. I then sewed these pieces together and turned them inside out to finish the back piece.
I used this pattern again for the top front piece, but made the neck line lower and the length shorter- since this would only go down to about my armpits, with a piece of the floral fabric covering the bust. I did the same thing with the lining fabric too, sewing around the edges and turning it inside out. Here's what the finished pieces looked like:
I pinned them along the shoulders and one of the sides and sewed them together. I left one side open for the zipper.
Then using some more tissue paper, I drew out a pattern for the bust piece. I didn't take a picture of it, but here I'm using the iron to fold down the sides, which I would then attach to the front of the bodice that I already created.
This is how it looked after I sewed the front pieces together. I also put darts in the front, so it would fit appropriately along the bust line.
I then made a sash to go across the waist. I didn't take a picture of this- sorry. I forget to take pictures sometmes...
Then I attached the skirt and the bodice to the waist sash, leaving one side open for the zipper. Also don't have pictures for this step either. I'm a terrible blogger.
After this point, my life got busy and I took a break from the dress for a couple weeks. Finally, today I got off my lazy butt and finished it! So here's a picture of me installing the zipper:
It went about half-way down and then I sewed the edges together inside.
After a couple adjustments, re-ironing and steaming it, and cutting threads, it was finished!!
Here's a picture of the bodice, so you can get a better look at the best part, in my opinion!
I'm very happy with the outcome, and i think I'm ready for more advanced projects!
Sorry this took so long. This is how my procrastination goes:
First,
Yeah right...
Then,
...except with my cat.
Custom Made Coin Purse Fabrics
Choose a fabric, write down the number, and order on my Etsy site etsy.com/shop/EllenLP.
Sample Purses:
Fabrics:
Still sewing coin purses to sell on Etsy! Will be posting my Etsy account info soon!
Coin Purse
My parents own a FURNITURE STORE, and they gave me a bunch of fabric samples that have been discontinued. So, I have tons of 1 foot upholstery fabric squares, which are perfect for little coin purses! This is my first time making something that isn't a garment, but it was very quick and fun.
Since I have so many fabric squares, I'm going to be making a bunch of these coin purses and selling them online. I'll be setting up an Etsy account this week where they will be available as I make them.
So, here's how I did it:
First, I drew a little pattern. I didn't have any pattern paper, so I just used regular printer paper. I folded it in half so the purse would be symmetrical.
The dark line is the real size of the purse, the rest is seam allowance.
Then, I started with the inside lining fabric and pinned on the pattern. I folded the fabric in half so that I could cut out the two pieces at the same time, and so they would be identical.
Then I pinned the pieces together and sewed them, remembering not to sew the top closed!
Then, I turned it inside out (the seam will go in between the outer and inner layer where it won't be exposed).
I just estimated the size on a strip of fabric for a little inside pocket. I hemmed the top and then, folding the sides inward, pinned it down to one of the sides. I turned up the light balance on these pics a lot because with the black on black, it's really hard to show the pocket and stitches.
I did the same thing for the outer layer, using the same pattern piece.
Then I put the lining with the pocket inside the outer layer and sewed around the top to secure them.
Next is the really tricky part- the zipper. This was by far the most difficult zipper I've ever done. Just because it's so little, and there's not much room to maneuver everything into the right position while you're sewing. I kept a little room on the end corner of the zipper for later (plus it was pretty much impossible to sew the zipper down in that corner).
Next, folding down the edges and then folding it in half again, I sewed a little strip of extra fabric. In the little space I kept open, at the back of the zipper in the Corner of Hell (seriously, that little back corner was not cooperating with me) I stuffed in the ends of this strip and sewed them down to create a little loop for a key chain.
Then I made the same thing again, but much longer for a handle. I sewed this into a circle and attached it to the key chain.
That's it! Done!!
So, I'll check in later when I have the Etsy account set up and purses ready to be purchased!
And this is what I feel like while fantasizing about the success of my future Etsy account: