3 dresses and a rainy weekend

I'm back! This is getting to be kind of a regular thing, but don't worry once summer starts to happen that will end I can almost guarantee it!
This week has been a strange one for me.  On Monday I went all out...I spent the better part of my day working on the dresses for Brandy's wedding. By the way that number went from 2 to 3 last weekend when I volunteered to make my nieces flower girl dress as well.  The pattern for hers is really simple and really cute so it's not really that much more work.  The main attraction Brandy's dress is just about finished, I have to install the zipper (yuck), hem the bottom and attach the criss-cross strappy things in the back (they have always been part of the design but I've become rather accustomed to seeing the dress as more of a halter while I've been working on it. Oh well to late to make that major of a design change now should have thought of it a month ago).  All total I probably have a couple of hours left on her dress. Her daughter Adrianna's dress is done except for a hem and any last minute adjustments that I'll need to take care of next week when she comes for the final fitting. My nieces dress is all the way cut out and probably about half-way put together, again maybe and hour or two and it's done, but I've lost my drive to get them done.  I'm not sure what the issue is other than my real job has been a little crazier than usual this week and I haven't been feeling 100% this week but I really need to get my self in gear and get these done.
While I have lost the drive to finish the wedding dresses I have not lost my inspiration.  I got a couple new patterns today and some really great spring material and can't wait to get started on my spring/Summer collections, but first I have to get those darn wedding dresses done!
I was hoping this weekend would turn out to be a great time to work since it's been raining here since sometime last night and it's foretasted to keep raining until sometime early next week, but with gloomy skies comes a gloomy attitude and little to no interest in pretty things.  Hopefully after a yummy dinner and a good nights sleep tomorrow I will actually feel like working (or I'll have to make myself because next Friday is final fittings). Wish me luck and keep watching for new pictures!

Studio Makeover PART 2

Wow 3 posts in less than 10 days! For those of you that don't follow regularly that's a pretty big accomplishment on my part! Usually my posts are more along the lines of 1-2 a month sometimes 1or 2 every 2 or 3 months. I'll be the first to admit I'm not always the best at keeping track, but since it;s a new year I plan on trying to be a little better.  As I mentioned last week (or maybe it was the week before) I am not only int the process of creating a wedding dress I am also in the process of moving my studio. As i mentioned before it is a little bit larger task than I first thought, mostly because I guess it's true you never realize how much stuff you have until you have to move it.  As of Friday all of the furniture except for one 4 drawer Rubbermaid storage cubby has been moved. All that is left now is some general organization followed by a couple really big trash bags (that will eventually actually make it to the trash can)
I have yet to take any pictures of my space mostly because to me it doesn't seem all that special, the room I have moved too is one of my favorites in the house because it has wonderful natural light and generally just a  good vibe for working. It also has a door...my previous studio space was part of our upstairs loft and that meant hiding my sometimes messy area from the world was a little on the impossible side, but the door seems to be helping and as of Friday when someone came over for a fitting they appreciated having the privacy.
In the weeks so to come I plan on starting a couple of new projects. The frist will be the next instalment in the bandana collection and the one after that will most likely be an addition to the sweet dreams Pj collection.  I am also starting a hard cover coffee table book sized portfolio with pictures and sketches and fabric details of some of my most popular designs. I also plan to do some updating to my wix website in the next month or so.  I would like to organize it by collection, the only down side to that is some of customers aren't always so good about remembering to send me pictures of their Quilted Elephant pieces, but maybe with a few gentle threats and a little cajoling I can get my pictures together and get my website better organized.
Hope everyone has a great week and I look froward to hearing from everyone soon!

Updates on a Dress (a wedding dress to be exact!)

As most of you know I have been working on a wedding dress for a friend. Since a wedding dress is one of the most important garments a woman will ever wear I decided to make a fabric mock up for fitting purposes before I actually start on the real thing. 
I used material that I can across cheap (and a lot of) so don't mind the print on the fabric it has little to nothing to do with the actual dress! Also when I create fabric mock ups like I have done here I don't actually sew the seams I use masking tape. .  The reason for this tactic is because I have a very strong aversion to seam rippers! This fabric mock up will be used for fitting purposes so that the final dress will only need slight alterations that can be done within the week to 10 days leading up to the wedding.

This has honestly been one of the most exciting projects I have worked on in a long time, not that every project isn't exciting, but sometimes I get the chance to be involved in something really special and the feeling that comes with that is almost as exciting as getting to wear such a special dress.
I will also be creating a mini version of Brandy's dress for her daughter Adriana to wear during the ceremony where she will be acting as a flower girl.  Of course I will have to make a few slight changes to Adrianna's dress to account for things like age appropriateness and fabric availability but since she's one of the easiest people I sew for I'm really not worried!
I would love some feed back and input regarding the dress. I will post pictures of the original sketch, the pattern I am modifying to use for the dress and of course both the mock up of the dress and the finished product.
Happy reading!

Studio Make Over part 1

As I mentioned in an earlier post I have decided to rearrange some things and move my studio downstairs into one of out extra bedrooms.  Oh my I had no idea how much STUFF I had. So far we have only gotten the really heavy furniture moved. (Hubby got ambitious and decided it had to be done RIGHT THEN), most of the fabric somewhat organized and about 1/2 of my pattern collection organized and accounted for.
The moving the furniture part wasn't to bad, found a really great program on Pinterest that allows you to put in a room dimensions and the dimensions of your furniture and more everything around electronically. I'm sure James was very thankful for this since I am notorious for the statement...."put it over there, oh wait I don't like that, can you move it over here..." and this allowed me to do that without him ever having to touch anything.The organizing of the fabric is taking a little longer, but that's mostly because I'm trying to develop some sort of system for how I store it so that I can find what I need without tearing an entire bin or drawer apart, so far this isn't working all that well for me but in time it will all get to where I need it to be (I hope). Organizing the patterns is a whole different nightmare.  I have a HIGE pattern library, but because I often mix and match pieces between several patterns to create one garment I end up with random pieces piled up on my cut table so before I could more said table I had to attempt to get all of the pattern pieces matched up with their correct envelope. I'm about half way through my patterns and about 3/4's of the way through the actual move. Keep checking back and I'll try and post some pictures not to mention keep everyone updated on my progress. Oh yeah and on the positive side I have managed to get all of my studio art work hung up. My pin board is by the door where I can keep track of current projects and my Mila Bowman creation is hanging proudly over my fabric storage cupboard. I'm hoping having it there will serve as a a source of inspiration for me when I'm digging through my fabric trying to find the perfect piece!

Off the topic of rearranging, I have also completed work on the muslin template for the wedding dress I am currently working on. The bride is coming for her first fitting on Friday. Hopefully everything works out well and we have no major fit issues so that I can start on the finished product next week.