| Subject: Practice Dress & New ID Dress Makers |
Author:
Anonymous
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Date Posted: 21:29:06 03/12/01 Mon
In reply to:
K
's message, "Contruction Problems-Technique & Tips" on 15:45:15 03/10/01 Sat
For all the dressmakers out there, how long did it take you to get your dresses "just right". I read about moms deciding to make a dress for their daughters, not having done this before, and remembering what my first Home Ec clothes looked like, I wonder if you can get these solo dresses right on the first try. How many did you throw out before you decided you had the design style, embroidery and dress pattern just right? Just curious.
Replies:
-I have to admit that my dresses get better with each one. I used to say to the owners of the first dress that I embroidered that I would be embarrassed by it one day. The funny thing is, everyone who looks at my portfolio comments on how nice that particular dress is. I charged $1000.00 Canadian for it, and when I added up my time and materials it cost me $2700.00 to make! I have much better sources now. Thank heavens! So I guess that I got the first one right, but now I can do them in a reasonable amount of time.
-I too have been sewing since "Home Ec" in 7th grade, and have been sewing for a living for 20 years. When it came to these dresses I figured "No big deal", but boy, was I wrong! My first dress, 1&1/2 years ago, was my "dress from hell". I never threw it out, but I was tempted! Couldn't find the velvets I wanted, had to draft my own pattern from scratch, and had no knowledge of the Vilene. The customer offered to be my guinea pig and pay me $1000, so what could I say? I embroidered the box pleat 3 times before I was happy with it, put it together, and the customer was happy. The teacher, however, (who hadn't returned my calls) hated it, so it came close to causing me some problems. I've now recut parts of the skirt twice, and the customer is tickled to death. The dancer gets wonderful comments on her dress now, but I still don't like it. I don't even want to know how many hours I put into that dress! If I'd added it up, I probably would have stopped at that one. I've made 9 more since then, each one a bit faster though, and have orders for 5 more right now, so I guess I'm figuring them out ;} Plus, thanks to the Internet, my fabric selection is coming right along now. I'll be heading to the Nationals in a couple of weeks just to check out the newest styles, so I can keep up on them.
-My first try was definitely not just right, but I was stuck with it anyway, and the mistakes were really only obvious to me. I had made it out of muslin first before I made the velvet one.
-practice dresses-in the process now. Started making the bodices of 2 different styles with left over material. One bodice (solid color )went well. Second bodice (bicolored) didn't go so well. But I must tell you that I also enlarged both patterns-I got them in a smaller size then needed. The one that went together very easy was Simpicity's costume. The other was an Irish Threads design I borrowed from a girlfriend. The fault with the Irish Designs was my own !!!
-Hi, I'm new to the board but like what I see, my first dress was for my daughter, but i had a lot of help with how it was done, i wrote pages and pages of notes, and the dress just came back to me again to be sold( it now the third owner and i look at it I can see the mistakes but everyone else seems to love it.
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