When making a reversible hoodie dress, connect the hoods to each other first. Not the sleeve hems or the hem of the dress. Otherwise, when you think you're almost done and go to sew the hoods together, you're gonna find yourself sitting there like, "What in the woooorld???" as you hold a big wad of material that won't turn the way you need it to so you can actually sew the hoods because everything else is connected and there are no openings. Then, all that time spent on the hand stitching to connect the sleeve and dress hems will be irrelevant and will have to be ripped out and redone once you do the....hoods.
Yeah.
All turned out well, though:
reversible stepping razor hoodie dress$80
(And I'm very proud of the fact that this is an XL. Slowly breaking out of my habit of making everything small or medium.)
The killing part about it is that I didn't have that problem with the first one of these I ever made. With that one I was really just figuring it out as I went along. Somehow, though, the process went smoothly. With this latest one I over-thunk the process and ironically ended up not thinking at all. Duuuh!! *slaps self upside the head*.
While I was sitting there working my way out of a maze of blue and goldish material, I looked around and noticed my worn sewing book that I had to have when I first started school. Then I started thinking about how far I've come....making reversible dresses??? Me?? Who woulda known!?!? I couldn't even thread the machine...let alone actually sew a seam, ha!
Then I started thinking of Tea and Honey Bread's Shutter Click & Chat Sundays and the topic of "What's your special book?" I didn't participate on Sunday, cause even though I'm overflowing with books, there weren't any that I necessarily considered special. Well, aside from being special for the info. they contain.
Well, I thought about it some more and concluded that this book in fact is pretty special to me.
All those times when I'd raise my hand in class seeking the help of my design instructor on how to do some sewing technique and was told, "Look in the book, " this very book had my back. Yeah...I'm the visual type who likes for somebody to show me how to do things. And I often found myself frustrated and looking like, "Huh???" when trying to comprehend some of those printed instructions. But after reading over them 2-3 times and studying the pictures, it finally clicked. With the help of the above pictured book, I was able to teach myself to sew when the help that I thought I'd have usually wasn't willing.
As you can see, it's banged up and falling a part, and I have considered getting rid of it. However, I think subconsciously I've held on to it for the reason mentioned above. (Plus, sometimes when I'm foggy I still gotta look in it to figure out how to insert an invisible zipper, ha!)
Have a nice day.
Later.
13 comments:
"I'm the visual type who likes for somebody to show me how to do things."
Me too...
Love the reversible hoody dress...and yay for larger sizes!
That hoodie dress is FIYAH! the color combo is perfect. And hooray for larger sizes!
I, like you, prefer to be shown rather than read. Just seems easier to watch it in action then imitate.
Hey! Those are UCB colors =). Gotta love it!!!
You are so darned talented. As soon as I hit Publish Your Comment I am taking a trip to your store... as I have said countless times before, but this time I mean it.
Great "special book" too.
Excellent hoodie dresses. Thanks for popping by earlier. And yes to bigger sizes! Not applicable to myself but I would love to live in a world where fashion is not limited to just size zero people.
Greetings from London.
Love the hoodie dress, so versatile!
love the hooded dresses. you already know. and the fact that it is reversible is just genius.
aww @ your book. i might have to buy me one and learn via youtube for the visual.
cause i wanna make a dress dangit. lol.
I absolutely LOVE the dresses!
I love the hoodie dress. I am glad it worked out. I used to have a great sewing book like that. I totally loved it when I was in fashion design school. When I dropped sewing, somehow I lost or sold the book.
Looking at your stuff has been giving me the sewing bug lately, but THEN this post about getting lost in a sea of fabric reminded me of why I stopped. I was never cut out for it. But you are a great designer and I appreciate you for that.
Oh how neat to be reversible! Looks great on you and comfy!
Very nice! I like teh color scheme!
Funny, perhaps I can't get the hang of sewing because I am not a visual person at all. I can't even fully enjoy a film without subtitles. I have taken my sewing machine manual and translated it into what i call 'left brain-ese' I put post-its of words over the pictures or I get totally lost!
link your fave book on the shutter click and chat linky so others can see!
u should be modellin dudette
thanks y'all. :-) i really like clothing that can be worn in more than one way.
i hadn't intentionally been making the smaller sizes. it's just a rut i get stuck in since i use myself as a model and i was once a small and now a medium. i just felt more confident being able to see how a garment would fit someone. but making things larger isn't a problem at all.
muze--girl..go 'head and get on that. ;-)
jewelry rockstar--that's touching, and thank you. :-) i have to remind myself sometimes that i *am* cut out for this! ha ha!
tameka--you know what? i've got a bit of that in me as well.
mr. style--oh, if i could only find a legit local gig i'd be doing it. as previously mentioned, i'm all about being paid to do little. but i don't think modeling is something i'd wanna do majorly. i guess it depends, though.
I absolutely adore my reversible hoodie dress :) one of my favorite items in my closet at the moment :)
Thanks for this post it is inspiring and I love the realness you always bring.
Keep it up you just keep getting better!
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