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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sew What?

Some of you may remember that one of my goals this year was to sew five items. I bought this little beauty last year:



And...it's still sitting in the box.

So, the other day I was browsing around the web trying to find some cute dresses for spring/summer without much success and I thought, "Why don't I just make the dresses I want?"

I started looking for some patterns and this is what I've come up with so far.







That's as far as I've gotten though. I haven't ordered the patterns, looked for fabric or anything. For those who actually sew, do those look like difficult dresses to make? What online fabric stores do you recommend?

I'm thinking about when my mom comes to visit this summer having her help me a little with a dress. Sneaky I know! She comes expecting to travel and instead I have her doing Mom duties.

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10 comments:

  1. Jessica @ Wanting AdventureMarch 10, 2011 at 8:53 AM

    That's so much fun! I wish I could sew so I could make dresses. I hear it's not actually that hard - can't wait to see what you come up with!

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  2. RebeccaMarch 10, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    If you don't have much experience with sewing, start with the patterns that say "Easy" or "Under an Hour." A skirt would probably be easier and faster for your first project. Avoid ANY patterns with zippers! Also, check on the back of the pattern to see what fabric is required. For your first couple projects, don't sew anything with stretchy fabric.

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  3. SarahMarch 10, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    I totally agree with what Rebecca said. I've been slowly working my way through easy little projects, but have yet to try out a dress! I have a pattern similar to that wrap dress in the middle, and if it's like the one I got, it's an "easy" one that doesn't include buttons or zippers. I'd make something like that first. Good luck!

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  4. tootieMarch 10, 2011 at 10:37 AM

    Sounds like a fun project! I'm hoping to get into sewing, too. You'll have to let us know if those patterns turn out to be easy.

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  5. AnonymousMarch 10, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    Awesome! One of my goals is to make a piece of clothing that I'd wear in public, so I'm starting with this skirt: http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2008/07/5-minute-skirt.html

    Once I get the hang of that, maybe I'll move on to dresses. I'm very nervous about sleeves though!

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  6. stefanieMarch 10, 2011 at 12:33 PM

    The first real thing I ever sewed was a dress and let me tell you, it is really not that hard. Those patterns look easy and simple. You can do it! Definitely!

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  7. UnknownMarch 10, 2011 at 6:28 PM

    Out of those dresses (and without seeing the called for fabrics and notions) I think the last dress with the drop sleeves would be a good place to start. Sew it in a lightweight cotton lawn. Purlsoho.com has an awesome array of lightweight cottons in gorgeous prints.

    I don't recommend your first project to be a jersey/knit fabric bc it is harder to sew with most (but not all!) entry level machines. I had to fight with my student model singer to get it to sew jersey...not a pretty battle! But for sewing cottons it was and still is great.

    The easy/hour or less patterns are def a great place to start. Get yourself a pair of Ginger dressmaker shears, a couple of seam rippers (the go dull fast), and get to it!

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  8. CarissaMarch 10, 2011 at 9:14 PM

    Pleats are pretty ambitious for a first project but I don't doubt you could do it!

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  9. Full of HeartMarch 11, 2011 at 5:44 PM

    The first dress looks hard because of the draping, the second one looks doable but it depends on how it fits together, and the third looks like a dress I tried to make a few years ago that ended up being named "the devil dress" because it was ridiculously hard to put together. I would recommend, like some other commenters have said, looking for a pattern that says "easy" on it, or the such. You can also look on http://sewing.patternreview.com/ to find easier dress patterns for beginners.

    My favorite stores to order fabric from are Jo-ann's (but sometimes it hard to see what the fabric actually looks like) and Fabric.com (because they have great ebates!) but I don't know if either ship to APO.

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  10. MooAtU2March 13, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    I just did my first sewing project today actually- curtains. Super simple and you have lots of options. You can mess up and they still look good. :-)

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