Floral Skirt- Metal Zipper

Sorry sorry sorry! That's an apology to myself too. I promised myself I wouldn't slack on my blog but I have. It's been a busy two weeks after vacation (doesn't that always happen?). I don't want to make excuses so I'm doing a quick blog tonight to keep myself happy.

This skirt was something I made from extra fabric I had left over from a shirt I made. The fabric was too shear to not add a lining under so I made it from an old dress I found in my grandma's basement. I liked the ruffle so I wanted to add it underneath for a cute feminine touch.

I've been wanting to make a garment with an exposed metal zipper so I used that technique on this skirt.

It's a unique touch but not too drastic because of the print. And to me it really doesn't matter if you wear it at the front or the back. Guess it depends on you mood :)

Hope you are satisfied with this fast blog- for now!

~JV

Suits Me Well

Hello Everyone!!! Sorry it's been so long. I had a great vacation and since coming back I have been working a lot. Thus my neglecting my little blog here. Well now that I've had a nice long nap I'm ready to start posting again.

I'm returning to blogging by posting an ensemble. This suit was made for a job interview I had. I didn't end up wearing the jacket, but I've been waiting for colder weather to pair the it up with a cute pair of jeans and some boots.

Both fabrics were purchased from Jo Ann's from the red tag fabric so I got a lot for a little (which I love). So I do have both left over and will be making more stuff from them. Eventually. One is a grey metallic suiting that isn't very heavy, and the other is a sheer floral print with strips of bias tape, made from the same material, sewn in swirls around the entire fabric.

Front                                         Back

The front of the jacket has a 3/4 length sleeve, two welt pockets on either side, a notched collar, princess seams, and I added two silver buttons to bring some pop to it.

The back has princess seams as well and two tabs with the same silver buttons on them.

Front                                           Back

The shirt is a basic design with a short kimono style sleeve and shoulder seams that come towards the front with a gathered detail to them. I added a solid teal bias tape to the sleeves for a fun pop of color.

The skirt is a pretty simple too. It has a thick waistband with four pleats in the front. The zipper is at the side seam. The skirt fits at the waist and hits a little above the knee.

This ensemble is a perfect business suit but can also be broken up to wear as individual pieces so I will most definitely be making more pieces to wear with them.

I hope this was an enjoyable post considering there haven't been some in a few weeks :)

~JV
P.S. Sorry about the wrinkles

Triple Threat

7am I will be on my way up north for a week long vacation. Because of this, I wanted to post a few outfits to keep you happy for a week (hopefully). Luckily I had a day off on Tuesday so I was able to crank out a few garments.

This first one is a skirt I made for my boyfriend's sister. She likes green and so I found a cute swirled green print fabric to use. It's a simple skirt with elastic at the waist. It can be worn either under the bust or at the waist.

This second one I also made for his sister. I had started to make a dress with the grey top a couple weeks ago. I decided to use it to make a dress for her. It was hard to choose what to use with it. Finally I chose this cute striped fabric (that I have enough of to make a million dresses) and used it horizontally. I think it turned out super cute and looks great on her :)

It's got elastic around the top and under the bust.

The back has the elastic shirring to keep it fitted to the body.

Does this fabric look familiar?

I had extra of the teal and grey striped knit and wanted to make a fun tube top dress out of it. I found the perfect teal fabric to use for the top to keep the stripes from being too powerful.  Again, I put elastic around the top and under the bust. Although the top is a little longer than I wanted, but I can always wear it at the waist. 

The back has the elastic shirring to fit to the body.

Back Close Up View

I wanted to add a little more fun to the dress by making the elastic shirred section out of the striped fabric but used it vertically. I wanted to make it a little surprise when I turn around.

I will definitely be wearing this dress during my vacation :)

I'm not one to toot my own horn, and even though these are more simple designs, I'm proud of myself for being able to make all three of these in one day. It makes me want to challenge myself even more.

See you in a week!!!

~JV

Striped Kimono Shirt

This shirt I made last year out of some clearance fabric I found at Jo Ann's. It was a quick project I made to wear out somewhere (just can't remember what it was). It's basically a piece of fabric folded in half with a neckline cut out, sewn on the sides to create the kimono sleeves, and elastic under the bust. Really quick and easy to throw together.

It's got a deep V-neck which is mimicked on the back as well, just not as deep.

I love the grey and teal together, and its a nice loose fit for the summer.

~JV

Floral Shirt

Here's something I made quite a while ago and decided to pull out and wear recently. This shirt comes from Simplicity 2998. The fabric is an old fabric that my mom has had for a long time. I love the floral print and even though it's vintage, it's still stylish. It is a polyester so it can be a little uncomfortable to wear in the summer without something under it, but I still love it. I think it's best to wear it with shorts or some leggings (you could wear it as a dress if you were really daring).

Front 

It has princess seams and front pockets, with a band around the bottom

Side View

Back

Simplicity 2998 View B

I have thought about making the length longer so you really could wear it comfortably as a dress. Just another project to work on :)

~JV

Mixer Cover

Well after a month of blogging about dresses, I wanted to throw something different into the mix. I'm that person who likes to make people gifts for birthdays and such. Yes I'll probably end up being one of those ladies who give funny little gifts to her nieces and nephews (and even my own children) and they'll say "Thanks!" with a fake smile. Hopefully I can make trendy things they would like :) 

Anyways, I decided to make my sister a mixer cover for her KitchenAid mixer. She is baker and makes delicious cupcakes and goodies. Her kitchen and kitchen tools were all pink so I found some cute fabric and floral print to match it. And it is reversible with a batting in the middle, which was interesting trying to figure out how to put together.

The pink side has two pockets and a flower cutout (from the floral print) stitched on the large pocket. 

It also has some ribbon stitched on the edges of the pockets.

I did some outlining with embroidery floss on the flower for a more personal touch.

The floral side also has two pockets. I used a white bias tape on the edges of the pockets. I also made piping to put on the other edges of the cover.

I love this print and was really excited to use it for something. I think I have a good amount of it left. Enough for a dress? We'll see.

I really enjoyed making it for her. She loved it (unless she had that fake smile haha). I've wanted to make a cover for both my mom and brother so maybe this post will inspire me to make them.

~JV

Wedding Dress #2

Charlene of Unique Weddings and Events recently opened a new store in April and asked me to design and create another wedding dress to display for the grand opening. I was really excited about it but put it off until the last minute. So basically I had two weeks to design and make this dress. Looks like I pulled it off!

When I designed this dress, I took inspiration from the first wedding dress I created. It is a one shouldered gown with princess seams. The main difference is that the bodice hits at the waist and the ruffles start below the knee. But you can tell that they are definitely not the same dress.

Side view of the top.

I also created a belt to fit over the waist seam. It was my first attempt at hand beading so it is a little scarce, but I still like how it turned out. It snapped close in the back.

Charlene said she wanted a more avant garde look to this dress so I created an exaggerated shoulder detail that flows down the back of the dress. The top of the strap has interfacing in it to keep it stiff and help with the fullness. It was tricky to figure out how to put it all together, but I love working things out, playing with the fabric, and seeing the end result (especially after seeing the failed attempts)

The ruffles are a horizontal design with five tiers. It also has tulle underneath to make the ruffles pop more.

I absolutely love this dress and despite creating it in such a short period of time, I enjoyed every minute of making it.

I'm excited to see what the future holds with opportunities of creating more wedding dresses. I never thought that's what I would get into, but I'm not complaining. It's a lot of fun!!

~JV

Wedding Dress #1

I wanted to end the month of July and the Dresses of Summer with a bang. But I happened to miss the last day of July. No matter, I'll still post some of my favorite dresses.

This first is a wedding dress I designed for a friend who was doing a photo shoot downtown. Miranda Hopkins of Inner Circle Photography is my sister's best friend and a wonderful photographer. She wanted a custom wedding dress and came to me for it. I was very excited to design and create this gown.

It is a one shoulder gown with an empire waist. The skirt has a good number of ruffles cascading vertically down. It hits right at the hip. The bodice is a simple princess seamed style so it doesn't take away from the fullness of the skirt.

These are some of the accessories I created for the shoot. They all have hair clips on them but a couple were actually used as pins on the gown. They were fun to design and put together.

Here are some shots of me cutting a couple inches off the bottom so she didn't trip :)

  

The shoot was at a really interesting building called 4731 Gallery in downtown Detroit.

People thought there was an actual wedding going on.

Just a few photos of everyone fixing the model up to create the perfect shot.

Check out http://projectbride.com/2011/06/10/yellow-blue/ for a full look at the shoot. Gorgeous right?

(Yeah that's me as the bridesmaid)

Also check out Miranda's photography at http://innercirclephotography.com/

I really hope you enjoy this post because this was such a great experience for me. It has helped me network and get my freelance work off to a start. I actually met Charlene of Unique Weddings and Events through this shoot who has been giving me a lot of work.

Enjoy!!!

~JV