Monday, June 3, 2013

"sew" in love with my "son"dress


I am going Project Runway on y'all!  (insert big grin)

A few weeks ago, I made a dress.

Yep, me, I made a dress.

Or what may eventually be a pillow case or perhaps a quilt!  Or handkerchiefs...yeah handkerchiefs!  ;)

This is how it started...For many years I have wanted to take my boy's little league jerseys and make a patch dress, of some sorts.  Well, I woke up and said "today I will make a dress!"

I didn't know ANYTHING about making a dress but I was DETERMINED to do it.

This was the time.  This was the day.

I would make a dress!

I gathered all of the jerseys and started cutting little squares with kindergarten scissors...yes, you read that right kindergarten scissors.  The kind you cut construction paper with.  That kind.  

I believe back in the 2nd or 3rd grade, my home-economics teacher taught me how to sew...or rather taught me how to "stitch" something.  So...I figured with my extraordinary stitching skill and LOTS of jersey shirts, I could sew this thing right up!

HAHAHAHAHA!

That is me laughing at myself for that one...

Along with my kindergarten scissors and my dollar store sewing kit out, I was never more serious about making a dress before!~(Are you laughing at me too now?)  Ah, it's  okay!  I would laugh too! And it was on!  I was going to figure this dress making out, the art of dressmaking...in my home!



I started around 9 am, and at 6:30 when RW came  home, there I was on my bed sitting and sewing STILL!  When RW saw what I was doing he asked me where is wife was and what had I done to her!  This was definitely  not something he had seen before!  :)

So I continued to sew (okay, I meant stitch!)... hand stitch each piece of fabric...yes, hand stitch.  My bro-n-law called and I told him what I was doing and he said he had a sewing "thingy" that he stitched dog beds with and I could use that! WOO HOO!  Now we are talking!

My mom picked it up and brought it to my bedroom AKA the place where the stitching goddess would be for the next 24 hours, much to my surprise I would  be doing this another 24 hours!

I began to stitch and stitch with the sewing "thingy."  I had NO IDEA what I was doing but folks I can tell ALL of my effort went into it!

I got it all stitched together...YAY me! This was the moment I had been waiting on...You know like the  big moment on Project Runway when the models come rushing in for a fitting~  I was in that moment!  I slid the dress on, look out Michael Kors and Nina Garcia!  It FIT!!!

OH my word...well sort of!  So the front fit, the sides fit...oooh...but when I turned around I gasped!  WHAT happened to the material that was supposed to cover my booty?

It was the same size as the front so...huh?  Okay, now you can definitely laugh!

SO, an EDIT was in the making!  Hmmm...I just stared at it wondering how in the world was I going to fix this.  My first edit began...I started slicing through that material that I had stitched for nearly 2 days!  I imagined Tim Gunn telling me to "make it work!"

So determined not to let Tim down, I was going to edit it and make it work!


before the edit or "extensions!"

I sliced and unthreaded (that's not a word, but I am not sure what else to call it) until I could find a place to stitch more material.  And then I added some "extensions" to the back of the dress that apparently ate the original material all up!  ;)

I was now well on my way to satisfaction!  I was done! Moment of truth again...

I slipped it on, and it was rather cute...not so cute that I would like wear it anywhere but it was kind of cute. At that moment I didn't care what it looked like but what mattered was it was done!  And that the material on the backside was now covering all of me that it was supposed to!

It was a success!  I grabbed a baseball belt and accessorized and it was perfect for me in that moment!  I was standing in my "son"dress...the dress that was stitched with love and full of memories that came along with each and every swing of the bat and every grin on the  baseball field!  As I looked at each jersey color represented, I saw my boys!  And that completed my ensemble like a cute pair of heels would! 

(let me add that any baseball belt would have matched it as well as any baseball hats from their league, which is great if I were wearing it anywhere!)   

I started to do the victory dance hopping and popping in my newly designed one of a kind "son"dress!  (get it...my son's jersey's so I call it my "son"dress!)  AND then it happened...apparently one cannot dance in a dress that is merely stitched...at least not stitched by me!  As I was popping in my new dress it seems (seams, pun intended!) that the stitches were popping too!  Woops!

Laughing at myself I danced some more while my little Will just shook his head and laughed too!  

And the stitches loosened with each move!  I took this pic right before that happened...

after the edit or "extensions"

I share my "son"dress with you all today in hopes that you may smile a bit,  but mostly in hopes that you will be inspired to do something you really want to do but have never done before!  Even if you don't know how to do it, try!  Don't quit!  

By all counts, I should have quit when the back of my dress looked like an upside down heart but I would have missed the dance party I had after it was done!  Even if it was a very short lived dance party, at least I got to dance!  

Believe me, if I made a dress, you can make anything!  ;)

One special note to this entire story that is worth taking away ~  I laughed at myself so much while I was making this dress but at the same time I was applauding myself for not giving up!  I woke up and wanted to make a dress and I did.  It doesn't matter if anyone ever sees me wearing it out in public what matters to me is I saw myself in something I wanted to make!  I saw myself wrapped (and popping out)  in some of the most special material ever...my "son"dress and I was pretty proud to wear it...AT HOME!  ;)

I close with the cheesy title of my blog post today...and I ask if you see why I am "sew" in love with my "son"dress?

BE INSPIRED TODAY!!!  MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN!  YOU CAN DO IT!  

I know, I know Heidi Klum ..."auf Wiedersehen! 

MAKE IT WORK PEOPLE, MAKE IT WORK!  

If you don't get any inspiration from this at least you may have learned how goodbye is spelled in German!  NOTHING like it sounds!

PS- want a handkerchief? ;)






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