enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

Newdress

Above is a dress that I made based on another favorite dress in my closet. I chose to start with this one because I wear it a lot and it seemed simple enough. Just a front piece, a back piece, a strip of fabric around the collar and two sleeves made from folded rectangles.

Silly me. Obviously, nothing is that simple. I ended up doing and re-doing the same sleeve three times.

But while there were some fails with the construction of this dress, there were also a few wins.

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Fails : the sleeves don't quite fit into the sleeve holes which resulted in some bunching under the arms and a bit too much flaring out at the end. The collar piece doesn't lay flat which I think is because I didn't add enough curve when I cut the fabric.

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Wins : the dress fits & is wearable. I tried a new seam closure at the shoulders that I thought was called french seams. (But now that I have googled the image, it turns out I made them a bit differently.) I love this finish and was pleased with how it turned out.

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I am getting better. I still need a serger which is a machine that makes stitches that will hold seams tightly and keep the fabric from fraying. (If you turn your sleeve inside out right now, you will probably see serged seams.) So that is next. I also think I need to get some cheap white fabric to practice on. Trials on pretty fabric are much more fun, but also expensive.

Thank you to a few of you who suggested this book. I think it might help me understand how to measure correctly and avoid some of my problems with the collar and sleeves. 

Also thank you for humoring me through this sewing addiction.

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39 responses to “sans pattern.”

  1. desiree Avatar

    Way to go girl! I made my first dress last spring – it is addicting. 🙂

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  2. Alexandra Avatar

    Wow Elise! That outfit looks adorable on you, and it’s so cool that you MADE it!

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  3. Lauren Avatar
    Lauren

    SO cute, Elise!! The shape is adorable and I am absolutely in LOVE with the fabric. Would you mind sharing where you found it?! Keep up the great work!!

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  4. VA Avatar
    VA

    I would love to know where the “original” dress is from – I’m developing an obsession with graphic-print dresses!

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  5. elise blaha Avatar

    hi Lauren, thank you! I actually got it at Joanns fabric (thats where I have been shopping locally.) Unfortunately, there is not a brand on it – but it was in the quilting/cotton section.

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  6. elise blaha Avatar

    totally. The original was from Jones New York last spring. It was a gem on the clearance rack.

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  7. creole wisdom Avatar

    Good for you! I think it looks great on you, but that would never work on my shape. I’ve done a few pieces without patterns. One was a skirt and I loved it, maybe I’ll make something this spring. You were brave to take that on 🙂

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  8. Em Avatar
    Em

    holy crap! i want that dress!! 😉
    what fabric is that anyways??

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  9. Em Avatar
    Em

    oh duh, i see the above fabric comment. thx 🙂

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  10. Michelle Avatar

    So cute! Great job! One of my goals this year is to make a piece of clothing so you are definitely inspiring!

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  11. jeny Avatar

    Wish I could think of something more to say other than…love it, but I do love it! So impressed that you just find something you love then make it from scratch. How did you get over the “fear” of I can’t do it? That seems to be what always stops me.

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  12. Carina :: Little Bird Creative Avatar

    looks super cute with the belt. here is a link to another sewing project i thought you might like (http://pennycarnival.typepad.com/penny_carnival/2009/02/tutorial-hanging-book-display.html).

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  13. elise blaha Avatar

    I guess I figured if it didnt work – it didnt work! The very worst case scenario is that you break your sewing machine and waste a few yards of fabric. Thats not worth fear. 🙂 Good luck Jeny!

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  14. elise blaha Avatar

    Carina, thats awesome. Thanks for the link.

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  15. VA Avatar
    VA

    Thanks for the tip! Can’t wait to see more of your sewing adventures.

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  16. Barb Avatar

    One way I’ve found to find VERY cheap fabric to practice on is cotton flat sheets from Walmart or, even cheaper, from the thrift store. Sheets give you tons fo fabric for very little money. Then you can experiment to your hearts desire and so what if you mess up…you don’t have hardly anything invested.
    But your dress? It’s absolutely fabulous!
    Peace & Love,
    ~Barb~

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  17. elise blaha Avatar
  18. Nancy Avatar

    The first dress I made (and I used a pattern) was a maternity dress. It took me f o r e v e r and by the time it was done I was too far along and it didn’t fit! I did end up wearing it home from the hospital but by then I kind of had bad feelings about it and I never wore it again. I laugh about it now though!!

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  19. Dani Avatar

    Elise, it looks awesome! Love the pattern AND how you styled it!

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  20. amanda Avatar

    Hey Elise! have you bought that book that you mentioned at the end of your blog post? I was curious if it actually includes patterns to the clothing they have photographed or not. Because I love almost every single one! haha

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  21. Michelle Clement Avatar

    Oh, lovely! 🙂 It looks great! And sergers are definitely a godsend – they rock! As does testing on cheaper plain fabric – it’s not as heartbreaking then when you mess up on pretty fabric…lol. 🙂

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  22. Adrith Avatar

    The dress looks super-cute! Great job on it 🙂

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  23. Dayl Avatar
    Dayl

    Great Job Elise! I have been a lurker for some time, and thought I might as well say hello and maybe provide a bit of help?
    First off, your sewing as of late has been FANTASTIC and totally inspiring! It has made me search out a few other blogs as well and I actually fixed a few older sweaters that I never wore anymore… But, I digress.
    You mentioned that “The collar piece doesn’t lay flat which I think is because I didn’t add enough curve when I cut the fabric.” – my suggestion would be to make Bias Tape (good tutorial here – http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/tutorial-how-to-make-bias-tape). The tool is about $6 I think and it’s WELL WORTH IT. Because the fabric is cut on the bias it’s actually a bit stretchy & therefore fits around curves. Honestly, WELL WORTH IT!
    Happy Sewing!

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  24. elise blaha Avatar

    I have not bought it yet, so I am not sure whats included … Ill let you know. Hoping to order it with a serger at the end of the month. 🙂

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  25. elise blaha Avatar

    AWESOME. thank you so much for the info.

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  26. Jenn Avatar

    i love the bias tape tool.. it’s like magic as it comes out the other end 🙂

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  27. Jenn Avatar

    the dress is fantastic. I have often looked at my current clothes deconstructing them in my brain to see if I could make them myself. For seams if you don’t have a serger I’ve used the zig zag stitch. I used it for some pj pants and it seems to hold up well. Another fancy way to finish seams is to wrap them in bias tape. I’ve used this method on the inside of bags before… and my favorite anthropologie dress of all times has bias tape on the seams. good luck in the clothes making endeavors!!

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  28. Laura Avatar

    That’s so exciting to make your own patterns! I’ve done a couple of skirt patterns and am always thrilled when it looks like I wanted it to.

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  29. KissMyTulle Avatar

    In all my old costume design classes they had us do mock-ups out of muslin – it was great because you could mark all over it and make a perfect pattern.

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  30. Jen Avatar

    Cute! I like the belted version best.
    Between you at Elsie I’m getting the urge to start sewing again!

    Like

  31. Shirley K. Avatar

    Hey! I don’t know if you regularly listen to this (I don’t) or if anyone else has brought this up yet, but you were mentioned in this Paperclipping Round Table: http://www.paperclipping.com/roundtable/prt056-breaking-the-quote-rules/. About the 35 minute mark.

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  32. elise blaha Avatar

    hey!! thats cool! I had not heard and I just listened. Thank you for letting me know.

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  33. Dad Avatar
    Dad

    Project Runway watch out! Dad

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  34. Maureen Avatar
    Maureen

    love it belted with the boots – very nice.

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  35. amanda Avatar

    ooh fun. i love sergers…. but im waiting until i’ve mastered sewing before i go too crazy. i hope you’ll let us all know how it goes.
    love your blog as always!
    http://www.appleblue.org

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  36. pixie Avatar

    awesome! I want a sewing machine so badly but I’ve not sewn a thing, outside of a very unfortunate dropped waist Laura ashley creation in home ec YEARS ago. I’m scared! That dress was a walking disaster.

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  37. Lo Avatar

    oh my goodness! so awesome, looks so good to me! i have that book and I have found it very hard to make my own patterns but maybe with time it will only get easier! 🙂

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