DIY: A Starry Night Dress (Yes, Another One)

Lemme share with y'all a lil story about a crazy person who THINKS she can sew but is totes winging it 99.2% of the time. Look, kids, I come by this know-it-all-but-don't-know-nuthin' attitude naturally. How about I paint a picture for ya: I've been living in the Nashville area for something close to 20 years now. Every single time my dear sweet crazy mama comes to visit, she gets lost. Like, WAY lost. Like, calling me after driving 40 miles past my house, lost. Mind you, I've not moved anywhere different in the last 7 years. The roads have not mysteriously changed. I don't live in the Bermuda Triangle. This woman, who owns both a GPS and has Siri on speed dial (I know that's not really a "thing" but whateves), REFUSES to use either of these modern-day handy dandy devices because she THINKS she knows where she's going. 

 Kinda like her daughter. Who THINKS she knows how to sew. 

Riddle me this: Would a fur realz stitcher create a Franken-Dress with a mashup of 6 patterns?! Me thinks not. 

In other news, some bird was DYING for some air time, y'all. Get that fine feathered friend on The Voice, stat!

In other-other news, there is not a single solitary photo of me standing still like a normal person. I blame that enormous circle skirt and yellow crinoline. You try wearing that combo and not spinning yourself silly!

So let's start with the dress pattern that likes to shatter dreams, ruin lives and drive folks to drink (it's a short drive, y'all. It don't take much): Butterick B5606. Like, whut the heck. It looks all easy peasy, right? Well, lemme tell you, it's a lie. I hit a road block on the SECOND STEP. I watched tutorials. I read blog posts. I laughed. I cried. I shook my hands at the heavens and wondered just how Butterick had managed to dupe me into another dress pattern again (it's been a while...but my distaste for Butterick goes WAY back). I'll tell you how: it was That Bow. 

 That's all I really wanted outta that dress, that bow. I was determined to make it happen even if I wasn't about to learn how to sew a gusset or whatever that nonsense Butterick Step 2 was taking about. 

So I did the unthinkable. Serious Sewists, plug your ears: I cut the pattern apart. That's right, I cut off the long tail in the pattern that makes the bow and I used it to cut out the yellow strips for the bow. I had no idea just how I was gonna make that yellow bow happen but I was determined. 

And that's when I busted out my trusty tried and true Simpliciy 8087. This one never lets me down. It's my go-to because I'm a fan of that waistband. I used the pattern for the waist and the back bodice from here. Then, again, I did something crazy: I cut the back of this pattern to match that of Butterick. Yep, I cut a big ole honkin' curve outta the back of the bodice pattern (I've since taped it back together, stop sweating) to accommodate the open bowed back. Then I did some magical trickery (read: I'm too lazy to type it all out) and shazam! I had a bowed back and a big ole waistband!

Now if you follow me on Instagram, then you know this dress had short sleeves instead of capped for a while. It just made the dress seem too heavy and matronly. So I used yet another pattern for the cap sleeves and pockets (YAZ, Y'ALL. This thing has pockets!) 

So I only used this pattern for a hot minute for the front bodice. I don't know what I did wrong but my neckline comes up way higher than hers. Just sayin'. 

Like, see?

The Anna Maria Full Circle Skirt is my go-to for a circle skirt pattern. I love it because, unlike my vintage circle skirt patterns, it's a modern length. I did add three inches to the bottom of the pattern to get this length. And I did have to bust out the Scout Tee just to make a wee bias tape to hide a mistake on the bodice. Because I was at the end of my seam-rippin' rope, kids. 

Yellow chucks and crinoline come courtesy of Amazon. That crinoline was delivered to my doorstep on Sunday!

So, here she is! ANOTHER Starry Night Dress (my other one here)! One made without the help of Siri or a GPS...just like my mama done taught me. Until next time, if you see a crazy lady about 40 mile south of Nashville, send her my way, would you please? 

 

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DIY: A Felted, Light-Up Starry Night Dress!

Okay, first of all, lemme just say Thank You! for all of your amazing comments and input on teaching vocabulary. I started jotting down your suggestions and when I was done, I had three pages of incredible ideas. You guys are seriously awesome! For that reason, I've decided to create a follow-up post with a list of all your ideas (along with linky-loos to your blog if you've got one).

Second thang: Looks like ya'll are interested in an Artsy Book Club! I'm so thrilled, I seriously thought that when I suggested it no one would be down. But it looks like I'm in good book-lovin' company. I'm going to do a little homework to find a list of books we might be into and then I'll provide a poll for ya'll to vote. Suggestions are welcome, pretty please and thank you.

Now, without further a do-do, I present to you my Felted, Light-Up Starry Night Dress!

When I decided to create a dress for each of our monthly artists and began brainstorming famous works of art, I knew there would be just now way around Starry Night. And while the other dresses I'd created had been done with applique (with the exception of the Pollock Splatter Paint number), I didn't think that technique would really showcase the brush stroke business van Gogh is famous for. So I settled upon felting the thing.

 Just a lil back history: Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night in 1889 from the window of his sanitarian room...this according to the all-knowing wikipedia. However, I'd always heard that he painted the scene out doors while wearing a crown of candles. This info probably came from my all-not-knowing imagination. Regardless, this painting is considered a real turning point in van Gogh's painting style. AND it's rad.

Now, ya'll, I love felting. Way more than applique because it's much easier to control. That being said, this dress took me for-evah! So it's a good thing that I enjoy it so much. But I do believe I'll be giving it a short rest for at least a week. I might have stabbed my fingers a good two or twenty times and need a little bit of a break to heal.

Since I knew making a Starry Night dress was imminent, I'd had my eyes pealed for a navy blue dress during my thrift store jaunts. When I stumbled upon this dress, I knew it was perfect because I could basically use the entire front as a canvas...and it had pockets. I had this crazy notion that this dress was gonna light up (kinda like my Christmas dress) and I knew a pocket to hold the battery pack would be muy importante.

So I began by sketching out the entire thing...in chalk. Which was like the best thing ever because it erased easily and didn't effect the color of my fabric or wool.

And now here's countless photos of (slooow) progress of the dress. Hubs made a sweet little video of me felting but I can't seem to find it. For a more in depth look at how I go about needle felting, check here.

Despite what you see here, you actually don't need a lot of wool roving to needle felt. A little goes a long way. And, if you shop around online a bit, you can find some great retailers who aren't gonna charge you and arm and a leg like those big box craft shops.

You can see it's just a matter of placing the roving and then punching it until the fibers attach to the fabric. This is the first time I ever felted onto a 100% cotton garment. I'm usually working on a sweater. This took a little extra punching but I did get it to stick. By the way, I have a foam cushion under my dress that I punch into. Needle felting tools like the one you see here can be picked up at one of those aforementioned big box craft shops.

We did a lot of car traveling over the holidays. Hubs didn't think I should felt in the car (which is a total bummer because my mother-in-law had hooked me up with a little portable table and everything!). I think he had visions of us getting into an accident and me impaling myself with the needle tool. So I did the gold thread embroidery around the stars during those road trips.

And, after several days, it was as finished as it was gonna get!

Thankfully, I scored a Snow Day today. This meant I could stay up as late as I liked the previous evening...and I worked until the wee hours adding these LED lights.

I scored these for a mere $2 at an after Halloween sale at Big Lots. Notice that it has three settings: On, Flashing and Fading. Fading is my favorite as the stars really appear to twinkle. I think the kids are gonna Freak. Out. when they see this.

To add the lights, I ripped a little hole in the seam of the pocket and threaded the lights through it.

The lights were evenly spaced and there were 20 of 'em. I did have to add a couple of stars to find a place for the lights. To insert the lights into the dress, I cut a small hole in the center of the stars and sewed the light into the hole. I then tacked the wire connecting the dots down in several places on the dress. Fingers crossed these lights never stop working or I'll have a holey, light-less dress on my hands.

And there you have it! By the way, that little red-light clicker I'm holding in my hand isn't the light switch for the dress but the remote for my camera! For Christmas, hubs not only bought me a new camera but he also bought me this attachment that allows me to take pictures with the click of a button. I'm so happy, no more setting the timer for ten seconds only to trip over the cat and fall on my face before the camera snaps. Not that that has ever happened to me, ahem.

Don't forget to suggest an artsy book for the book club is a title comes to mind! Until then, have a great week!

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