Chesna's Birthday Dress

My brother is commissioning Rachel of Mamma Made Designs to make a very special dress for his daughter Chesna for her 6th birthday. I am designing the fabric that it will be made from. It has been a very fun process. I started from a drawing of a horse and rider that Chesna made....

...I produced a vector line drawing of the form...

...Added some color...and at this point I was quite amazed at the elegance of this form which was produced by a 5 year old!...

...Next I went through a lot of experimenting with patterns using the horse...

And I'm still doing some color experiments just for fun:

This is the final fabric design.

Now I'm getting ready to order it. It will be so exciting to see what Rachel produces from it!

Maritza

I wanted to make something special for my friend Maritza. She's watched our kids for us numerous times and never accepts any compensation. So with some trouble I talked her into letting me make her a dress. She picked out a vintage Simplicity pattern and the material.

I learned a lesson on this one. Next time I will make a mock bodice first. Even though I measured her and cut everything accordingly, the top was way off. Luckily, I got away with reconstructing only the back of the bodice so I didn't have to remake the whole thing.

Another lesson, pay attention when I'm cutting the bulk out of the seam! I was trimming the seam where the bodice meets the skirt, and didn't realize that part of the bodice was folded up underneath it. I rolled right over it with my rotary cutter and made a huge sickening gash.

So after a few ripped out seams and a few improvisations to cover the hole, here it is...

Vicarious

I've had this Raggedy Ann Doll since I was very very little. I've always wanted a dress like hers. So now my daughter has one... I only wished I could have found material a little closer to the original to make it out of.