Sep 22, 2012

Amy's Bombshell Dress (My First Dress Commission!)

This August I sewed a very special dress for my husband's friend who will be taking part in a  wedding-like event in Scotland this fall (Ryan keeps asking me: is Amy getting married? There's no ceremony but people are traveling from continents far and wide for the event, so let's just call this a non-traditional wedding dress).

Anyway, Amy liked the Peacock Print Bombshell Dress I made, and wanted something similar. And, an artistic person, she wanted the fabric to be special. So she made her own print, using Photoshop and a photograph she took while vacationing with her boyfriend/fiance/husband in Prague, and had it printed by Spoonflower.com. If you look closely in the print below, you can see clocks. And the repeating pattern nearly looks like plaid, appropriate considering the wedding-like event is at a castle in Scotland. I love it:

The challenge with this dress was the fact that Amy is living in London right now, so there was no opportunity to fit a muslin on her in person. So she bravely commissioned me to make it, and we agreed to fittings via Skype. She gave me her measurements and I made a draft bodice (using the Burdastyle Bustier Dress pattern), which I mailed to her. Then she tried it on and I studied the fit while we had a video chat. 


As we discussed fit issues, my four-year-old snuck off to fashion herself a dress from a plastic bag, and then applied a mustache using purple marker. It was like a twisted "unconventional materials" challenge on Project Runway: Preschool Edition.

Here she is, minus the plastic bag dress WHICH I AM FULLY AWARE IS A HAZARD SO STOP JUDGING:



Anyhow, I lucked out (or I'm a genius?) because the cups of the bustier fit her perfectly. I just had to shift the side seams a bit and add a little ease. I drafted the skirt pattern, which was flared, but not to a full circle. We agreed something simple would look good with the pattern she choose. Here I am, modeling it (unhemmed) for Amy, before the dress made the cross-Atlantic journey:


And here it is, on Amy. (Don't worry. I'm sure she will iron it before the big day!):


Close up of the bust: 

Nice rack, Amy!
The only wrinkle (ha!) was the fact that I forgot to put pockets in the dress, as Amy had requested. It's so easy to do, and yet it slipped my mind. So, the lovely printed dress made its way back to me again, and I cut into the side seams to add pockets. Again, me modeling for Amy's peace of mind: 


I love how the dress turned out and I can't wait to see Amy in it on her big day (and see how she accessorizes it!). It was fun collaborating on this project. Plus, I got to make a gorgeous dress without any of the guilt I feel when I add something new to my closet that I know I won't get any chances to wear!

I would love to hear how she made the print, and maybe I can convince her to drop some knowledge for those of you thinking you might want to try making your own one day (every now and then I like to pretend this blog is a public service).

So have you people ever sewn for someone else? What were the challenges you faced?

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful dress. I am truly impressed by your ability to work and fit a dress for someone living afar.

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  2. Wow, this looks great on her! How lovely! I've sewed for my mom and sister, and that was a pain in the butt since they're long-distance, too. Both dresses turned out OK, but it was pretty nerve-wracking since they were for a wedding. Yikes! Using Skype is a great idea! I'll have to keep that in mind next time (ha, if there IS a next time)!

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    1. I was lucky because I only really had to worry about the fit of the bodice, since the skirt was flared. I took a bunch of screen captures while she was on Skype with me so I could reference them as I made amendments to the pattern. Our process definitely wouldn't have worked if we were under a time crunch, though sending mail to the UK from NYC is surprisingly fast!

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  3. Thanks for giving me a good laugh this morning about the Unconventional Challenge (that reminds me, I haven't watched last Thursday's episode yet....)

    I was at a birthday party for a 3 year old a few weeks ago, on a farm, and in typical fashion, all the mothers were drinking beers and ignoring the kids. My daughter and the birthday girl sauntered by with purple lips. We asked them where they had gotten the lipstick, and they replied, "We ate those berries over there." Despite the fact they we are all scientists / botanists / farmers, none of us had any idea what plant they had eaten....but they didn't throw up, so we figured it was ok. DON'T JUDGE.

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    1. OHMYGOD. No judgement. No judgement....just call them Lipstick Berries.

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  4. project runway: toddler edition... yes! that needs to happen!

    long distance sewing is truly nerve-wracking. you did a great job, the dress looks amazing!

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  5. I'd love to know how she made the print from a photograph. The dress looks great.

    And I love the purple mustache. Last year, while painting with a class of four year olds (20 of them!), one lovely child decided he wanted to be a clown and paint his nose red. Then the rest of the class decided that looked like a good idea... I ended up laughing about it MUCH later.

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  6. OMG what a great story!!! Love the dress and pattern... The only thing I am struggling with is trying to identify "the clocks" in the fabric pattern...:(((( I've been starring at the pattern for 5 minutes now and still nothin hehe

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    1. stop! don't hurt yourself! it was a window on a church, not a clock. i was considering another photo but used this one instead!

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    2. Ha! I'm so gulliable....I thought it was a clock, so I saw a clock. There's some sort of psychological lesson in there for you all....

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    3. Thanks for clarifying this for me hehe .....

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  7. hey sue, i will do a write up about the design process on spoonflower when i hand in my dissertation...xo

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    1. I would LOVE that. We could also run a few pics of the ideas you didn't go with...I liked all the prints you made. I could picture a super cool blazer in the purple and brown clocks print you made....if that whole acting thing doesn't work out for you, perhaps a pattern in fabric design?

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  8. HAAAA HAAAAAAAAA!!! Omg, that purple mustache is killing me.

    Great dress! She's a lucky lady.

    Oh no, no sewing for other people. I made my SIL this god-awful dress out of quilting cotton and a junior's pattern like six years ago and I'm still embarrassed about it.

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    1. We all have a few quilting cotton nightmares in our early collections...

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  9. It looks great!

    I made a bridesmaids dress for someone the other side of the world earlier this year - I did a video chat fitting too! Thankfully it worked out, her dress fit her better than mine fit me!!

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  10. Great dress, it fits perfectly on both of you (how did you manage that?)!
    I have tried to sew things for others a couple of times, but it went terrible every single time. I am not good at deadlines, I sew whenever I feel like it, and having something done for someone else just seems like a lot of burden to me. I guess I'm just another selfish seamstress...

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