May Day 2015--Queen's Dress

I love building dream gowns and this was one of those kinds of dresses.  Edyn came to me with a basic idea of what she wanted: something that looked like Queen Emma with dramatic hemlines and wide necklines with lots of embellishment. Edyn's Kumu wanted the dress to be form fitting so her dance would have more expression and would be emphasized. Edyn's mom wanted drama and rich colors.

Here are some of the inspiration images:

And here are some of the original design sketches:

And some of the first fabric options:

But this is what we finally came up with, the final design sketch:

The final fabric choices.  Gold for the body and Raspberry, Vanilla and Olive accents for the floral embellishments:

And the dress:


Back view but she is holding her train up.  The train is 8 ft long and is removeable so she can dance without it.

In action:

After the show:

Edyn on the right and me on the left

May Day Queen 2014

My sewing project this week was this beautiful dress for May Day Queen Jordyn Tuliloa, a near replica of the dress worn by the actress portraying Princess Kaiulani in the movie of the same name.

Queen Jordyn as she walks onto stage

Back view after being crowned and receiving her lei's

 The skirt was changed to mermaid style to accentuate her hula and fabric was changed for the same reason. The dress was made of Ivory taffeta and gold lame contrast and lace trim. It is fully lined with a built in corset and petticoat and an invisible zipper down the back. The double poofed, off-shoulder sleeves are supported with a net interior lining. The large rosette at the front and 3 mini rosettes at the back are hand made. The front rosette is made from one 45" long bias strip. All rosettes have silver beads at the center.

Back view of dress in movie

A little over a month ago Jordyn's mom brought me these two pictures, clips from the movie, and asked if I could replicate it. I looked for a pattern that was similar but found nothing so I set out to make it from scratch. The entire pattern was hand drafted and fit to Jordyn. Due to other engagements I was unable to do the bulk of the work until the week before May Day. I was grateful that the Tuliloa's were understanding of my schedule restrictions and trusted me when I said I could get it done.

Front view of dress in movie

When all was said and done I spent over 50 hours on the dress. This includes the time I spent researching, shopping for fabric and notions, making patterns and mock ups, constructing the dress, conducting fittings and hand finishing the whole thing.

I loved working on this challenging project and was so pleased that it was received with rave reviews by her parents, extended family and community.

I love my job!

A Dress for Me

It has been a LONG time since I made something for myself. Last night I stayed up all night (no sleep) to make this white dress for choir this morning. I made the pattern and sewed it all together. I haven't sewn for myself since I lost weight 2 years ago so had to make a new sloper too. Since it was the middle of the night I had no one to help me with fitting so I'll be making a few minor fit changes this week but it worked for choir. Thanks Amy Gold for keeping me awake through (most of) the meeting.

Custom Wedding Dress

Dalys knew what she wanted when she showed up for her fitting. She had a binder with pictures, some swatches of fabric and a clear vision of what styles flattered her figure. There was only one problem: she had less than a month to her wedding date. Lucky for her I am a sucker for a beautiful wedding dress and clients with a clear vision of what they want. This past month has been a whirlwind of fittings and shopping and sewing and beading and pressing mixed in with my steady stream of regular projects.


Here's the time breakdown:

• 4 hours of pattern making: I was unable to find a pre-made pattern that matched her design so I created one to her specifications. She wanted a two piece dress. The skirt needed a thick 2.5"-3" waistband and a tight fitted skirt to just below her hip. The bottom of the skirt needed to flare out and have a simple, smooth and short train of about 18". The top would be a hip length princess  seamed bodice with a square neck and cap sleeves covered in beaded lace overlay. The overlay would have a higher boat neck and 3/4 length sleeves and have scallop edge beaded trim all the way around. We decided to make the top so it could be worn tucked in or left out.
• 3 hours of cutting out fabric: Yes, it takes that long to arrange the pattern pieces on the yardage and cut out the satin, lace and two layers of lining for a wedding dress.
• 14 hours sewing. This includes basting, pressing, alterations after fittings, installing zippers and closures, linings and hemming.
• 2.5 hours of fittings/consultations
• 3 hours of handstitching-beading, buttons and finish work. Oh My!

This morning, after 26 hours of work spread out over the course of 3 weeks, I delivered Dalys' dress to her.

Repair Workshop

Spent the better part of my day today doing repairs. I patched holes, resewed seams, fixed tears and replaced a few zippers.

The invisible zippers in both of these skirts had broken and needed to be replaced. I charge $10-$15 for zipper replacement. Cost depends on if it is an invisible zipper or regular zipper and whether or not there is a lining or topstitching, or other detail work. Ashley, the owner of these skirts, loves them and it was worth it to her to have the zippers replaced. While I was at it she asked me to make a pattern of these skirts also. She is heading out on a mission and would like a few replicas made.

The tie belt on this Jenny's blouse ripped out. Can you tell where? You have to look really close to see it. It was a really obvious rip before I got to it. Most small rips and tears are just $5 to fix. Some are even cheaper.

The thread in the whole backside seam of these boardshorts had disintegrated leaving it open from waist to crotch. Yikes! A little time and three rows of stitching later they are good as new again and ready for the big waves. $5.

In addition to the repair projects I also altered a few pairs of suit slacks and altered a swimsuit. Yep, a swimsuit! This young lady loved everything about her new suit except the way it fit her bum. It was loose and provided too much coverage (an unusual problem I think we all wish we had). I took in the extra fabric through the crotch seam and then reshaped the derriere to fit her the way she liked. I didn't take a picture for obvious reasons--did you really want to see a picture of someone's bum on my blog?

Patterns and Sample Sewing for Manufacturers

I am on a super secret mission this week. I am working on a project for a small manufacturer. They have some designs that they need patterns and samples made for and have asked me to do the work for them. I wish I could tell you more but then I'd have to kill you.  ;-)

Laie May Day Costumes

Last year's May Day I worked on the 6th grade costumes. This year I worked on the 2nd and 4th grades.

 For the 2nd grade classes I made the patterns for the circle skirts. The pattern was the easy part. The difficult part was computing how many yards of red material would be needed for the ruffles. There is a lot of fabric hanging from those cute little hips!

The 4th grade classes combined to represent Scotland. Every student needed a kilt. For some strange reason plaid flannel is very difficult to find on the island so the choreographer ordered the plaid flannel a month or so ahead of time from JoAnn fabric online. A great idea but . . . not quite enough had been ordered. This put my patternmaking skills to the test. I had to create three different style kilts out of three different colored plaid and I was limited to the yardage that had been ordered.

Well, I love a challenge. I was able to create three very different styles (can't tell so much in this picture) that were very easy to make and we had just enough fabric to go around. Literally I think there was no more than 2 yards left over. WOW. A lot of credit goes out to those moms who did so much sewing and so carefully followed my cutting instructions.

BYUH Theater: Three Sisters

Just three weeks since the Winter Musical and we are on to our next production. This week BYUH theater presents "Three Sisters" by Chekoff.

I have not been shy about saying that I am not a fan of Russian literature. When the director asked me what I thought, when the actors asked me what I thought, when my family, friends or anyone asked me what I thought of the play I was perhaps too honest and declared, "I'm not a fan of Russian literature and I'm not a fan of this script either." But that has not kept me from doing my best to make sure the actors looked their part and felt good about their work.

In the last three weeks I have spent 90 hours working on this play. 21 of those hours were in the shop sewing, altering or conducting fittings. 12 hours were spent on procurement (shopping). 12 hours were spent on research and design--I suppose I should scan and upload my simple sketches. 15 hours were spent in class managing my student's as they went through the wardrobes and worked on projects as assigned. And 30 hours were spent at dress rehearsals and performances.

My students spent 21 class hours and 6 lab hours each in preparation for this play. I have 3 students so that is a total of 63 student hours plus, combined, they spent another 32 hours working the dress rehearsals and performances. That is a total of 95 student hours on this play.

My shop assistant spent 57 hours prepping for this play doing alterations, fittings, sewing and helping my students and me. She also spent 24 hours working the dress rehearsals and performances. Her total contribution to this play was 81 hours.

Between the 5 of us we spent a total of 266 hours on the costumes for Three Sisters.

There were 16 actors in this play, 9 men and 7 women. There were 11 full costume changes and many mini changes (swapping out a tie, throwing on a coat, etc.). There were 143 total costume pieces that were used. Only 20 of those had to be altered or embellished in some way and fortunately only 12 items were made brand new (5 of those were Ushanka hats).

After two plays back to back we are all pretty tired out and looking forward to the end of the semester. We have three weeks left of semester and my students will be spending that time on their final projects. They must design and construct a costume for themselves.

Custom Temple Dress

Working on a custom Temple Dress for my friend Hailey. She wanted a white Hawaiian Print dress with a basic design. We had fun making sketches and discussing details. Can't wait for her final fitting tomorrow. Will post pictures here :-)

Custom Made Muumuu

This week I'm working on a custom made Muumuu. My client is a mainlander who was on island visiting friends. She had been looking for a Muumuu that she liked but couldn't find one that fit quite right; however, she did find the perfect fabric at the swap meet.

Before leaving for home she brought me the fabric, her measurements and a general idea of what she wanted her dress to look like. I'm excited to get the dress shipped off to her and I'm hoping for a picture of her in her new outfit. A great Hawaiian keepsake: a custom made Muumuu.

Custom Costume Patterns

In Laie few holidays are taken more seriously than Halloween. Every man, woman, child and creature are decked out to the max. The streets are filled with revelers for hours and the candy bowls are seemingly bottomless.

Knowing this it should be no surprise that moms begin their costume making in June. Yes, June! At the beginning of June I received a request for a custom pattern for the Kitara Waterbender costume pictured below. They wanted the full-fledged, no holds barred, costume.  They wanted full range of motion and full function in case she decided to whip out some "moves". This was to be a quality costume that she could wear for Halloween and beyond.

Today I delivered this pattern to her.  The pattern is custom fit to the young lady's specific measurements using my new patternmaking software. This CAD program is excellent for basic designs and a real life saver for complicated pieces like this. 

If you have something special in mind for Halloween, or any other holiday or occasion, contact me for a free consultation and quote. Final patterns can be delivered by email and printed out on your own printer.

Patterns for Laie 6th grade May Day Costumes

I helped make the dresses for the 6th graders this year for May Day.  Though the dresses looked very simple it is never a simple task to make fitted tops for so many girls in so many sizes. But that wasn't the biggest challenge.  The biggest challenge was getting it all finished in just 10 days time!

The choreographer had one pattern--a very old, previously used pattern--that he wanted the costumes based on.  My job was to make copies of the pattern, sized appropriately, for all 20+ girls. It took me about 15 hours to hand draft the pattern into 6 different size ranges.  As I went I made special notations for a few of the girls who needed specific alterations on their dresses.

Once the patterns were produced they were divided between three seamstresses for production.  I was one of the seamstresses and spent another 15 hours sewing and fitting seven tops and seven skirts. The skirts were extremely simple with just an elastic waistband but the fitted tops were tricky with their one strap, side zipper and fitted bodice.

The end result was  fantastic.  The girls loved their dresses.  They felt beautiful in them and they were easy to dance in. I'm glad I was able to help out.