From Concept to Completion

  I recently transferred all my sewing design sketches from a worn-out folder to a binder and had fun looking through them all. Some are very badly drawn, from 2005 or so, and I'm still tweaking at others. Only a few have made it into reality. I started comparing how closely – or not! – the finished products resemble my sketched ideas…

   

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out, especially since it was one of the first ones where I made real changes to the pattern.

Testing colors

This one turned okay, though not very close to the sketch. It needed more petticoats to make it poof that way! I learned a lot about alerations while working on this one, and trying to make a Simplicity pattern look accurate!

This was made for a swing dance my friend hosted. It actually made the transition pretty well, aside from fitting problems:)

This was another idea I toyed with, but I decided against the ruffle.

My current plan for the Civil War ballgown! I still haven't tackled pleating the skirt, so it's not much closer to being finished than in this picture. We'll have to wait and see if it turns out like the sketch.

The trim will be made with ruching, probably in a dark green











Trim ideas before I simplified it to the above sketch.



This is an idea for an informal dress that I almost did instead of the ballgown. I didn't because last summer the pattern and fabric were too expensive, but I eventually picked it up for $1.28/yd! Blue and white striped sheer cotton...

I can't wait to start on this one someday.

I sketched this one between classes one day.

It's not a top priority, but would be fun sometime.

This is an oooold project, from when Katie graduated high school!

I drew this 'charactature' with all her current hobbies and had it printed on a t-shirt. :)

-sheep

-knitting

-Irish dance (both the gillies and the clicking heels)

-singing (she was in choir)

-Seton Home Study (her favorite hobby! not.)

-UD t-shirt (her future college)

My mom and I debated putting pasta in... now I think we should have.

These are some of the sketches we used for inspiration for the sheep.

Notice my mom's perfect sketch of lambchops from memory!

In the end I chose the adorable little guy from Mary Popins to

help me with his head.