Curses, Purses!

Sometimes I get the impression that I'm the only one in the world who is incredibly picky about handbags! Is anyone else this way or am I crazy? If so, does it make you hold on to the same too-small, military-issue (similar to this), $15 sling-bag for 5 years? This is my situation.

My in-store shopping experiences only turn up gawdy, ugly, too large, too expensive, bottomless-pit style bags that don't have enough compartments. I need something that's organized enough where if I had a lost tiny item, I could locate it within seconds. I've noticed some women searching for minutes for their cell phone within the bowels of their bags. Bags should not have bowels people! (in my opinion).

To be worth using, a bag has to work 100% for me. If it's too small or too large, it doesn't work. If it doesn't have enough pockets, it doesn't work. If it falls in my way when I'm bending down to grab things, it doesn't work. If I can't find a tiny object within it immediately, it doesn't work.

So far there is no place that I have found to stock this imaginary "perfect" bag that I need to keep my stuff organized exactly how I'd like it. Maybe I don't fit the demographic for purse designers these days, I don't know. But I'd like to solve this, perhaps with a new design of my own, which I'm working on plans for. Here's my ideas so far:

Research:

This is the bag style I've made so far, the Purse de Leon. It's sort of a combo cross-body sling + backpack style. Issue: For me, this doesn't have enough compartments or much room to add them. I do like it's flat, out of the way functionality but am not sure about the shape of it for my personal preference.

Then I found this pattern (view D, the largest image, ignore the ugly visor) for a more symmetrical bag shape, in comparison to the Purse de Leon's shape. Issue: This bag only has 2 main pockets + one for a cell phone, and even less room to add more.

I found this "baggallini hugger backpack" at Ebags.com and considered its usefulness. More pockets = good. Issue: The shape of this one is starting to look more backpack-like, which is something I'd like to avoid. For some reason backpack purses always seem to have a pretty dated look, and I hate the top loop.

I like the squarer shape of this one from Elenachiesa's Etsy shop and the pleats on the front pocket are nice, although it only has at least 2 pockets. Issue: This one is too flat. From a side-view, you'd see that you wouldn't be able to fit many items in this bag.

Remember "belly bags"? Now they're calling them "hip bags". This one from Nomadum's Etsy shop is kind of interesting. Issue: This would not work with all outfits, especially in the winter. It wouldn't fit over any longer coat, and you'd have to rummage under your coat to access it.

My Personal Bag Requirements:
• Must contain at least 5 variously sized compartments (exterior compartment for a pen + sunglasses, one for cell phone + ipod and other small things, an interior pocket for personal items, a main interior pocket for wallet and other larger items, and finally another outer pocket for project notes, notebooks, business cards, etc.)
• A 6th compartment for odd items that aren't used a lot but come in handy now and then would be nice too: small scissors, measuring tape, sewing repair kit, etc.
• Must be cross-body style. Shoulder and hand bags are not functional for me, they fall in my way. I often carry a lot of other things and my bag should be 100% hands-free.

*Observation* : I've noticed that the more compartments you have for specific groupings of items, the less beat up those items tend to get. If everything is in one bottomless pit of a bag, the more beat up they will become as they collide against everything else in your bag.

Other Issues:
With all the listed stipulations in mind, I'd like to design a bag that does not need to change with the season or the event necessarily. This is the greatest challenge. It needs to be simple, in an all year round color, and a color and style that I could wear with almost any outfit, excluding ballgown attire of course. Mostly casual. But I don't like changing my bag monthly to fit the season - this is excessive to me.

Should it be more combo sling + backpack style? Or more messenger baggish, but cuter?

So yes indeed. This is a great task. I wonder how many other women are purse weirdos (who find it difficult to sacrifice function for fashion) like myself? And if they'd be interested in the solution that's forming in my mind?

I'd love to hear any feedback you may have!

Zooey Envy

I've been listening to a lot of She & Him lately { Zooey Deschanel + M. Ward }. It's one of my favorite soundtracks for sewing projects. They have a fun upbeat 1960s girl band sound. It's inspiring, as Ms. Deschanel's adorable attire choices embody many of the style aspects I strive for in my work. This is something I hadn't realized until I was recently reminded by the lovely Christina Bowles at Fern Frisbie. Thanks Christina!

So I went into minimal obsession mode searching for Zooey dresses, collecting Zooey photos and watching Zooey videos to see her wearing all those cute outfits.

I love this satin + lace champaigny lavender dress.

It's modest but the lace adds quite a sexy angle to it.

What a cute swim suit! I love the hip-bow + lace.
Might be best on a sunning babe than a very active swimmer though.

Green with envy!
Add to "to-sew" list: Check.

My research method usually consists of lots and lots of image research, and then some pattern browsing to see which ones can be pieced together to create new things. But the most helpful step in construction assessment is making simple sketches like this one. Zooey's little green dress caught my eye indeed. The busty layers are interesting and attractive yet modest, and the little bows are a nice playful detail. I suddenly want this green dress! { and to grow my hair and bangs out a little bit! }

Ahhh, sketching what I can one day create is how I compensate for not being home sewing in my little corner for the majority of my time while I'm day-jobbing as a web designer. *sigh*

My 'Sabrina' Inspired Wedding Dress

Almost 2 years ago around this time, I was completing the finishing touches on my very first handmade wedding gown before the wedding in May. It turned out wonderfully! I was so happy with it. And even better, I learned a lot.

This project underwent many stages of planning and assembly, which I'd like to share with you today...

First of all, I started thinking about what I wanted my wedding dress to be way before I knew I was getting married, or before my husband and I really even knew each other! I did a ton of research. I knew I wanted a vintage, classic feel. I spent many hours browsing through patterns to get ideas for what I could piece together to fit my vision. The two icons always present in my mind during my planning stages were Grace Kelly's wedding gown and Audrey Hepburn's ball gown from the movie Sabrina.


I adore Grace's delicate lace and modest silhouette, and I just had to have Sabrina's train! I wasn't sure how I was going to do this at first, and I put off figuring that out until I had the dress itself together. So here goes... (click on any of the photos for larger views)

I chose the center style of this pattern for the basic shape of my dress, with some edits and additions.

Here I am laying out my fabrics. I found a beautiful ivory satin and dotted lace from Jackman Fabrics in St. Louis for the overlay. I changed the neckline into the sweetheart shape rather than a straight boatneck.

I liked that this pattern didn't have a seam between the bodice and the skirt.. Here's a view of making the darts in the waist-to-skirt section, and the sweetheart neck on the right. The underbust puckers are also a nice detail.

My first dress try-on, as I hold the back together without a zipper installed.


This is my first train version, which I did NOT like at all. It reminded me of a little girl's dress, my flower girl's to be exact. I tried a pleated top, lace-lined shorter train that just felt really weird and kind of cheap. Not cool!

Upon much further research, I was ecstatically relieved to discover this website that basically details out the shapes and assembly for the Sabrina train! Holy moly: this was all coming together so wonderfully now! So I made a trip to Gail K Fabrics in Atlanta, GA for this amazing lace. It would work perfectly!

Sometimes you just have discover "off the wall" solutions for things. The lace piece was very wide, so I borrowed a projector from work to display the pattern of the train onto the wall in actual size (since all I had for the pattern was the tiny illustration from that site above).

Here is the entire lace part of the train after gathering the top portion. I bought some extra satin and laid it out under the lace so I could cut the satin to fit the shape of the gathered lace. The two top curved portions that look like bat wings will get sewn together, as with the satin, creating the center back seam of the train, which lays against the back of the dress skirt so the seam is never seen.

Here's the train with the center back seam sewn, just gathered at the top and pinned to the back of the dress. Notice how un-full the train appears at this point. What to do!?

At this point in my sewing skills (2 years ago), I wasn't sure if I could achieve making crinoline layers to fill that train as much as I envisioned. So I went to David's Bridal and bought a very full crinoline skirt to stuff all up in there. It worked like a charm.

I used the extra lace floral pieces to create an embroidered texture around the hem. I always really enjoy sewing on these kinds of details. It's very tedious, but relaxing somehow.


Here's the front view with train pinned on and embroidered details done at the hem. This was one of those moments where I felt like I had just accomplished so much so far! I just wanted to stare at it and smile. It became this presence in my room. I felt like it deserved me giving it a "goodnight" blessing before going to bed that night.

Next, this dress needs a dust ruffle! This part is black on Sabrina's dress. It keeps the lace from dragging on the floor. I used an ivory chiffon. A very long, ruffled piece was needed to fit around the entirety of the train hem. With all the ruffles and the length of it, my gathering thread kept breaking or I'd lose the ends to pull up within the gathers ~ frustrating!

Once I got over myself and got it done, the ruffle was sewn to the satin part of the train only, so the lace could lay over the ruffle. I soon discovered that the lace would need to be tacked into place so they would remain aligned properly with wear.

Here's the train hem, post-lace-tacking. Perfect!

...and the view from the back. The zipper is installed at this point but the dress form I bought after starting this project was too large for me, so it didn't zip up totally in the back. Later, I would apply 42 covered buttons to give some elegance to the zipper back there.

Now it needs a belt to go over the fraying top of the gathered lace train. You can see part of the top of the crinoline that I stuffed into there for train fullness too (the bright white bit). That must be covered!

So I designed a little belt-topper to enclose those loose ends. Here's my belt piece and sketched plans for it. Later I would also take more of the smaller floral embroidered bits to embellish this belt piece with.

This dang train is getting quite heavy now with all those layers and the crinoline. I bought heavy duty hook and eyes (4 of them) to affix across the back of the dress and the top of the belt. I added more floral embroidered pieces around the hooks so that when I wore the dress without the train, the hooks would not be seen.

And now for some working hard shots:

Sewing those dang ruffles on!

I also made my veil. Organza gathered at the top and sewn to a comb. In this photo I'm cutting the lace edging from my train remnants to use on the edge of my veil.

And here I'm sewing on the veil edging while watching House.
Veils are fun, and much less stressful than mile-long ruffle hems.

It's done!

Mr. & Mrs. on our wedding day!

I highly enjoyed this project, but was greatly challenged by many things that I would do differently had I the chance to re-make the gown today. I spent about 5-6 months pre-planning and planning and traveling for materials and sewing it all up in small increments.

It was definitely worth the effort! (and the literal blood, sweat and tears) that went into this creation. I know I never would have found anything like it anywhere else on the planet and I'm extremely satisfied with the fact that I could create it perfectly for myself.

The Sabrina Inspired Wedding Dress design is available for custom order in the shop, as I would love to give anyone else the same opportunity to enjoy this gown as I have.

Wedding dresses are especially dear to my creative heart lately. I do indeed plan to create more and more of them in the near future!

Mastering Princess Seams

The Problem: Princess seams, or any curved seam will have an outside and an inside curve (shown in red below). The outside curve is sharper as it allows the fabric to fit the curves of the bust. These seams will tend to pucker when sewn, as they do not match in length. But here’s the trick to achieve a perfectly un-bunchy curved seam every time...



Stay-stitch all curved edges of the bodice side fronts and the bodice front, about 1/2” from the cut edge. In the end, this stitching will be inside the final seam so you won’t see it from the outside.


Clip the seam allowances along all the curved sides, right to the stay-stitching. Make the clips every 3/8” to 1/2”. This will help the fabric spread so as to match the curve of the other peice without bunching up.


Starting at the bottom of the seam, pin the two pieces, right sides together, keeping the pins on the outside of the stay-stitching.


Sew the peices together at 5/8” seam.

Press the seams open on a pressing ham from the inside. To further reduce bunching, notch “V” shapes into the seam allowance as shown.

And you’re done! With perfect, un-bunchy princess seams!

Cootie Catcher!

Cootie Catcher Wedding Invitation Package

catch the details here

I used to love these "cootie catcher" fortune teller things as a kid. They're fun to fold and fun to play with! I also had a small obsession with origami and just had to work this into a wedding invitation. So here it is! Just a sample to entice my customers, but I hope someone is bold enough to use this fun style for their wedding, because it's extra fun to make!

I really enjoy the challenge of coming up with non traditional wedding invitation layouts. It's like a fun puzzle to solve.

~ Inquisition ~
What's the craziest / most interesting / most unique wedding invitation you've seen?

Evening Solace Gown

Just finished this little number last night to wear to a friend's wedding in March. I really love it! The colors are very bold, and the bodice is made of an interesting paisley patterned mocha and turquoise brocade. I've recently been inspired by brocades very much. Check out some more fabrics that I've found to offer for custom orders from one•little•m!

I would not call myself an expert seamstress just yet, as I still make mistakes from time to time, but this one turned out really, really well. I feel like I made a lot of headway with it as far as my skill level. I'll be especially excited to wear this one.

Also the title of this dress is the title of a Charlotte Bronte poem. The colors reminded me of the 1800s era, as well as the ornate nature of the bodice.. and there's an unexplainable something about it that reminded me of Bronte and of poetry.

Evening Solace Gown
see more about this item here

Gorgeous Inspiration, Thank You Very Mucha

Alphonse Mucha (pronounced mooka) was a Czech Art Nouveau artist best known for his beautiful, ornamentally adorned studies of women. His work could be found in advertisements and wine bottles in the 1920s era. Boy! They don't advertise like they used to, that's for sure.

Check out this poster for the St. Louis World's Fair!

I've always been so very impressed with his work. I love the detail, the usage of thick outlines, and the alluring combination of pastels and rich colors. I remember once in college photocopying all the pages of a book full of his work to take home and study. I wasn't sure what exactly I could do with this inspiration, but I knew I'd eventually figure it out. That was before I was really sewing with any regularity.

Recently I've found myself planted on the floor at Barnes & Noble in front of the "fashion design" section. Not finding anything too inspiring (fashion design these days apparently includes bulky impractical geometry or whipped cream shapes), I slowly made my way to the Art section - to find ONE thin paperback of Mucha sketches, not in color)... so I did further research and found my next passionate project for beautiful attire...

{ click images to view closer detail }

I love LOVE the pink dress on the left from a White Star Champagne label. What a great color combination. The drapes over the arms and the flower adornments are quite elegant. The body of the dress is quite simple but flattering, with a train in the back.

In many works I've noticed thin-strapped & plated jewelry sewn into the clothing, as seen in the "Amethyst" figure on the left. Very interesting. On the right, I love the peachy pink and sea foam green color combination amongst the folds & drapes (plus this model makes me happy to embrace my pale-toned nature).

"Lillies" on the left has a very simple dress design but is also very gorgeous, especially if a fabric lily could be worked into it somehow, or perhaps along a lower fold in the front.

These two show some shoulder drape detail, but also notice the great hair piece designs!

Currently I'm about to finish my first "Famous, But Yours" gown, to go live in my shop this week.. but I definitely, definitely plan to address this inspiration soon after. I'm very excited! I think I'll start with the pink White Star Champagne label gown.

Incredibly gorgeous.