Hi Everyone!
November has 5 Tuesdays, which gives us the opportunity to share some news and updates with you! This post will outline the coming November topic, provide you with some resources to get prepared, and get your feedback on what's to come in 2022.
Our November topic is Embellishing the Holiday Dress!
How do you take something ordinary and make it extraordinary? With embellishments! In this topic I will show you how adding the perfect embellished details not only elevate the design, but really make your garment stand out. We will begin with a look at a few basic dress designs, fabric types to choose from, and embellishment sources to make or create the perfect finishing details. I’ll demonstrate a few different ways to add the embellishments, both prior to construction and after the garment is finished. And finally we’ll wrap up the topic with a look at staging for the perfect photo or packaging for a memorable gift giving experience! I’m excited to share these tips and techniques with you!
But first a few resources to get you prepared for the topic.
Carnaby St Dress pattern. If you don't already have that one, I encourage you to use your November coupon code to get your copy. This dress includes several variations and both are the perfect canvas for adding embellishment!
I'll also be demonstrating on the dress made from the Blossom/Starlight Gala pattern mash-up (see the video at the bottom of this post). It's a beautiful dress as is, but adding embroidered beaded appliqué really takes it to a whole new level!
BIG NEWS!
We're excited to let you know that pre-cut shoe soles are in production and we're working on getting Pixie Packs back on the site too!
We've been in limbo for while since Covid first hit in spring 2020. We moved out of our store location thinking we'd be back in a new space in a few months, but those few months have turned into almost 2 years! We've hit some challenges and a few road blocks, but we're pushing forward and hope to be in our new office space soon! In the meantime we're getting Pixie Packs back into production at a small scale, testing the waters so we can go full scale at the new location!
We do have a few Pixie Packs, ready to ship!
If you're interested in making the black dress that's featured on the cover of the pattern you can! There are limited quantities of the Carnaby St Dress Holiday Collection Pixie Pack available, but a few is better than none, right!
We will start working on this next Tuesday, so if you order this week you should have your supplies ready to go!
Additionally, I have used fabric from the 1960s 123 Wrap Dress Pixie Pack to make one of the examples too! I've added the silver netting and tulle to this Existing Pixie Pack, so you can make that dress as well!
You can follow along with this topic with any dress as your base design. The important details to consider are the fabric choices and the types of embellishment to use. For holiday dresses, I like to use special occasion fabrics such as Silk Dupioni (poly blends work great too!), Rayon blends, Taffeta, Crushed Velour, Sparkly tulle, Sequined fabrics. Embellishments can be cut from embroidered fabrics usually found in the special occasion or bridal sections. I'll go not this in more detail next week when we roll out the topic.
If you don't want to use the Carnaby St Dress pattern, here are a few other suggestions:
- Starlight Gala
- Hello Oscar
- Opening Night
- Blossom (simplified bodice version)
- Or any dress with a simple bodice and gathered skirt, and maybe puffy sleeves too!
Here's the video tutorial for the Blossom/Starlight Gala pattern mash-up. This version uses the bodice from Blossom and the skirting from Starlight Gala.
In December our topic will be Sewing Tiny Gifts. This will focus on tiny gift-able accessories for dolls to give dolls. Things like purses, shoes, hats, pet accessories, baby toys, etc.
Then we're on to 2022, can you believe it?
We're working on our calendar of topics and would love your input! In the comments below, please let us know what you'd be interested in seeing, learning, or participating in!
We have a few different formats we use for building out topics:
- Specific technique, demonstrated on a variety of projects.
- Sew-along for a specific pattern, filled in with specific fabric or technique based information
- Sewing A Themed Wardrobe: A fun topic exploring a theme or fashion era, filled with tutorials and patterns hacks to get the look just right!
- Miniature Millinery - Hat Making in the smaller scale
With those things in mind, we'd love your feedback. Let us know what types of things you'd love to talk part in during 2022!
38 Comments
love pixie pack for this topic it is so hard to find fabric in my area due I lived in rural area of wy. there is no shopping malls and love making hats too. each month for SWC topic is always a surprise for me I join for techniques etc. the patterns ideas how to make this dress or add zipper or buttons to outfits NOW JUST NEED TO FIND THE TIME TO SEW WORKING LESS AND MORE SEWING??!!!
Love to see a class on “in the hoop” projects. I see so many patterned that mention are done “in the hoop” and don’t really know how this works. Using a serger for doll-size projects would also be interesting as mentioned by someone in another post above. I’m not sure what could be done with small projects either. Love the sew a longs for various patterns—maybe one for historical patterns…pioneer, victorian, and into the 1900s. Also would like a class to support us with making the miniature projects offered for dolls for the holidays…like the snow globes, stockings etc.
I love pattern hacks, patterns for hat making, patterns and ideas for making all sorts of accessories, and stylish up to date patterns for 18" dolls and also Barbie dolls. I would also appreciate it if there was a list of what is planned for each month ahead of time , so that we can decide if we want to continue with our SWC membership or not, depending on what is being offered.
I love pattern hacks, patterns for hat making, patterns and ideas for making all sorts of accessories, and stylish up to date patterns for 18" dolls and also Barbie dolls. I would also appreciate it if there was a list of what is planned for each month ahead of time , so that we can decide if we want to continue with our SWC membership or not, depending on what is being offered.
I was really looking forward to the fantasy wedding and the tambour embroidery topics mentioned earlier this year, so I hope you can include those in 2022. Maybe one way to accommodate the cutting machine / machine embroidery people is to offer two topics for two months, so that members can choose which topic to follow so that people who don’t have the equipment still have a topic. You sell such cute embroidery projects – the masks and hand puppets come to mind – I could see decorating tees, small embellishments on certain patterns, scale, stabilizers, free standing lace, in the hoop – seriously, there’s enough content based on your offerings. The tambour – well, I could use a few tips (like how to actually do it). I don’t know how hard that would be to set up-maybe course codes? At any rate, I always learn something in the monthly topics. Here’s to a better 2022!