There have been many handmade clothing busts in my lifetime. It probably started when I was 5 or 6. This was my mom's doing, as I was too young to use the adult sewing machine and was just dandy sewing paper on my children's model. She made me this wool, plaid jumper.
I thought it was itchy and ugly. As you can see I wasn't wearing it in this picture (and I don't think there is a picture of me actually wearing it) She would always ask me if I wanted to wear it, I would cry and yell "no" and would put on some cotton stirrup pants along with some skirt and shirt that may or may not have matched depending on my mood.
Since the wool dress fiasco of '88, I have had many other mom-made dresses. Some of which were great. My mother is a master seamstress. Everything she makes is well made and always fits, sometimes they even look great. But believe me there have been many sad sad fashion no nos come out of her sewing room.
The first piece of clothing I made for myself was a slip dress in junior high. It was hideous. I never wore it and can't even remember what I made it out of. But I have the pattern and I don't know why I ever wanted to wear a sack that was meant for potatoes.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I wanted a sexy red satin tube top that zipped up the back and then tied at the top to keep the girls in. I had seen these tops in many fashionable stores and I had to have one. Since those stores don't carry any sizes that would fit anyone but barbie, I had to make my own. I managed to find a pattern that would work. It was a simple tube top and all I had to do was make my own pattern for the tie part. I'm good on the fly so this worked pretty well. I made a sample shirt out of some Hawaiian print fabric I had laying around. I figured it would be good for summer. Then I made the satin one. It was amazing! Everything went smoothly, even the surging of the seams! I didn't make one single mistake. I hated it. I wore it once. Both of the shirts are still in my closet collecting dust.
I don't do clothes. I wish I could. I really wish I could. But I can't. I'm good at designing stuff, but my execution is usually all wrong. So as you can see, this skirt is a major step forward for me.
There's a pic of the back but I don't want to subject you to my large ass. The embroidery is of a classic tattoo pattern I got out of a book. I saw the cherries and couldn't resist. I probably should have used a different shade of blue for the feathers but you can kind of see them when I'm wearing it.
Labels: cherries, embroidery, sewing
