EMBRACING MY GRAY HAIR

From the first time I started seeing a few strands of gray hair (which have been a few years now), I've been coloring my hair to hide my gray.  I would not let my gray strands see the light of day, LOL!!!

Well, since I've been working my sewing business full time from my home I was not venturing outside as much because I was trying to get a handle of the business.  I was not in constant contact with people like I was when I was working a full time 9 to 5 job, which meant I did not have a need to color my gray hair as often.

One day I decided to take a trip to the grocery store and I forgot I had not colored my hair.  I ran into one of my girlfriends while I was shopping.  She said "LaToria, don't color your hair anymore".  I said "what?"  I had completely forgotten my gray hair was now visible for the world to see.  She said "don't color your hair anymore, that gray looks nice on you."  This took me by surprise.  I told her I would give it some thought.  She kept staring at me while we were in line waiting to pay for our groceries.  As we walked to our cars to go home, she said "don't color your hair anymore".

A few weeks later I was going to a meeting, a man was coming out of the building as I was entering the building.  He said "I like your hair", I smiled and said "Thank You."  This made me think about what my girlfriend told me in the grocery store.  Of course, when I got home I told her about it.  She said "see I told you."

My sister-in-law saw me recently, she told me the gray looked sexy on me with my cute face, LOL!!!

I used to wear my hair on my forehead, but one morning when I took my scarf off  my head, my hair was pushed back off my forehead showing my gray hair and I looked at it a few times and I began to like the look.  Now, I wear my hair off of my forehead with my gray showing around the frame of my face and I'm embracing the change.

MOTHER TO BE DRESS

Hello Sewing Family,

A few weeks ago I received a telephone call from a friend whom I made a dress for her Birthday Celebration.  She wanted to know if I would make a dress her niece for her baby shower, of course I said "yes".

We took a trip to Hancock's Fabrics to look through maternity patterns and to pick out fabric.  For the fabric, she picked out a beautiful red ponte knit.  It had a beautiful feel and weight to it.

BODICE OF DRESS:

We found Simplicity Pattern 1468 for the top of the dress, I used View B because she wanted long sleeves.

ADJUSTMENTS:
I basted the top of the dress together and I had her come over for a fitting.  We made minor adjustments, such as, making it crisscross in the front a little deeper so she could show a little cleavage (her suggestion), and we made the side seams a little tighter for a closer fit.

She also wanted the left front the of bodice to go under the right breast.

BOTTOM OF DRESS:

My initial thought was to use the bottom of a dress pattern but instead I decided to "drape" the fabric around her stomach.  The fabric was 60"wide so it was more than enough to go around her stomach.

I made gathers at the waist of the skirt and added a left front slit.  I gathered the waist of the skirt to fit the bodice.

She looked beautiful in the dress.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of her wearing the dress at this time because she was not camera ready, but she did promise me that she would take pictures at the baby shower and send them to me.  So pictures of her in the dress will be posted soon.

SEWING BEHIND THE SCENE

Hello Sew Family,

It's been awhile since I've posted something, but that doesn't mean I haven't been sewing.  I've been doing A LOT of teaching for the past 8 months, I had no idea teaching others to sew was going to be such a big hit for my business.  I thought the custom sewing was going to keep me busy.  Speaking of custom sewing, I've been doing some sewing for my clients in addition to teaching others how to sew.  A client asked me to make her some pencil skirts and A-line skirts for a fashion show she's participating in at the end of February.

I made a total of 11 skirts, she picked up the skirts tonight and was very happy with the end result.

Here is a picture of the pencil skirt I made.  I only took one picture, but I made several of these skirts.

Look at the unique, beautiful fabric she wanted the A-line skirts to be made from.  I would not normally look at this type of fabric, but after seeing the outcome of the skirts, I will definitely think outside the box when it comes to different kinds of fabric.

I had to pay attention to how I positioned the pattern so the faces would be in the right position (not upside down).

FIRST CLIENT SEWING IN 2016

One of my students is a nurse, she didn't trust her sewing to make her scrubs, so she commissioned me to make them for her. I love the fabric she picked, especially the military fabric. I added the contrast color on both of them, I can't wait for her to see them.

REVIEW OF CLIENT SEWING IN 2015

These are some of the garments I made for my clients in 2015.  

 
 

TAKING A LOOK BACK at 2015

This is a look back at the garments I made for "myself" in 2015.  I wanted to make more but I had a very busy schedule with starting my sewing business full time and teaching as well.  Hopefully, I will be able to do more sewing for myself in 2016.

MY LOVE FOR SHEATH DRESSES

I LOVE Sheath Dresses.....when I bought this pattern #M6886, I didn't make it right away.  I kept seeing a lot of my fellow sewist such as Erica Bunker post pictures of this dress, still I didn't make it.  It wasn't until one of my students made this dress for her second project and I found out how EASY it was.  I couldn't believe I had the pattern for about a year and I DID NOT make it, I was sleeping on this pattern.  Once I found out how easy it was, I made two in one day, one with sleeves and one sleeveless, and there are two more to come.

I did make some adjustments to the pattern:

• I cut a size 14 across the shoulder because I have short shoulders
• I cut a size 16 around the circumference of the arm
• I cut a size 18 in the waist and tapered it at the bottom for a more fitted look 
• I cut the pattern at the lengthen or shorten line to add 1.5 inches to the back because I have some junk in my trunk, LOL!!!!, if I don't make the adjustment in the back, it will be high in the back.
• I cut the pattern at the lengthen or shorten line to add 1.5 inches to the front as well to make it even 

Here are pictures of the adjustments:

Cutting at the Lengthen or Shorten Line

Adding 1.5 inches to accommodate for my "junk in the trunk", LOL!!! I drew dashes across the paper.

I taped the bottom half of the pattern to the paper at the dashed lines.

I laid the cutting line of the pattern on one of the grid lines on my cutting mat to make sure when I draw the line to connect the added space it will be straight.

All of the adjustments are made.

The dress in leopard print knit.

Necklace and earring set by Patrice Perfect Pieces

Bracelet by Patrice Perfect Pieces; silver ring by Silpada

The dress in black knit.