| My Learning Journey |
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| While I didn't actually do much towards Jessica's dress I did get a great feeling of satisfaction upon the completion. I decided to try and make a few Irish dance dresses. But first I was going to need a sewing machine. I started saving my pennys! Then when I was visiting my sister she pulled out this really old Bernina - it was purchased by my late Great Aunty Nell in 1971!!! I sent it off to be serviced, then had a lesson on how to work it and I finally had a sewing machine - free. Then I enrolled in Shirley Capon's "Irish Dance Dressmaking Course" and I made Elizabeth's dress, it was designed by Colleen Kirby of Adelaide. While the old Bernina had the most perfect applique stitch unfortunately it could not cope with sewing great thicknesses so when it came to sewing the skirt and bodice together it just didn't want to do it. Then I managed to pick up a second hand Singer 20U. I am still coming to grips with it today! |
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| ©This is Elizabeth's Irish dance dress. As you can see I still have a lot to learn. Next time I'm going to try and make those side panels narrower and that skirt a lot shorter! We weren't quite happy with the finished result so I packed it off to my very, very, very good friend Margaret Carroll and she trimmed the side panels and scalloped the bottom of the dress. You can see the difference this made to Elizabeth's dress! At the 2003 Australian Irish Dancing Championships Elizabeth came 5th and was on the blocks! I guess if you can't have a son or daughter on the blocks then the next best thing would be a dress!!!!!! |
| Jane and I then embarked on some team Irish dance dresses. We made 8 of the dresses pictured below. They were a learning experience too! And while the teacher loves the length, for me they were scarily just a tad too short. |
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| © Jessica's Irish dance dress, designed a little by me and a lot by Colleen Kirby |
| © Elizabeth's Irish dance dress designed by Colleen Kirby |
| These little Irish dance dresses designed by Peter Schultz © |
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| © And so the journey continues. This lovely dress is also designed by Colleen Kirby. Once again I couldn't have managed it without the help of my friend Jane. But I am pleased to say that now I can least get through the bodice all by myself - including the zip! Most of the help I need is related to the skirt! I wonder why?? I get very frustrated because of my lack of sewing skills. I have two more solo dresses to make this year and in the new year I think I may venture to some adult sewing classes to become more familiar with my basic skills. There is so much I have forgotten in twenty years! |
| Once this dress sells I can buy an overlocker! I'm really looking forward to that. |
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| © This is Diana's lovely dress. Jane and I worked on this together but I would really have to say that Jane made this dress. This lovely design was created by Lisa Dance-Again!!! What a clever lady she is - can compute and design. Diana's Dad was very clever in drawing the dress to scale for us. Thanks Ed! |
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| © I'm thrilled with this new dress which was designed by the very talented and lovely Liz Davis of Queensland Australia. While there are a few little imperfections, there are not many and I am very proud of this childs size 8 dress. I've managed to do this just about all by myself. The only thing Jane helped me with was the ironing on of some of the appliques and the red satin stitching around the bottom. Thank you Jane! The most satisfying thing is that this dress fits perfectly, this is my biggest worry, making things fit people and why I'm not prepared for a little while to take any more orders. |
| This little girl's mum has spent well over 40 hours sewing strip diamantees over a vast part of this dress and this has really added to the sparkle effect. Well done (not bad for someone who didn't know how to thread a needle)! This dress was finished late on Saturday night just in time for it to be worn on Sunday. The headpiece is still coming! The only thing I would say about this dress is that I have learnt why you should use the same coloured lining as what is in the sleeve. You will see why too when you look at the picture again! I'm pleased to say this dancer came 5th at the 2003 Australian Irish Dancing Championships. Another dress on the blocks at the Nationals! |
| I have recently purchased an overlocker and am becoming more confident with the use of my industrial machine. Now I have just one more dress order to finish for this year and it needs to be finished in two weeks for the ACT State Championships. After that dress is finished I am going to enjoy making a few off the rack dresses until I become more confident with the whole dress concept. I think maybe a year or two of off the rack dresses will really help my confidence ... then my little one will be off to school and I may return to office work and sew in my leisure! |
| This time I did a few things differently, mainly in the skirt. I have used a box pleat again but this time used only one layer of stiffener, I also lined each panel as I went and then Jane satin stitched around each piece before it was together. The only reason I did this was because I thought it would be easier to manage, when the bodice and skirt are attached it becomes very awkward and whenever I can I have decided to avoid that!!! |
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| © And this is the lovely Zoe's dress! Jane and I made this together. Because I was rather strapped for time, Jane appliqued for me and I put it all together! Jane had a terrible time appliquing the pink glitterball and especially the white velour glitterball. Necia's tip to use a drycleaning bag when appliquing really helped but still was quite difficult. Zoe's beautiful dress is designed by Colleen Kirby. I am starting to become a little bit comfortable now! And I did not stress at all about attaching the skirt to the bodice! As is my standard practice now I am making the bodice lining first and getting the fitting for that just right. For some reason it took a little while to get it right for Zoe but in the end it was worth redoing the lining a couple of times because then the pattern was perfect for Zoe and the bodice was whipped up quite quickly! Whew! I can't believe it all came together so quickly. Zoe wore the dress for the first time this weekend and looked like a champion! Congratulations Zoe! |
| I was a beginner at sewing Irish Dance dresses. I first started thinking about making an Irish dance dress for my daughter in 2000. However, not having sewn since leaving school in 1982 or even the owner of a sewing machine it seemed a crazy idea. In 2001, when it became evident that my daughter Jessica was going to need her first Irish dance solo dress and sooner rather than later I began to think a little more seriously about this adventure. I spent a good 8 months researching, finding patterns, looking at fabric samples and drawing my own design. However, drawing the dress design was much harder than I had imagined and eventually sent my own dress design ideas and drawings off to Colleen Kirby of Adelaide who was actually able to make something of my drawings and finish a dress design for me. I was very lucky to have help from three main sources. My daughter's Irish Dance teacher Monica Simpson encouraged and supported me every step along the way. Monica helped me choose fabrics, colours and also helped me with the dress design at every turn. Monica dealt with my phone calls several times a day and even made the correct oohhs and aahhs at the appropriate time. Thank you so much Monica. My wonderful friend and neighbour Jane (who has sadly moved away - fortunately not too far). Jane has taught me so much about appliqué and actually did all the appliqué on Jessica's dress - except for the two crooked lines on the side panels which I did myself! Can you imagine how easy it is to pass fabric over the back fence! We even used Jane's wonderful sewing machine for all the appliqué. Thank you so much Jane. Last but certainly not least a wonderful lady who has now become my friend, Margaret Carroll. Margaret has been very generous with her time on the phone and email/internet providing wonderful advice and then eventually her time to help me put together Jessica's dress. Thank you so much Margaret. Below is the result of all that hard work. |