All you need is fabric, and iron and iron on transfer paper!

• The Perfect Tee pattern is the same Tee pattern that is available in our Spring Fling pattern.

I have been watching/checking in on the service for a while now. I actually signed up for the Beta, but never did anything with it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, in prep for our newest pattern, I designed my first fabric and took the plunge.

The design part and uploading the design was pretty easy for someone familiar with a photo editing program. The help files available on the site were useful, but if you don’s speak the language of resolution, pixels and the like, I would imagine that you would have a rough time of producing something that we would all call yardage. I made up at least 5 designs, did several layouts and the fabric that shipped was just meh..

The quality of the fabric left a lot to be desired. I went with the quilting weight cotton, there are several choices including knit, and it didn’t hold up to washing. The cotton just didn’t break down well in the wash. It got raised areas on it where the dye didn’t take, so it basically looks like I need to go over it with a lint roller (tried, but it didn’t do anything). I went with a medium dark color and Spoonflower warns that they print all the designs on white fabric, so dark designs my not be the best choice, but I expected something a bit better.

The fabric itself was the real disappointment. Pins left holes, there was no flexibility to the textile and only after much ironing could I get any sort of drape. I can get better stuff, granted not my own design, from Joann’s premium quilting line and a step above that from my wholesaler. Price was ok for a custom item, 18 dollars a yard. Double what I pay for nice fabric retail.

So my review is fun to play with, but stick with the big fabric houses

Among a Google garnered images, for 1850′s girls dress, was this daguerreotype.

Now this child is considerbly younger than Kirsten, but you can see the style elements typical of an 1850′s day dress for a young girl.  High closed neckline, sleeves wide at the shoulders, narrowing to the waist, a full skirt and a O bodice.  The skirt is a toddler length, appropriate to the subjects age, with two growth tucks.

The bias cut on the sleeves is really appealing with the print and such a garish print might not have been your first choice for Kirsten while browsing the bolts.  But, if you want to bring more authenticity to your finished garments, make the bold choice.  To pick a stripe in the right scale, pull the Googled image into whatever image editing software you use and resize the image until the girls face is the same size as Kirsten’s.  Then cut a section of the picture out with the crop too (the picture could be too big to print in whole at this point), print and bring it with you to hold up against fabric.

She and Avella are off to see Eclipse for the 5th time. Avella is Team Jacob, despite Annabelle’s, err Bella’s, insistence that that is just silly. Bella decided to dress as her namesake and is just a little bit scared to see what Avella will show up in. When they went to the midnight opening there was a mask and fuzzy slippers involved.

Over the next few days we will be completing the content areas of the site; updating our FAQ’s, adding our About us information and hopefully before the holidays activating gift certificates!

All of our patterns are available on the new site.  You can shop by collection using the “Brady Bunch” display or you can shop by year using the category drop downs in the upper navigation of the site.

Enjoy!

The appearance of a small waistline was of up-most importance. The look however was not accomplished by tight corsets as dramatized in today’s films, but rather through enlarging other garment elements.

Arm scythes were sloped, sleeves incredibly full at the elbows, skirts were vast at the hem; even hairstyles, bunched and rolled low on the neck, contributed to the illusion of a tiny waist.

Skirts were dome like, held out by petticoats for young girls or cage crinolines for teens and adults. Young girls wore their skirts just below their knees, over meant-to-be-seen pantalettes. They were tucked with multiple “grow” stripes. As a girl grew older, her skirts would be lengthened, reaching floor length only in her later teen years. The unfaded fabric, exposed when a grow stripe was released, was often concealed with band trim or multiple rows of braid.

Outfits for girls quickly followed suit, the pants replaced with a short full or pleated skirt. Large sailor style collars and contrast rows of braiding decorated both girls and boys clothing through the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.