Friday, August 2, 2019

Creating Memories Through Up-Cycling

I love to make dresses for my granddaughter!  She always loves what I make, but the best part is she never takes them for granted.  Every dress is like the first dress. 

Recently, she outgrew about ten dresses.  I asked did she want to pass them down, but she got a sad look on her face and said,"but they are my favorites."  She thought maybe I could remake them or something.  A couple of the dresses I made skirts from-very easy just take off the bodice and add a waistband.  The others weren't going to be that simple. 



Along comes Candice Ayala and the CAUpcyclingchallenge2019 Now you have to understand I have never done anything remotely like this before and to be part of a contest?  I was lucky enough to get one of the 24 boxes that enters you for the the grand prizes.

I kept thinking, this would be a chance to push myself out of my rut and create something my granddaughter would cherish forever.

I know I can make beautiful dresses, but to create a dress from other dresses?  Way beyond my comfort zone.  After thinking and having nightmares of failure, I came up with a plan. I gingerly ripped the seams and cut the dresses apart and started the journey.  I used part of a quilting pattern and designed the skirt.  


Next, I  pieced together the main part of the skirt using 4 half-blocks of the quilting.  This was nerve-racking because the piecing had to be precise so it would be long enough for a skirt.  I grafted the skirt without a pattern.



Finally I used the bodice is the Evelyn Pattern from VioletFieldThreads  for a simple but sweet dress.



She absolutely loves her dress.  She says it is the best dress she has ever had.  Of course she says that about all of them, only this time she looks at each fabric and tells me the dress and when she wore it. Wonderful Memories!


The  CAUpcyclingchallenge2019 is sponsored by the following companies: