Last Night was Awful

I attempted to upcycle a dress my sister gave me. That's all the rage these days, right? So with trying to keep up with the times, I went to work last night. I could feel myself channeling all the tutorials and blogs I've been reading, mastering my own fear of my sewing machine.

The dress is a gorgeous color -- taupe/tan color, almost muddy, but really delicate. The top layer was eyelet cotton and then lined underneath. I wanted to make a little dress for my 4-year-old...I measured, pinned, cut and hit the sewing machine.

I was so excited! I was making pleats at the front top edge, I attached elastic to the back for some gathering and dimension -- I even trimmed the edges of the princess sleeves so the sleeves on this little dress would look legit. My struggle with my sewing machine was BIG -- every time I back stitched, the thread from the bobbin would double up and catch and THEN the back stitch wouldn't be even.

But I continued on...

I finished, wiped the sweat off my brow and called this little princess into the living room. YAY, let's try this puppy on...and do much dismay, the dress was a mess. The sleeves too far on her shoulders, the pleats not even looking like pleats and the front would dip and sag, obviously not fitting at all around the chest. Alas, I was defeated.

But as the sun rose this morning, I decided that I will take out all the seams and try again. I mean really try again...

Here are a few photos I took this morning. A good lesson? Start documenting everything, from start to finish, so I can always look back and see that I've grown at some point...If there's a follow of my blog that knows how to sew and can guide me to some great tutorials, please email me at mylittlenuggets at gmail dot com

 This is the front. See how I tried to pleat?? I liked the raw edge, so no hem. 

But the stitching looks awful!

 

This is the inside of the back of the dress. The elastic ruffle effect worked, so I think

I'll do it in the front too.

 

Here is the back of the dress, where the elastic was used. Much cuter and more fitted for back/chest.

Here are the sleeves. Wish I had photographed the whole sleeve, so this would make sense. These were princess/cap sleeves &  I trimmed off the hemmed edge plus 1.5" of the sleeve.