The Creative Process

Normally, it starts w/ me posting some gorgeous fabric.
This one caught my eye immediately.
Tea Garden by Dena Designs...


I've said it before.
The photo never does the fabric justice.

Kimberly loved this fabric.
And that is the next step.
Getting commissioned to do something.

This particular fabric was slated to become a knot dress.
Three times over.
Yep, for triplet girls.

And then Miss Natasha sends it to me.
This is what I get.


From there, I get to sketching.
Yes, sketching.
I actually do it.
It is my blueprint.
This is the sketch to Kimberly's dresses.


And that pretty Pfaff,
that's my new machine.
Fefe Pfaff to you.

From there,
it is time for the fabric to talk to me.
I have to figure out the bodice first.
Then the shuffling begins.
Fabrics get tossed back & forth.
Put with one & then the other.


It is a matter of letting them get to know one another.
To find what looks good.
Cohesive but different enough to stand alone.

Then the sewing process begins.
In this case,
it took 3 days.
Only b/c I had a very sick little girl yesterday.
And b/c we switched the kids to big beds.
(yep, busy weekend)
Otherwise, maybe 1.5 days.

As it comes together,
there are minor adjustments.
That's how the cookie crumbles.
Some shifting in fabric,
not much.

When the last stitch is sewn.
The last piece is pressed.
The knots are knotted.
I sigh a big sigh of relief...



And can't believe the end result.
Sometimes I wonder where this came from.
Me?
I just sewed that?
Impossible.
Some ghost of years past must have taken over.
I swear!

XOXO,
Astrid