handmade dress haven: August 2011

One thing I love about the crafting community is how generous people are, especially with trading. I have never participated in a trade before but this one caught my eye. On my facebook page, Handmade Dress Haven, a mama posted that she had a pile of Fabric Organizers she was not going to use and wanted to trade for a few handmade items for her daughter! Right up my alley! We ended up working out a deal where I made her two Ellie-style tops for her two year old. As far as what I would charge for them, it worked out to be a very fair trade. Here are the tops I made for her:

First, this one is copied from my original Peacock knot dress, using Dena Designs Monaco fabric as the foundation. The ribbon comes from Flame Cranium/Treasure Bay on Etsy.

This lovely is Benartex's Habitat fabric in the skirt and bodice. Amy Butler in the sash and Benartex Backyard Butterflies in the straps. This is one of my favorite fabric combos ever. I just love it!

She also sent me the legs from some brown linen-blend pants that she wanted to try to make into ruffle pants for her two year old daughter. I was able to turn them into almost exactly enough fabric for size 2 pants! Here are the finished pants. They have two layers of ruffles. The waist had to be made with the smallest elastic possible to give the pants as much length as possible.

I think it is pretty funny to look at how little I fabric was left! I really maxed it out. I loved learning how it was totally possible to upcycle a pair of pants!

So, now (TADA!) The Fabric Organizers! I have been wanting to try these but they are the type of thing that I don't often buy for myself. I tell myself "you can just fold your fabric neatly, you don't need to spend money on fancy boards." But, of course, the reality is that I don't fold my fabric neatly. This is what my fabric looked like this morning:

One wire rack full of messy woven fabric, three bins with knits, fleece, etc.

And here is what I got to work with! I got 36 of the larger size and one small. I assume the one small was a teaser. These are from The Fabric Organizer Company. These are acid-free, white foam boards designed for long-term fabric storage and efficiency. I love them so much I could hug the inventor!

Do you see the small rectangles cut into each? Those are tabs that pop out for you to hold the fabric down. Like so. You then wind the fabric around until it is all done and secure it with another set of tabs. At least, that is the idea.

Now, I always have to do things my own way because my brain just does that. (I guess that makes me a "divergent" thinker.) Anyway, having only 36 to work with, and only at most 2 yards of each fabric, I decided to double up. I put two fabrics on each and I organized them by color story. Since I was putting more than one fabric on each, I secured the fabric with small sewing pins instead of using the tabs. No biggie! I still love them!

So, here is what my wire shelf looks like now!

I still just have the wire rack. I am going to ask Santa for a nice shelving system for my sewing area for Christmas. Or I could stop buying fabric and save up to buy one myself.

Nah, that is no fun! "Dear Santa, please bring me a shelving system for my sewing area that will fit under my window and hold my fabric organizers in a pretty display. Thank you, love Kathy."

Until such time as Santa arrives with a new shelf, this is how I have to display the fabric. On it's side. But I do really like seeing the color stories. It will be very inspirational to be able to see nearly all my fabric this way and get ideas for sewing. The picture above is the bottom shelf, where I put spring colors.