Monday, May 21, 2018

Can You Say Yellow Dress?

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Yellow Dress Event

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending and being one of the vendors at the Yellow Dress Breakout Leadership Conference.  It was developed and lead by my friend, Delilah Jones-Bardlette, of Delilah's Downloads

I also had the honor of making her yellow dress.  And of course, I needed a yellow dress.  Sew fun!  Both dresses were made with a lemon yellow scuba knit.  
Delilah's dress included a lace overlay for the princess seamed bodice, complete with a lace peplum, self belt and of course lace sleeves! Her dress idea was presented to me in the form of a photo and we took it from there.

You may recall that I made another vision of her's for her wedding vow renewal. It was a white lace  high/low tiered dress. Just as for the white lace dress, her fittings were done in the midst of commuting from Hawaii.

  
Both dresses were self -drafted...a bit of work, but so well worth it!
When she did her final fitting and pick up, I told her I couldn't tell which dress she was happier with! It just filled me with joy to see her face and giant smile when she tried it on that last time! And I must say she looked radiant in it!


My dress was a hack of one of my favorite self-drafted tops (ya'll know I love pattern hacking). 😃
I lengthened it from the high hip down.  


It has princess seaming and I top stitched every seam! I even stitched an asymmetrical top stitch on the sleeves (forgot to take a picture of them).
After some trial and error test stitching, I used two spools of polyester embroidery thread on top (I wanted the shine) and a basic polyester sewing thread in the bobbin.   

 I was more than pleased with the outcome of both of our dresses!




For my vendor table, I spent weeks making Ankara African Print Maxi Skirts and Fold-over Bags as well as a few men's Bow Ties with matching Pocket Squares.  Again, it was work that was well worth it.

The ladies were quite surprised that the skirts were adjustable to fit sizes 2 to 22! It was a blast to see the surprise on their faces when they tried them on.  😊

More skirts, bags and bow ties are available on my website https://endlessdznsbycarrie.com/


This event was such a blessing! 

The inner beauty of the ladies as well as outer beauty was overwhelmingly evident! All those yellow dresses filled the venue with light!  And the speakers spoke even more light into our lives!



Wendy Manning, who holds an adjunct faculty position at Wright Foundation, and is a director of the Women's Leadership Program there, spoke with us about the difference between "wanting" and "yearning". 










Lynee Urban, owner/operator of Operation Fix My Life blessed us with information on health and wellness through surrender to God.






  And of course Delilah, who has published her 1st book, spoke about surrender and leadership and lead us through some thought provoking exercises.  One of which was all of us declaring God's Word over each other! Such a blessing to hear from other women profess who we are in Christ and to affirm each other!


 

I was blessed to be able to raffle 2 of these maxi skirts specifically to the ladies of Hardin House who were able to attend. Check out the link to see how you can help this non profit which serves men and women with living accommodations prior to re-entry into the traditional world of career and/or reunification with family and friends. 


This 1st annual Yellow Dress Breakout Leadership Conference was a blessing as well as a success!

I left feeling blessed, encouraged and spiritually stronger!














Monday, May 7, 2018

Pinterest Interest Winner!

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I won!

I entered the Sew Much Talent Group's 
March 2018 Pinterest Interest DIY 
Challenge

And to my surprise, my name was randomly chosen as a winner!

I won!


The challenge, which was hosted by Alethia of Sew Much Talent Group was to choose a picture from Pinterest that inspired us and duplicate it. It could have been anything crafty and DIY related, i.e., clothes, shoes, jewelry, home decor and/or furniture.
  
But of course since I sew, I chose a garment. 😊 

The garment in the Pinterest photo I chose was a red Swing/Trapeze dress. But I easily admit I was really inspired by my fellow sewist and blogger, Faye Lewis of Faye's Sewing Adventures 


She'd made a black Swing/Trapeze dress for a Day and Night challenge, which was hosted in January by Elizabeth Farr of Elizabeth Made This.  

I absolutely loved it on her as well as her styling...so much so that it made me wonder if that style would work with my body type.

So off I went...going through my pattern stash! I found and locked in on Simplicity 8383
Then of course I hacked it a bit.

I lowered the front neckline as well as the back...you probably know by now that I really like to lower my back necklines whenever I can! I also lengthened the sleeve and made it a bell sleeve.

I used a stretch crepe from Joann's and did a self binding on the neckline - of course after stabilizing this knit with stay tape





Back to winning! I was the lucky winner of Ayana Glaze's Designs stunning Ena Necklace! The name Ena means fire in Hebrew and is part of her Shekinah Spirit Collection. It is even more beautiful in person!  Check out her website to see all of her beautiful pieces!


 
I do love the dress, but am not quite sure about the length.  For now I'll leave it as it!



Thanks for stopping in! 





Tuesday, May 1, 2018

2018 Make Nine Challenge

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Well!  I've done it again!
As crazy busy as I am, I've entered another sewing challenge!
#2018makenine





The good news is I have till the end of the year to complete them. Easy enough, right? Ha!

The not so good news for me is that I had to commit to the 9 projects I'd make - that was not easy because I change my mind a lot about what I want to make!

But I took the plunge anyway!  Who knows! This may improve my focus!  LOL!

The better news is that I'd just finished this McCall's 7240 dress - I hacked the neckline and did some serious print matching with this ITY knit - But the end result was so worth it!



The even better news is that I already have most of the fabric I need in my stash! Ha!


Watch for my makes on Instagram, Facebook and here!

Wish me luck!


Photo Cred: 

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Dress For A Special Day

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Special Dress for a Special Day!

I had the honor of making a dress for my friend, Delilah's 20 Year Wedding Vow Renewal!


She presented me with a photo of a similar dress and we collaborated on bringing her vision to life!

It was wonderful working with her! She did a total of 4 fittings - one of which was a muslin fitting - all in the midst of her commutes to and from Hawaii. Each time she saw the dress, she had a huge smile of her face.  It always makes my heart glad when I see the smiles on the faces of those I sew for!


As she was leaving her 2nd fitting, she touched the dress and prayed over it and a 2nd dress that I was working on for her.  I didn't hear all of the words of her prayer, but it touched me.
I pray about most of the work that I do, but to know that someone else prayed, touched me deeply.


The dress is a stretch lace with a satin lining.  As we all know, most knits are challenging to work with, so I used a ton of weights. Using weights to keep the fabric in place is so much better than pins that would have just gotten lost in the lace.

I also used tissue paper on my cutting table to prevent the lace from shifting while rotary cutting (I rarely cut any lace with scissors - unless I'm doing appliques).




Don't they make a beautiful couple! 💕



The lace moved beautifully!


Can you tell she was quite happy with her dress!  😃

The entire event was so much fun and all the vendors did a great job! Check them out via the links below:
Her hair and make-up was stunning - Hair and make-up by Starr Status Creations
The DJ was on point from beginning to end - DJ services by Daron Gross
The food was amazing - Culinary by Tawanna Devine
The photographer was wonderful - Photography by Diamond Gant

And of course - The dress - Dress by Endless Dzns by Carrie

Delilah is the owner of Delilah's Downloads.
She is a motivational speaker and will be hosting her 1st Yellow Dress Breakout, Women's Leadership Conference on May 19th in Chicago, IL.
  I will be one of the vendors there!
  There is still time to purchase tickets for this event!
You won't be disappointed!
Click on the link above for more information!



Monday, April 16, 2018

Prom Dress 2018


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                                           Prom Dress

I've been quite busy during prom season, but this was my favorite one...because it was for my Granddaughter.  She rarely asks me to make anything for her, so when she asked I felt honored.  

When she selected the print, I thought it was a bit dark for her and for prom, but I think you would agree that she is absolutely glowing in it! 


This was the 2nd outfit I made for her using an African print (Ankara).

The top was made using the pattern I'd drafted from her previous hi/low top I made that was posted in my blog earlier. I adjusted it to make it a closer fit, eliminated the sleeves and cut the shoulder back to make them narrower.
The skirt is a self drafted circle skirt.
I love playing with print placement and this print did not disappoint!

 I added an inverted (upside down) invisible zipper.  When I sent her a picture of it, she mistakenly thought it was the front! LOL! That was some serious print matching!


I created a neckline facing and added fusible interfacing to take full advantage of the print and to ensure I ended up with a perfect "V".  The colors are so saturated in Ankara fabrics that you don't have to be concerned with the facings showing through the garments.





I shipped it to her (I wished they lived closer) and when she received it she called me and was gushing an abundance of thanks!  That call made my heart glad and I again found myself thanking God for this gift.  My daughter (her Mom) calls it "Them Hands". 💗


I surprised her by making this 5x7 bag and adding her initial on it.  The bag design is an Embroidery Garden In The Hoop (ITH) design. My Granddaughter didn't think it would be big enough for her, but to my surprise, she ended up taking it to prom!





What did you make for prom season? I'd love to hear about it in the comment section below! 😁










Saturday, March 17, 2018

Matching Accessories

Sew Matchy, Matchy!
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I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I've only just realized that I've been walking around with all of my non-matching accessories that I pull out when I'm stopped by people who ask what else I make!  LOL!

I've had cork accessories, red and black and an assortment of other color accessories!  Who would get excited about that menagerie and want to place an order!  LOL!

So I finally took some time to make a batch of MATCHING accessories for myself! The fabric is another African waxed print.  This one has a very high sheen which made it perfect for me.  Did I tell you that I like color! This color combo is perfect for Spring.


All of these items were made "In The Hoop" on my embroidery machine.  The designs are from Embroidery Garden and are created and digitized by my friend and the owner, Reen Wilcoxson.  Her designs come with complete step by step instructions that includes color photos of each step.


Her newest bag is my new favorite - the Double Zip Organizer Bag!  Each zipper has a full length pocket!  So very useful! This one and the Zippered Bag are a little over 7.5"x11.5"!  I can get quite a few items in them. Sometimes I use this size as a "grab and go" bag - I don't always need a big purse or tote bag for a store run or pizza run. 😄

And yes!  That is a real glass mirror!  Check out my FaceBook business page to view the short video of the mirror being stitched.  This 3 inch mirror and case are perfect for evenings out!  Variations of this little set will be going on my website soon!  Any of these items can be ordered...just by contacting me.😊

These are all perfect for daily use, together or separate. They are also perfect for travel! This is the 3rd Luggage Handle Wrap I've used while traveling, and it has not been lost!  I will definitely be able to identify my bag with this bright, cheerful wrap as it comes around the carousel!  Yaaay!

And how often do you dig around in your bag or briefcase looking for your headset or chargers!  The Device Cord Wraps completely solves that problem! Everyone that I've made them for loves them!

I plan to make a new tote bag for all my new accessories. It will likely be a bit toned down, mostly because I used all of this print!  LOL!

Not sure if I will use one of my own patterns or a new pattern that I've been eyeing. But since I'm traveling soon, I need to get it done!


What accessories do you make? 


Let's Make and Wear a Kaftan

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase from these links, I may earn a small commiss...