What influences you? Beyond Pinterest, old black and white movies and new time period television shows influence some of my designs. In 2011 and 12 I had a slight obsession with the dresses the women wore on the original Star Trek series. These little dresses are perfect to wear with leggings and boots in the winter months. Spock is still my favorite character.

This is one of my favorites made in 2014.

I was hooked after making the first one. These little knit dresses go together on the serger in about 2 hours and have no closures needed. That means I didn’t have to fool around with zippers and buttons. It was my own handmade fast fashion and I could not get enough.

This is a Simplicity Jiffy Pattern. I used a red micro suede remnant and a table runner to make this dress. I really love the butterfly collar.

I realized I could use one easy A-line dress pattern to create all kinds of different looks. A-line dresses were huge in the 1960s.  This was a LOT of fun!

It didn’t take long to see all I needed was a shirt pattern and I could make it into a mini dress by extending the length.

Sometimes I would get fancy – adding ruffles, pockets, altering seams and adding organza underling (sewing the lining directly to each dress piece) to get a stiff look in the A-line dress.

Eventually, I learned I could trace around existing garments to make a pattern and change shirts at the waistline to give each one a totally different look.

Recently, I made a few more 1960s style dresses. Some for myself and some for commission.

Behind the senes~

T Shirt Quilt Sewing Basics at Rosewood Art Centre, Kettering

Only a couple more classes this spring.

The Dayton Garment Designers Meet Up had two events last weekend. We went to the Miamisburg quilt show and the Clash fashion show. Sew at all? Look for our group on FB.

Thank you for reading,

Tracy McElfresh,

Dream it! Sew It!

Tracy McElfresh
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