Thanks to the Threads' Teach Yourself to Sew dvd series, I can now sew!!!!!! I made the dresses pictured here in this post. My models are my mother and I's 1960's era 3ft tall Allied Eastern Doll Company companion dolls, Ree & Mariah. I have been designing clothes since I was 5 years old. The movies Gone with the Wind and the North and the South had made me fall in love with Antebellum dresses. I wanted one so bad that I started drawing them. Then, I started drawing other styles of clothing and kept it up over the years.  I love to design, but I didn't know how to sew.   A few years ago, I'd taken a short sewing course, but I still found the whole process confusing. So, I gave up.  I got back on the horse again around mid October 2010.  It was around this time that I realized that I have several thick portfolios full of fashion deisgns. Therefore, I finally decided that it was time to learn to sew until I have mastered it.  On October 24th, 2010, I opened a pattern  and used what I remembered from the sewing course that I'd  taken previously to decipher it. However, I still had problems understanding the terminology and the process itself. After searching the internet, I decided that I needed to see sewing in action. So, I decided to search for sewing tutorials on YouTube. Among the first and best that I found was the Threads' Teach Yourself to Sew videos.  I got the dvds and I am loving sewing.

        Teaching myself to sew the dresses above wasn't easy. First, I bought Simplicity's It's So Easy: It's Simplicity pattern no. W2688 from Wal-Mart. I picked this pattern because it was easy to handle because its a child's pattern.  Now, I sew very often. I love it! While I am in the middle of one project, I am planning the next. Judith Neukam, you are a beautiful genius. I thank you so very much for teaching me to do something that I have longed to do!

Pattern or design used: Simplicity's It's So Easy: It's Simplicity pattern no. W2688