Gretchen Hirsch's Blog, page 4

New Gertie Special Occasion Fabrics!

In addition to the new spring apparel fabrics, I also have a line special occasion fabrics available! These were inspired by the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Mad Men, and are specifically designed for sewing cocktail, party, prom, and evening dresses. These are all at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, with online links below each picture!

The first is this white organza embroidered with black flowers with a scalloped border.
Embroidered Black and White OrganzaIt was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina dress, and I have an evening dress pattern coming out with Butterick next week that will help you recreate your Audrey fashion fantasies.


Next is this super fancy organza! This stuff is seriously special.  3D Blossoms on Cream OrganzaSo, here's what it is: it's an ivory organza base with an allover floral print. Then, on top of the print are stitched-on three-dimensional flowers. I cut it out in the three-quarter circle skirt pattern from my book and pinned it to a dress form.

And here it is with some ivory crepe pinned underneath it. 
I have to say, it looks so pretty and ethereal that I'm dying for someone to make a wedding gown out of it! There are lots of options with this fabric. You could do the whole dress in the fabric, or just the skirt. (I'm also kind of dying for someone to make a burlesque costume with the blossoms strategically placed. They're already nipple-width apart on my form!) The blossoms are easily to remove with a stitch-ripper for sewing seams and such. 
Next, a printed matte satin. 
Aqua Printed Floral SatinI already have this cut out for a dress! Here's the skirt, so you can see how it looks on the form. This is the box-pleated circle skirt from my dress book. It has a lot of drape to it; it just hangs beautifully.
This one was inspired by those great floral satin dresses from Mad Men.

Finally, some jacquards! Metallic Aqua Rose Jacquard 
Black Metallic Rose Jacquard
 These are just gorgeous in person, textured and metallic. I did a little draping with them so you can see better.




Obviously these would make a great slim sheath, a la Betty Draper. 

But they also have the right body for a nice full skirt.

I hope you love these. Now we all just need the right occasion to wear them to! Cocktail party, anyone? 

Aqua Rose Border Surplice Dress

This sateen rose border print was really popular last year, so we brought it back in two new fun colors! I love it in this minty aqua.

As you can see, there are actually two borders on this fabric! There's a small scale rose border on one selvage, and a big one on the other. This means you can use the different scales for different effects in your garment. For this dress, I decided to use the small border along a puff sleeve and the large border on the skirt. 

The patterns are a combo from my new book: the Surplice Midriff Bodice, the Puff Sleeve, and the All-Around Pleated Skirt. The bodice pieces were all cut from the polka dot portion of the fabric, no borders there.

I have an undying love for puff sleeves!

I also added a little knot-style bow at the bust. To do this, I made two fabric rectangles that were 4" x 12" and then made points at either end. Sew the two rectangles together using a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a hole to turn right side out. Turn, press, and hand sew the hole closed.

 Tie the piece into a knot and hand stitch to your dress. That's it!
I like this kind of bow because it has a Maryann from Gilligan's Island vibe to me!

I also added a little row of baby rick rack to the hem. (Okay, my mom actually added it. Thanks, Mom!)


This bodice is obviously pretty low-cut, so consider yourself warned! There's also a boatneck bodice that you could swap out in this design if you want more coverage.

This fabric is also available in yellow from Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores.


And if you're looking for last year's grey, I have some in my etsy shop!

Spring 2016 Gertie Fabrics

I may have mentioned once or twice that I have some new fabrics in Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores this spring! And I've been sewing up a storm of dresses using these fabrics. But I also wanted to do a post featuring each fabric with information about each. If I've made a dress from a particular fabric, there will be a picture below so you can see what it looks like in a garment. Here goes!

First, lemons! I've always loved lemon prints, and they're so great for summer dresses.
Lemons on Black Cotton Sateen 
Lemons on Blue Cotton Lawn

Also in the fruity category is this small print with roses and strawberries.  Toss Black Rose on Rayon Challis
Fruit Floral on Cotton Swiss Dot

Country Singer Dress 
Next up, tropicals! 
Tropical Pink on Cotton Sateen
Black Tropical on Cotton Sateen
Tropical Yellow on Poplin 
Yellow Poplin Tropical SundressA cheerful pink polka dot! Dot to Dot on Ivory Cotton Lawn Atomic Starbursts! So Jetsons! And it's on a textured Swiss Dot Background. 

Starbursts on Cotton Swiss Dot 
Atomic Starburst SundressAlso in the Swiss Dot category is this floral stripe, inspired by Horrockses dresses of the '40s and '50s. 

Rose Garden on Cotton Swiss Dot And you know how I love a good border print. 
Beach Umbrella on Cotton Sateen  Butterick 6323Also, the Rose Garden Border (which came out last year in silvery grey) is now available in some fun new colors! Aqua-y mint and buttercup yellow. 
Rose Garden Border in Mint on Cotton Sateen
I haven't blogged this dress yet, but it appeared on my Easter card! Rose Garden Border in Yellow on Cotton Sateen
Butterick 6322Next we have some big, lush florals. 

Pink Packed Floral on Cotton Sateen 
Butterick 6322 Blue Packed Floral on Cotton Sateen 
And another large-scale floral on pretty pastels. 

Blue Sketch Roses on Cotton Sateen 
Yellow Sketch Roses on Rayon ChallisChambrays are back! These are a more blue background, as opposed to last year's greys. These are so soft!

Yellow Bows on Cotton Chambray
Chambray Bow Day Dress  Pink Roses on Cotton Chambray
Mint Dots on Chambray Now, the embroidered cottons. These have polka dot pinwheel swirls on a Swiss dot background.

White Embroidered Dot Princess Seam Pinwheel Dress Blue Embroidered Dot Finally, something totally different! This is a lovely jacquard with a retro tropical feel. 

Blue Leaves Jacquard Whew, that's it for the more casual fabrics! There's also a special occasion collection, which I can't wait to show you soon.

Beacon Book Signing + Trunk Show! (And Fabrics for Sale!)

Won't you please come to my party? I'd love to have you there! As you may recall, I live in Beacon, New York, a smallish artsy town in the Hudson Valley. Every Second Saturday of the month, the shops and galleries stay open late and have special events. I love to go see the art show openings particularly. So why not do a gallery-type display of my dresses and fabric and have a book signing?

Thankfully my bestie/real estate agent extraordinaire Jeannine Wender has an office space perfect for this type of show at Berkshire Hathaway right on Main Street! Please join us on Saturday, April 9th, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. We'll be hanging dresses on the wall like paintings, and I'll have copies of Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book for signing and fabric to display as well. There will be tea and coffee and dessert. Wear your favorite dress and come say hi! Dress code: fabulous. (Or casual, whichever!)

Beacon is a great day trip from New York City, by the way! It's an easy train ride right from Grand Central, with an amazing view of the Hudson river for the entire trip.

P.S. I also wanted to mention that I have some of last year's fabrics for sale in my Etsy Shop! My latest fabrics are only available from Jo-Ann, but I have some overstock from last year if you're interested in any of these. I ship domestically and internationally.

Atomic Starburst Three-Way Sundress

Removable straps are one of my favorite ways to switch up the look of a dress! This is made from patterns from my new book, Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book . It's the strapless bodice and the side pleated skirt. 
I made it in one of my new fabrics. This is an atomic starburst print on a cotton Swiss dot. Available at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores! I love the Jetsons feel of the print. 

And Swiss Dot is one of my favorite fabrics! 
The dress is fully lined in white cotton voile and it has buttons inside for straps. 
 You can see the boning channels here too.
The strap placement is wide-set and can be worn crossed in the back:

 Crossed in the front:



Or strapless!


I like this skirt pattern a lot because it's a nice alternative to a gathered dirndl or a full circle skirt. It's essentially a half circle with three pleats on each side. 
This is one of the dresses my mom helped me with when I was in Arizona recently. There are more to come, too! (Thanks, Mom.) I'm putting together a little trunk show of dresses that will be on display at this event. Any New Yorkers care to come up to Beacon for the day? Hope to see you there!

Chambray Bow Day Dress

Here's another dress from my mother-daughter sewing extravaganza! This is a new dress design using the patterns in Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book, sewn up in one of my new spring fabrics from Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores. This is a lovely soft chambray printed with little yellow bows!


I used these mix-and-match patterns from the book: the Boatneck Midriff Bodice, the Cap Sleeve, and the Box-Pleated Circle Skirt (that's actually a full circle skirt that has box pleats all the way around for maximum fullness!).


The fabric was just dying for a yellow accent, so I used this buttery yellow mini pompom trim as piping (tutorial here!)

I also made a faux button placket down the center of the bodice for a little extra something. This is just a 1.5 inch interfaced strip of fabric with pom pom trim stitched to either side.


I turned the pompoms under and topstitched the band to the bodice front while it was still flat. Add a few buttons, and voila! An entirely different feel to the bodice.

I like the feel of this dress so much that I want to do something similar with the other chambrays in the collection. There's a pink rose print.
 And aqua polka dots!

I've also been working on setting up a little photo studio so I can do portrait-type photography. Still working out the kinks with the lighting, but it's been a fun project!

Giveaway Winners!

Hey, congrats to uglybeat, Lladybird, and sewdiane! They are the three winners of the giveaway and will win a signed copy of Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book plus a bundle of two fabrics from my new fabric line, available at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores.

With over 900 entries, I was really feeling the love from you ladies. So thank you! I wish I could send you all a present.

Publication Day Book + Fabric GIVEAWAY!

 
It's finally here! The publication day of Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book. It's hard to believe it was a year ago that we were photographing the 25 dresses I had madly sewed all winter. I have to say, I'm really proud of this one. It also nicely coincides with the release of a whole new collection of Gertie by Gretchen Hirsch Fabrics at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores. To celebrate, we're giving away three sets of a signed book plus a fabric bundle (which consists of two different 2-3 yard cuts of fabric). That should get you started on a dressmaking frenzy of your own!

 
To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The only requirement is that there must be a way for me to get in touch with you if you win (leave your email address or have your profile link to your blog or other page). All countries eligible; shipping provided by moi. A big thank you to Fabric Traditions for providing the fabric, and Abrams Books/STC Craft for the books. And, of course, a big thank you to everyone who worked on the book--there were a lot of you!

P.S. There's also a great contest going on in which you can win $586 worth of patterns, fabric, a Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores gift card, and a signed book!

Princess Seam Pinwheel Dress

   Another dress completed! This is part of my Arizona mother/daughter project to make a bunch of dresses from patterns in my new book, all using fabrics from my new spring line. Synergy!
I've always liked the idea of using two different fabrics in a dress to get a separates look, but I don't think I've ever done it. For this design, I used the Princess Seam bodice from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book in black stretch sateen (and it's lined in the same fabric for a clean look). Then the skirt is the three-quarter circle skirt in this really cool embroidered Swiss Dot cotton.

This fabric is kind of bananas, in a fabulous way. It's a cotton dotted Swiss background with strips of chiffon appliqued into swirly pinwheel shapes on top. Here's a picture of how the skirt drapes.


I lined the skirt in bright white poly taffeta for opacity and body. This fabric also comes in black and aqua! 
 I accessorized with a chiffon hair scarf and a wide cinch belt to accentuate the waistline.  
 I lightened this picture up a bunch so you can see the princess lines a bit!  
The back has full coverage and a lapped zipper.

This is my favorite pose, the death grip on the wall so I don't topple over. No wonder people don't wear heels in Arizona--they have rocks everywhere!


 A more casually styled look, with glasses and flats.

A big thanks to Terryl Sherman for the photos. We're taking a bunch more this afternoon--we have three more completed dresses to photograph! And then it's back to New York tomorrow, where it's still too cold to wear these.
   

Yellow Poplin Tropical Sundress

Dear readers, I'm writing this from Arizona! I'm staying with my mom for a couple weeks so I could do some serious sewing without distractions (of course, there have been all sorts of distractions including both of us getting sick, fires to put out at home, and shoe shopping). But the idea was this: my new book is coming out, and it perfectly coincides with the release of my new spring fabric line with Joann. So we'd spend two weeks making all new dresses from the book in the new fabrics, and in the meantime we'd break in Mom's new sewing room. What could be better? I've been doing regular updates on Instagram and Facebook, if you're interested in that kind of thing.

For the first dress, I chose this cheerful yellow and pink Hawaiian print poplin.


I knew I wanted a sundress silhouette, so I chose two of the mix and match skirt and bodice patterns from the book: the strapless bodice and three-quarter circle skirt.


It's similar to the Red Eyelet Sundress, but I used the sweetheart neckline option rather than the straight-across neckline. It's like a Choose Your Own Dress Adventure!
The construction is almost exactly what's described in the book, including a full lining. I used a lovely sunny yellow Kona cotton for the lining. The bodice is fully boned for support. Here it is in progress!


Incidentally, the hair scarf is made from this cotton lawn. I love how the two fabrics look together!

I had always intended this dress to have some sort of halter strap, as that's just something I associate with Hawaiian sundresses. So I made this easy gathered strap that snaps in.


I just made an 8" x 24" rectangle, and sewed it into a tube, then angled the ends so they'd sit properly when worn. I gathered the ends and the middle of the strap, tying off the bobbin threads. I finished off the ends with self binding, and then added snaps.



 


 I like the halter option, but I think strapless is my favorite for this dress, unexpectedly!
I'll have a lot more dresses to show you; in fact we've already completed several more. I'll tell you more about the fabrics as they ship into stores. Some of them are already available online though! Also, for you international readers, I will have fabrics available for sale in my etsy shop. More to come!