So, about one year ago, my daughter & niece asked me to make their grad dresses, for their upcoming Grade 12 year. I asked for 8 months notice, as I visualized the timeline going something like this.
Available time to work on said dresses? Weekends or vacation days.
Fall 2013 - Look for inspiration, get an idea for color, order fabric swatches, choose patterns to base work from,
October/November 2013 - Take trip 3 hours to city to purchase cheap fabric for testing patterns. Purchase patterns.
December 2013 - Develop & test patterns with mock ups. Initial fittings.
January - March 2014 - Finalize pattern & purchase fancy fabrics for gowns.
April 2014 - Finish dresses but not hem, until final fitting with shoes.
May 2014 - Hem gowns. Deliver to grads.
The timeline turned out pretty close to that actually. With the addition that I had to make or buy a new sewing table in there, which I did not take into account when budgeting my time. So Step One when taking on a big project, make sure you have somewhere to create said project.
Let's get to it.
The sewing table is based off of Ana White's Sewing Table for Small Spaces.
To make sure that it would support my sewing machine & serger, I made the following changes:
I used Continuous hinges (30") to support the leaves ( not sure if that makes it any stronger, but it looks nicer)
2x2's for the legs
Folding Leg Brackets from Lee Valley Tools
I don't have a Kreg jig, but otherwise I followed the directions pretty closely.
To make this project go faster, I had the lumberyard cut my 3/4" fir plywood (I used good-one-side. Next time I'll spring for the good both sides.
I figure that overall, this table cost me about $130.00. It's pretty sturdy. I generally only used 1 machine on it at a time, but I put both up for this picture.
Available time to work on said dresses? Weekends or vacation days.
Fall 2013 - Look for inspiration, get an idea for color, order fabric swatches, choose patterns to base work from,
October/November 2013 - Take trip 3 hours to city to purchase cheap fabric for testing patterns. Purchase patterns.
December 2013 - Develop & test patterns with mock ups. Initial fittings.
January - March 2014 - Finalize pattern & purchase fancy fabrics for gowns.
April 2014 - Finish dresses but not hem, until final fitting with shoes.
May 2014 - Hem gowns. Deliver to grads.
The timeline turned out pretty close to that actually. With the addition that I had to make or buy a new sewing table in there, which I did not take into account when budgeting my time. So Step One when taking on a big project, make sure you have somewhere to create said project.
Let's get to it.
The sewing table is based off of Ana White's Sewing Table for Small Spaces.
To make sure that it would support my sewing machine & serger, I made the following changes:
I used Continuous hinges (30") to support the leaves ( not sure if that makes it any stronger, but it looks nicer)
2x2's for the legs
Folding Leg Brackets from Lee Valley Tools
I don't have a Kreg jig, but otherwise I followed the directions pretty closely.
To make this project go faster, I had the lumberyard cut my 3/4" fir plywood (I used good-one-side. Next time I'll spring for the good both sides.
I figure that overall, this table cost me about $130.00. It's pretty sturdy. I generally only used 1 machine on it at a time, but I put both up for this picture.