Ghost Kitties

As promised, here is a blog post about my recent sewing projects. I will be writing about Ghost Kitties, my 16th completed sewing project of this year. To start off, I must say that the sewing process for Ghost Kitties was completely painful. Every time I had to pin something and sew it together, I pricked myself with the pins and I even sewed my finger! Ouch! I had to wear a band aide for a couple of days and hold my index finger up while typing or washing my hands because it hurt so bad. This is the second time I have sewed my left index finger but this time was the worst. I also jabbed a pin under the nail of my right index finger, making my fingers utterly useless.

Ghost Kitties took over one week to finish because I had to stop and start throughout the week. I was able to cut out the fabric all in one day. I sewed the bodice in one day, and then I let the project sit for a few days because I had to work and catch up on reading. I finished Sunday night last week and I let Ghost Kitties hang. This dress is my tried and true combination of Butterick b5748 bodice with the self drafted skirt bottom and the pocket pattern from Simplicity 1419. I really enjoy the mixture of the low back with the self drafted skirt because it is the style I want, but most importantly, the length that I want. My dresses hit me just above the knees, ranging about 40 inches in total. This is what Ghost Kitties looked like before the pointed collar was added:

Totally inspired by several seamstresses on the Internet and Instagram, I decided to find a tutorial to make peter pan collars and pointed collars to add to dresses and tops. I am so obsessed with peter pan collars and I really wish I could make an Emery Dress, but I don’t think I’m ready for assembling and working with the pattern. Moving on, the main tutorial I used was Annika Victoria’s Youtube video DIY Peter Pan Collar as my guide for sewing on the collar, while I searched online for a free peter pan collar pattern. The free pattern I used was by It's always autumn and it was easy for me to print out the t shirt and peter pan collar. I decided to use that peter pan collar as a base to design my own collar that would be about 3 inches longer. I traced  and cut out the peter pan collar out and proceeded to trace and cut out a pointed collar as well. I made all the necessary notations on the collar patterns to know how to pin and assemble the collar to my dress front.   

Finally, I used the pointed collar and I folded my simple scrap black fabric twice to achieve four layers of fabric and I cut out the collar carefully, giving myself an extra ¼ inch for seam allowance. I sewed the collar pieces together, trimmed edges and sides to have a smoother look and I ironed the two collar pieces flat. I sewed the collar pieces only to the front of the dress because the back of the dress is low and wouldn’t work with a collar. Here is the finished result!  I am very pleased for my first attempt at adding a collar to a dress. Maybe sometime soon I will try to make an Emery dress! Here’s hoping. Thanks for reading! xoxo