I hear all the time from sewers who have been enlisted by a friend or relative to build an Irish dance dress and have no idea where to start. They often feel like they don’t know what they’re getting into, and even parents who’ve spent years going to feisanna often have questions (“what’s going on …
The term grading refers to the blending of multiple sizes of the same pattern. This is more common than you might think. We humans are too varied and fantastic to fit into 20 standard shapes! Pattern grading is a fairly simple adjustment you can make to get the best fit at different parts of your …
I get this question ALL THE TIME and thought it was time to write about it a little! Full disclosure, I’m not a sewing machine sales-woman. I’m not here to sell you on a specific machine, and there won’t be sponsored affiliate links to Amazon. I’ve been sewing for over 25 years of my life …
One of my biggest pet peeves in Irish dance dresses is how we have lots of seams and areas in the bodice that we can let a dress in or out, but we can’t match this in the skirt! If the skirt portion of the dress can’t be let out, that means we can’t adjust …
Whether you’re building a dress from scratch or embellishing a purchased costume, you’re likely thinking about rhinestones. Rhinestoning is a lot of fun, and it can also be a way for (older) dancers to help create their costume, even if they don’t sew. If you’re unsure where to start, we have you covered with some …
This is the fourth post in our Sewer Feature series, which aims to highlight great sewing being done in the Irish dance community and to inspire those who may be considering sewing Irish dance costumes for the first time. We’d love to feature you too – share your own experience in the link at the …
Hello! In 2022 we published a stand-alone sleeve pattern to simplify your sleeve replacement! Follow along with owner and dressmaker Mattie as she changes the sleeves on her own dress. The first half of the video talks about sizing, with the second half going over installation of the sleeve. If you like this type of …
Whether you’re using machine embroidery, free-hand embroidery, or another method for embellishment, it’s likely you’ll have to work around darts. Modern Irish dance costumes are quite fitted, and darts (or princess seams) are what help us get that precise fit! However, we don’t want to see out beautiful embroidery disappear into a dart or end …
“Make a mock-up”, we say! “Check the fit before you start”, we say! Well what does that mean? Generally that it’s not too tight, too loose, too long, too short, no funny bunching, or gaping, or anywhere uncomfortable. Easy enough, right? In this post, I want to highlight how to set yourself up for success …
If you haven’t started with Part 1 of this post, please read that first! It discusses a lot of the concepts we’ll use here which may be confusing without the background and details in Part 1. In Part 1, we discussed how to plan your hoopings and create guides to aid in aligning designs over …
Hello! Today I want to talk about digitizing for machine embroidery. Computerized embroidery machines run off files that tell the machine where to move their hoop in order for the design to stitch out correctly. Think of it as a “connect-the-dots” game with 30,000 dots! Embroidery digitizing software provides us, the artists, with an interface …
