Turquoise: There’s only room for ONE Sundress Jacket gang in this town, see, and it ain’t you. White: You know, you’re half right. Don’t worry, you can always go play with the romper kiddies at the beach. (ominous pause) After we’re done with you. Green/Red (in chorus): Jackets off, girls! Take ’em down ..read more

I did some traveling in February, which meant (as usual) I had a minor flurry of sewing in January. Three dresses made it into the “finished” column: Another Isca, this time in a precious length of Liberty Lantana (the print is called Adriatic). I’m very happy with the color of the buttons: And, of course, the piped pockets (that’s a ruler in the pocket — although I am happy to see you): I also finally, finally, made the Tilly and the Buttons Zadie dress that I bought yonks ago and cut out in … 2022? I like the color-blocking: This is some heavy ponte knit that I bought in Belgium in 2020 ..read more

Early last year I claimed that 2023 was going to be ‘the year of the shirtdress’ and, for once, I was right. The biggest winner in the shirtdress sweepstakes (prize: Erin makes a lot of you) was the Isca dress from Marilla Walker, which I made a dozen times: The first iteration (blog post)Round two.Round three (blog post). This is where I began replacing the set-in sleeves with a kind of modified cap sleeve. After those three, they kind of came in a rush: Heavy rainbow chambray. This almost certainly came from Stonemountain.Liberty Tana lawn.I think I bought this lawn from Stonemountain? I’m b ..read more

Hey, look, it’s another shirtdress! This is Simplicity 7512, which I’ve probably bought three copies of in various sizes, and then never made any of them because I disliked the way the skirt was put together. But then I realized that I could just … change that, and so behold my preferred pockets: Here’s the pocket with a big ol’ ruler in it, for scale: Here’s the zipper view; I actually couldn’t remember the last time I put in an invisible zipper: I was a bit distracted and completely forgot to do my usual collar adjustment (based on the Fashion Incubator method) but it turned out mostly o ..read more

Before the holidays I did a wearable muslin of the Marilla Walker Isca shirtdress. I had very high hopes—the reviews were good, the diagonal bodice line had me dreaming of stripey wonders, and, of course, pockets! I made it up in some nice brushed blue/black check shirting (no idea where this fabric came from, I feel like I’ve had it forever). The directions were excellent, especially given the unusual shoulder construction, and the fit was pretty good. The only alteration I made was to change the pointed collar to a rounded one. The only problem was the pockets were too shallow. I kept losing ..read more

“Yes, Erin, we’ve heard this before,” you say, and you’d be right—I don’t want to go back and search, but I’m pretty sure I’ve declared several previous Years of the Shirtdress, and then made … one. If that. This time, though … that above is my third Matilda shirtdress, and I’m planning on making quite a few more. I actually bought the original non-curve-sized Matilda pattern yonks ago, realized how much work it was going to be to curvenize it (that’s the technical term), and it promptly went to the bottom of the pile. So when the curve version came out I was pretty enthusiastic, and the pile ..read more

Well, my move is complete (…ish, so many more boxes of books to unpack!) and since the world is on fire, it’s time to tally up the dress purchases and send out the donations! You lovely people bought 38 dresses (there are 39 marked off on the spreadsheet but I discovered one had a grease spot and needed to go to the ragbag instead) for a grand total of US$760. I decided to split the donation into three parts, one for trans rights, one for abortion funds, and one for Ukraine. Thanks for helping me find new homes for these dresses and send a little money to the folks fighting for us all to be sa ..read more

gingko fabric! The fabric above is from MaaiDesign in Australia (the actual fabric designer is Alicia Marshall from Winding Road Design Studio), and I CANNOT WAIT for it to arrive. I have been obsessing about gingko fabric basically forever (really, forever) and this is better than I could have hoped for, to wit: cotton poplin black background multicolored leaves Plus the shipping was … reasonable? for something coming from Australia? Since we’re moving (imminently!) I had a fabric purchase moratorium in place but I made an emergency declaration and managed to get this one in under the wire ..read more

First: I’ve updated the list to include photos for some of the dresses that didn’t have any. (The photos are on Flickr; I’ve only linked the full front view of the dress so check the photostream for side/back/pocket views.) Also, someone asked if I would mind if they bought a dress to alter or use for the fabric. Nope! Once a dress is yours, it’s yours! You can cover it in glitter, turn it into tea cosies, incorporate it into your collages—whatever else makes you happy. If you have asked for a dress and haven’t seen a payment request from Paypal, please check your spam folders, or log into Pa ..read more

So if you were wondering “How often does Erin clear out the dresses she made but no longer wears” the answer turns out to be ‘about every five years’. Yep, it’s that time again! Over the holidays I did a big closet re-org and realized a few things. First, WOW I have made a LOT of dresses. I mean, a LOT a LOT. Also, I seem to have done a complete palette shift since my hair has gone gray; I’m no longer pulled toward moss greens, mustard yellows, or chocolate browns. Last time I decided to get rid of a lot of Made By Erin dresses, I put up a spreadsheet and a form and y’all went to town! I ended ..read more