Work in Progress - Lady Gaga Hello Kitty Dress

Last year I had a little fun and replicated the Bjork swan dress. It was a lot of fun and I got a great response from it (plus, it sold). So I was looking for another challenge dress to make... and someone brought the Hello Kitty Lady Gaga dress to my attention. This was around October of last year.

So, I've been slowly working up to it. The first challenge was finding all the Hello Kittys - remember 100% recycled, so they had to be from thrift stores, garage sales, etc. Luckily I have retired parents that love to bargain hunt. They have collected nearly 40 plush Hello Kitty. We have yet to see if it's enough.

I have many more challenges ahead of me as I have now completed the base dress and one row of elastic. I thought I'd share my progress here.

This is the base dress. It has two hoops (they are removable so that the dress can be washed and shipped easily). My daughter loves the dress this way... and if I didn't have a huge pile of plush, I might have just stopped here. But I love a challenge and I want to see if I can replicate this dress.

I stitched on one layer of elastic. I originally designed this so that the kitties could be removed and played with. Of course, I'm not sure this is going to be a practical dress that anyone could ever wear.

This dress, with just one layer of plush, is very heavy. I've reinforced many of the seams up top anticipating extra weight... however, I didn't anticipate it being as heavy as it is already. So, I'll be doing some more reinforcement as I add more layers of elastic. We still have at least 3 - 4 more layers. Yikes! Thankfully they get smaller as we go up. I have a feeling this is going to be quite the display piece at my shows.

Work in progress

I'm still here! Unfortunately, I'm also still in my slump, but I've been forcing a little productivity. I have a few tutorials that I am working on (hopefully at least one will make it the site!). In addition to a lack of motivation, I'm also suffering from a lack of focus. Not a good combination.

There are many things on the horizon and I've done little to prepare. So I'm sure my blog posts will be sporadic in the next few weeks... or until I get my mojo back. An etsyRAIN Spring Holiday Show is in the planning phase (it's be the day after Mother's Day) which not only do I help plan, but I also vend (read: I need to sew!). I have yet to sign up for any shows this year. Yes, I have missed the deadline for many summer ones... and it doesn't really bother me. I figure it'll all work itself out, right? I really need to be more productive though because we are planning a family vacation at the end of the summer... and our extra money normally comes from my business.

Anyhow, last month I attended the etsyRAIN "holiday" party. I had the pleasure of meeting several new members, and I enjoyed the company of all the old (not in age) members that I like to call me friends. During this event, Kim of Pepo Park gave me a HUGE box of tshirts. All the same... and all green. Luckily, I like the green... and there is TONS of usable fabric on each shirt. So I thought I'd take a few of them and make a couple tutorials of things you can do with recycled tshirts.

These are the shirts and the tutorial I am working on is transforming this lovely shirt in to a cute fairy skirt. Super simple and little sewing experience needed. I'll try to have it posted in the next day or two (I'm hoping putting it here will motivate me to finish it up).

I've got to shake this "funk" I'm in. I think it's unhealthy for me, my family and my blog :) Do you ever have moments like this? What do you do to shake it? I'd love to hear your ideas.