sewing a dress from scratch *project runway i'm ready*

0:00 [Music] if there's anything i've learned so far

0:01 in 2020 it is a i should have paid way

0:04 more attention in home act class 2.

0:06 i had literally no idea how to wash my

0:08 hands properly and roman numeral 3

0:10 cockroaches are way faster and bigger

0:12 than i ever would have expected

0:14 speaking from personal experience uh

0:16 there was a cockroach in my apartment

0:18 and i trapped it underneath a pot and

0:21 taped it to the ground to make sure the

0:22 cockroach couldn't like compact itself

0:24 and then escape out of the cracks you

0:25 know like how it gets into houses and i

0:27 literally left it there for two weeks

0:30 until my friend moved to new york at

0:32 which point i said hello welcome to new

0:34 york oh the greatest city in the world

0:36 would you please take my cockroach into

0:37 the hallway and murder it for me point

0:40 is i've been doing just about the entire

0:42 range of homec activities i have been

0:44 baking banana bread i've been spending a

0:47 weird amount of time deciding between

0:49 different home goods on target and

0:52 calculating per ounce which one is

0:53 cheapest and today i'm going to try to

0:55 get better at sewing to give you guys a little

0:58 background about my sewing experience

1:00 basically growing up my mom would always

1:02 sew like halloween costumes or like

1:04 little matching dresses for me and my

1:06 sister but i would never really

1:08 developed an interest in fashion until

1:10 my sister forced me to watch every

1:12 single episode of project runway for

1:15 like 10 years at first i would just sit in

1:18 the corner and play animal crossing on

1:20 my ds much like i do now honestly not

1:22 much has changed but over time mostly

1:24 thanks to tim gunn's encouraging phrases

1:26 and michael kors shakespearean level

1:29 oddly specific insults she just looked

1:31 like rigatoni mad max big ball of

1:33 sawdust she is pooping fabric

1:36 i think her hair is gorgeous isn't it

1:38 beautiful well that's about all that i

1:40 think about scorches i was like hey this fashion thing seems

1:43 kind of cool so by the time middle

1:45 school came around i decided i wanted to

1:46 try sewing but i was also very very

1:50 stubborn as a child

1:51 as i am now um which is probably why

1:54 i've never had a normal job where i have

1:56 to work with anybody else or compromise

1:58 in any way anyways as a 12 year old with

2:00 about a total of five brain cells on me

2:02 four of which were taken up by tumblr

2:05 and the other one of which was taken up

2:07 by crushing on boys who i would later

2:09 realize were kind of mean i decided that

2:12 i didn't want to start with patterns

2:13 because that would be like somebody else

2:14 telling me what to do and i didn't

2:16 really like the designs that they

2:17 offered so i tried to make my patterns

2:20 from scratch and it's actually really[ __] hard

2:24 so i like tried to make myself a dress

2:26 but like i completely miscalculated

2:28 everything it didn't really fit right um

2:30 i had like no darts for like my tiny

2:32 little uh 12 year old boobs

2:35 needless to say none of those clothes

2:37 turned out very well it kind of

2:38 shattered my incredibly fragile middle

2:40 schooler ego and i never made clothes

2:42 from scratch again that is until

2:45 today sorry this intro is like super long it's

2:49 kind of just like a bad stand up set um

2:52 as you can tell i don't talk to a lot of

2:53 people anyways i went online and i

2:56 picked up some vintage patterns from

2:57 etsy they all have this like lovely

2:59 gathering detail ruching detail

3:02 cool necklines all of the stuff that i

3:04 like so yeah i'm gonna sew one of them

3:07 which i guess you already knew from

3:08 clicking on the title of this video

3:10 so there's three minutes of your life

3:12 you're never gonna get back

3:18 it's time to send in your application

3:22 get to know your short-term friends you

3:26 only talk to till summer ends

3:30 the [Music] [Music] [Music]

4:11 hello oh gosh i'm too short on this i gotta

4:14 sit on my legs

4:16 hello it is the next day because i

4:18 thought going to mood would take like 15

4:20 minutes it turns out i was in there for

4:22 two and a half hours going to the fabric

4:25 store is kind of like going to home

4:26 depot where you just enter like a fugue

4:29 state you lose track of time you forget

4:32 who you are you just start wandering the

4:34 aisles eyes glazed over unsure of your

4:37 purpose in life the main difference is

4:39 that instead of being intimidated by

4:41 buff 45 year old dads i was just

4:42 intimidated by 20 something hip fashion

4:45 students anyways several hours and a

4:47 mild identity crisis later i did end up

4:50 finding some fabric that i liked to

4:51 explain a bit of my thought process i

4:53 went into mood with these two patterns

4:55 and i figured i would make whichever one

4:56 i found the best fabric for i thought it

4:58 would be a lot easier to find fabric for

5:00 this little sundress but it turns out

5:02 they really didn't have a whole lot of

5:04 like retro polka dots gingham and nice

5:06 like pastel colors which is what i was

5:08 looking for for this dress so i ended up

5:10 going for this admittedly more

5:11 complicated pattern now this pattern

5:13 originally calls for two different types

5:15 of fabric it has a silky solid color for

5:18 the skirt and then this kind of like

5:19 ditsy floral for the top but for the

5:22 life of me i could not find

5:24 a good vintage floral there i hunted i

5:27 really tried i looked at every single

5:29 different type of floral fabric they had

5:32 but they were mostly like large 80s and

5:34 70s inspired prints they were really

5:37 large scale brighter colors that i

5:39 thought would look really distracting

5:40 with all the ruffle detail on this

5:42 design so i ended up just getting one

5:44 solid fabric to make the entire dress

5:46 this fabric drapes and moves so

5:48 beautifully which is what i wanted

5:49 because of like the long flowy skirt on

5:52 this dress i really wanted something

5:53 that would like move with my body hang

5:55 off my ass really nicely i also picked

5:58 up this silk fabric that i think is what

6:01 marc jacobs uses for like lining their

6:03 bags or something it is this beautiful

6:05 pink color and then it has super subtle

6:07 marc jacobs logos on it i was originally

6:10 thinking maybe i could do like pink on

6:11 top and green on the bottom but then i

6:13 held it up on my body and it looked kind

6:15 of busy and like an ice cream cone for some

6:18 reason so i think i'm gonna save this for

6:20 another project i also got some eyelets

6:22 for the front and sleeve details on the

6:24 dress some trim to make little bows a

6:26 matching zipper and some thread

6:29 ladies and gentlemen maxwell landry and the ceramics

6:36 [Music] the berries baby i got sugar

6:54 [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh hello there so before i get started

7:11 sewing my actual why am i having so much

7:14 trouble speaking before i started

7:16 getting sewing before i start sewing my actual dress i

7:20 thought i would do a little fabric test

7:22 on this kind of

7:23 fallopian tubes shaped fab scrap of fabric naturally i decided

7:30 to start my first sewing project in like

7:32 10 years with one of the most flimsy

7:34 pain in the ass fabrics to sew which as

7:36 you can see here just does not take

7:38 particularly well to being stabbed

7:40 repeatedly although i suppose neither

7:42 would i so i can't really blame it

7:44 luckily thanks to my guardian angels the

7:45 diy moms of youtube i was able to find

7:48 this tissue paper technique to help my

7:50 seams lay flat basically you sandwich

7:52 your fabric between two layers of tissue

7:53 paper to help stabilize it and prevent

7:55 it from getting like sucked into the

7:57 abyss of the bottom of the sewing

7:58 machine i was a little skeptical at

8:00 first so i wanted to test it out but

8:02 honestly this technique kind of slaps

8:04 the fabric is so much smoother and way

8:06 easier to sew in a straight line so with

8:09 my proof of concept it was time to get

8:10 started on the real deal hey google play

8:13 betty by taylor swift

8:17 [Music] i laid out all my pattern pieces on the

8:22 floor and started pinning together what

8:23 felt like the world's most intricate

8:25 pinata not because it was full of fun

8:27 treats on the inside but because it took

8:29 several hours and an absurd amount of

8:31 tissue paper to assemble oh what's that

8:33 did you like that incredibly niche

8:35 handmade pinata themed joke would you

8:38 like to learn more about the pinatas

8:39 that i made as a child for my birthday

8:41 parties oh i'm sure you would

8:44 here's a slideshow that i made

8:49 exhibit a i'm honestly not really sure

8:52 what the[ __] this one is supposed to be

8:54 i would call this one abstract art if

8:56 you look closely you can see the

8:58 influences from pollock a little mondrain

9:02 if you look if you look very closely

9:04 there's even a little banksy-esque

9:06 element to it you know what is art i

9:08 think is what this piece asks this one

9:11 is supposed to be a pear i don't know

9:13 why i thought pears were red at the top

9:16 but um i was 10 years old so i had

9:18 essentially the equivalent brain power

9:20 of an intelligent goldfish this one was

9:22 supposed to be cherries i think i did a

9:24 decent job on that although i don't know

9:26 why i had so much physical aggression to

9:28 take out on fruit as a child and this

9:30 one the face was on the other side uh

9:32 but it was supposed to be voldemort and

9:35 i thought that was quite clever as a 12

9:36 year old please subscribe for more

9:38 pinata reviews next week we'll be

9:41 looking at this frozen themed pinata and

9:44 asking why the hell is elsa so thick

9:48 anyhow here i am sewing my first seam

9:50 which was surprisingly way more

9:51 straightforward than altering thrifted

9:53 clothing since i didn't have to do this

9:55 like japanese game show obstacle course

9:57 around buttons and seams and random

9:59 zippers here is my first scene it

10:01 honestly does not look like a complete[ __] disaster yet so that's a good

10:06 sign and then i tore off the tissue

10:08 paper from the finish

10:10 this reminds me of if you've ever taken

10:12 a really violent[ __] and then had to

10:14 wipe it off with one ply public school

10:16 toilet paper there's so many little bits

10:18 of paper stuck in so many crevices

10:21 [Music] alrighty so here we have my soon to be

10:27 boob panel of the dress so the front of

10:29 the dress is supposed to have this

10:31 ribbon running through it that you can

10:32 tie and tighten kind of like a shoelace

10:35 um like a boob shoelace is the technical

10:37 term so in order to install that i

10:39 needed to use some eyelets which are

10:41 essentially little like metal

10:43 hole stretchers um to install our little fabric butt plugs

10:48 you just make a little hole put one

10:50 through the back put one through the

10:51 front use some protection in the form of

10:53 this metal tool that comes with the

10:55 package hammer it out a little bit and

10:57 pray your next door neighbor doesn't

10:58 complain about the noise

11:02 [Music] okay this is how

11:07 it came out with the eyelets

11:09 and i'm not gonna lie she's looking kind

11:11 of tortured she looks like she's been on

11:12 a three-hour date with a boy who just

11:14 mansplained pulp fiction to her

11:17 it's not great it turns out these eyelets are kind of

11:20 moody little[ __] if you hammer them

11:22 just a little too hard they get all

11:23 squashed like this one if you

11:26 don't cut the hole big enough it gets

11:28 all wrinkly like this one but i didn't

11:30 buy enough eyelets in order to remake

11:32 this piece of the dress so i'm kind of

11:34 just gonna run with it and hope that

11:36 once i put the ribbon through it and

11:37 it's all gathered up uh people will be

11:39 distracted from the fact that this looks

11:42 uh kind of[ __] up

11:44 [Music] does anybody else get the sweats when

12:15 they're sewing like there's a special type of stress sweat

12:19 that's like extra sticky and it gets all

12:21 over my hands and my[ __] armpits

12:23 when i sew because i'm really nervous

12:25 oh okay update this

12:28 flap of fabric is what i have labored

12:31 for three hours to create this is

12:34 almost the entire front of the dress

12:35 minus the sleeves and the bow so uh now

12:38 i'm just going to attach it to the back

12:40 of the dress and then uh

12:43 that's all i had to say

12:45 all i've eaten today is two cups of

12:47 matcha and two cookies so i'm

12:49 simultaneously really fatigued and hyper

12:52 at the same time the best of both worlds

12:55 yeah [Music] as the sun set and my matcha high faded

13:04 things started to take a little bit of a

13:05 turn for the worse sewing while hungry

13:08 is kind of like driving while drunk or

13:10 hooking up with your ex and that it's

13:11 just a bad[ __] idea nothing

13:14 disastrous happened until it came time

13:16 to install the invisible zipper at which

13:18 point i realized i don't own a zipper

13:20 foot nor do i have any experience

13:22 whatsoever installing zippers at first i

13:24 tried sewing it with a regular foot but

13:26 i kept swerving over the plastic part of

13:28 the zipper which you're not supposed to

13:29 do at all and i managed to break not one

13:32 not two but three needles[ __] hell

13:40 unsurprisingly after i finished sewing

13:42 the zipper didn't even work so i had to

13:44 rip it out i have been trying to seam rip this

13:47 invisible zipper without a[ __] seam ripper so i've

13:51 been trying to do it with a needle and

13:54 sewing scissors do you know how hard

13:56 that is on silk i feel like i'm trying

13:59 to perform heart surgery with a[ __]

14:01 spatula one invisible zipper and a slight mental

14:06 breakdown later my dress was looking

14:08 like a bad sexy statue of liberty

14:10 halloween costume and my floor was

14:12 looking like a small raccoon had broken

14:13 into my apartment and or i had just come

14:16 out of a depressive episode

14:18 am i right ladies

14:20 nevertheless eventually i pulled myself

14:22 together mostly thanks to years of

14:23 exclusively being productive after 2am

14:26 and sewed on some sleeves and put

14:28 together the final finishing touches

14:30 that was a little redundant ashley the

14:32 finishing touches [Music] yes

14:49 [Music] i have so much ear wax in my ear it

15:01 literally sounds like i'm like

15:02 underwater in one ear it's really weird

15:04 i can like hear myself because i have

15:06 this like feedback loop mic check

15:09 anybody there nope so yeah this is how

15:12 the dress turned out but before i go i

15:14 wanted to leave you guys with a couple

15:15 takeaways and things that i learned from

15:17 my first sewing experiment so my number

15:20 one takeaway is that buying the right

15:22 supplies is like half the battle when

15:24 you're sewing and i[ __] up on a

15:26 couple fronts here like for example i

15:27 could have avoided an entire meltdown at

15:29 2am if i just bought an invisible zipper

15:32 foot beforehand another example is that

15:34 since i was in a hurry i bought the only

15:36 eyelets that they had in mood which

15:37 happened to be these really big and

15:39 bulky ones but it turns out they just

15:41 aren't the right size for this fabric

15:43 and i should have realized that after i

15:44 put the first eyelet in and it looked

15:46 like heavy and bulky as[ __] but yeah

15:49 some of these eyelets are actually

15:50 already coming out of the dress just

15:52 because this fabric has so much stretch

15:54 to it and it's so flimsy and thin that

15:56 the eyelets just like will not stay in

15:59 the fabric properly uh so i definitely[ __] up there i should have waited

16:02 like another week and actually bought

16:04 the right sized eyelets um but i was

16:06 kind of in a hurry because i haven't

16:07 posted on youtube in a month the second

16:09 thing i learned is that it's so

16:11 important to cut out your pattern

16:12 carefully the vast majority of my sewing

16:14 experience has been upcycling thrifted

16:16 clothing and most of the time i actually

16:18 sew like a hem or i take in the sides

16:21 and then i cut the fabric so to me it

16:23 has never been that important to cut

16:25 fabric accurately but i learned that

16:26 when you're sewing from a pattern it's

16:28 so important to cut the shape exactly as

16:31 it is because then you end up using the

16:33 edge of your cut line as a guide for

16:35 where to sew so if you cut your pattern

16:37 all wonky you're gonna end up sewing

16:38 your lines wonky the next thing i

16:40 learned was to always leave time to get

16:41 extra supplies or just buy extra

16:44 supplies up front so if you[ __] up you

16:46 have a backup option i was stress

16:48 sweating the entire time i was sewing

16:49 this dress because i knew that if i[ __] up i didn't have any extra

16:53 materials to fix it and um especially

16:56 when you're a beginner i think that type

16:57 of stress makes you so worse you

16:59 definitely gotta trust the process when

17:01 you're sewing this dress looked so ugly

17:04 up until the point when i added the bows

17:06 and everything became nice and ruffled

17:08 don't give up halfway through if your

17:09 dress is looking like[ __] roadkill

17:12 because mine was and now it looks like

17:14 this and i think it looks pretty[ __]

17:15 cool another thing i learned is that

17:16 loki it's okay if you[ __] up i was

17:18 really nervous when i was sewing some of

17:20 my lines like they weren't the

17:21 straightest at the end of the day nobody

17:23 looks that closely sorry for the voice

17:25 crack i'm 22 and still going through

17:27 puberty nobody really looks that closely

17:30 at your clothing especially now people

17:31 can't even get within six feet of you so

17:34 they can't see that you[ __] up your

17:35 sewing so yeah it's honestly not a big

17:37 deal if you're not perfect at it i mean

17:38 that goes for most things in life i tell

17:40 myself a complete perfectionist and my

17:42 last lesson is to always always always

17:46 trust the sewing moms of youtube they

17:48 have got your back so yeah that's all i

17:49 have for you guys today let me know if

17:51 you want this to be like a series if i

17:52 should do more episodes try to design a

17:54 pattern from scratch it was actually

17:56 really satisfying to see just a sheet of

17:59 fabric turn into a full-fledged dress

18:01 that i made from scratch and it's so

18:03 cool to wear this and be like

18:06 i made this that's so cool so yeah thank you guys so

18:09 much for watching and i will see you

18:10 guys soon bye [Music]