A Country Girls Sew Along

Hello sweet friends, I have missed you! I am so excited to announce a fun four-week DIY project on creating your own prairie dress.  Here are all the details on A Country Girls Sew Along.

How Long Have I Been Sewing

One of the most asked questions I receive is “How long have you been sewing?”

I had a two week sewing introduction class in 7th grade back when there was still a Home Ec class when dinosaurs also roamed the earth. 

In High School I had one lovely semester long class though our local 4H program. 

Then I stopped sewing. For over 35 years. 

For an event with the Little House on the Prairie Museum I decided to make a historically accurate bustle dress to wear to an event. This was achieved with the assistance of my dear friend, and sewing mentor, Dartanyan Smith. 

You can read about the how I created this ensemble HERE and HERE.

While at this 2018 event two very special things occured.

I met my dear friend Wendi Lou Lee who played baby Grace on the beloved television show. 

A sweet pixie of a girl also spoke with me and said “I wish I could see what the dresses that Laura wrote about in the books looked like. When Laura wrote about Nellie’s Silk Polonaisse she said it was made of fawn colored silk. What is that?” 

So I began a five year journey of researching historical fashion. I created over 30 of the clothing items that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about. The research and sewing process was documented and I have hopes of finding a publisher for the book very soon. 

The garments include Nellie’s Silk Polonaisse.

You can see other projects that I have created over the past six years under the FASHION tab at the top of the website page. 

It has other prairie themed sewing projects, everyday clothing as well as fun costumes such as Provincial Belle And Gaston.

Accompanying YouTube Videos

Many of the sewing techniques I have learned came by watching YouTube sewing themed videos. 

Starting next week there will be a weekly video on my YouTube channel on how to create your own prairie dress. 

I will be making one dress very close from the exact pattern and another dress where I will show how to add trims to create a dress that looks like one worn on the Little House television show. 

You can find all the Prairie themed videos under the playlist titled Lessons With Laura. 

Little House in the Big Woods is a good place to start for that series. 

The accompanying video shares how I am related to Laura, which is another question I am often asked. 

A Good Beginner Project

For those who have never sewn before a good beginner project is Hannah’s Apron which was made for the Little Women series I did a few years ago. 

If you wish to view the video in a larger format just click on the black box in the lower left hand corner that says Watch on YouTube.

 

A Country Girls Sew Along 

The pattern that this sew along will be using is Simplicity 3725, view A. 

You can find the pattern at most craft and sewing stores. They are often on sale for $1.99.

There is also an adult sized pattern, Simplicity 3723. 

GIVEAWAY

Tomorrow (Sept. 10, 2024) on my personal Instagram channel I will be giving away the adult sized pattern, 6 yards of fabric and some pretty lace trim. I do hope you will enter. 

Today at 2 pm CST (Sept. 10, 2024) I will doing an Instagram live to talk more about the sew along and other exciting upcoming projects. The live video will be saved and posted to Instagram as well as Facebook. 

Please feel free to share the Sew Along as as your works in progress (WIP) and finished dresses. Tag me @lauraingallsgunn also using the hashtag #countrygirlssewalong

I will then share your projects on my Instagram and Facebook stories. 

This is going to be SEW fun!

Laura