back from the wedding - the PINK reveal

The dress was done and I was very tempted to post it here when I finished it, but, on the off chance that my sister remembers this blog, I couldn't post the final pictures as it was meant as a surprise for her. Although the dress is not perfect by any means, I do consider it my masterpiece in sewing so far.

I was all set to chose the turquoise sash, had it cut and everything and then my husband said 'You know my Giggles, if you can't wear a pink sash with pink ribbons and rhinestones when you are 5, when can you wear it' ... and he was right ... she loves pink and everything that glitters and sparkles ... she chose the fabric and the embellishments ... her face lit up when she saw the sash being worked on ... needless to say we used the pink sash and it was her 'favouritest dress ever'.

 

I ended up taking 3 inches of the length of the bodice and love the end result. Yes, the sides seems don't really line up anymore, but they are covered by the sash so no one will know.

I finished it off with a layered hem that shows the lining as well giving it a bit of contrast. The petticoat goes well with it I though, but it is not necessary. On the day there was some comparison with the other flower girl and although butterflies (on the dress of the other flower girl) are a favourite in our house as well, the pink dress won hands down.

I wore the Dragonfly Dress and I was glad I made it larger, because I spend the 3 weeks before the wedding in Germany eating my weight in cake and ice cream without having to worry whether the dress will fit :-)

As we come to the end of the pink journey and can't help feeling a little sad. The fabric was a joy to sew with. I think all this pink just made me happy. Perhaps I should be looking into making something pink for myself. Whilst it is not my colour (much like yellow perhaps) it would cheer me up every time I wear it and I think every woman needs a few clothes like that :-)

the pink odyssey continues

I finished the bodice and the skirt section ... decided to line both instead of the facings ... chose to gather the skirt section rather then pleating it ... had the girl try it on ... and ... found a problem ... sigh

The bodice is too long, substantially too long, like 2 or 2.5 inches too long, too long to ignore too long. It looks too much like a dirndl and since the wedding is in Germany, I really want to avoid that comparison. I can't unpick it, because I have already trimmed the seam and with the gathering I would have to redo the lot, so I think I will just it in and sew it to the skirt section. It does look that long on the pattern envelope actually, but somehow it didn't look that long in the muslin, but that was without the skirt section weighing it down. Never mind, once the lining is sewn in place nobody will know :-)

Also I did the sash. My daughter picked the trims and I am now having second thoughts about the sash. It's over the top, she loves it, but I am thinking that aside from the 'overthetopness' it is not wide enough. I think it should be double the width. I could add a couple of layers of the pink lawn behind it and widen it that way, but that might be too much bulk.

Also I am questioning the colour choice. Maybe instead of the pale pink I should go for more contrast, like this turquoise linen remnant in my stash.

Maybe instead of attaching a sash permanently I should just hand stitch it on at the very end ... hmm, lots of food for thought.

pink, glorious pink - Part 1

In order to placate my daughter for god-only-knows-what about 3 weeks ago I took her to Spotlight and said she could pick out some fabrics for a dress to wear to my sisters wedding. She went straight to the costume section and brought back some fairy-tale princess dress in white polyester with the words 'Look Mummy, isn't this pretty? And you don't have to sew a thing'  .... hmm, not the idea that I was going for, but we eventually had a look at patterns for princess dresses and some fabric. She 'settled' for this Lisette sateen.

We hadn't found a pattern yet, so I bought 1.5 meters in the hope that it would be enough. A week later we finally agreed on Burda 9696.

Now, having never worked with actual paper Burda patterns, I didn't know what to expect. I was frustrated to no end at the store that the envelope back did not have a clarification for the sizes, neither did the instruction sheet inside. It said sizes 2-7 on the envelope, but no measurements. Later I found the sizes printed on the onion paper - by the time you unfold the onion paper you should already know which size you are going for.. Since my daughter is 5, but small for her age, I thought it would be safe to go with it. Well, turns out she is actually a 7-8 for Burda patterns. Also this pattern has very little in terms of ease. It was doubly annoying, because the pattern she really liked started from a size 8 and I thought it would be miles to big. It also meant that my fabric was going to stretched to the max, because a size 7 requires more then a size 5, not a lot, but some.

I also picked up some plain pink cotton lawn as contrast and for the petticoat some tulle. All in all I had 4.5 meters of fabric, it seemed plenty. However, once I started cutting things, I had to go back and get a further 2 meters of the pink lawn and I used some half a meter of cotton broadcloth I had in my stash. So all together this dress consumed 7 meters of fabric and only half a meter came from my stash ... sigh ... and it's not finished yet.

On the plus side I have 'graduated' from 'really easy' and 'easy' patterns to 'middle/average'. Yeay me ...

I started with the petticoat  and she loves it ...

There are French seams and the tulle gathering is completely enclosed by fabric as to not irritate her sensitive little legs ... please take note that she can put up with all sort of itches and scratches from the aforementioned polyester costumes (even though we didn't buy that one, we do own a great many of them), but other clothes irritate her to no end. I blame her father, he never liked wearing clothes - or shoes, in fact, he didn't wear shoes really until he went to high school (can only happen in North Queensland, everywhere else in the world you'd suffer from frostbite) - and we only just managed to get her to the point that she will wear at least undies when interacting with other people :-)

Onwards with the dress now ...

a birthday dress for the birthday girl

Happy Birthday little one :-)

We love you lots, my little one, in fact, your mummy loves you so much that she stayed up half the night to draft a quick little jersey dress for this piece of cotton interlock with owls that has been sitting in my stash for a while.

The fabric had a big 12in stripe running along one side, so I used that as the binding for the arms and neck. It's got kimono sleeves and a simple A-line shape, just right for dancing in it.

Hope you keep that joy, ickle one :-)

Quick update

been sewing for the kiddilies, but somehow never got around to actually posting anything. I took some quick pictures, obviously only after they've been worn to there are already stains on them, but if I didn't do it now, who knows when the next opportunity would have come along :-)

First of a pair of shorts as my son gained significant amounts of weight on his new asthma drug (6 kg in 4 months or 20% of his overall body weight), but now that he stopped, he is slowly losing it too. I had hoped it would translate into a growth spurt, but I am still waiting for it.

I have at least another 3 pairs to make, so be prepared to see some more soon.

Now for the little girl I had cut up these small pieces last year to make a little skirt, but never got around to actually sewing it. At first I was intimidated by the gathering, then I worried about proportions and finally I realised if I don't sew it now, she'll grow out of it before I get to it. The solid pink is her hip circumference times 1.5, then divided by 2 and then added seam allowances. The flowery tier is her hip circumference times 2, then divided by 2 and then added seam allowances. However, I don't think there is any need for precision tbh. An inch too much isn't going to ruin it, I think.

So 2 more pieces stash busted, but I really need to start on some of the bigger pieces in order to free some room :-)

the Lorax and some Mermaids

I have finished the birthday sewing ... yeay.

First we have another pair of boxers for Mr. Giggles. Now I have to say that in our house we are great fans of the Lorax. My husband speaks for the trees frequently (and the birds and flowers whisper his name) and we have the movie poster gracing our bedroom - it's great Feng Shui we've found, so take that Interior Design Monthly. So a year ago, he saw some organic quilting cotton that he decided would do just nicely for a pair of boxer shorts and it had been sitting there since.
Happy Birthday honey ...

I made the same changes as before - namely added 1/2 an inch to the waistband height and 2 inches to the leg length. This time I made it without a fly, so no high-fiving on that account, but look at the pocket ... it's super matchy and totally high-fivable :-)

I have also made another Ice Cream Social Dress for her birthday and I think this might be my favourite version.

It's got mermaids all over it. She loves it. This time I made quite a few alterations. The original pattern is a bit sack-like tbh, so I added some flare and that improved it greatly. Also instead of gathers in the front I made one large pleat that lined up with the v of the collar. I cut out the gathers in the back completely and added a centre back seam.

She loves it and I am super pleased with it, so there will be more in future. Happy Birthday baby girl. We all love you very much :-)

the pink ice cream dress

Before I had kids I was determined to beat the pink tide that seems to sweep every girl. Indeed, whilst I was expecting my girl I refused to purchase any clothes with pink in it. The only pink she got were hand-me-downs from friends and that was alright, because her main source of clothing was her older brother and that was mainly blues and greens.

However, when I started sewing I tried to let the kids choose their fabrics, because I was really worried that they wouldn't want to wear the clothes that I laboured over and then I would get all sad. Wanna guess the first fabrics she picked?  ... well, at least she was good in matching them ...

Those 2 fabrics have lingered in my stash for over a year, but I really thought I needed to get a move on before she grew to the point that there wasn't enough fabric for a dress. I used the Ice Cream Social Dress pattern from Oliver & S I had used before, but lengthen it a bit in order to use the maximum of the fabric I had. Also instead on the band of contrast fabric, I made ruffles.

It is rather long on her, but she grows rather quickly and I don't have any young nieces, so if she doesn't wear it out, nobody will. I have another dress planned for her (this time with mermaids), so hopefully that'll be done before March 1st :-)

also on V-Day

I made a second B4176 dress for my baby girl. It went much faster this time (not 2 month, but 2 days) and I used some cotton voile for that one. I had hoped to get it finished before the summer ends, but I think I might have missed it. Hopefully it'll still fit in September :-)

This time I made some changes though. I took about an inch out of the body, because she is just not that wide, but I also added about 2 inches in length to make it last a little longer. I also left the sleeves without the elastic as I thought it would be cooler when it is very hot.

This was the first time where I did a rolled hem. I do have a foot for this, but it didn't work as nicely - mainly because I didn't have a patience probably, so I did it manually and it worked beautifully.  Initially I only did the bottom hem, but then I went back and redid the sleeves.

I think it is a great improvement. Onwards to more birthday sewing ...

First projects of the year

apparently children grow ... a mere 2 months after declaring both kids had enough clothes, my son discovered that he has outgrown not one, not two, but three pairs of shorts. Similarly my daughter now has far fewer skirts that fit then before Christmas. Lucky for me that ties in nicely with the Stashbusting Sewalong and the January topic of Itty Bits.

First I made a little gathered skirt for my baby girl. It was the first time when I sewed something where I thought 'Yes, this is really easy'. I feel I have turned a bit of a corner now I guess.

Secondly I got started on the shorts. I used the pattern I made myself and sized it up.

As my son remarked that they were a bit wide, I made the next pair smaller, except it was late and I made them too small. I could have cried. It was fabric my son picked out over a year ago and that was very special to him, and i don't have enough to start anew. I have put it to the side for now and look at it again on the weekend when I am less likely to burst into tears.

That is 2 pieces off the stash, so onwards and upwards. Both pieces have been there for a while, but they were meant to become skirts and shorts respectively.

On another note, I am trying to make one potholder a week in order to get rid of all the yarns ends that I have laying around. It is actually a square, but the picture is a bit weird.

 

 

A potholder a week makes the yarn stash all neat :-)

UFO #1 - the homespun dress

Somehow gingham always reminds me of school uniforms and farms. However, when I first do a pattern for the kids I don't use the really crappy fabric that I use to make my muslins, but I use a fabric that I don't have any great attachment to ... like this pink cotton gingham. Remnant from Spotlight, easy to work with, you know, okay, just not something I would choose deliberately.

The pattern itself was okay, it is one of those little girls dresses that is really quite common. It became a UFO when I didn't have the patience to figure things out right then and there, and after a while it just laid there and I did other things. I forgot to take before pictures, but essentially I still needed to set in the sleeves, finish of the neck line and the hem.

Well, ta da ... Butterick B4176 in Pink Gingham (it is classed as very easy and it still took me ages)

I am actually very happy with it. I change the neckline (made it wider), but only because when I got to it, I couldn't for the life of me locate the instructions so I arbitrarily decided it was going to be an inch wide, so I cut a 4 in strip of the fabric on the bias and went from there. I realised when taking this picture that I had sewn the button on too high and maybe, in a few month, I find I can't live with that level of imperfection anymore, but until then I am just glad I finished the dress. I later found the instructions right beside my iron :-)

I did set some eyelet lace under the hem, because I have seen something similar in RTW dresses for little girls and I thought the dress suits it.

Overall I am really glad I finished the dress. It looks very homespun, yet my daughter loves it and whilst it is slightly on the large side, she does grow, so all is well. I'll see about making her another one after Christmas with some voile I have laying about. Onwards to the next project ... only seven more to go :-)

one ice cream (dress) to go please

After feeling a little discouraged with the amount of time and effort to took to decipher the robe pattern, I reconsidered the amount of money I am willing to spend on paper patterns (very little) and took myself to Peppermint Stitches, the delightful quilting store down the road from me. It's a feel-good store, where I usually spend a lot of time browsing and dreaming. More importantly they sell Oliver + S patterns and I seem to remember other people writing on their blogs (really spell check, you take offence to that word on a blog ?!? would blogi be better ? anyway) about just how lovely their instructions were. So, in short, I paid the 24.95 (even ordering it in the US and having it shipped to Australia wouldn't have made it much cheaper) for the Ice Cream Social dress and carried it proudly home. After spending that much on the pattern, I had to search my remnant pile right away and came up with 2 kinda matching cotton prints from my favourite Spotlight line 'Spots and Stripes'.

It took my 2 days (some 30 odd days less then the robe) and a lot less worrying and stressing and here we have it: the ICE CREAM SOCIAL DRESS. It fits and all (I shortened it a little).

My V's at the collar and on top of the pockets are not as neat as they could be, but in all fairness I might avoid them in the next dress all together. They do add a nice touch, but it was a bit of an effort to get them okay looking (also I used every single scrap of the pink stripey fabric, so I had no do overs).

I also have a little mistake on this side where the pink stripes didn't quite meet seamlessly on the bottom panel, but again, it is very small and hardly noticeable. The instructions were brilliant. I have read the some people found them too wordy, but because everything was spelled out I could work on it in the evening when the kids were asleep without worrying that I was going to miss something really important :-)

two grey elephants balancing ... okay, so they are not grey

I had fallen in love with the Unforgettable Elephant in the Sew Everything book and had been looking for a while to find the right fabric. I eventually settled on a flowery corduroy with pink ears. The idea was to cut it out one night and sew it the next. Despite being a little tired I plodded along and what did I discover the next morning? Well, I had 2 right sides instead of 1 right side and 1 left side, because instead of doubling the fabric I had cut it separately in order to line up the flowers that would be the eyes and since I was tired ...

Anyway, since I am striving to be a lemonade kinda gal I decided to make two elephants instead, which was a good thing, because the second one was decidedly better then the first one.

I left off the buttons for the eyes, because the flowers were enough. I also I knew for the second one that I needed to make the seam allowance on the trunk as small as possible in order to give the elephant the biggest trunk possible and I added a seam to give the legs more stability.

Isn't it beautiful?

My daughter has no preference for either, instead she is grateful of her every growing 'My Mummy Made It' collection. My son has requested one for himself, albeit in not so 'girly' colours :-)

a cloak fit for a princess

I have put myself on a fabric diet. I will not buy any more fabric until I have used up a substantial part of my stash. It's not that I regularily spent lots of money of fabrics, but I frequently pig out on remnants, because at 2m a metre, who can say no. Well, my bedroom reflects that inability to say no. It seems like there is fabric EVERYWHERE. There are also clothes that need to be altered and a crochet blanket that needs the ends to be stitched in and some yarn for another two scarfs and so on. In short it is a mess and that is actually more depressing then inspiring to sew.

In an effort to stash bust I have made a costume for my little girl out of 2 pieces of stretchy panne velvet. It frayed and shedded like mad, so there is pink fluff everywhere now :-)

It has a cloak - I am really proud of sucessfully drafting and attaching the collar

a skirt - I intended to just make a gathered skirt with a light pink trim, but I didn't have enough light fabric for that, so I made a panel skirt instead

and a little scarf - I tried out making a lettuce edge without an overlocker (serger) and it worked, yeay

She is very happy with the results of 3 days sewing and has refused to take it off for the last 3 days. I call that a sucess :-)

After this I have the greatest admirations for the mothers, who regularily create costumes for dance recitals and other competitions, because the material slips and slides and sheds and it takes time and effort to be percise and accurate with it. Onwards to the next remnant ...

lots of little flowers

I had originally planned to make a flower scarf for my little daughter using Japanese flowers, but I hadn't realised how big the flowers actually were. So, after a length searching on Ravelry (twice, because obviously I didn't bookmark it the first time and then couldn't find it again) I found a little flower scarf that was just adorable. Fifty little flowers later and a scarf emerged :-)

I have rarely felt as positive about a project as I do about this scarf. It is just so cheerful and bright.

In fact, it's positively gigglicious :-)

The pattern can be found here and later this week I'll post a photo tutorial, because they are just too beautiful and should be shared xxx

Gathered Skirts

After the duvet cover took such a long time (okay the butterflies took such a long time) I was desperate to try my hand at something that would take less time and space, so I thought I give Dana's gathered skirt tutorial a go.

I used a bright red cotton with pink spots and did all the measuring and cutting on Friday. I had a burst of energy Saturday morning and put it all together. It was wonderful. I actually enjoyed the sewing itself and my little girl was over the moon.

After all my grumbling with the duvet I wasn't sure whether sewing was really my thing, but the skirt made it all worth it. In fact, I liked it so much, I made a second one in the evening :-)