Spring Darling Ranges

Have you ever loved a fabric so much that you've gone back and purchased it again? This Liberty tana lawn from Anne Tyrrell (I've linked to a similar one, the navy appears to be sold out) is one of those fabrics.

I used it originally to make this frock, but wanted something a bit more 'every day' with my second piece. The Darling Ranges dress seemed like the best choice. I love the neck line and there is just the right amount of fullness in this skirt for work.

I haven't lined the skirt, so will need to wear a half slip for school, but I do that for all my Liberty dresses.

I still have to sew two more buttons to the waist area.

As with my previous Darling Ranges dress, the front placket isn't functional. I've sewn the buttons through both layers to hold them in place. Only one button above and below the waist seam are functional. As I've run elastic around the  back of the dress, I only need to use these two buttons to get the dress on and off. I don't see the point of wasting time and energy creating a fully functioning placket if I don't need it and this looks slightly neater, I think.

 

As you can see I didn't add the sleeves. This dress is for Spring/Summer, so I definitely won't need them. I also slightly trimmed the armscye around the top and back of the shoulders, as I didn't need it to be as full as I do with set sleeves.

 

I think this is my new favourite dress. I also think the fabric is entirely fashionable at the moment as the flowers have a hint of neon in them. Just enough for me to feel cool, but not too much to make it too neon.

 

Details:

Pattern: Darling Ranges Dress with no sleeves - pattern used before = free

Fabric: Liberty from Shaukat 1.3m = $30? inc part shipping

Buttons: from Op-Shop = $2

Thread: $2.60

Total = $34.60

Burda Dress with Knot Front

Right after I announced a fabric diet recently, I headed to Spotlight to buy lining fabric for this jacket and happened to also buy some lovely Japanese seersucker.Doh! It's sad when you can't stick to your own self imposed goals!

What's worse. This fabric was full price at the time. Who buys fabric from Spotlight full price?? Well it appears I now do.

I knew that I wanted to make the Burda twist front dress with the fabric, so made sure it happened quickly to compensate for my lack of judgement.

Not much to say about this dress. It's eats a bit of fabric with not much change from 2.5 meters. The dress came together quickly. I didn't line the dress, so will need to wear a slip to stay decent.

Dress Cost
Pattern: Burda Dress with Knot Front #108 - traced from Library magazine = free
Fabric: 2.5m Japanese seersucker from Spotlight $37.50
Zipper: $3
Total: $40.50

Doily Overload

For some reason I thought this skirt would be a little less crappy than some of the doily/lacy fashion for girls that is available.

I concede I was wrong.

The pre-school teachers love it. So does Adele. I don't.

Still a skirt is a skirt. The kid can wear it and that's OK.

I'm feeling better today. No daytime snooze and I might even stay up past 7.30pm tonight...

5 Days

It's been 6 days since the big plans post that outlined my ambitious sewing plans for these school holidays.

It has been 5 days since the holidays started for me.

I'm sure most of you thought I'd be smashing out garments at the machine, pedal to the carpet in a mad sewing frenzy, too busy to blog as I'm obsessively working my machine to create garment gold! Alas, such things have not been, as I have the flu! *sigh*

I'm on day 5 of the flu and starting to feel like I'm going to survive. I've already spent 4 days incapable of getting out of bed. What a crappy start to the holidays! But really, what did I expect. All three of my kids have now had the flu, so I was bound to get it. Sucks being a mum sometimes. Dads can dodge illnesses through distance, but not mums.

Anyway, I've managed to crawl out of bed today to buy flowers for our front garden. I happened to pass on of my favourite Op Shops and struck gold. I know there are a lot of vintage Pyrex fans out there - be warned - Pyrex porn below!

I have no real use for these delightful little bowls, other than to have them adorn my bookshelf for colour, but I had to have them.

Hopefully, *fingers crossed* I can get back to my machine and resume regular programming tomorrow.

I hope you school holidays have started better than mine.

Big Plans

Like many sewists, I plan big. I'm realistic enough to realise that not everything will work or be started and finished, but still, having many plans allows me to choose what I feel like sewing, rather than feeling forced to start something that I'm just not that 'in' to.

Below I've outlined some plans for my Spring/Summer wardrobe. I wish I had one of those colour plans, but really I'm not that organised. Most of these items are styles that I like and colours that I'm comfortable wearing and that's the most important part.

Simplicity 1801 made with silk chiffon and navy silk/cotton voile from The fabric Store. Both of these pieces were purchased on sale over the past year. I'm contemplating adding very thin, flat fold piping to the shoulder seam and midriff of this pattern, but am worried about the look. What do you think? I've pinned a small piece of piping to the fabric, do you think it's OK?

The fabric is darker than pictured and the red does match. I've never sewn with silk chiffon and have spent a bit of time researching the best way to do so. This fabric doesn't appear to fray too much and I've run a swatch through the overlocker and sewing machine and it appears to sew nicely. I'm contemplating underlining the dress, rather than lining the dress (the pattern is not lined). I'd appreciate opinions about this if you are knowledgeable with underlining or lining chiffon.

Freddie Vest - Fabric and pattern on hand, just need to make.

Burda 3/2012-106 - I have a piece of this crazy orange, houndstooth-like, poly stretch fabric for the top of this dress and want to get some black jersey for the bottom.

I felt incredibly inspired to make this dress when I flicked through this issue of the magazine at the library. It reminds me of the dress on this album cover, which I think might be a Gorman dress. At least I think it was.

Colette Clovers - black/grey fabric from The Fabric Store.

Simplicity 2215 skirt in pink/coral rayon twill.

Summer PJs made with cotton jersey, voile and Liberty

Tiny pocket tank with border print voile from Spotlight

Roxanne top, by Victory Patterns, with pleated collar made with poly satin from The Fabric Store. The colour isn't right in this picture, it's much darker.

 

Vogue 1306 variation with stretch mesh from The Remnant Warehouse.

Lace tank - pattern to be determined.

So yeah, lots of ideas and this doesn't include some of the patterns that I happened to purchase at the Vogue sale...

I've ordered my plans in priority and have almost everything to make all items on this list. Only one more work day until holidays!! Look out!!!

Adele Week. The End

Adele week seems to have finished with a little radio silence around here! Sorry. I had planned to finish two more items for Adele, but instead found myself swamped by work, struggling with sick kids (the real flu, not fake-flu-head-cold, which is seriously not the same) and sewing some bonnet orders. I also found myself outside quite a bit as the plants that I ordered online came a week early! These things never seem to happen unless you don't want them to. So I spent three days digging gardens, preparing soil and helping the husband with a concrete delivery, all while trying my best to keep the kids amused. Seriously, going back to work on Monday was a dream!

Anyway, enough of this crap. Adele week finished with the purchase of a few new t-shirts.

At $3 a pop, it's just not worth making them.

As I came home from Big W, I received a text from a friend and look what was ready for me to collect....

A big bag of hand-me-downs!!

Oh well. It has been nice sewing for the little one and now she has plenty of nice clothes to see her through Spring at least.

Only a few more sleeps until school holidays. Hopefully I'll be back later this week with my Spring/Summer sewing plans, including my focus for the holidays!

The last skirt on a busy week

A simple skirt for the girl. I used my last strip of Heather Ross mermaid fabric, along with some white ric rac to trim this simple skirt.

The teller at the bank told me yesterday that Adele had mischievous eyes. I replied that it wasn't just her eyes, she's mischievous all over! Climing on the outside of the stairs is definitely not allowed in this house.

It's definitely feeling like week 9 of the school term in this house at the moment and I am desperately wanting school holidays. I think I'll have to make a list of priorities to avoid feeling overwhelmed by my dream sewing list.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Balloon Dress

Another dress for Adele.

Again, I used the Oliver & S bubble dress bodice. I wanted this dress to be more of an 'everyday dress', so didn't make the bubble hem. Instead I added pockets and piping to the bodice. The fabric is a Sarah Jane 'Children At Play' fabric.

Actually, adding the piping was a crazy decision that may have been made at 10:30pm on Saturday night, after a few wines and after I had attached the skirt and half top stitched the lining (I'm generally too lazy to hand stitch lining, more so with kids clothes).

So at 10:30, I found myself ripping the skirt off, making piping and attaching it to the dress and re-attaching the skirt. Despite the alcohol induced decision doubt at the time, I know now that this was definitely the best decision to make.

The kiddo likes it so much, she's decided to share another "fab" smile with you!

Thursday is the new Friday!! Woo Hoo!!

Ballerina dress

Every girl needs a 'ballerina' dress, and I like them even better when they cost almost nothing to make.

One of the ladies at my mum's quilting group gave this cotton eyelet to me via mum. I have another piece in white. She also gave me this pattern, along with a bunch of other vintage kids sewing patterns, so this dress has been made for almost nothing.

This dress was made with McCalls 3648 from 1988. It's a simple drop waist dress with a gathered skirt.  I used an invisible zipper at the back as I had one in my stash that I didn't need to my first Alma top. As the fabric is sheer,  fully lined the dress in a scrap of white cotton batiste, even using the selvage for the lining hem - cheating, but fast.

She loves it and I do too. Just a simple, sweet, girly summer dress and look at that scalloped hem!

Topiary Trousers

Technically these aren't trousers, but I couldn't help the funny sad alliteration here...

When I purchased this fabric from the Op Shop, I had no outlook for how it was going to be used. I only had a 50cm cut of fabric, so it was going to be for Adele. I thought I skirt might be nice, but given her tendency to swing her legs in a crazy fashion, rendering any modesty impossible, I thought shorts more appropriate.

She loves her pink striped shorts with topiary trees on them. The daycare teachers love them too. I hear they are going to be all the rage this summer. What's that? Your kid doesn't have any? Well, poor you!

Again, the pattern in the Oliver & S Puppet Show shorts pattern. This time I lengthened the pattern slightly.

With 4 new pairs of short, I think she has enough for now.

More of Adele week to come.

Adele's Lucy Top

With thanks to Pinterest, I purchased the recently released Lucy top pattern from Shwin & Shwin. It is an easy pattern to sew and I think it's particularly cute. I love the button front and the little tucks in the sleeve caps, which also make this pre-school friendly as kids must have sleeves these days for pre-school and daycare.

I made this with a remnant of linen from my jacket and lined it with a pink, dotted quilting cotton. I think next time I may even try binding it, rather than lining. Just to keep it more lightweight for summer. I made a size three, but may size down next time as it gapes a little at the back. I also didn't add the pockets, just because I was in too much of a rush.

Can you believe I didn't get one over smile from the kid during this photo session? Don't be fooled by these seemingly compliant, happy photos though. Adele has been quite challenging this past week. She is really pushing the boundaries with everything and often tipping us over the edge, ending up being sent to her room or to time out.

Good thing she is so cute though. Here's her favourite "cool trick" for you all.

I'll be back tomorrow with more of Adele week.

Adele Week

There has been some crazy, frantic, creativeness happening in this room lately. Can you tell?

I can't explain it, but for the last few days I've felt this incredible desire to make clothes for Adele. As I mentioned before, I haven't done this for a while, but now I can't stop! In fact I stayed up until midnight sewing for the little devil. Speaking of which, AWESOME night!! Husband and kids went to bed early, so I enjoyed a number of quiet hours sewing and enjoying a wine or two. Bliss!! I know I'm among friends when I talk on this blog, so I'm sure you can understand how wonderful those hours can be. My non-sewing friends would just think its insane to enjoy sewing alone on a Saturday night.

I now have a new mini spring mini wardrobe for the little one, but rather than show you in one big post (that frankly I don't want to write) I'll try to blog them all this week. I think I have enough for a whole week, which is why I've renamed this week: 'Adele Week'. Are you excited?

Now I know that not all of you visit this blog for kids clothes, so if you are not interested, please feel free to come back next week. I have another finished item for me, made with silk, but will hold off until her super cute clothes (and horrendous over smiles) are shown.

Hope you have a good week. First garment tomorrow.

Bubble Dress

More sewing for Adele.

This time the Oliver & S Bubble Dress. I've made this dress quite a few times, but my pattern only goes to size 2. When a friend offered her larger size pattern to trace, I jumped at the chance,

This has got to be my favourite little girl pattern ever, I'm even contemplating making a second straight away with some Sarah Jane balloon fabric in my stash. This time I made it complete with scalloped edge, which I adore. This fabric is a Zoe Pearn quilting cotton which I purchased over a year ago.

With a smile like that, this kid is going to regret most of her childhood photos.

Sewing for the girl child

Once upon a time, I used to sew most of my kid's clothes. Then the boys trashed everything I made, time became more limited and I became more selfish, choosing to sew to me, rather than the kids. But every now and then I feel like I need to use my sewing powers for the good of the family.

There's nothing like a few surprise warm days to make you realise the kids are in desperate need of summer clothes. I looked over the Target catalogue this week and contemplated stocking up for the family. But really, I do have a substantial quantity of fabric which I could use for the kids. So after a morning of sewing, Adele now has three new pairs of shorts.

Spotlight cotton drill from the discount table. I only had 50cms as it was purchased for her and from memory is was only a dollar or two.

Always the over smile!!

Vintage fabric from the Op Shop. Again only $1 and I have more for something else.

Heather Ross linen cotton fabric which I originally purchased to trim Adele's backpack. It didn't match the main fabric well, so this has been maturing in my stash for over a year now.

Cute pockets to hide tissues in, so I get an pleasant 'snowy' surprise when I hang the clothes on the line. This pattern is the Oliver & S Puppet Show shorts - a super quick and well sized pattern - which I borrowed from Sam. I made Adele a size 3 and they fit well. The total cost for three pairs of shorts is about $15 inc elastic.

Even though I feel like I've contributed a little, I'll probably still head out to buy her and the boys some new t-shirts. I don't have much knit fabric in my stash and our hand-me-downs have well and truly dried up now.

So tell me, have you been sacrificing your precious sewing time for the family too?

Alma v2

I think I mentioned that I like this pattern. Here is No.2. Made in Liberty called Picardie.

I like this one better with a contrast tie, which I just happened to have already made up from a dress I made a few years ago.

Close up fabric shot. I am learning it is hard to take self photo with DSLR.

Again I'm happy. I think I like the fabric from my first Alma better, but I've still worn this twice since the weekend, so that says everything right??

More sewing adventures to come, but I might give this pattern a rest for now. Two is enough.

Details
Pattern: Sewaholic Alma - used before = free
Fabric: Liberty Picardie from Shaukat. 1.2m inc part shipping = $30 approx
Thread: from stash
Total: $30

M6519. Blue Linen Blazer

My sew-jo has returned in full force - hallelujah!! I guess all I really needed was to meet up with a bunch of inspiring sewists, buy more fabric and get a day off work!!

The concept of this jacket has been brewing for many months. It started when I spied this Boden linen jacket. It was expensive and even though I had the money, I couldn't part with that much, plus international shipping.  When down in Melbourne, I saw this beautiful duck egg blue linen in the remnant bin at The Fabric Store. I had to buy it!

I'm quite happy with this jacket. It didn't take too long to make and it looks well enough made, not perfect, but I'm not perfect either.

 

 

I've used M6519 before on a yet-to-be-finished mustard ponte jacket. I used the wrong interfacing in the ponte version and don't think I can take it out. I also found the ponte seams bulky and I really think it needs to be lined but I don't have anything suitable in my stash and so it sits and collects dust matures.

The up-side to this UFO is that I had tested M6519 and was happy with the overall fit. This definitely fast tracked this more successful blazer.

I made a size 8, but modified the pattern, including:
 - adding a full lining, drafted with this tutorial and one from Sewaholic
 - adding small shoulder pads for shape
 - slightly reshaping the front lapel
 - adding buttons, which surprisingly work with this boxy jacket even though they aren't drafted in the pattern
 - shortening and rounding the hem
 - omitting the self turned cuffs, opting to show the lining instead
 - drafting my own pockets with lining trim

 

I really like the sleeve style and length. I think it suits the fabric more than full length sleeves as this is a lightweight, warmer weather jacket.

 

The lining fabric is a Lisette voile that I picked up on Friday (my new day off!) from Spotlight. So much for a fabric diet!

 

Im so exciting spring is here. My mind is jam packed with warm weather sewing plans!

 

Project details
Pattern: McCalls M6519 = $7.99 inc part shipping
Fabric: 2m linen remnant from The Fabric Store $20
Lining: 1.2m Lisette voile from Spotlight  $17.95 (full price! ouch!)
Thread: $2.70
Buttons: $2.99
Shoulder pads: $3.99
Total: $55.62

On another note, after recieving 98 spam blog comments within a 5 minute period, I've decided to turn on word verification again. I can handle one or two coming through, but not 100. My apologies for reinstating this extra hurdle in the commenting process, but I needs to do it.

Hope you have a great week!