Sun Hat

Hello.



My little 4 month old needed a hat so I scoured through my online tutorials I have collected and decided to make the Forth of July Baby Sun Hat. It looked cute and works well to keep the sun off baby's face. Plus it looked pretty easy. Well not for me!

To start with the pattern was sized for Newborn - 4 Months. I thought I could make the pattern a little bigger by adding an extra bit to the pattern pieces, then when I cut out the fabric I allowed a little bit extra again around the pieces, just in case.

The first problem this created was the rim and main hat pieces didn't fit properly. I knew there would most likely be a problem as I added extra to 4 main hat pieces and only 2 rim pieces. I just couldn't work out how to calculate it so it would match. I ended having to cut some off the main hat piece and then some of the inside edge of the rim.

Next problem was the binding. When joining the binding at the back you were supposed to sew right sides together at the point they meet. Although the directions said to do this, I didn't do it. Why? I don't know. So the finish was not as neat as it could have been. 

Anyway when I had finished the hat looked good enough to wear, except it was massive for my baby :-(

I tried it on my 3 year old and it was too small :-(

It would probably fit a 1-2 year old. I guess I will hold onto it until my baby fits it and I will just have to try another one. Following the directions and pattern pieces perfectly.

I take my hat off (pardon the pun) to anyone who can make their own patterns or can make things without them.

Oh well, better luck next time I guess. 

Refashioned Peasant Dress

Hello all,

I haven't been doing a whole lot of sewing this week. It was my daughters 18th birthday on Saturday so I had spent most of the week organising her party. When looking through the photos of her party I found some pictures of a dress I made for another daughter a month or so ago. It was made using the Pink Fig Lily Top.

The last time I went op shopping they had 50% off all secondhand clothing and linen. I found quite a few bargains including this material which was actually a vintage doona cover.

 It was so pretty with a lace ruffle all the way around the edge. I spent an hour or so unpicking this ruffle which I used in the lower part of the dress. It really has an old fashion look and I love it. Luckily, so does my daughter. :-)

This pic really shows the detail of the fabric.

Here are a couple of other examples of dresses I have made with the same pattern.

The pattern calls for shirring but my machine does not like to shir so instead I just sewed in some thin bias binding to the inside to act as a casing for some elastic. You get a similar effect doing it this way.

The Pink Fig patterns are really good because they have many sizes in the one pattern. Makes it good value.

I will try to catch up on a couple of projects I am working on and hopefully post them soon. 

Until then, take it easy! 



I Love Dresses

Hi all,

I am addicted to making things from my Japanese Pattern Books at the moment.

I just finished this lovely little dress.

I have to say that these patterns are unreal. They are precision. Every piece matches up perfectly. I guess you expect that with things that are Japanese. Alway top quality.

The most time consuming thing about making this dress was tracing the pattern pieces. Once this was done, the rest was a breeze. I will definately be making another one of these in the future.

Boys Pants

Hi again.

I just wanted to show you my favorite boys pants pattern, and one of the best thing about it is that it is FREE. I found it on Dana's blog MADE. 

They are so awesome that I have made heaps of them. Some with pockets, some with a lining , some with a flat front and some with the full elastic waist. I have made them for my boy and for my girl. The pattern suits both. The size of the pattern that you can print out is a 2-3 so that is perfect for my daughter and I just made it a little larger for my boy who fits size 4.

I have noticed that the waist is a little on the low side so for the last pair I made I adjusted the pattern for the waist to sit higher. It turned out that I allowed a little too much extra length that the pants were mega baggy in the crotch. So after I had just finished them I had to unpick the waist and fold it over one extra time. When completed they fit just fine and I am happy again :-)

My son chose the contrasting yellow cotton. I think it is a good combination.

Here are a couple of other pairs I also made.

Japanese Pattern Books

Hey everyone.

Well I have been quite busy lately but have still found time for a little bit of sewing. I ordered 2 Japanese pattern books a couple of weeks ago from Yes Asia and received them the other day. This is a great site that has these Japanese Pattern Books at the cheapest price I have found. It also offers FREE POSTAGE worldwide and you can pay by paypal, which is a bonus as you don't have to give away your credit card details. Anyway, I was inspired and encouraged to try out these patterns from reading this blog that has a lot of useful tips on how to interperate the directions and patterns. I was so hoping I could understand enough to be able to create some of the beautiful items they have in these books.

Well I gave it a go this weekend. I think you just have to give it a go and you'll be surprised at what you are capable of. Firstly I chose a dress that I loved since I first saw this book.

It is just such a pretty, girly dress. This was going to be my first attempt. I traced the pattern and cut out my pattern pieces and started sewing the yoke together when I realised it was not going to be big enough to fit over my daughters head.  I thought that maybe it was the pattern's error and so I added a little bit to the shoulder.

I have since realised that I just wasn't reading the pattern correctly and now understand it better.  Although the end result turned out ok I was happy I wasn't using expensive fabric for this first attempt. I was actually using a valance I bought from the op shop. I just love the colour and it was awesome quality in fantastic condition.

I really am very happy how it turned out and pleased at how easy it was to understand the directions. The pictures explain enough that you don't even need to know how to read Japanese.

The only thing I can fault about this dress is that the sleeves kind of stick out when it is being worn. I'm not sure if this because the fabric is quite stiff. This might change when it is washed. But overall, I"M HAPPY!

When I finished I still wanted to do some more sewing so I made one of the tops from the same book. I haven't quite finished it so I will update this blog when I have done so, with some better photos. 

Ok, the top is finished now and I'm pleased with the result.

The bow is at the back.

It does flare out a bit, but it does that in the photo from the pattern book also. It has a funky look to this top and looks great with a cute pair of jeans.

Because the fabric I used for this top was actually a valance, it already had a gathered ruffle along the edge. I used that part of the valance when cutting out my pattern pieces so I was able to skip straight over that step.

Cheeky me.