How much do I love this pattern?....A Lot!

Hello.

I made up a couple more of these little dresses using the same pattern I used in this post.

It's from my Japanese Pattern Book "Heart Warming Life Series".

That is 3 and I'm already planning a fourth.

Too many already???

This dress I made as a school dress. It's not exactly uniform but I figured that my little girl could get away with just wearing the right colours for Kindy. They are not too strict at our school.

I love the dress, but HATE my machine (at the moment).

After all my effort to get this dress finished all I needed to add was the buttonholes.

This shouldn't be that hard except my machine is DUMB.

This is the result of my machine doing buttonholes on medium thickness fabric.

Yuk.

I ended up having to try to sew it by hand because my sewing machine was incapable.

I know that you can't really tell when the button is done up but it just makes me a little sad to ruin it right at the end :(

She still looks pretty cute for her first day of Kindy.

For my next attempt I tried my hand at another refashion.

I took my Omas (Nan) old skirt.

And turned it into this.

This time I used press stubs instead of buttons.

The fabric was quite sheer so I added the lining of the original skirt to the skirt part of the dress.

I seem to have a little obsession with spots too.

Have you noticed that all 3 of these dresses are made with spotty fabric?

The next one I have planned does not involve any spots, only leaves that are dotted all over the fabric.

Stay tuned for the results.



Aprons Galore

Hello.

Yesterday  had in mind to finish a cute little outfit I had started on Friday

but I got persuaded by my 3.5 year old to make her an apron to match her Dads.

Once I had done that my 10 year old wanted one and then I just had to make one for my 5 year old son too.

This was the result.

I traced an existing kids apron we had to make the pattern.

I decided to make a tie around the neck and at the back so these apron can grow with my kids.

As you can see the same size apron fits all 3 kids, it just differs in length.

The love heart apron has 2 loveheart pockets,

the star apron has a rectangular pocket and

the stripey apron has one large rectangular pocket that I divided into 3.

Hopefully I'll get a chance in the next day or two to complete

my little baby outfit I started on Friday.

I really am addicted to sewing you know, I just can't get it out of my mind!!!

I know most of you can relate :)

"A Library Bag" made by my 10 year old.

Spot the dot library bag.

Hello.

My ten year old daughter loves playing around on my sewing machine.

She is always making litte bag's but this time she made a big bag.

My eldest daughter bought this fabric piece home from Poland

when she went on holidays earlier this year.

My 10 year old did everything herself when making this bag including cutting out the pieces, pinning and sewing up the bag. I only helped with ironing the straps.

I think it is a job well done!    

2 Little Pleated Skirts

Hello.

I got one of my Japanese pattern books out yesterday and made 2 little skirts.

This was the first one I made.

 I was surprised that it did not fit snuggly around my daughter waist.

Everything I have made from my Japanese pattern books have fitted perfectly up to now.

This spotted fabric was out at $2p/m.

I bought 3 metres of this fabric and 3 metres of another fabric, also selling for $2p/m.

So all up I purchased 6 metres of fabric, using a $10 voucher I only paid $2.

WOW!!!

I decided to make a slight change in the next skirt I made.

I added an elastic back and this made ALL the difference for a perfect fit.

I even went back and altered the first skirt, also giving it an elastic back.

This spotted fabric was put on the cheap rack but was supposed to be full price at $14p/m.

I ended up paying $6p/m.

I added this woollen lace trim and blue ric rac.

I'm not sure if it would have been better left plain.

What do you think?

I just love this pearl button ♥

I made another little hair bow, this time attaching it to a lacky.

Such a cute little pattern. I'll be sure to make a few more of these :-)



A Dress for ME

Hello.

I decided it was time to make a little something for me.

I have made a couple of these dresses before but this would have to be my favourite one out of all of them.

I am going to have to take a couple of pics with me wearing it because I have to say that it does actually look better on. The top of the dress hangs over at the waist whichs makes it perfect for hiding any little tummy bulges I might be carrying.

 

This fabric actually came from my husband Nan. It has a nice texture to it and just screams summer.

But being vintage fabric it has the disadvantage of time and flaws.

And worst of all, this was the piece I used for thr FRONT of my dress...grrrrr

Anyway the pattern I used was Burda 7913. 

I judged Burda quite harshly in this post and had forgotton I had used Burda for this dress.

I found this one to be easy to follow. The only change I made was to lengthen the top part of the dress by about an inch the allow a little extra room for the casing for the elastic around the waist.

I'm heading over to link up this dress at Pams Threading Your Way Womens Dresses Link Party so you should head over there to add any of your creations or just check out others ideas.



Another Summer Outfit For Baby

Hello.

I purchased a couple of new patterns the other day and used one of them to make this.

It was the Burda 9802. I was looking for a different style top for my baby and liked this pattern because it also offered the ruffle pants.  It was the first time sewing with a Burda pattern.

Hmmm...I have to say that Burda is not one of my favourite patterns  :-(

I prefer tops to have a lining/facing rather that use bias tape to edge the collar and armholes.

It makes for a neater finish.

I added black piping around the collar to tie in with the black pants.

I followed the pattern when sewing the pants but they just didn't match up.

The front pieces were about an inch shorter than the back pieces so I had to cut them down to make them even.

I made the pants out of black drill. I had this in my cupboard to make my son some school pants. After making these cute ruffle bloomers with it I now think that black drill is way better for boys school pants than a sweet baby girls outfit.



Of course I added a matching bow.



Nevertheless I still am happy with the overall result.

I think next time though I will make the pants with ruffles that match the pant fabric rather than having such a big contrast.

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Competition Entry

Hello.

I saw this fabulous competition over at Quokka Quilts.

This is my entry:




They are offering a 1/2 yard of each of your choices as the prize.
Whoo hoo!!!


This is all you have to do:

Go to The Fat Quarter Shop website and choose 12 coordinating prints and 3 solids from their selection.

Either a) create a blog entry about your set of fabrics;
or b) if you don't have a blog, upload them somewhere they can be seen in one link - eg flickr, picasa, etc.
You must include pictures of your fabrics. You can 'borrow' these from the FQS site.

It would be very helpful to the judges if you could do a photo collage of your various prints.

Go back to Quokka Quilts and link in your entry by 15 January.
Link your photo collage as the thumbnail if you can.
I'm going to post mine right now!

Good Luck everyone!!

Very Girly Romper

Hello.

I especially love little rompers on babies so I purchased a new pattern and made this outfit.

The pattern is New Look 6970.

It also has a dress and bloomer option with this pattern.

I made a matching bib and bow to complete the outfit.

 This material is so babyish and very girly.

I didn't have matching buttons...grrrrr...but I thought the white side buttons were

camouflaged so I could get away with using odd buttons.

Instead of putting press studs under the crotch I stitched the seam closed.

I think it looks a little neater and I am a little lazy :-) 

A Blue Linen Dress

Hello.

When I purchased my Japanese pattern books I made a pact with myself that I would make each pattern at least once. So to keep the ball rolling I decided to make this dress.

I thought to myself that I would try to follow the dress in the book as close as I could so I kept the fabric the same. I picked up this blue linen fabric from the op shop. I was so surprised that it was actually a piece of unused fabric and not an old curtain or sheet etc... It was almost 2 meters in length and only cost me $3.

What a score! 

I used some left over pink fabric from this outfit for the casings.   

I really do like this dress. It didn't ruffle up on the bodice as much as the example in the book did, but I don't think it matters too much.

Well that is another one to tick off from the book, only about 30-40 more to go...

Good thing I love to sew ♥



Purple Summer Outfit

Hello.

I made another little summer outfit for my little baby the other day.

I used the same pattern for the top as I used in this post

and the same pattern for the pants as I used in this post.

I did alter the pants in this outfit though.

I added the patches (which I lined with towelling) to the knees to act as extra comfort for my crawling girl. 

I put an elastic casing at the bottom of the pants rather that up the leg

to hold the pants down so the patches stayed on the knees.

I had seen the idea for the knee pads here on Rae's blog and here on Dana's blog.

I used the purple seersucker gingham I picked up from Spotlight for $3 p/m. The purple circle fabric was also from Spotlight and once again from the cheap rack (I think it was $6 p/m)

I'm not sure why this pic shows up on it's side, but I can't flip it :-(

The bib was made to match because my baby spends most of the day wearing one in an attempt to stay clean, something I have struggled to do with all my kids. 

I made a little bow to match and just hot glued it onto a little clip I had.

Overall I am very pleased with this little outfit.