Pink & Yellow Dress

Hello.

I made this little dress yesterday with some of the fabric I had left over from this skirt.

It is kind of my own creation. I mixed up a couple of patterns to get this final product.

Once I had finished the pink dress I thought that the bodice was a little too long so to disguise this I added a yellow sash made from the same type of fabric.

I think that this actually makes the dress look nicer, especially teamed with a matching yellow t-shirt.

I used little pink press studs to fasten the straps at the front. I only used interfacing on the back straps so I'm a little worried that the press studs might rip the fabric at the front. The fabric is quite sheer so we'll see how it goes.

Perfect for a picnic...

and climbing trees?

Yay! I Won!

Hello.

I just have to say a big

THANK YOU

to Lindsay from The Cottage Home for holding the Shabby Fabrics Giveaway.

I saw the notice on Facebook to say the winners had been drawn so I clicked the link.

When I scrolled down and saw my picture I just started laughing.

This is the first prize I have won since I have started blogging and I couldn't be happier.

I have entered quite a few competitions and I am soooo glad I won this one.

Thanks heaps to you and Shabby Fabrics.

I'll be sure to post what I make from my win, so stay tuned.

4 Layers Of Pink

Hello.

Yesterday while I had my machine out and I thought I'd try a slightly different version of the On The Border Skirt I made here. I took the basic measurements for the yoke and the main part of the skirt but added a larger top ruffle and a bottom ruffle to complete the skirt.

I picked up all of this fabric from Spotlight at an unbelievable price. It was all off the cheap rack at only $3per metre. I bought just over a metre of each so I have plenty left for future projects. I just LOVE Spotlight!

This skirt was supposed to be a super quick job to complete but as is usually the case I spent the majority of the time unpicking. I had to resew the gathering stitch on the bottom ruffle about 4 times because I kept pulling it out. I was getting a little frustrated because I was so close to finishing and things just kept going wrong.

In the end it only took about 2 hours to complete (including stopping every 10 minutes to feed the kids and change nappies etc...) and I probably didn't spend more than $3 for all the materials.

I just adore my labels.

Overall I am very happy with my afternoons work and I'm already thinking what my next project will be! 

Stripwork Skirts

Hello.

I made these two little skirts a while ago when I was on my Pink Fig Stripwork Skirt marathon. All up I made probably 6 of these little skirts.

This is the size 3 skirt.

This is the size 6 months.

I love that they almost match but still have their own unique look.

This is an awesome pattern that you can use to make a cute party skirt, a light weight summer skirt (like the two I made here) or use a heavier fabric that will be suitable for Winter. 

The beauty of sewing patchwork or stripwork skirts are that they are very affordable. You can match cheaper plain fabric with a small amount of expensive printed fabric for a unique look.

I already know that I am going to have too many skirts in my girls wardrobe this year because they are so much fun to sew :-)

Refashioned Baby Pants

Hello.

When my oldest daughter cleared out her wardrobe a while ago, she gave me a bag of clothes to give to the Salvos. I quickly looked through it and found a lovely peach coloured "chic-a-booti" dress. It had a beautiful lace layer covering a plain peach dress.

I thought I would use it to make my first refashioned item.

I had purchased the Big Butt Baby Pants pattern from Made By Rae and turned my daughters dress into these cute pants.

I used the lace layer over the plain peach fabric to give a soft, delicate touch.

On the bum panel I put two lace strips over the plain fabric.

Overall I'm pretty happy how they turned out.

I love a bargain and these pants cost nothing but an hour of my time.

:-)

Peasant Costume

Hello.

My 9 year old daughter had a choir performance and she needed a costume. She was a villager child in medievil times. I made her this skirt and top.



The top was made with the Pink Fig Lily Top pattern and was made to hang out over her skirt with a thin belt that tied around her waist. But my girl has a habit of tucking all of her tops in so we adapted the design slightly.

I made a belt twice the thickness of the original and that hid the waist band of the skirt. The skirt was actually made from a valance I bought from the op shop. This was super easy to make because all I had to do was sew a side seam and add a waistband.

To finish the outfit I made a head scarf which was just a triangle with the original belt sewn onto it for the tie.

And now she was ready to "march to the top, to the top, to the top, marching to the top of dragon mountain"

(that was the song she sung at the performance)

Summer Outfit For Baby

Hello.

I just finished a cute little dress with matching bloomers for my little baby girl.

I chose this cute summer spotted anglaise fabric and teamed it with a lightweight pink linen.

I used this New Look 6903 pattern.

I have made the romper before but decided to make the dress this time.

I made the Medium which suits 8-9.5kgs (18-21lb) I really don't like patterns that have weight measurements. I would rather them have 000, 00, 0 etc because I know what size my baby wears.

Anyway the dress is really big on my girl. Luckily I still have 2 months before Summer and then 3 months of Summer so I am sure she will fit it by then :-)

The dress has a ruffle at bottom which is supposed to be doubled over. I tried it this way but I had a suspicion it would be too thick, being made from linen, so I cut it in half and hemmed the bottom. This solved that problem.

I finished the dress with some cute loveheart buttons.

I put in a casing for some elastic just above the cuff on the pants to create more of a bloomer than shorts.

I think they look cute this way.

I had some labels made up from World Wide Label on Etsy. They are the cheapest I have found for this style of label. I am very happy with the result.

I chose black writing on a grey background so I could use it for boys, girls and adult items. I just sew it on with a thread that matches the item I am sewing it onto. This gives each label a different look and suits each item.

Now I just have to wait for summer so my little girl can wear it :-)

A Pink Coat

Hello.

I was really prepared for Winter this year. I made heaps of coats and jackets before the cold weather hit. This is one of them.

It was made using the New Look 6927 pattern.

I must be quite attracted to this style of jacket because I also bought this pattern.

I admit the top pattern is for 6 months to 4 years and the bottom one is for 3 - 8 years so I am sure to have at least one of these coats in my girls wardrobe for many years to come.

The fabric I used was thick stretchy ribbed material bought on special for less than $5 a metre.

It's great for keeing my girl warm, not so good for sewing buttonholes in though. Because I struggled so much getting the buttonholes to work, I opted for a press stud covered with a large matching pink button.

I added a little bow to the edge of the seam at the cuff.

This is a quick, easy pattern and worth a go if you're looking for a smart Winter coat.

  

Baby Leggings

Hello.

I saw this tutorial for leggings at Make It & Love It and thought I really want to make some. I have only attempted to sew with knit fabric a couple of times before and I'm still not very comfortable with it.

Apart from that I am usually useless without a pattern but I actually made my own pattern too.

I took this pair of legging and made my pattern as directed in the tutorial.

And ended up with these.

I actually didn't take too much care with these thinking to myself that I probably wouldn't even use them. But they actually turned out ok. One thing I didn't do was to use a zig zag stitch to allow for stretch, but it is not an issue with these pants as they go over my babys nappy with ease. 

I made this little hairclip a while ago which complimented the outfit nicely.

I have collected quite a lot of knit fabric that I am now inspired to use, so stay tuned and see my next knit creation soon :-)

A New Dress

Hello.

I bought some new fabric on Friday. It was this lovely Japanese fabric, black with bright flowers. I didn't quite know what I was going to make out of it so I went through my pattern stash and decided on New Look 6879

I had previously made "D", the dress with the green collar and hem. This time I chose "A" which is the dress the little girl is modelling. I didn't use on overlay because that would defeat the purpose of choosing a lovely printed fabric.

I broke up the bold print using a pretty pink waist band with a matching pink lining for the bodice. This dress has a super dooper tie at the back which really dresses it up and makes it totally girly.

I co-ordinated the front bow with the dress fabric which ties it altogether nicely.

I love New Look patterns. They are usually very easy to understand and make.

I did however struggle with inserting the zip at the back. I had almost completely sewn it in when I noticed that I was going to have quite a bit of fabric extra when I got to the end of the zip.

I'm not sure why this happened.

If anyone has any tips on how to insert a zip (evenly) I'd love to hear it.

After I unpicked almost the entire zip (grrrrr) I ended up just pulling the fabric slightly from behind and I managed to fix it adaquately.

Overall I am very happy with the results.

I might just have to go to church this Sabbath so my girl can wear her fancy little dress.

Actually she was just as happy to wear it to the local shops tonight to grab some food for tea.

Oh and before I go I just want to show you something.

I bought some size labels the other day. They are from Pink Nellie on Etsy. I LOVE them! They only cost $7.50 AU including postage for 100 labels and I chose the sizes.

This is going to save me some confusion at trying to remember what size I made.

It makes it look a little more professional too :-)