Friday 9 May 2014

Scrap Busting: Peacock Dress II

I had a tiny, tiny piece of my peacock fabric left, and by chance it was just enough to make a dress for my darling baby girl.  If you follow me on twitter, you'll know the little ankle-biter is poorly at the moment with chicken pox.  These pictures were taken the other day, just before we saw spots everywhere!



This is Dress A from Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids by Tuttle Publishing.  If you have children aged 2-8, you need this book - it is fab-u-lous.  Twenty designs, all with the same flair as their adult patterns.  Easy to sew but maximum style.  Love it.


This dress has the cutest little ruffle sleeves that are just so pretty.  You sew them into the bodice like a sandwich filling between the yoke and the yoke lining, then turn it all the right way around by pulling it through one of the back yoke pieces. It's like magic!






The back is supposed to be closed with matching rouleau loops, but I wussed out and used thin bias binding folded and sewn together - still looks lovely though. This version is size 2, but after making dress design J, I knew the sizing was very generous; so, I lopped five inches of the skirt pieces, but even after doing this it will fit her for ages.



All in: two rather nice dresses from 2 meters of fabric - not bad. And although Immy and I now have matching dresses, we won't be wearing them at the same time - that would be too much! 






What do you do with your fabric scraps?  I'm always loath to throw away sizeable chunks of fabric, but at the same time I already have enough clutter in my life with all the kids' paraphernalia - so, I'm trying to be ruthless: use it or lose it.

10 comments:

  1. Such a sweet dress. Fabric scraps are an issue. Especially with dress making and a lot of strange piece. I personally use mine for my English paper piecing quilt, but I have also seen people selling their scraps bags on ebay and etsy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've not tried paper piecing. That's a great idea, I love a bit of hand sewing in front of the telly.

      Delete
  2. Great dress. I am making a concerted effort to use up small leftover pieces, fortunately we know a lot of people having babies at the moment so I'm using up
    loads :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is the joy of baby clothes especially newborn ones they take up such tiny amounts of fabric.

      Delete
  3. Hello, thought I'd come visit your blog!

    Your peacock dresses are divine! As for scraps, one day I might write a post about things to do with tiny bits of fabric - most of them will be craft or doll-related. It's hard to throw them out, especially when little children like to play with them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, I'll look forward to that post. Nest full of Eggs has been doing doll clothes recently. Immy's not quite old enough for dressing up toys yet, but it won't be long.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cute dress, and a great way to use up scraps! My tiny scraps get used for paper piecing or applique, bigger ones tend to be turned into bags or pouches of some description or another, I'll find a use for all of them eventually!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you, I've got to try paper piecing, I was really inspired by the tiny hexies on the zippered purse you made the other week.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gorgeous dress, what a cutie she is! Hope she's feeling better now, or at least that the worst of the pox is over. I'm saving scraps for future (someday...) quilting projects. For dressmaking with scraps Anna Maria Horner's painted portrait dress is a lovely pattern with pieced-together bodice http://www.pinterest.com/pin/214765475954422761/

    ReplyDelete
  8. She is feeling better thank you. Your painted portrait dress was lovely, I also LOVED the quilted scraps handbag you made recently from a Japanese pattern it was beautiful.

    ReplyDelete