Birthday spots

My darling baby girl turned two, and we gave her a ladybird party. Black and red spots were to be the theme; sadly for Immy, she got more spots than she bargained for, as she caught chicken pox from her middle brother just days before the do.

We were still determined to celebrate her reaching the grand old age of two, with a super party tea with Nanny, Grandpa and the boys.

As usual, I created a pinterest board to get some ladybird inspiration here.   So many cool ideas, but first up, I had to make a ladybird dress.

The fabric was a cheap quilting cotton, and the pattern was design A from Tuttle Publishing's Happy Homemade - Sew Chic Kids.

It's always a delight making anything for the kids, not least because you barely need any fabric.  I bought just 1 metre, and I had enough left to make quick and easy bunting to decorate her party.

The food was rather fun too, ladybird stylee, obviously.  I know it's a lot of effort for a baby girl who won't remember the day, but we will remember, and there will be rather spotty photographs to remind us too.

I do love a theme... do you?

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.

My peacock dress

Well, here it is:

I am so pleased with the result: I have a lovely very wearable peacock dress, just like my inspiration dress which I posted about previously, see here: peacock-prettiness.

It is of course Dress S from the Stylish Dress Book Volume 1.  It was not all plain sailing; the most difficult part was getting these adorable cuffs on. I looked at the pictures, read and re-read the instructions but I just couldn't do it.  It took me over an hour just to do one!

And then disaster... it didn't fit!  The cuff was so tight, it just wasn't wearable.  All that effort for nothing.  Sob, sob. I had to unpick it!  I'd cut the size six, and the dress was roomy everywhere other than the cuffs; so, I undid them and just made them about 1 cm longer, faffed about sewing the cuffs back on and finally a great dress. Hurrah!

I love the fact that this has more shapeliness than a regular Japanese-style shift dress, but without any tight fitting around the tum.

The dress was (cuffs notwithstanding) very easy to put together, and I can see more of these dresses fitting in very nicely into my summer wardrobe. If I do make another, I may just opt for an elasticated cuff!

22" zip - so proud!  I've only just stopped avoiding patterns that need zips.  It's not perfect but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

The light gathering around the bust is feminine and flattering for someone like me (with almost no bust!). Overall, I am really happy with how this project came together, from first inspiration through to wearing it out for the first time.  

Saw it, "pinned it", did it!

Just a quickie fun post before I reveal my peacock dress!  My eldest boy Rowan's trousers are completely ripped at the knee. He looks like a child with a rather neglectful mother allowing him to wear these out in public.

I've been putting off mending them, mainly due to laziness, admittedly. I was wondering whether to turn them into shorts or allow him to look like an urchin, as he doesn't mind wearing them like this.

But then this monster patch appeared on my pinterest feed...

... and it was a done deal!

Cream felt becomes monster teeth (monsters do not have white teeth!), and Viola...

A bit of fun! But Rowan thinks they are great now, and it took less than 10 minutes, wahoo!

Peacock prettiness!

I was shopping in Brighton recently with the boys when I saw this beauty in the window of a boutique in the North Laine area.  A beautiful bright green peacock fabric, with a cinched in waist and lightly gathered at the bust.

Having the brats lovelies with me meant I couldn't try it on without fear of them trashing the expensive-looking shop whilst I was in my undies!  But I did go in and have a look.  It was handmade with simple serged seams and unlined.  I thought the peacock fabric was beautiful, but not quite beautiful enough to deserve its £95.00 price tag. I still wanted it though!

Afterwards, I created a peacock inspiration board on pinterest here - a little obsessive, but whatever!

Next up, I found my own peacock fabric from fabricland. A snip at £3.69 pm.

It has a much darker overall colour than the dress that inspired me, but is still very pretty. The pattern I'm going to follow is from The Stylish Dress Book volume 1.  It doesn't have the cinched in waist but I hope this will make it easier to wear.

The instructions suggest sewing it up in silk, which I guess would hang differently; however, I'm hoping the cotton print will hold up well to the task.

There are lots of techniques in this pattern that I'm going to have to deal with: a 22" zip, lots of gathering and beautiful cuffs.  Fingers crossed!

Second Time Lucky

It's Simplicity 5776 again. After my wearable muslin I knew the fit was right, and having made it before it was easy to whip up.

The fabric is a light wool tartan.  It's great quality, but there was only a little of it; so, I shortened the length to 17 inches and could just about fit the pattern pieces on. The fabric was from my Nan's stash and I think (I hope, anyway) that there is more of it up in the loft where I squirrelled away most of the precious stuff.  Storage is a bit of an issue here at SeamsOdd Towers so I try not to have too much fabric out and about, otherwise it encroaches on our life, and the kids use it for all kinds of dubious practices!

I much prefer the skirt extra short anyway as it feels so much more me.

I really love this skirt and I feel good in it.  It's a great fit and the wool feels soft.  I did worry that I'd need to line it for fear of "clinging", but it's been great.  It has held its a-line shape well too.

The pattern matching is not great, but to make up for it, this is the neatest zip I've ever put in.  I'm rather proud of myself.

Due to the limited amount of fabric, I couldn't afford to lose any of it to a hem, so I've used bias binding like a facing and it's a rather smart effect.

Having said it wasn't well pattern-matched - take a look at the match of the centre front of the waistband.  Wahoo!!

I'm hoping to make at least one more of this pattern as it is so comfortable.  Maybe I'll be even quicker on the next one.  But first I'll do something different I feel, or I might get bored. 

Simplicity 5776

I am a bit of a skinny Minny ... normally!  But sadly, my tummy has lately expanded to the extent that I don't fit my old skirts very well.  Time to bite the bullet and make something larger!  I found this pattern in my Mum's sewing box, which is odd considering she is slimmer than me.

This is Simplicity 5776 - looks rather smart. 60s/70s?

With only two main pattern pieces, the pattern promises and delivers on being easy cut, easy sew. Here's the close up:

Seeing as I don't know how long I'll be keeping the wine- and chocolate-induced bulge, I thought I'd use up remnants of old fabric rather than buying new.

Great posing, Lou!  It looks like I've just been goosed!  Anyway, this is my rather wearable muslin.  The fabric is a nice thick double-knit jersey, and because it has some stretch, it is so comfy I could wear it all the time.

The shape and the size are flattering and comfortable; though it isn't quite as short as I thought it would be.  I see a few more of these being sewn up very soon, as I think these will be my entry for "Sewing Double" (this month's category for the The Monthly Stitch).   That way, I'll complete a challenge and have skirts I can breathe in - everyone's a winner!