More Pinnys!

Inspired by Kids Clothes Week back in October, and my little strawberry pinafore dress for my baby girl, I have two more pinnys I have been working on to show you. I cut them both out in a flush of enthusiasm weeks back, but then somehow forgot about them!  I was really cross with myself when I lifted some new fabric and found two half made dresses underneath!

This green floral dress used to be a pair of my Nan's old and faded curtains!  But the finished dress is so pretty I doubt you'd think "curtain" looking at her in it. The pictures were taken on a gloriously sunny Autumn afternoon.  I love days like this.

After taking these photos, I was concerned about those drag lines on the front of the bodice.  So I have very simply let out the elastic at the back of the dress by just over an inch and problem solved, drag lines gone, phew! Funny how you don't always "see" things until you photograph them.

On this version I have added a band of green ribbon at the hem, topped by a line of purple ric-rac. This embellishment though simple makes me positively giddy, it looks so fabulous. I also decorated the top of the pockets with ric-rac too.  Too cute.

This is her other pinny, and it started life as an adult's soft chambray skirt. I had to include the skirt's central seam in the dress in order to fit all the pattern pieces on while still following the grainline.

She loves this version as it is so soft.  It's not showing well in this photo, but I did all my topstitching in orange thread. I thought it went nicely with the blue.

The hem and the pockets tops I embellished with the cutest scallop stitch. It's a small detail but it makes the dress really special.

Baby girl particularly loves the pockets, and they are roomy enough for lots of toys! She's such a good model too - very keen to swirl and pose.

With these two dresses plus the earlier strawberry one, it makes it six buttonholes under my belt with this pattern. I've stopped being so scared of them at last. Might be time for me to tackle a blouse soon: I just need to decide on the pattern.

I've loved sewing all three of these.  They have really been fun to do.  Its especially satisfying when they are loved by the recipient too!

Asymmetric Coco

Same fabric as my last make, but a very different dress. This is Tilly and the Buttons' "Coco" and is made using that fabulous border print jersey from fabricland. I'd originally bought 2.5 metres, and that was more than enough for two fab makes.

Even though the fabric is quite striking in its own right, I feel the finished makes are very different in style and tone; this feels more adult, and I feel rather glamorous in it.

I decided to go for the basic Coco shape without the funnel neck, and although I cut out the pockets, I decided against adding them as the finished dress seems so sleek and chic without them

Construction-wise, this is really simple - three pattern pieces only! And as I had made it before, it came together in a matter of hours! Result.

I really like the pattern motif down the side; this dress makes a big statement.  Everywhere I have worn this, I've had so many compliments.  It's easy to wear, wash and care for.

Wearing this feels like a dressy garment rather than casual; my other dress with the self-same fabric feels very every-day.  Perhaps this is because this one is more fitted and figure hugging.

 I did grade out a little from my last Coco. 

This is a pattern I feel I could make again if I come across an interesting piece of double knit.  So I shall keep my eyes open.

Simplicity 1787

Thank you sewing bloggers for advice regarding cutting jersey on the crossgrain. I had a big piece of doubleknit jersey with a lovely patterned border along the selvedge, and I wanted to make the most of the great motif. Originally I had in mind to use the pattern as a hem, but upon hearing that it would stretch out of shape, I decided to play safe and use the grainline of the fabric.  Here is what I came up with:

This is Simplicity 1787 Girls. I was a bit worried as it is a child's pattern, but I fall well within the measurements, so I thought I'd go for it. And actually it fits me perfectly.

It comes with a sheet to design your fashion elements! You can add faux piping, metal chain, rosettes, etc. I added none of these as they seemed a little naff on an adult.

I'm rather pleased with this make, I think it is the trickiest I have done to date (sadly that's not boasting much as it is defined as an easy make!). The pockets are fabulous and I adore them.

I feel that the princess seams are rather flattering for me. I'd always thought you needed to be busty to look good with this shape, so I am surprised and very pleased.

The suggested fabrics are wovens but after seeing Thornberry's version that she made for her daughter, I decided to give it a go in jersey. It is so comfy, I have loved wearing it. Honestly, I am ridiculously happy about this dress, comfy and stylish, a win-win

The pattern demands a zip closure, but in jersey you do not need it. I hope to make another version one day in needlecord, and for that I would use the suggested zip. It is loose fitting, so if I curved the side seams in a little on the next version, it would be more shapely and womanly; that would obviously be a plus, but the flip side would be losing the comfiness.  One to ponder...

The yoke was a beggar to sew.  I must have read and reread those instructions twenty times!  I got there eventually, but not without a considerable amount of unpicking and some choice language! It was worth it though, the neckline looks great.

And I also have enough fabric left over for a matching Coco, which was the pattern I had in mind when I bought the fabric.

Two birds with one stone

Squeal! My favourite make so far...

This is a fully-lined pinafore dress with cute curved patch pockets, and I adore it.

Those cross over straps! Love, love, LOVE. Oh, she looks so cute in this.

I think the thread and the buttons are a perfect colour match. My first ever buttonholes, too - not bad for a first attempt. I was a little nervous; but after doing several practice runs on scrap, it all worked out well.

She rather enjoyed posing and twirling on the beach to model this dress.  It's fab that my baby girl likes it as much as I do.

This make was spurred on by Kid's Clothes Week 2014 and by A Stitching Odyssey's vintage sewing pattern pledge.

All in all, I'm rather pleased that one dress can tick off two sewing challenges. Wahoo! I love this dress so much that I already have two more (yes two!) cut out already. Below is the picture from the envelope and it is just fab.

The pattern in a McCalls Toddler girl dress from 1975.  It's classified as an 'easy to sew' and I'd say it was. To line it, I just extended the facing pieces to full length.  I sewed the hem by hand (angel halo) only because I was watching the telly. But I think I may sew more hems this way, it has such a neat, clean finish.  It was rather therapeutic too!

Leaving you with one last picture of my little starlet!  Two more of these finished before too long (good sewing karma allowing).

Book Review: Gertie Sews Vintage Casual by Gretchen Hirsch

"Gertie Sews Vintage Casual" was a birthday present from my husband. How did he know?  Must have been because I put the book in the shopping basket on amazon over and over again for a month beforehand!

What a book.  To say I love it is an understatement!  This is Gertie's second book, I haven't read her first, but am now tempted to ask for it for Christmas. 

The illustrations are aesthetically pleasing; so much so, that I am thinking about tearing some out and framing them, to hang in my sewing space for inspiration.

Gertie guides the reader through the history of vintage casual clothes, which is so interesting; it's like a lesson with a really exciting and engaging teacher.

The book also comes with 10 patterns, each with suggested variations, so you could get a whole wardrobe-ful from this one book.

These are my two favourite patterns, the 40s-Style Blouse, and The Cigarette Pants:

What makes the book stand out above other sewing books (and I own MANY) is that it is not aimed at absolute beginners but at those who want to improve and modify their sewing.  There is not page after page wasted on "how to thread a sewing machine", but instead there is useful advice on fitting, or how to solve those problems of pooling excess fabric, or gaping fabric at the waist or neckline.

I would thoroughly recommend this book, perfect bedtime reading.  Although these fabulous patterns are primarily aimed at curvier women than I am, I am very tempted.

Hope you find this review useful.  And if you can recommend any other titles that I might like as much as this, I'd love to hear about them...

The Neglected Coco

I purchased Tilly's Coco pattern, eagerly cut out the pieces, sewed quickly, almost finished... then stopped!

I wanted to take part in OWOP2014 so that took priority at first. I had to quickly knock out an extra skirt for the challenge, so shoved the half-finished Coco to one side, and it hung there on the mannequin looking forlorn.  No point finishing it, though, if I couldn't wear it for a week.

Okay, so I'll finish the following week... No I won't, as all five of us in the family come down with the awful noro virus!  Yuck!

Okay, so I'll finish the week after...  No I won't, as darling daughter comes down with "Slapped Cheek" and I catch the accompanying fever and cold!

And after that?...  No, by then my birthday has been and gone, I've got a bad case of the miseries over getting another year older, and I don't feel like sewing!

This is ridiculous: get a grip Louise! It will only take about 20 minutes to finish. I'm going to do it now, photo and post today no putting it off any longer.

[About 24 hours and 20 minutes later...]

Did it! Phew. Sadly the light had gone by the time I completed it, so I had to wait until this morning for photos.

 So this is, I suppose, my longest make to date! Ironically, it was really straightforward.

The fabric is a sturdy double-knit jersey with a mock knitted design in grey and black.  The photos do not really capture the design very well.  It was a bugger to photograph and darling Hubbie (the blog's official photographer) took three lots of pictures before we gave up and said they'll do.

I went for the version with the funnel neck which I really like. I didn't realise it would be so easy. It was literally fold the collar in half and sew to neckline. Even I can do that.

The collar does give the dress a nice sixties vibe and I am happy with the look of it.

Size-wise I feel this is a little tight. If I made another, I would keep the neck, shoulders and armholes the same, and grade out a size for the dress section.

I have another piece of double knit which would look nice as a coco, but it has a printed border along the selvedge.  Would it be okay to cut it, so that the patterned selvedge becomes the hem. Or would being off-grain destroy the shape?