Yet more Butterick B4320

The starting point for this costume was a moment of weakness in Dress Sew in Vancouver.  I was drawn to this beautiful brocade because of the colours but also because of it's lovely weight and drape.  In my head, I justified the $10/metre cost with the thought that the girls' dress up dresses get more wear than their regular clothes do.  I gulped at the thought of spending $30 on a Halloween costume but bought 3 metres because it's only 36 inch wide.

Again, I made View C, this time with the matching sleeves (on a side note: isn't it amazing how totally different it looks with different fabric?)

I don't care how pretty it is, never again will I sew with brocade!  You just have to look at it and it ravels.  I used a Hong Kong seam  finish for seams that have to lie flat and bound (binded?) the other seams in bias tape.  I started off with high hopes for how pretty this was going to be but got lazy and messy after only a few seams. 

It's not that I begrudge the time this type of finish takes (although that is part of it), it's that I started having this sinking feeling that even after all this work, this dress is not going to make it much past Halloween.  I hope I'll be proven wrong but the topstitching is already looking iffy and it hasn't even been worn yet. 

I will definitely try a Hong Kong finish again, though.  I think with the right colour binding, matching thread and a bit of patience (all conspicuously absent in this project!) it could look fantastic. 

More Ghastlies -- Halloween bags!

I am still not working (boo!) so have time to do silly things like make bags for the kidlets to collect their treats in on Halloween.  This one is about 14" wide by 14 1/2" high and is lined for durability -- if we let them my girls will trick-or-treat long past the time most kids have given up!! 

 

More Butterick B4320

I have made this pattern before . . . several times in fact.  The first time was Snow White in 2009.   I cut and mostly made a size 4 for my then four year old before realizing that she was going to be swimming in it.  I had bought fabric according to the fabric requirements on the envelope and had enough to make a whole new dress (which was good since I had no clue how to alter it.)  Gosh she looks so little here!  No word of a lie, she wore this dress everyday for six months!  She would get up in the middle of the night and put it on.  She even wore it to our Christmas eve open house. 

The third time was for Thing 1's fifth birthday party.  She wanted to be Alice.

The fourth time was for Thing 2's for halloween last year.  She and Thing 1 called it an Odette dress (an obscure Barbie princess).  I can't believe this is the best picture I have of it!!  Man it was cold last year.  She had to be lifted up stairs because she couldn't get her legs high enough between the dress and the snowpants!

This year, Thing 1 wants to be a witch, just like on the Ghastlies fabric I've been obsessing over!   When she described what she wanted to me I realized that view C could work.

The main fabric is a really soft polyester something-or-other that I bought on clearance from Dress Sew when I was in Vancouver in the summer.  I used the sleeves from view B and added a bell sleeve in hallween net underneath.  I used that fabric over the inset panel as well (but it's kind of hard to see) and I hand stitched silver stars over one side and the back of the skirt (they're pretty and hopefully they'll reflect the light!). 

I made a petticoat for underneath (partly because it was requested and partly because I spent hours handstitching the hem only to find it a good inch too long.  Oops.) 

The other oops was that I extended the bodice too much even for my long waisted girl.  I had to rip out the zipper and instead of ripping off the skirt, I added pintucks.  Unfortunately, I didn't think it through and they don't match up at the back.  They do the trick of shortening the bodice and add a bit of interest, though. 

As you can see, Miss Thing is quite excited about it!  She went to a movie with her daddy this afternoon and he wouldn't let her wear it, the meanie!

Ghastlies Skirt

Thing 2 loves dresses . . . as long as they are 100% polyester and of the store-bought variety.  Momma-made dresses and tops have been soundly rejected of late but handmade skirts are most definitely acceptable.  

I am so in love with the Ghastlies, I'm glad didn't hold back when I ordered it :). The band at the top is Kona Cotton in Coal from the Fabric Depot and the bottom band is Ring Toss in Grey from Hawthornethreads. I questioned myself about the waistband colour (and am questioning it even more after seeing it in pictures) but hubby insists it was the right choice as it needed a little bit of solid to balance out the pattern (!!).  Also, the Ring Toss looks a bit creamy in this picture but I really like it with the Ghastlies.  

I based it loosely on the Moda Bakeshop Patchwork Skirt tutorial but I reworked the dimensions and left off the ties. I also made the waistband with just two pieces instead of four and it seemed to work out fine. (I would have made it with one but I cut my piece too short and the proportions were off. Oops). I would have preferred to make an Oliver + S Sunday Brunch skirt to really show off the fabric but I'm pretty sure Thing 2 would've found it too constricting.

Although she was very excited to have it and wanted to wear it right away, typically she did not want to model it for me so I had to settle for a picture of her from behind in her K-way and gumboots.  Oh my goodness, I love this kid!!

Another Ghastlies Dress

For this dress, I redrafted ManiMina's reversible kimono pattern as it only goes up to size 4 and my eldest daughter wears size 6.  Again, I made the armholes bigger as she will likely wear this with something underneath.  I also dropped the neckline a bit as she doesn't like anything too high.  I thought it needed a pop of colour so added hot pink ties and even went so far as to topstitch the armholes in hot pink. Turns you have to be really good if you're going to topstitch a dramatic colour on beige though so I ended up picking it out :). 

The front is A Ghastlie Night and Ghastlie Bramble  and the back is Quilter's Linen in Grey, all from Hawthorne Threads. 

This one is not reversible either -- I couldn't find anything that wouldn't show through the light coloured Ghastlies so ended up lining it with a cream solid.  I'm guessing by her reaction that my daughter will wear this long past Halloween anyway!

Ghastlies Reversible Kimono Dress

My only neice has her first birthday next month.  My brother and his wife live in a very small townhouse and I know she will be spoiled by all the family she has close by so, in lieu of toys (and since I already gave her the tag along doll I made for her!), I made her a dress.  The pattern is the Reversible Kimono Dress by ManiMina and the fabric is the Ghastlies in Smoke from Hawthorne Threads. 

(I love Hawthorne Threads btw -- they have a great selection, good prices and ship fast.  They have great costumer service, too -- the last time I placed an order they sent the wrong colour by mistake and when I contacted them, they put the right yardage in the mail to me right away.)

The lining and ties are made from a pink cotton lawn from fabric.com.  Because it's sheer, the dress is not actually reversible which, looking back on it was probably not the best choice: I love the Ghastlies but my sister-in-law may not want to dress her daughter in a Halloween-themed dress after October.  Oops.

I made a couple of changes to the pattern -- I increased the sized of the armholes so that they can put a long sleeved onesie underneath and I also added the bias tape as faux piping.  If I were to do it again, I think would take the extra step of making real piping as it would look crisper.   

My six year old was concerned that her cousin might be scared by the fabric. Although the witch is pretty mean looking, I think she's a bit young for that to be true, hehe!

Tag Along Doll

I requested Wee Wonderfuls by Hilary Lang from the library months ago knowing that I wanted to make my niece a doll for her first birthday.  Well, it finally came in so I made the Tag Along Doll.  I love the pattern -- it's so cute and the instructions  are great.  I used wool felt purchased from 3 Little Monkeys for her hair, brushed cotton for her body and corduroy scraps for her legs and dress.

My only concern was durability -- the book calls for the arms and legs to be hand sewn to the body.  Since I'm giving the doll to a baby (and am hoping it will be much loved!), that concerned me.  The arms were easy enough to sew in before stuffing but I attached the legs after stuffing (and you can see I stuffed this little girl quite tightly), and I had to wrestle the doll through the machine.  I used a zig zag and still had a hard time making sure all was secure (Pardon the indecent and blurry picture of her bum) and it ended up looking quite messy.  I didn't stitch the bottom of the dress closed as I don't plan on making the apron. Maybe some undies should be next?  Next time I will sew the legs on and leave a space on the side for stuffing. 

Hilary suggests adding the face before making the doll but I threw caution to the wind and added it after.  She ended up with a bit of a smirk and her eyelashes are a bit off but I think that just gives her character.  I cut out the collar but in the end decided I liked the retro look of the dress without it.  All in all, it was a fun little project.  I have a feeling I will be making a couple more of these when my girls see this one . . .

Lisette Market Skirt

I had some fabric left over from my Lisette traveler dress (which I've worn several times now -- I can't say that about too many of the things I've made for myself!) so I made Simplicity 2211 view A.  I do love pleats but I'm thinking that I should have stuck to the un-pleated view B version -- the fabric is a little too casual and the pleats don't iron very crisply.  I still need to tack down the tabs but I think I will forgo the buttons.  I used Sew? I Knit's tutorial to insert an invisible zipper.  It was super easy and looks way more professional than a regular zipper.  I think the end result makes it worth the extra cost (in clothes I make for myself anyway, maybe not for the kids!). 

Cloud 9 giveaway win

Back in May I won a giveaway from Cloud 9 Fabrics. My prize didn't come before the mail strike in June so I expected it to turn up when the posties went back to work in July.  Still nothing.  I contacted Michelle at Cloud 9 and she immediately sent out a package with 13 fat quarters (the giveaway was for 10).
Look at these beauties:

There are fat quarters from Cut Out & Keep and Nature Walk

The softest one, however, is from a past collection, My Happy Garden.  I love these little birds!  I'm not sure yet what to do with them but there are some lovely colours for fall so I'm sure I'll come up with something!



Lisette Traveler Dress

I love Oliver + S patterns for kids so have been itching to try a pattern from the Lisette line.  With some time between contracts for work this week, I was able to make the Traveler dress (Simplicity 2246).  I wasn't disappointed -- the instructions are fantastic and the pattern well written.  I can't get over how professional this dress came out considering my lack of experience sewing adult clothes!

I wear a size 12 in off the rack clothes but cut out a 16 on top, graduating to an 18 on the bottom to leave space for my rather large rear end.  I think it was the right choice for my comfort level but it meant the dress was very sack-like in the middle and, when I added the tie, the material bunched up.   There was likely some type of alteration I could have done to avoid this when I cut the pattern but I don't have any clue what it might be. I added four fish eye darts (not sure if that is the right term) -- two in the front and two in the back -- it helps a bit but I would like to know the correct way to fix this for next time. 

The fabric is a linen-cotton blend I bought at 50% off from Fabricland.  My husband is not a fan, which is too bad because I ended up with enough left over to make skirt.