Linen Twirly Dress

Since I was paying for shipping anyway (and, it turns out, brokerage fees) I ordered a bunch of off cuts (they call them "doggie bags") from fabrics-store.com.  J. was there when I opened the box and requested these three all be used for dress for her (the colours are sphinx, ceramic and meadow).  Hmmm, colour blocking -- she's very on-trend.   

I was inspired by the Sunshine Dress tutorial from Skirt As A Top.  As that tutorial suggests, I used the Circle Skirt tutorial at MADE.  However, I didn't have enough fabric to cut a full skirt from the main fabric so I made a full circle pattern, drew the radiating lines, numbered them (very important!!!)  and cut the pattern instead.  I had no idea how to figure out where the grainlines should be (or if that even matters on a skirt like this) so I laid the pieces any old way on the fabric to make them fit.  I added 5/8" seam allowances to all the pieces so I could do French seams.

My girl is almost 7 so the itty bitty baby dress bodice suggested in the tutorial wouldn't work. Instead, I used the top from Butterick B4282, along with the tabs and covered buttons from the The Cottage Home tutorial for the Party Dress (which was a huge hit last year and is still being worn).

I was going to do the radiating lines on top as well (like the tutorial) but my hubby thought that might be over the top.  I think in this case he probably was right (although it looks fantastic in the original).  So instead of lining the bodice like I planned, I finished the edges with bias tape to add a bit more colour to the top.  

When I tried to attach the bodice, it ended up being about an inch and a half too big for the top of the skirt.  I took in each of the sides 3/4" but it still her fit well.  I should have stuck with the smaller size anyway and just added length -- this pattern is quite wide. 

She's very happy with it, especially since I bought her new breaded, sparkly sandals that have the same blues.

Dinosaur Loot Bags

My eldest turns 7 tomorrow, and a couple of years ago she decided she wanted to become a palaeontologist when she grows up.  The Museum of Nature here in Ottawa offers parties and one of them just happens to be dinosaur-themed so it seemed a perfect (if expensive) fit.  But we're not doing it at home, yay!

This year, I also decided not to buy any dollar store *cough* crap for loot bags: we're giving each kid a 4D Dinosaur Puzzle from Tedco toys and one of these lovely themey-but-not-too-themey (I hope) pencil cases.

I tried the Perfect Box Tutorial at Make it Modern but although it's well written and easy to follow, I decided I couldn't live with unfinished seams inside.   So in the end, I used the Fully Lined Zippered Box Pouch tutorial over at It's a Pretty Modern Life again.  It's a great tutorial -- the only  thing I would suggest is basting the tabs on to the bag before stitching up the bottom edges.  It would be easier than trying to make them line up while stitching up the sides and keeping the lining out of the way.  Of course this piece of insight came to me after I had already stitched up 8 of the bottoms ;). 

The main fabric is Rex Twill from fabric.com.  It's a medium weight twill and is actually quite soft.  I was worried that with the large scale of this print, the dinosaurs would end up stuck in seams and corners but it actually worked out pretty well -- with no fussy cutting!  The print repeats in lines 8 1/2" apart so I cut my pieces to 8 1/2" x 11" and still used 12" zippers (I think the tutorial called for pieces 7" x 10" but the larger size was fine).  

I used grey Kona cotton for the lining and interfaced them with quilt batting so they're lovely and squishy.  I used twill tape for the tabs/handles because making them would have put me over the edge, I think :).  

The icing on the top (for me anyway) are the colourful zippers.   I told J. I don't really want to her to give them away as I just want to line them up and look at them ;).  I got the zippers from zipit  on etsy.  That shop is obviously run by someone who loves colour and has a sense of humour -- included in the the package was a fortune telling fish, which fascinated my kids.  (And a free kaleidoscope zipper pull, fun!). 

Kudos to those who sew for a living -- although surprisingly enough, I did enjoy the relative mindlessness of putting these together assembly-line style (especially the magic of finishing the last step and having 9 completed bags!!), I don't think I would have the stamina to do it regularly.

And, yes, I will let my daughter give them away :)

O + S Ice Cream Dress

This is such a sweet pattern.  I have the larger size but graded it down to a four for my littlest.  I kept the size five length for the bottom two sections and added an inch to the middle because my girls don't like anything too short (here's hoping that lasts!!).  If I were to do it again, I would add a little more length to the yoke, too, to keep the proportions as they are written in the pattern. 

The main fabric is from the Far Far Away II line and I just have scraps left.  I was short a couple of inches on one side so added some pink to the sleeve back to make it up.  Hopefully it's not all that noticeable!   And it's probably a good thing that I didn't have enough of the pink roses for the yoke or the hem of this dress -- I wouldn't have been able to resist using it and that might have been too much of a good thing ;).

I used lightweight shirting to line the yoke and hem as I didn't want it to be too heavy.   I double stitched the pockets to make sure that they can carry rocks and other important treasures.

Miss Thing wondered why Rapunzel is not smiling.  A happy moon button might distract her from that :).

Teacher Gift

Last weekend J. and I went to a  community fair sponsored by the art centre.  There were lots of cool things for the kids to do including trying out silk screen printing.  The kids chose the print and the colour and the artist helped them make one print on paper and one print on fabric.  J. was enthralled by the whole process as well as the result so when we got home I helped her make it into a pillow.  She chose the fabrics from my scrap bin, I cut them and she and I sewed them up together.  She was very good at lining the pieces up and getting them ready for sewing.  She also liked pressing the pedal but was a bit nervous about guiding the fabric through.  I stood behind her and did that while she got some good practice in controlling her speed ;). 

We stitched up the four sides randomly but they turned out suprisingly balanced.  It's now stuffed and ready to go -- three weeks early, yay!!

Sorbetto

I had high hopes for this pattern.  I'd seen so many lovely versions online and it looked like it would be great for a basic top that didn't use a ton of fabric.  When I'm standing still it's fine but I don't think I have the patience to tinker with it to make it work in real life :). 

The neck is too wide -- when I bend over, everything is on display.  The chest/back are tight enough that when I move I have to readjust.  And the bust darts are way too high and migrate even higher when I lift my arms. 

The main fabric is left over from my first tova and the bias tape I made myself.  I used the same tutorial for cap sleeves as I used for my short sleeved tova (which, by the way, I've worn several times.  I've decided against any changes other than to stitch up the front placket a little bit.  It definitely serves it's purpose of being a nice cool top for the summer -- and, of course, I mean cool in the temperature sense :)).

Lisette Passport Jacket - Simplicity 2209

This jacket has been waiting for the finishing touches for about 2 months now.  It's made of the stretch denim I bought at DressSew in Vancouver last summer (the rest went to family reunion dresses here and here). 

The only reason this took so long to finish was that it was super short and I didn't know how to hem it to try to maintain all the length I could.  In the end, I bound the bottom in bias tape and slipstitched it.  It doesn't make for a very crisp hem, though, and is especially wonky where it meets the jacket facing.  

Vogue 1247 - Skirt

I'd read lots of great reviews about this skirt but now that mine's done I'm underwhelmed.  I think the linen that I used (this one) is a bit too heavy for the pockets -- they sort of droop.  I had planned to make them out of the voile I used for the binding until I looked at the pieces and realized that the front yoke and the back of pockets are the same piece.  I should have at least cut the front from voile to make it a bit lighter.

I'm also not sure it's the most flattering cut for me, although it might be alright with a different top.  The fit is good and the only changes I made were to to the length -- I added about 5 inches.  The original length is short.  I don't think I would've even worn it that short in my teens let alone my 30s!

The suggestions for finishing this skirt make it quite lovely inside, too bad no one will ever see it!

I obviously had a bit of trouble with my hem being visible even though I slipstitched it (and my stitches were quite small).   How else could I have done it?

Souvenir Blouse - Take 2

After some helpful advice on flickr and the Lisette forums, I decided to try this top again.  I definitely needed more space across the chest and back so I cut a larger size and added an inch to the middle front (just the bottom panel, not the yoke). 

It ended up too big, like falling off my shoulders too big.  I took the sleeves off and contemplated taking the yokes off, too, (yokes? is that right? it doesn't sound right) so that I could cut them to the smaller size.  I didn't have the patience to do all that seam ripping though so in the end I just offset the sleeves in 1/4" in on both the front and back yokes.  Most definitely not the most professional alteration but it made the neckline fit better (and the neckline still lined up . . . after two tries).  I will still have to wear my "fancy" bra -- it has thin straps that wont show as easily but it also hoists my breasts up into a kind of shelf, which I find distracting.  My husband doesn't mind, though :).

The fabric is this 100% linen (hence the wrinkles) from fabrics-store.com. (Again Canadians don't choose the UPS standard shipping option -- you'll end up regretting it!).  It's very lightweight but not sheer so is perfect for summer. 

Overall I like this style and I think I will wear this quite a bit (might have to investigate other bra options, though) but right now it feels quite baggy, almost maternity-esque.  I can't see myself making this again but if I did maybe the larger size in everything except the yokes and only add 1/2" in the middle front?? 

Sorry for the crappy picture. My hubby only picks up my camera reluctantly so I take what I can get :)

Short Sleeved Linen Tova

Summer appears to be here to stay so I decided to make a loose fitting short sleeved Tova.  This year I really am going to try to avoid my usual uniform of $10 v-neck t-shirts (I say this every year).

For this top, I replaced the 3/4 length sleeves with gathered cap sleeves using this tutorial.   I lowered the armholes a 1/4" and added 1/4" to each of the front and back sides for more room in the chest (using Jenny Gordy's advice from this flickr discussion).  I think all these changes combined might have been a bit much as it's quite baggy right now.  I'm also not sure about the sleeves -- they make me feel like a linebacker and I'm not really comfortable showing off so much of my arms.  I'll wear it a couple of times before making any changes, though, because I'm a lot like the kids -- if it's new or different sometimes it takes some time for be to get used to it :).

The fabric is this linen from fabrics-store.com.  It feels really nice and, despite the dark colour, I'm sure will be very cool.  They have great prices, by the way, but if you're ordering to Canada, whatever you do don't choose UPS ground -- not only will you pay for shipping but UPS will also charge you a COD brokerage fee (ostensibly for filling out the paperwork to clear customs).  In my case it was $22!!  Craziness!

Lisette Souvenir Blouse - Simplicity 1879

Some projects are just not meant to be, not through the fault of the pattern or the fabric but the mindset of the seamstress.   A few weeks ago, I had been having a really crappy day so I decided to take a break and do some sewing.

Things did not get any better because I made a million mistakes on this top.  Here are just a few:
~ I didn't mark the right side so ended up making two two left sleeves
~ I fixed one sleeve then I stitched the second sleeve on before adding the bias tape to finish the seam
~ when I was pinking the armhole seam I snipped a hole in the sleeve, right in the front shoulder so I had to cut and attach another sleeve.

Now that it's all together, I'm very unhappy with the ripples in the sleeves, especially at the shoulders, even though I ripped them out and redid them a couple of times (beyond the fixes I had to do above).  I now have a tailor's ham so that might help for the next time. 

(As an aside, when I went to buy the ham, I had to ask three (!!) different staff members at Fabricland for help finding it because none of them even knew what I was talking about.  When I finally found one, the package was dusty and it looked like it had been there for 30 years.  Does no one use these things anymore?)

Also, it's tight through the shoulders and chest and gapes like crazy at the front.  I know I didn't do the best job finishing the top as I made so many mistakes that I didn't think I'd end up wearing this anyway.  I'd like to try again as I really like the style of this top but I need to figure out if I should alter the front yoke before I make another version.  Looking at the photo, I think it might be too small.  Maybe a larger size would help with the gaping?  Also, the yoke looks a bit wonky on so sewing it on properly might help :)

I'm embarrassed to even post a photo of this because it looks so awful but hubby was kind enough to take a couple so here goes:



edited to add:  I did try this top again and had much better luck.  See it here