Ladybug Roller Skate Dress

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway over at the Long Thread -- 6 yards from the Stamped line plus  the book 1-2-3 Sew (!!).  I haven't made anything from the book yet but this fabric is lovely -- it's a medium weight linen/cotton blend, and is super soft and easy to work with.

When I realized I could get a size 5 Oliver and S Roller Skate Dress out of one yard I was pretty excited.  I couldn't use a standard layout though so I made sure I cut one side of the back facing up and one facing down and I made sure both sides were lined up along the grainlines.  Unfortunately it didn't even cross my mind to line up the pattern on the back.  D'oh!  Definitely kicking myself for that one!  Especially since all it would have taken was an extra inch or so.

So instead of being donated to the silent auction at the school, once it gets a button and a hem, this will join my daughter's overflowing wardrobe.

And I will just have to make another for the school.  Good thing this pattern is so quick and easy!  I can see why so many versions have popped up in the flickr pool.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Linen and Eyelet Pinwheel Dress

It didn't quite get finished during KCW but close.  I got distracted last week making costumes for the play J is in this week.  I kind of expected there would be some last minute work to do and I'm just glad I got called in to help.  Would be slightly embarrassing to volunteer and not be given anything to do :) .

This dress is all stash fabric -- the eyelet I bought on clearance a couple of years ago planning to make a skirt for myself, which obviously didn't happen, the navy linen is left over from my souvenir blouse and the floral I bought last summer.  I loved the print but no one else in my family was too thrilled with it.  I made extra bias tape so I can sneak it in other places, too.

This is a size 7 with an extra inch in the body.  I'm glad I added it and wish I'd added two.  J. always does the bend over test when I make her a new dress and this one barely squeaked by.  (Apparently you're asking for teasing if you show off your undies at school.  But seriously, who bends over at the waist to pick up a pencil anyway??)

Judging from her reaction when I asked her to take the tunic off, I have a feeling the slip dress on it's own will get lots of wear.

edited to add some detail pictures.  Gosh, I love this combo!  And it just goes to show that I really don't need to do any more shopping until I work through my stash :).

Instead of a facing, I cut a slit and took the bias tape all the way around.  And, at J's request, instead of attaching ties, I made a buttonhole loop with one end.

eek, this is a bit blurry but (despite the unclipped threads!) I like how the inside turned out.  The eyelet had a wide selvedge that obviously matched and although I wasn't able to cut it on the bias, it was light enough to use to bind the seams.

KCW - Day 1 WIP

Last week in anticipation of KWC I cut a pinwheel dress for J. and made the bias tape to go along with it.  Even with that done, I have a feeling it's more than slightly ambitious of me to think that I can get it sewn up during the week.  It's not a difficult pattern but after all it is two separate items.  Plus all there's all that bias tape!  Not my favourite part for sure.

I also cut banyan shorts and a class picnic blouse as part of my initial plan to round out J.'s wardrobe with some much needed staples.  That plan also included a hopscotch skirt in a neutral colour and some summer pjs.  The pinwheel dress jumped the queue though because I got excited about the combination of fabrics and because J.'s got a big performance coming up -- she's an extra in a local theatre production of Wizard of Oz and I'm sure there'll be an after-party or two that will require something dressy.  She could wear her ombre fairy tale dress but that dress doesn't even make it to the laundry -- it gets hung up and worn again until I insist it needs a wash. I'm super glad she likes it but she needs some variety, lol!

I tend to do most of my sewing on the weekends so here's a shot of what I did yesterday.  Hopefully I'll find some time to do some more today:

This is totally unrelated to KCW but I thought I'd throw it in here.  Since Liesl Gibson asked for feedback about favorite outfits on the O+S forum, I've been thinking a lot about what I do wear and what I would like to wear.

I have some evenings out planned over the next couple of months and on the weekend I got myself all in a tizzy about having nothing to wear.  In a trip to the fabric shop, I found a bolt end of extra wide black/grey linen/cotton shirting in the clearance section for $3/m.  Although it wasn't what I had gone looking for (something to replicate this pretty Laurel blouse) I really liked it and couldn't believe my luck at the price.

That very same evening, I had it washed and cut and mostly sewed it into vogue 8581.  I had been meaning to try this pattern with a woven for ages but I'm not sure what made me think this fabric was the one to try with.  Yeah, it was called "shirting" but that didn't mean it was lightweight or drapey.  In fact, when I first picked it up, I was thinking it might work for a vogue 1247 skirt.   But it was only as I was gathering the neckline, that the doubt set in.  Then trying it on confirmed it -- I was fully into clown land with big puffy sleeves and a poofy chest and back.  Urrgh. 

Although the fabric was only $6, I was so ticked at myself because it would've made a great button up shirt (hmm, "shirting" should have tipped me off!).  I might be able to eek a skirt out of the leftovers but even though it was too stiff for the shirt, I'm not sure it's heavy enough for that.  Oh well, not this week anyway!

O + S Secret Agent Trench

I've been promising J. a secret agent trench since the pattern came out but there seemed no point in making it over the winter (which feels neverending this year!).   With some tentative signs of spring in the air, I took her fabric shopping with me.  I had hoped that some bright colour or pattern would win her over but she didn't waver in her request for khaki.  A true secret agent wouldn`t wear a bright colour or a floral print as that would "blow her cover"!  And wouldn't you know it, neither fabric store we went to had khaki coloured twill.  We did find this heavy ponte de roma, though.  Even on sale it was more than I really wanted to spend.  I briefly debated about whether it would work and whether it was worth the cost but because J. was with me and eager to get the project going, I bought 2m.  I was surprisingly easy to work with and I think it makes for a super comfy coat. 

I used a stretch stitch and a size 14 ball point needle and had no problems until it came to the button holes.  My automatic buttonhole foot would not feed the fabric through.  One of the lovely ladies on the O+S forum suggested doing them manually and that worked well.  Except that I made each and every single one of them 1/2 inch too big.  Oops.  When I realized that, I only cut them big enough for the buttons, added another bartack at the right spot and removed the excess stitching.  I have a feeling I will be fixing them again before too long!

J. is super pleased with the coat, even with the fact that it's too big.  She'll be 8 in June but her measurements put her at a size 6 in O+S patterns.  I wanted this jacket to last for a bit so I made size 7 with two inches of extra length (thanks to discussion in the forum, I added one inch at the notches and one inch to the bottom).  I think I also added an inch to the sleeves, which turned out to be not necessary but J. doesn't want them fixed. 

I took a couple of pictures and then asked what a secret agent would do.  She carefully made footprints in the snow and then "tracked" them, stopping along the way to pick up a "clue".  I love this kid's imagination.  She's been playing secret agent games all week.  And we're planning a secret agent party for her next birthday.

Here`s the inside view: I didn't need to finish the seams as the fabric doesn't ravel but the pattern suggests binding them with bias tape and I think that finishes it off nicely.

Pattern: Oliver and S Secret Agent trench ordered from Sew, Mama, Sew $19.31
Fabric: 1.8m heavy ponte de roma from Fabricland $25.18
Bias tape: .25m fabric approx. $1.50
Interfacing: 1m approx $2.00
Buttons: from silver soup bowl at Button Button in Vancouver $2.96

Total: $50.95
eeek, that makes me re-think wanting to keep track of what I spend!  I definitely could have bought this way cheaper.  Oh well, she loves it and that`s all that matters!

Ombre Class Picnic

I had less than a yard of this fabric left after making the seashore dress, and it was just enough to make a class picnic blouse.  I love the fabric but I'm kicking myself for how I cut this -- I wish I had cut the sleeves closer to the middle of the fabric so that the colours matched the yoke.  I don't think it's awful but it does make the raglan sleeves much more a feature than I was initially going for; the vibe is definitely more baseball shirt than classy blouse.  I had only scraps left over but I'm sure I could have found a way to show off the ombre better.  Oh well, J. likes it anyway!

It's a size 7 with an extra inch of length in the body.

Her sister loves to photobomb, much to J.'s dismay.

Fabric: Moda Simply Color Ombre Aquatic Blue from fabric.com $9.18
Pattern: Class Picnic Blouse, used before $0
(cost per use $4.02)

Total: $9.18

O + S Pinwheel Tunics

We got invited to a friend's St. Patrick's Day party this weekend.  And nothing says party like an 80s rainbow animal print, right?!  Actually I didn't have any green in my stash and couldn't find anything even remotely palatable at my local fabric shop.  This was on clearance (gee, I wonder why?) and I thought it worked for the St. Paddy's Day theme.  My family tried to argue that green was the only way to go but come on, what do you find with leprecans and pots of gold?  Rainbows! 

I could have saved myself a ton of time by buying the bias tape (especially since I'm sure I could have found the pre-made stuff in at least one of the colours in this fabric :P) but I had the yellow shirting on hand and I'm trying to use what I have.  It was a pain in the neck, though.  My crappy iron kept either melting the shirting (it has some polyester in it) or not leaving a crease at all.  Grr!  With the time pressure and not being great at sewing on bias tape to begin with, these are not as neatly finished as I would have liked but at least they're done.

I went up a size for each of the girls this time -- a 7 for my 7 year old and a 5 for my 5 year old -- even though according to their measurements, they should still be in 6 and 4.  Next time when I make the tunic/dress combo, I will add at least an inch of length to both although I think this is fine for the tunic on it's own.  I put the ribbons in the back but the girls didn't like them; they asked for a button and loop instead.

They liked being matchy and twirly :)

The fabric is a lightweight cotton twill.  It was on for $4.00/m and I ended up with 3.5m (I asked for 3 but the salesperson gave me a very generous cut).  I used 1.75m for both these tops and am not sure what to do with the other 1.75m.  I have no plans to make the matching slip dress for these; that would just be over the top ;)  Plus I found these perfectly matching skinnies at Walmart.

Cost (for each)
Fabric including bias tape: $4.15
Pattern: $7.98
Button: stash

Hope Valley Family Reunion Dress

Last year I made my youngest a denim family reunion dress for her fourth birthday.  Although it proved popular on pinterest, she wasn't keen on it.  "Too dark," she said, "Can you make me one in pink?"  So, only a year later, a pink version for my sweet almost five year old.

The fabric is Hope Valley Fiesta ordered from hawthornethreads.com.  I debated about added piping and contrast fabric but didn't have anything suitable in my stash.  (Since I've been keeping track of how much I spend, I'm really trying to use what I've got. It's like keeping a food diary when you're dieting!!).   I'm really happy with how it turned out -- I think the print is busy enough that any other fabrics would just be distracting.

I think she will love the ruffle and I know she will love the sleeves.  They are from the Fairy Tale Dress -- the size 4 fairy tale sleeves fit almost perfectly on this size 4 dress, just needed a little extra gathering.  Otherwise the only change I made was to add 4 inches of length to the bottom.

Now I have to decide if I'm going to give it to her as a birthday present (which I've done in the past but which hasn't always had the best results) or just hang it in her closet close to her birthday, lol!!

Fabric: 1 1/2 yards Hope Valley Fiesta from hawthornethreads.com approx. $15
Buttons: stash
Pattern: used before (cost per use $6.03)

Total Cost: approx. $15

Dotty Ombre Fairy Tale Dress

Just like the other fabric from this line begged to be made into a Seashore Dress, when I looked at the Dotty Ombre I couldn't visualize anything but a Fairy Tale Dress.

Even though I've made this before, I underestimated the amount of time it would take and was still handsewing the day we before we left for a vacation in Cuba.  I somehow managed to get it finished, though -- minus the bow (but don't tell my daughter, she hasn't notice it missing!).  Little did I know that I could have gotten away with packing the dress, her bathing suit and not much else -- she loved it!  It became her sit-down-for-dinner-dress (as opposed to the much more casual line-up-for-the-buffet outfits) and she wore it to every a la carte dinner we went to.  (And somehow managed to keep it clean, hehehe!)

The fabric is Dotty Ombre from the Simply Color line from Moda.  It's got a nice weight to it -- it's a little heavier and sturdier than some of quilting cottons but still soft.  I lined the dress (plus the sleeves and collar) with a lightweight white voile and this time around, added the tulle between the lining and the skirt.  It gives it some nice poof. 

I really wanted to do the piping and band in a bold colour like orange but was outvoted 2-1.  My girl is fairly conservative, as is my husband.  I am pleased with the yellow, though.  I think it adds just enough interest and sweetness.  And has the added bonus of not drawing your attention to the areas where the piping isn't quite as neat as it could be :P. 

(she lost a tooth while we were away so wanted to show off her new"grin)

This is a size 6 with a size 8 length in the bodice for my tall 7 year old.  The only change I made was to eliminate the side seams in the skirt.  The pattern on this fabric is railroaded so I cut a length equal to the size of the front and back pieces and only have one seam at the back. 

But then I did a bad thing -- I left the selvedge on when I folded it under to hem it, I'm suspecting that's why the hem is looking a little dodgy even though I handstitched it.  My girl likes the length (and is growing like a weed) so I'm just going to leave it.  But before it gets passed down, I may fix that and also cut off the two rows of white dots at the bottom.  I debated about leaving them and now have decided I really don't like how it looks.

Fabric:
Dotty Ombre (from fabric.com): $12.82
White voile lining (from dharma trading): $9.58
Tulle: $0.86
Yellow shirting: $1.95
Invisible zip: $3.55

Pattern: Used before $0
(cost per use $8.05)

Total Cost: $28.76

New Sewing Store!

There is a new sewing store in Ottawa called Fabrications.  Desperately needed in my opinion.  I was very excited to see from their website that they carry patterns from all sorts of independent companies -- Oliver and S, Sewaholic, Megan Nielsen, Colette.  No more shipping costs, yay!   And they have lots of classes, including some advanced ones.  The online sewing community is fabulous for so many things but sometimes it would be nice to actually talk to someone in person :). 

I haven't been yet but one of my girls is going to a birthday party in the area this weekend so it will be a perfect chance for me to check out their fabric selection.  And maybe pick up some "this took forever" labels for my next round of homemade gifts :).

O + S Class Picnic Dress

It pays to involve them in decision-making -- Miss Thing chose the fabric and the pattern and specified the changes.  And she has not taken it off since I finished it two days ago.  The proportions are a bit off but K. is happy that there are more princesses than pink.  

The pattern is the Class Picnic Blouse, lengthened with a ruffle on the bottom and some green ric-rac at the yoke.  The fabric is Happy Ever After ordered from Hawthorne Threads.  

I didn't keep the receipt for the fabric and I can't remember the cost but here's the breakdown of what I used:
Fabric: 18 inches princesses in pink, 30 inches pink gingham -- approx. $15
Pattern: used before $0
Trim: the package costs $0.25 for 3 yards from Dressew so pretty much nothing
Total: about $15