Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Car tissue holder

I've been wanting to make this for almost a year -- since we got our new vehicle.  The console is too small for the box of kleenex so the box has been rattling around on the floor getting stepped on.  The fabic is leaflet by Jessica Jones.  It holds just enough kleenex for a long trip and fits over the car visor.  I meant for the pattern to go the other way but miscalculated. Happily, the leaves in the centre unexpectedly lined up, something which I'm sure I couldn't have done if I tried ;).

Friday, March 25, 2011

Oliver + S Sunday Brunch Jacket


I finally got around to making a sunday brunch jacket and was very pleased with myself . . . until I tried it on my girl. How do I not know by now that I need to add at least three inches to pretty much everything I make?? It's a size five and fit her well except for the length. I added a sort of cuff to the bottom and really don't like the way it turned out.



It's 21 wale cord lined with lightweight shirting (eek, sorry for the blurry picture!). I used some of the very helpful advice from Tilly and the Buttons, the only difficulty being that I had to take into account the yoke + body + the facing in the front (rather than just one the piece + the facing in the tutorial). It hurt my head too much to try to draft one piece for the lining so I ended up mirroring the outer jacket, with slight adjustments at the armhole. Luckily the shirting is extremely lightweight so the gathers in the lining + the gathers in the jacket are not too bulky.

I bought the buttons on my first trip to the fabric district in Montreal -- they were $9 for 4 (!!) -- and I love the way they look with the blue cord.  My daughter loves it, especially the "diamond" buttons so it really doesn't matter that I'm not entirely happy with way the bottom looks.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Pattern Review

I ordered my first pattern -- the Reversible Kimono Dress -- from ManiMina on Etsy this week. 

I had a couple of minor issues with this pattern: the first is that there are no measurements given for the sizes.  I'm making size 4 for my three-year-old because it's for her birthday and I would hate for it to be too small.  I'm just hoping it's not too big either.  Secondly, I'm glad it's not a complicated pattern because I'm not finding the pieces that easy to fit together (it's a PDF file that you print off and tape together).  Finally (and this if very minor) the sizes and pattern name are written outside of the pattern pieces; I am labelling it by hand because otherwise once the piece is cut out, I want to be able to remember what it is.

edited to add:

I finished the dress in time for the birthday and it turned out super cute. Unfortunately Miss Thing has never put it on.  I know better than to push her because then she'll never wear it but I really want to see her in it.  Judging by the past, six months from now she'll find it in her closet and it will be her new favourite (at least that's what I hope!).