Finished M7624

This has actually been finished for a while but I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest.  I like the fabric, I like the dress on a hanger.  But as soon as it goes on me I just feel 'bleh' about it.  Is it because I struggled to tame the fabric so much?  Is it the fact that I don't like empire waistlines and I seem to have ended up with one?  Is it the fact that the pattern matching is pretty good all over the dress EXCEPT for that band right down the centre front?  Probably all of the above.  It has felt nice to wear whilst sipping rum through the heatwave we have had though.

It's hard to get a decent picture of as well apparently.  I'm rethinking my SWAKOP at the minute as I'm not sure that I like the dress enough to build around.

I'm not sure that I like the way that the self facing is constructed in this dress.  I found it a bit fiddly.

Another Birthday Frock

I had always planned to make a frock for my nieces birthday present.  I picked out fabric and patterns and then the opportunity arose to make a refashioned frock, so now that it's done I have been working on the dress that was originally planned.

That was the 'Library Dress' from Oliver & S. It's the collarless view B with the shorter sleeves made in the 12-18 months size. The cottons I picked were all from my quilting stash as I wanted to use what I already had.  The floral is actually one of my favourite prints but I never found it looked great pieced into a quilt so it has been languishing in a drawer waiting to be turned into something more awesome than a quilt.  Obviously this means the dress is a little heavier than usual but I think it'll will be a nice autumn/winter dress.

Having chosen this pattern specifically for the purpose of making this birthday dress there were a couple of things I wanted to change.

Firstly - the pleats had to go - from a Mom perspective I always find them a pain to keep looking neat after laundering, who's got time for that?  So I added an inch to the sides of the skirt pieces with the intention of making it a little fuller and gathering it instead.

Secondly, I don't know if it's the choice of fabrics on the front of the packet but I hated the sash and wanted to omit it.  However, the piping is super cute, so it stayed but it is in the same fabric as the main dress.

As it turns out, the Library Dress as per instructions, isn't actually lined and only has a part facing around the collar and down the back where the buttons go.  My niece is only small and because of worries about comfort I decided to line the bodice. This changed the construction a fair bit, lots of hand finishing too.

The stripes worked really well on the outside and the whole bodice is lined with them too.

Please, ignore where my seam ripper slipped past the pin I had in position on one of the buttonholes - I have embraced 'visible mending' as I felt it was an honest approach to massive great hole. It was that or stomp my feeties and cry a little bit.

The dress looks a little odd on the hanger because of its adult size, the sleeves do sit properly - I promise!  I think the changes I made are effective, I definitely prefer the gathered skirt to the pleating.  However, I'm not sure I would bother to line it for an older child - overall I think it's turned out really well.  Super cute!

I think the collared version would make a really sweet winter dress, so that's in my head as a possible Christmas dress.

Recycling Competition

The sewing place competition this month is to refashion, upcycle and recycle.  This coincides with requiring a birthday outfit or two for my niece who will be celebrating her first birthday next month.  So I think I'll be entering a toddlers dress!

I found these in a charity shop.  The shirt is 100% cotton and the top is apparently 99% cotton with a tiny lurex stripe making up the 1%. I decided to make my niece a dress and apron out of them as I'm currently quite taken with these little vintage dresses.

They are just so. darn. sweet.

I remember having dresses like this when I was small in the 80's.  When my daughter was small the done thing was to put them in leggings and tunics but there seems to be a big resurgence in retro styling now and I am jumping all over that for my niece.

So a few quick sketches later and I knew I wanted to keep the button placket from the original floral shirt and add a flounce around the neckline instead of a 'proper' collar.  I had thought to add a second layer under the dress that would show off some of the gathered flounce from the white shirt - as it turns out, that didn't look great and was abandoned.  The apron was planned to utilise the front of the white shirt to make the most of the lace placement there.

I have an Oliver + S pattern with the correct sizing, so I traced off the bodice hoping that I could use it however, the front was a wrap dress and the back had a button placket.  I ended up having to draft my own bodice based on my toddlers measurements but a tiny bit smaller (he's almost 2). 

I kept the whole of the bottom half of the shirt to make the skirt with, it adds a nice amount of fullness and means I keep the slight hi-lo hem and the side slits as features.  The flounce and the bias binding were made from one of the sleeves.  The button placket is the one from the original although I almost added more buttons and buttonholes but I think it's ok as is.  I did add new cotton as a lining for the bodice as I didn't want to leave seams exposed there.

With the apron, I wanted to keep as much of the original tops detail as possible, especially around the shoulders where there was shaped lace and on the front where there were buttons, more lace and pintucks.  I ended up keeping the whole neckline which happily lent itself to a curved 'V' on the back of the apron where it is secured with a couple of snaps for an adjustable waist.

I am really happy with the result.  The size may be a little off but at least it's too big and not too small so that she can actually get some wear out of it.  My teen declared that she wished she was 3 so that she could wear it :)  A glowing endorsement indeed.

Knitting Natter - Trego and socks

Trego is begun.  My husband says the yarn is seaweed colour... but I like it!  It's somewhere between teal and emerald green. I love how the texture is building on the sleeves so far.

So.. here is what I have of my first ever sock.  I keep losing my ability to repeat patterns half way around, so both sides are slightly different.  I also managed to get the cabling the wrong way round in one of the repeats - I know, I know.. I SHOULD rip it all out.  But I'm not going to.  This sock represents the learning process of my first ever sock and even though it sucks I think I need to keep it as is, warts 'n' all.  Plus they are intended as bed socks for myself so no one else will ever even see them :D

It's Hot Outside

Todays progress has been slow.  I have my sewing stuff set up in the dining room which is south facing with a huge window.  Usually it's lovely.. but in the mad sunshine today it has been a giant greenhouse.  I want to finish my dress but I also don't want to melt!

I have decided to modify the sleeves a little.  The cut out shoulder is supposed to end with an elasticated band at elbow length and maybe it's the hot weather but I really don't fancy having fabric all gathered up tight around me there anymore.  So at the end of the cold shoulder cut out I have popped a little button and left the rest of the seam open to flow in the draft from the traffic sea breeze and no elastic.

You can see in the photo that any hems are not looking great.  I blame my lack of skills, and lack of an overlocker.