Testing....The Hanami by Straightgrain!

Monday, August 19, 2013

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Do you follow An from Straightgrain?  She blogs from Belgium, and makes the most adorable clothes for her daughter.  I think she likes the same type of fabrics and style for her daughter as I like for mine.  Her Tinny pattern is being "Flipped" over at Frances Suzanne this month - there's some amazing flips, and great creations in the Sew Along....there's still time to enter - and I happen to be one of the judges!

Well, An put out a call for testers for a new top/dress pattern that she was working on, and I was lucky enough to participate!  Here's the top, modeled by her absolutely adorable daughter - in some beautiful Nani Iro fabric no less:


She sent us off the pattern, and I got to work....so, what fabric to use?  Well, I knew that I was for sure going to be doing the flutter sleeve dress version for Julia, because that's what she likes.....no tunics for her!  

I chose a Japanese fabric from my shop - it's from Westex, and it's totally cool - there are bears, owls, squirrels, birds, mushrooms, bats....but, at the same time, it's very tastefully done.

Anyways, here's the modeled shots of my version of the Hanami dress - this is a size 4, and she definitely has room to grow, so this will last a while:







The dress, while simple to make, has two sleeve options, the length option, and ties on the sides.  I decides on a screaming orange contrast, mainly because, well, I like orange, plus my kid has some orange sandals.  She LOVES the dress - so much, in fact, that I made another:



 
This time, I used an aqua baby-cord that I had in my stash.  I added pockets on the sides, and a really bright pink bias contrast.  I was, again, very pleased with the result.  I think my favorite detail of this dress is the sweet "v" in the back. 

So, two dresses that my kid really loves - success!

Thanks An for letting me test the Hanami!  I bought the Tinny pattern before it was even getting "Flipped" at Frances Suzanne.  I'm going to make the circle skirt version real soon - just have to decide on fabric!




My Final Roller Skate Dress...

Thursday, August 8, 2013

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Well, for now.

My kid now has three Roller Skate Dresses, and two Roller Skate Tunics.  Enough already.

This one is meant for the first day of school - this year, Julia is going to a new school.  She's spent the last two years at a great school, but now she's going to head off to the Montessori school that her brother attended.  I'm really a believer in the whole Montessori thing, especially for a kid like mine who has a November birthday, and won't be eligible to attend kindergarten until she's almost six.  I worry that she'd get bored with yet another year of the same pre-school stuff.  I hope I'm making the right decision....

Anyways, I decided to make a dress based on what Julia's working on right now - writing her letters.  She can pretty much write her name so that someone could recognize it, and she can identify a few letters, every once in a while.

The dress, again, is the Oliver + S Roller Skate Dress.  This is made in a 3T, out of a lightweight stretch corduroy, lined with a bed sheet that I'm now using to line just about everything.


So, I can make this dress with my eyes closed.  For this one, I decided to add a practice writing paper border which I painstakingly satin stitched over a couple of days.  The letters are not perfect.  But, neither are my 3 year old's!

It's really soft and comfortable, and since I know my kid likes this pattern, I was pretty sure she'd be up for a modelling session...which, she was!



The back has a really cool pink button with little beads that go around that I've been hoarding in my button stash forever....this was the perfect project for it!  Again, I used a little hair elastic instead of trying to make a button loop out of fabric - it's much easier, and looks really cute.

Here's a close-up of the satin stitching - hardly perfect, but does work.....

I've got a bunch of other back-to-school projects piled up and ready to go....ready for a new school year!