I Hate This Dress!

No, I don't hate it.  My kid, however, does.  With a passion.

This is the absolutely darling Play Date pattern by Oliver + S.  Pretty much everything I sew is Oliver + S, so it's not really unexpected.

One of the smart sewists on the Oliver + S forum came up with the "Make It While It Fits" challenge to use all the un-used patterns in our stashes before the release of the new season's.  A great idea it was, so I jumped on the bandwagon.  I still have several patterns that I haven't used, and the Play Date pattern only goes to a 3T, so this was the first one I attempted.

I chose some Eleanor Grosch fabric from Free Spirit (conveniently located in my shop! - www.the-fabric-stash.com).  I have some really cute turquoise shoes in my eBay wish list in preparation for this outfit.  I used Kaffe Fasset shot cotton for the piping and the hem facing.  I reviewed every single photo of the play date dress in the flickr group before doing this pattern.

I got the idea to do embroidery on the yoke instead of buttons or ruffles.  I tried a couple of patterns that didn't work for me.  Sometimes it's harder than it looks to choose the right embroidery pattern to match the fabric.

The pattern is of course extremely well thought out and well written.  There was one spot finishing up the back seam of the yoke where I had to really ponder how it was going to go together, but once I actually read the instructions rather than just look at the pictures, it ended up perfect.

I had tried the dress on Julia a couple of times while I was putting it together.  I wanted to make sure it fit over her head, and wanted to check the fit.  For some reason, that made her hate the dress.  I think she could use a size 4 in this pattern as well, so maybe it fit tighter than her usual dress.  I really can't figure out a two year old psyche.

I made this over Saturday and Sunday, maybe about 4 hours total.  It went together very well, and when it was completed, I made the suggestion to my child that she put on the dress, and we go across the street to the beach and take some photos.  ABSOLUTE MELT DOWN.  Screaming.  Yikes.  It is amazing how passionately she feels about things.

Once she calmed down and became a human being again, she agreed to wear the dress, briefly, in her sister's bedroom only.  I did get some fairly good modeled photos after all:

What a silly kid.....I'm hoping that if I put this hanging in her closet for a while, she'll change her mind....otherwise, I'll be looking for a size 3 kid with the first initial "J" to hand this down to!

Oooohhhh.....Nani Iro!

So, I've seen lots of garments, read lots of blogs, about Nani Iro double gauze fabric.  I've never sewed with it before.  I've got a couple of bolts of it (and more ordered) for my shop, so I think it's only fair that I give it a try to see what all the fuss is about.

Oh my goodness; this stuff is just wonderful.  It kind of reminds me of the softness of a high-quality knit as far as the hand, but sews like a woven.  I can definitely see a lot more garments made from this...to say nothing about the subtle designs in the Nani Iro fabric.  It's just beautiful.

I made a size 4 Oliver + S Bubble Dress.  The pattern was a long out-of-print, but now converted to a pdf for download.  People just raved about this pattern during the period it was out of print, so once it was available, I bought it immediately.  I didn't find a fabric that really called out "Bubble Dress" until this Nani Iro double gauze from the "Melody Sketch" line.

My daughter has an absolute full closet, so I decided on a size 4 thinking that it would be for next spring/summer.  The bodice fits really big now, but the length is actually good on my now 2 3/4 year old.  She's got a doctor's appointment this week, and I'm really interested to see where she fits in the height chart.....maybe a future basketball or volleyball player....unlike my other gymnast daughter!

I love this dress.  She liked it too.  I do believe it fit's into her "pretty dress" category.  We took a walk around our block, and stopped at our neighbor's wonderful flower garden.

This photo shows how much room is in the size 4, so it totally works as a dress with lots of growing room...

She really likes the style - pretty, yet still able to climb.....

 

I'm glad Oliver + S made all their older patterns available for download for those of us who got on the O+S train late!

A Quick Sailboat...

I've been really busy trying to get my shop up and running.  It's really a ton of work, but I'm really excited that it's heading in a good direction - we actually have some cool stock, are making sales, and am having fun working on this with my husband.  He calls himself the "unpaid intern" for the business.... but that's another story!

I took a couple of minutes to make a quick sailboat skirt from some fabric that I've had in my stash for years and years.  I'm pretty sure that it's from Osh Kosh - there was a time where I had access to buy Osh Kosh fabric, and I bought a ton of it for my oldest kids.  It obviously never got used....

It's a very heavy twill - probably more suited to shorts or pants, but my daughter insists on skirts and dresses.

I added some Riley Blake mini-poms around the edge....I love how they looked - and it dawned on me while I was putting them in that the little hats actually have pom-poms on them!  It wasn't really easy though to put these in - I inserted them just like you'd insert piping, but I think I need more practice....which, I'll most likely get because I think these are so cute it's worth it.

I didn't want to purchase any buttons, and had the choice between plain white, and the red anchor buttons in my button jar.  The white were too plain, and the red were too small, so I got out some super glue and glued them together....I lined up the holes with a pin and they went together perfectly.

The model was WAY less than cooperative this evening.....after school - before dinner.....not the best time to gain cooperation from a two year old!

I made this in a 3T - fits perfectly.  Next time, I might make a 3T and add an inch or two...

A Lazy Day for "Skirting the Issue"

I made a Lazy Day skirt today. It's a free download pattern from my all time favorite pattern company, Oliver + S.  It's for a donation to http://www.projectrunandplay.blogspot.com/ for their "Skirting the Issue" project for girls in foster care.

The skirt literally takes about an hour, if that.  The result is adorable:

The ribbon hem facing gives a perfect finish to the hem.  It's a great place to add some cool ribbon, if you have some in your stash.  I like the black for this particular skirt because I think it emphasizes the black in the butterflies.

I made this in a size 3 to be donated, and I've got another length of the same fabric cut to put together for a size 5 to donate as well.  This was graciously modeled by my daughter....who is not really a size 3 in the waist, obviously!  And, yes, I realize the shoes don't match, but they were her choice...

The fabric is from Valori Well's Cocoon collection (from here:  www.the-fabric-stash.com.)  If you know a girl (or anyone!) who likes butterflies, this fabric is for them!

I added a little tag to hopefully let some little girl (or at least her foster mom) know that we're thinking of them.

Guest Post at Project Run and Play - Skirting the Issue

Guest post today - nothing to do with sewing, but rather with foster care/adoption.

Any purchases from The Fabric Stash for the next 60 days will get $1 donation made to The Children's Law Center to help provide extra-curricular activities for kids currently in foster care - please buy, so we can donate!

Swingset...Dress? Nightgown?

My daughter loves dresses. Bottom line. I tried putting her in a pair of jeans last weekend, and she actually cried. Scrutinizing her wardrobe, her favorite dresses (RTW hand-me-downs) are spaghetti strap, flowing, below the knee with a ruffle. Acquiescing to my child's wishes, I looked through my patterns to see if I could replicate the look. Of course, there was an Oliver and S pattern that would work. I took the Swingset Tunic pattern, lengthened and tapered the body, and added a ruffle.

 I thought it turned out a bit long, so it borders on the nightgown look.

I used a very light-weight denim for the bodice and ruffle, and Kokka print for the body.  The Kokka print was a joy to work with - lightweight, but not slippery.  I know my daughter loves the way it feels.

In an effort to continue to use some embroidery, I added a single flower at the bodice.

 The dress is from the size 3T from the Swingset Tunic pattern.  I would say that it should easily fit her through next summer.  Which, of course is a good thing.

And, she likes it, which is another good thing....

Maybe I should be using my sewing machine features....

I got my sewing machine because it could do embroidery.  I used to have an embroidery machine, and before it finally died, got tons and tons of use out of it, between decorating my older children's clothes, making gifts, and doing items to sell.  I have a bunch of design cards, and my machine has a bunch of built in designs.  I've had this machine close to a year now, and I have only used embroidery to do a couple of monograms.

I need to work on that!

I started with a perfect pattern for some embroidery - the Ice Cream top from Oliver + S.  I used Kaffe Fasset shot cotton.  It's WONDERFUL fabric - very soft, easy to work with.  The lavender is actually created with light blue thread woven with pink thread.  It's totally cool.

I had this idea that I wanted the butterfly to go from one side to another.  I didn't want them to just be in a line, so I staggered them....I thought the idea was good initially, then when I was working on it, I thought it was bad....when I finally put the shirt together, I decided it was a good idea!

The top is a size 2T with 3T plus another inch length.  I did toy with the idea of making a dress, and embroidering butterflies along the bottom panel as well....but, each butterfly takes 10 minutes to embroider, and I got lazy.