Go-to dress for a multitude of bridal events

Back in May I made myself my third Laurel dress (a Colette Pattern). I just love this pattern. It is such a great simple shift dress. There are darts in the back and at the bust to give it shape, but it is very boxy across the belly which is just what I need in a dress. The simplicity allows the dress to be worn casual or easily dressed up with the right accessories. A true shape shifter (too much, sorry). 

The first Laurel that I made was in a linen from JoAnn's in a shade called "tobacco." 

I really liked it and learned a lot while sewing it. 

I learned even more after I finished sewing it. 

Such as it is really truly important to make sure to wash your fabric before you sew with it. 

Especially if it is a woven fabric and you are making a garment. 

Because it will shrink, and you will have spent a lot of time making something that perfectly matches your own style for one of your smaller sized friends or family members.

Alas, I can still put the original one on and zip it, but it is too tight across the shoulders and I can barely lift my arms. Not really wearable. 

So.....I moved on.

I like this one too. 

The exposed zip is a fun trendy detail. (The pattern calls for an invisible zip, so this was a modification.) I decided to use this zipper while shopping for zips for Fern's coat. It is actually a separating zipper but I figured who cares, the color matches the fabric so well I had to use it anyway. 

The fabric is a great rayon type fabric that was on clearance at JoAnn's. It is very see through and light weight, so it is lined with an old bed sheet everywhere except the sleeves. The lining actually falls a couple inches shorter than the length of the dress as well. The old sheet is so soft against my skin, very comfortable. 

I ended up making a bit of a high-low hem. This dress is a lot shorter than my typical dress, and I spend a lot of time chasing around young kids, so the extra length in the back feels safe to me. I also like to have it there when I am sitting down, so that my legs aren't constantly sticking to the surface of whatever chair I am sitting on.

So there it is. 

It has already been to a wedding, a bridal shower and it is going to come out in the Hampton's for a posh bachelorette weekend this Saturday. (All of my bridesmaids plus another dear friend are getting married this year!)

It feels great to make something that I feel so comfortable in, using fabric / colors that I adore and to get some great use out of it!

So here it is in action! (how beautiful is Lake Tahoe? A-maze-ing)

....and the co-ordinating tie he already had (from our last California wedding actually), cha-ching!

Cheers!

Baby Clothes!!!

A friend of mine is having a baby, and I was so thrilled to have an excuse to use some of the little baby patterns in my Ottobre magazine. It is the 6/2013 issue: 

that I bought to make the girls' Easter coats. When I saw these patterns for the wrap onesie and big elastic-waist easy-going pants I started getting the baby bug myself, so it was a relief when I had a friend to sew for! 

She is having a little boy and lives in Colorado, so I upcycled an old T-shirt advertising a great CO ski resort to make one of the shirts, and used fabric from the same shirt for one of the pairs of pants. 

It was fun to play with the pattern pieces and the placement of the logos for the onesie. I happened to have just enough of a light blue thread that matched the decal to top stitch all of my seams (I actually put it in the bobbin and just used it to finish all of my seams instead of going back and topstitching as a separate step). 

The  fabric of the green striped top (and matching cuffs on the pants) is an old baby blanket. The white trim on this one was cut as bias strips from an old tshirt. I also used this old shirt to cut small rectangular scraps to make tags for all the pieces. They don't flap at all like tags (we don't want to be tickling that little baby neck), I guess it is more appropriate to call them labels. It's just a rectangle that is sewn into each item with the guess-tamite size written in with fabric marker. (Ottobre sizes their clothes in cm which is a little confusing, especially when you don't have the little model in front of you to measure. I used the smallest size of the pattern for one set and called it 0-3 m, then made a couple sizes up and called it 6-9m - it will be interesting to hear when these clothes actually fit her baby)

             These patterns just seemed so practical for a little baby. I love how the onesie doesn't go over the head at all; the baby can just be lain down inside the onesie and then it is wrapped around him and snapped.

           I had never installed snaps onto a garment before. The key elements seem to be making sure there are an adequate number of layers of fabric (intalling them on the binding worked fine; on places where I put them in on a single layer of fabric the instructions had me add an additional layer by ironing on a circle slightly larger than the snap with interfacing, this worked well) and having a spool to place over the snap while hammering it into place. I realized a little too late that I should be placing fabric between the snaps and other layers of the shirt while hammering away; some of the white coating of the snaps rubbed onto the fabric in little white circles you can see in some of these pictures. They are all on the interior of the shirt though, and I'm sure they will wash out easily.

            The pants look so comfortable and easy to put on as well. Nice and baggy and loose to hopefully cover a cloth diaper with no trouble. I was happy to add the tags to the pants as well because although there is a distinct front and back side to them, it can be difficult to tell which is which when looking at them quickly. There is a navy pair of three-quarter length pants (good for a summer baby) made from an old tshirt and utilizing the existing hem as the cuff hem. The other pair are made from the same fabric as the shirts as mentioned, and have a great stretchy cuff on the bottom that add to the cuteness factor and have a lot of potential for creating a fun little layette of baby clothes.

            I have enjoyed sewing without patterns quite a bit in the past, but I don't think I would have even attempted this project with one. No one wants to fight with a little newborn babe trying to put on wonky sized clothes. Hopefully they will fit the little guy like a cute and comfy broken in cotton glove!

Grecian Princess Solstice dress

I meant to make this dress for Fern to wear on Easter. With all the commotion of the coats, it didn't get done. That was ok. I tend to get very ambitious when I am in the fabric store. It is nice to have projects lined up though, even they don't quite get finished by whatever deadline I had in mind. This did get finished soon afterwards. 

It is a sheer georgette type of material in a pink and white print, lined with a cream colored satiny fabric; probably the anti-static JoAnn's lining. It is a simple rectangle with elastic encased in the top. The sleeves are a ~2" wide strips that contain wide elastic and have little cap sleeves added to the sides. I meant for the dress to be a little wider than it is, but it is wide enough for her to walk and run in, so it works. I also intended to do a shirred waistline, but once I got this far she declared it done, put it on and wouldn't take it off. 

So I let it be. 

It seems like it would make a wonderful night gown, but Fern doesn't agree. 

She likes to wear it to watch ball games:

....to go for a walk down a sunny road deep in bear country:

....to dance on stage at a Mr. G concert:

 (This time wearing the dress inside out for a new look she was excited about)

Have you seen Mr. G? Do you have kids? If you said no the first time and yes the second, you should really keep your eye out for a Mr. G show - he is lots of fun!

And finally, she wore this dress when we went "camping" (we did sleep in tents but there was a cabin with a refrigerator nearby) on the summer solstice with some dear friends. I realized at the time that this was actually the purpose this dress was made for. I made all the kids crowns of dried herbs to wear in their hair as we celebrated the longest day of the year by sleeping outside, playing with glowsticks and eating s'mores under a starry sky. 

And she looked like a little grecian princess. 

And she loved it. 

(and so did I, I am tickled to have daughters!)

 Enjoy the rest of the glorious summer we are being blessed with!

Leotards in Red, Dancing for Me

     The girls have both been taking gymnastics at the Y. Fern just finished her second year of classes and Althea just finished her first. They seem to really enjoy it and I love watching them. Little kids in leotards playing follow the leader and jumping on the trampoline is up there as one of the cutest things ever for me. At the end of the year they had a recital for all of the gymnastics and dance students. It was basically an hour long class (which is usually half an hour long) with family invited to watch. The kids in their group were supposed to wear red. It didn't have to be a leotard, just something comfortable that they can move around in. But how could I resist making them some red leotards? Especially when Fern can't get enough of anything red lately. It is such a nice change from the pink that has dominated their wardrobes for so long.
     I made the same size for both of them. I modeled it after a leotard that they already have, combined with a pair of boy short style undies of Fern's. I hate high leg openings that show off diapers / undies when they wear them without stretch pants. The fabric is a shiny, stretchy lycra for dance costuming which I got at JoAnn's; it was a bit pricy but of course I had a coupon and I really didn't need very much at all. Certainly less than a yard total for both, although I bought one and a half yards to be safe; oh the possibilities for the leftovers of this fun fabric!
     The neck and sleeve hems are finished by folding them over twice to conceal the edge of the fabric and stitching in place with a double needle to look neat and preserve the stretch factor. I didn't end up finishing the leg holes; the fabric doesn't unravel so it is ok that way. I didn't want to lose any of the length there; I was considering going over them with bias tape but they fit so well right now, I don't want to mess that up!
     Here is Althea on her horse practicing to join the circus:

And here are both sisters (Fern of course has added a skirt to complete the outfit)

Fern on the beam during the recital - she is such a ham! She spent the whole show making sure someone was watching her. I do love how the low leg holes keep everything covered here. 

And here is one of my favorite pictures! Both girls together on the podium that they climbed up to receive their ribbons, with their awesome teacher in the background looking just as excited and happy for them as we did. 

Now for details on Althea's Popsicle Safari Coat. (and some dog-walking fun)

For starters, it is huge, but that is ok. Better large then small right? I rounded up on her measurements and also I did NOT forget the seam allowance on this one and it turned out that this coat is actually bigger than the one I made for Fern. But I had each girl so specifically in my head when I made each jacket that I couldn't bear to just swap them at the end. This one remains Althea's popsicle safari coat and the fancy trench is Fern's. End of story. Unless they decide to swap and borrow from each other. Which they do already. Althea is tall and sturdy and their wardrobes are virtually interchangeable right now (ages 2.5 and 4.5). 

The fabric is of course from the home dec fabric at JoAnn's again - I just can't get over the prints!! Look at this popsicle print! It can't get much cuter than this. I love the bright colors too. The lining is the anti-static poly liner from JoAnn's, same as Fern's, just a different color.

This coat follows the Melange pattern from Ottobre 6/2013 exactly in terms of shape of the garment. They use a stretchy wool knit, but I think the pattern worked great for a woven fabric. I did add an elastic waistband encased between the outer and inner fabric layers stretching across the back. 

I also used a different layout for all the pockets I wanted to include. There are four patch pockets on the front: an upper and lower pocket on each side with the upper pockets having flaps to close them. I did not have very large pieces of material left over from which to choose my pocket pieces, but look at the amazing luck I had with lining up the fabric pattern:

 It meant that I placed the lower pockets farther out to the side and the upper pockets closer to the center, but it is symmetrical and to get those lower pockets that spot on, I was thrilled. I like how the upper pockets didn't match exactly, but they make their own kind of sense anyways. And if you look for a second you can find the blue surf board created on each side. 

There are also flannel heart side-seam hand-warming pockets (as with Fern's), bringing the grand total up to six pockets. Althea is pocket crazy and she has filled every single one with treasures on a walk. 

I used a fun bright orange sport zipper to close it, along with a cute cupcake button that Althea chose. 

I learned a lesson in zippers here. First of all, I didn't even realize that there were two types of zippers out there, ie. closed bottom zippers vs. separating. Then, I finally got my hands on the right one and needed to adjust the size. Well, I do know that on a close-bottomed zipper I can adjust the size by creating a new stop at the bottom by sewing a few zig zag stitches with the stitch length set to zero. But I obviously couldn't do that on a separating zipper. So I needed to cut some length off the top. And the zipper had a distinct stopper at the top, but I figured that I had to cut that part off, and hey, when the zipper gets to the top it will stop, right? I talked about this briefly with the lady at JoAnn's and she agreed with me, but apparently she isn't a seamstress. The zipper does NOT stop at the top. It continues on until the zipper is in your hand, not on your coat. At which point you can manually unzip the coat and thread the zipper back on and down to the bottom and start over, trying not to pull the zipper up all the way this time (and try to convince your two year old not to pull the zipper off, or at least to give it to you not throw it on the ground and continue on if she does). I ended up trying to sew the stopper part of the zipper onto the top of my zipper, but since they are not completely attached still, the zipper sometimes goes around it. I am going to try to glue the stopper to the end of the zipper and see if that makes the difference. 

The proper way to adjust the size of a separating zipper is described here. I haven't tried this myself yet, but it makes a lot of sense and may save me some grief in the future.

Aside from my zipper woes though, I love this little coat. This pattern is great. I think my favorite part about it is the hood. I want to make every hood I do in this style now. The bottom of the hood wraps around to the front of the coat and closes securely with a button. This really keeps this hood in place. Again, I did not add any elastic or drawstring / pull cord to this hood and it doesn't need it at all. It just stays put. Love it. (I promise to come back with a good picture of the hood and the button)

And I love my little dog walker in it as well. 

Can you tell our secret to successful toddler dog walking?

I am holding the double leash attached to both dogs. She is holding a longer single leash attached to one dog so that she can feel like she is walking a dog just like mom. But they are never able to pull her because I keep my leash tighter than she does. Both girls love this. They feel like important helpers and I like how it is almost like having a leash on the child as well because it keeps them close. Fern will usually hold my hand with her free hand at the same time. It is sweet. For the first ten minutes. Then it turns into some sort of feat of balance and patience as I try to manage both dogs and a girl on piggyback, or two dogs and a straying toddler that lost interest. Poor old dogs get a little jipped in the walk department lately. I think I am going to have to slip in a selfie I took while trying to take both kids and both dogs on a walk to the park a month or so ago. At least I brought a Boba baby back pack. No stroller though. We were out walking. I figured at least one of them would want to walk anyway. But alas......

.....we walked home close to a mile like this. With me holding the double leash attached to two sixty plus pound dogs. My plan was to just drop the leash if they decided to lunge towards a squirrel or something but fortunately they didn't make me put my plan into action. The furry boys are getting older and a shorter walk tires them out like it never did before. And those girls are getting heavier.

Easter came and went a while back.....

I think Easter may be my favorite holiday to sew for. Last year I made dresses and bonnets. 

This year I did fun fancy coats! I am so excited about them. They both came out really well and the popsicle coat Althea is wearing will definitely fit both girls for a long time to come. 

      This picture was taken on Easter (both girls wore last year's bonnets and Fern even insisted on wearing last year's Easter dress- this girl is not afraid of pattern mixing - I love her strong sense of very true-to-herself style). I was finishing them up last minute the night before (of course), and realized the zippers I was planning on using were not going to work (closed bottom, not separating zippers....ugh. I don't have much zipper experience and learned quite a bit on this project). So they don't have zippers in this picture.
      They do have silky linings. Flannel heart side-seam pockets. Flat felled seams throughout except for the upper reaches of the arm seams. And beautiful little girls to wear them.
     I was heavily inspired by both this coat (which completely took my breath away when I first saw it!) and a hand me down coat that we have that was lovely at one point, but is now stained. It was also a little bit small for Fern by the time we got it, and it does not seem to suit Althea's taste.

     I drew sketches of both coats as I envisioned them. Fern's is a twirly trench coat with a hood, an off center closure and a large belt / sash. Althea's is a safari coat with an elasticized rear waist and a hood - and a total of six pockets (because I ran out of time to add the secret interior pockets I wanted to add).
      After I decided what I wanted them to look like, I began looking through some Ottobre magazines online, searching out an issue that would have two patterns that would work for me. I had never used an Ottobre before, but had been reading so many good things about them I figured I had to try it out. Ottobre is a great Finnish fashion magazine aimed at sewists that includes patterns for everything in the mag: about 40 patterns per magazine! So it is a steal, even though shipping and the conversion from Euros to dollars means that it cost me about $20 as opposed to the $10.95 it lists at on the website. I went with the winter kids issue 6//2013. There is a pattern that I used almost exactly for Althea's (the "melange"), and also a little moto coat/sweater with an angled off-center zip (the hunstman) that I modeled Fern's from. I think the final thing that really motivated me to try an Ottobre was this tutorial from Sew Straight & Gather. Her idea to trace the patterns with a crayon and iron them onto paper is genius. I used plain white packing paper that my husband brings home from work for me when they get large deliveries. The sheets are huge and we use them for painting and I love to use them to make pattern pieces. Gotta love the price point on that!
I will dissect them in more detail one at a time. Let's start with Fern.

The outer fabric is from the home dec section at JoAnn's, just like Althea's overalls. It is covered in stylized lollipops. Perfect for a little girl and I just love the color scheme that it uses. The lining is JoAnn's anti-static polyester liner. I used the Ottobre pattern pieces for the bodice of the pattern. I shortened them quite a bit to hit at her true waist (so I could add the skirt there) instead of at the hips. I also straightened out the left front bodice piece - in their pattern it starts off center at the top and then angles down to the center by the bottom- so that it remains off center all the way down. I also used the hood and sleeves as is from the pattern, and drafted an a-line skirt to attach to the bodice to complete the trench look. 

Unfortunately, I neglected to add seam allowance when I cut the pattern pieces from my fabric. I had some choice things to say to myself when I realized that. The good thing is that I had read that these patterns tend to run slightly large and I was trying to err on the side of overestimating when I calculated their sizes. I do think it is a good thing that they don't include seam allowance - there are so many options of types of finishes; I tend use a larger seam allowance than recommended, especially if I am going for flat-felled seams or french or something. I hate having small bits to work with and would rather give myself a solid 3/4"-1" and have more to trim and a larger space between my rows of stitching than to struggle with it. I find I do much neater (and faster) work this way. With much less muttering and swearing. Anyway, if I am in charge of adding seam allowance myself, then I can add as much as I please - so long as I remember to add it. 

In the end, the sleeves and hood were fine the way I cut it. What I did add was a ~3" panel to the front left bodice and skirt piece to allow it to reach far enough across her body and to overlap the right panel enough to close comfortably. I had to make this panel with scraps (the panel attached to the skirt portion is actually two pieces itself), and please note how beautifully they lined up: 

There are on-seam side pockets made out of cozy heart flannel, and pretty interior seams.

And there are two wide sash pieces attached at the side seams to tie in a large bow in the front of the coat. I was inspired by the trim Falafal and the Bee used on this dress to try out a fancy stitch my new machine offers to top stitch the sash and I love it. 

Fern picked out the button that we used to close the top:

It is plastic but looks like an antique glass button. The colors are slightly off but she loved it so it was the winner. She likes to wear it closed with only the button and call it a cape. I think it makes her feel like she is in Frozen when she does that.

I still have yet to add the zipper to her coat. She likes her "cape" without a zipper, but I do plan to put one in eventually. When I do finally install the zip, I will be referencing this tutorial about shortening separating zippers. I ran into some trouble winging it on Althea's coat, but I will discuss that later on.

The only thing I regret about her coat is that I did not include a casing for a drawstring around her hood, or at least some elastic in there around the top. It does not stay up on her head very well, especially with her fluffy hair and that silky lining. 

She isn't fazed by this though, and has actually continued to wear it and chooses to wear it on her own which I love. It is a great weight for a spring / summer jacket. Here she is again:

Thanks for stopping by!