A Sassy Caroline Party Dress

Elena needed another dress and I needed to have some creative fun so I made her another Caroline Party Dress (Welcome to the MouseHouse). She actually squealed when she saw it. My heart was happy.

It all started with a necessary trip to Walmart - not my favorite thing to do. I bribed myself telling myself I could look at fabric for a dress for Elena if I took care of the essentials first. As soon as I saw this cotton Waverly print I knew Elena would love it. I quickly grabbed a coordinating hounds tooth fat quarter and a zipper and got out of there.

Later I remembered I had a yard of black tulle so the dress got a nice overlay for the skirt. She was so excited about that part at home, but ironically, it annoyed her like crazy blowing up in the wind when we got downtown to her sister's art gallery exhibition and walking around Playhouse Square.

The combination of this dress, her sock choice, and her spunky attitude made for some fun pictures for once. Her style is definitely not sweet little girl anymore. She is nearly 7 already, so I guess I just have to face how grown up she is getting already.

I had to trace a new size of this dress since I haven't made one in about 2 years. This one is a 5 in width and a 7 in length. We could have made a 4 in width as she complained it feels too loose, but I'm glad for the extra room and comfort so she wears it plenty.

The Caroline is an easy sew if you don't mind installing invisible zips. This fabric made it less stressful since there was no pattern matching to worry about. Making deliberate choices like that can making sewing fun. I've been super busy and don't have much time at home lately so there isn't much time for sewing. It's funny how attitudes adjust and we get can used to things and take on more than you ever imagined you could. I used to think I was too tired at the end of the day to want to sew, but now, I sometimes feel like that's all I want to do to get over a bad day. Thank God for sewing and the awesome online sewing community.

                                               
 We have another fun dress half way done so stay tuned next week. I hope she cooperates again, because this was fun.

Sparkly Butterflies for Spring

I am not even going to look back to see exactly how long its been since I've blogged, I'm just going to be glad that Elena finally likes something I made for her. Her tastes keep changing, and I'm trying to keep up and understand how someone who fights about wearing dresses to church, was so excited about this most sparkly butterfly dress. It makes no sense to me.

A few days earlier, we looked together at a couple of retailers' websites to see what is new for spring. She surprised me with some of her very girly choices. So when I saw this fabric from Joann's Doodles Collection, I thought I'd take a chance and make her something to wear to a tea party the next day.

The bodice is made using Simplicity 1435 because it has some nice feminine details including little puff sleeves as an option. I changed the skirt to a simple gathered skirt because I guessed she would like that better. To break up the butterfly action a little, I used a gray and white striped rayon/spandex for the sleeves and neckband. It is also from Joann's. With coupons, this dress cost $9 and I'll have enough scraps to make a t-shirt too.

Sewing success doesn't mean photography success. She makes such silly faces all the time, but I'm glad she was having fun. The tea party was so sweet and I really enjoyed seeing her so happy in a dress - even with her crazy styling choices of leggings and striped socks.

A Lark Dress for Me

I am fully into planning and now sewing up my spring/summer capsule wardrobe. Navy is my dark neutral of choice for summer because it feels more summery than my beloved black and charcoal grays. As part of my minimalist, mix and match, capsuling efforts I try to limit myself to 2 or 3 dresses. I feel like I get more use out of separates, but I do love dresses, especially for Sundays.

I treated myself to a new pattern - the Grainline Studios Lark Tee. It's been out for a couple of years I think, but I'm slow to new things I guess. I made myself a boatneck, 3/4 length sleeve tee to try it out. I really liked it so I hacked it into a dress for this navy and white striped Girl Charlee Bolt fabric. And then, the very NEXT day, Grainline released an expansion pack for more top/dress options and cardigans. I'm extremely likely to buy the dress pack anyway just for the turtleneck and cowl neck options.

I changed up a couple of things to make my dress. First off, I cut the back as 2 pieces adding seam allowance. This allowed me to shape the back more and add a little definition. It also meant more stripe matching, but it was worth it. My best tricks for stripe matching are to use way more pins than normal, baste first, and try your walking foot if it's just not feeding right.

Center back seam

The other changes were to the neckline. I cut the front piece 1/2" higher and I made a facing to match. The instructions call for simply turning and topstitching the boatneck version. I have done that in the past, but I find that it often needs pressing to look nice after washing. I'm not famous for pressing my knitwear so I thought I'd elevate things with the facing. I used a double needle to stitch that facing down about 3/4" away. I'm really pleased with the look and the structure it gives.

When I was cutting out my main body pieces, I cut to the hip line and then slid my pattern pieces down to the length I wanted (38" I think) to continue that line straight down. It doesn't angle in at all. I figured I could adjust that later if desired, but guess what, I didn't desire it. Ready to see the finished product?

That's it. Two quick pics after church. I felt great in this dress. I felt like I sat up straighter and stood taller and felt more confident. But it's just a t-shirt really so it's got all the comfort. I could easily get caught up making so many of these in all of the versions. 

A Boho Chic Easter Dress

I knew I'd sew along to at least one of the Project Run and Play themes, but the question is, would Elena model for me? And that'll be a big fat NO. It was an almost - she had everything on and then in the 2 minutes it took me to run upstairs for different shoes, she ripped everything off and was done. I'd like to call her names, but that wouldn't be nice. So my feelings are hurt, but the good news is that the dress looks so completely adorable on her. I couldn't be happier about that part of it.

I used the Heidi & Finn Modern Color Block Dress Pattern and made only one modification - I added side seam pockets. Since I was using all one fabric, I didn't really need to cut the pieces separately but I did anyway to make it easy to add the lace in a nice straight line. I love this pattern because it is a nice simple shape, it's easy to sew, and it's fully lined. Elena loves this pattern because of the simple shape - meaning no ruffles or frills. Little girl is going tomboy on me - which is cool except for Easter. Sorry kiddo, you're wearing a dress.

The crochet lace was given to me by my mother and I have no idea how it came to her. She probably picked it off of a tablecloth or something if I know her. The fabrics were a prize I won ages ago - so long ago that I don't know how or from whom. I kept the selvege, but now I can't find it. (Such a bad blogger.) I remember that it said they were printed in Japan. I did an image search and I'm sorry to say, it can't find it anywhere.  Here's the inside, nice and clean (but a little wrinkled- oops).

I didn't put the lace on the upper back because I felt like it would be uncomfortable and would make it difficult to sew the opening which happens to be the trickiest part of this pattern by the way. I taped those 2 pattern pieces together and cut it as one piece. I chose a nice wooden button from my stash.

I thought Elena might faint at the sight of the headband I made up from some FOE and 3 store-bought flowers, but she actually likes it and put it on immediately. So maybe she will be a tomboy with floral headbands this summer. It looks especially good worn low, hippie style. 

Hopefully on Easter I'll be able to sneak a couple pictures of her in it and post them on Instagram. 

 

A Kimono for Me

Last summer I made myself a Kimono out of black chiffon. I don't know much about chiffon and have very little experience sewing it. I received this piece as a prize from the fabulous Alida of Alida Makes for the original Sew the Show Series last year. I used a basic Simplicity pattern 1620 (which oddly only seems to come in the larger sizes now) and modified it somewhat. I shortened the sleeves and did narrow rolled hems around all the edges. It was alright, just ok. I wore it once or twice, but it didn't feel very cool. It felt frumpy even when worn with a tank and joggers and heels.

So as crazy as this sounds, I was watching the Netflix Full House reunion series with my daughter and I noticed lots of kimonos so I guess they're still in enough. The awesome Gibbler wore one in every episode I think. I pulled my frumpy kimono out of the closet and gave it an update.

I trimmed off all the hems and then cut the front shorter and at an angle. Then I cut strips of chiffon, folded them in half and sewed them around all the edges. I used my regular machine and mock-overlocked the seam allowance and pressed it towards the body of the kimono. I topstitched with a decorative stitch all around. I also shortened the sleeves even more.

I left the back long and flowy and with it's original narrow hem. The back seam and the shoulder seams are all french seams. The underarm/side seam is stitched and overlocked. With a sheer chiffon, the inside finishes were important.

I wore it to church today with my Downton Abbey Lady Skater dress and felt very chic with my salt and pepper hair and silver jewelry. 

How chic? About this chic:

And this chic.

Ha, ha! I'm all posed out and feeling completely silly so that's it. I'm going to go walk around my nephew's birthday party now and try to act normal, but I really feel amazing in this outfit so I think I'll try to keep the attitude. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

The Sally Dress in Waverly Bloom

I wanted to make one new summer dress for Elena so I returned to a favorite pattern. I love the Very Shannon Sally dress and have made 3 or 4 over the years. This time I went with short sleeves, no pockets, and ribbon embellishments for the bodice.

The beautiful and summery fabric was found in the remnant bin at Walmart. I know it's Waverly and I think it's called Bloom in Orange. I suppose it's a premium quilting cotton because it has nice weight to it, but there was not much info on the label. I had originally made pockets out of a lightweight aqua gingham check, but they stuck out so much that I had to remove them. I've made Sally's with pockets before so it's not the fault of the pattern at all, this fabric was just too heavy weight.

Sally is always a quick and easy sew with no closures and nice finishes inside and even options on just how nice you want the inside to be. I took the quick route and just serged the seam allowance on the sleeve seams instead of doing the clean finish.

Some of my favorite summer things: little girls in cotton dresses, books, spending time outside, sun-fried over-chlorinated bleached out hair, and flowers. This hits them all.

KCW: The pony dress

I avoid the mall like the plague, and I avoid taking Elena to the mall like I avoid plaque diseased zombies on Mars. So after a short but unavoidable trip into the mall recently, we walked out with a really cute H&M dress for $5. Things like that are hard even for me to walk away from, let alone a 4 year old. Of course it's cute, but it's made under questionable circumstances in Bangladesh so I try not to participate in that scene. I don't know a lot about H&M's practices actually, but I'm guessing that if you can sell it for $5, they didn't pay the worker much at all by the time you factor in materials, overhead, and shipping.

So I ordered one yard of pony print jersey from Girl Charlee Fabrics for $6.50. This fabric is made in Los Angeles and I provided my own slave labor for only the price of her smile and a hug. The bindings are cut from an old t-shirt her big sister didn't want anymore. (With 13 years between them, I don't save a lot of hand-me-downs for her unless they are really classic, basic pieces that won't go out of style.)

 The bodice is made from the Willow & Stitch Gumnut Dress pattern. I've used it before here so I know it fits well and has exactly the shape I wanted. The skirt is from Simplicity 1435, but lengthened. It's almost a full circle skirt cut in 2 pieces. Because I was working with directional fabric, I couldn't cut a basic circle skirt or the ponies would be upside down on the back. I've used this pattern before and knew it had the fullness I was looking for and already came in 2 pieces. It's easy enough to measure the bottom of the bodice and use whatever size skirt matches up best. Then you can make it any length you want. I went for a high low and gave it plenty of length to grow into over the summer.

 She absolutely loves it and so do I. We have plans for another one tomorrow, but I have a little less fabric to work with so we'll see if it works out. It is unhemmed and with neck and arm bands, the whole thing was done on the serger meaning this is 30 minute dress to construct. If that. So quick and easy.

 It's such a playful little dress and really comfortable. It will see lots of action. It'll be hard to get her take this one off. She has worn it all day since getting home from school and wants to wear it to bed too. So I guess I really better make another one tomorrow.

Be sure to check out the project pool over at KCW. It's always inspiring to see.

Second Verse Same As The First

Turns out Olivia really needed at least one more dress. All of her other dresses and skirts are maxi length, but she can't wear those to her Commencement ceremony this coming week or it will hang out from under the gown. Not only would that look bad, but it's not allowed and since she will be up on the stage giving the Valedictorian speech, she wants to look good. We shopped a few stores but everything in the juniors department was too sheer and too short (for her taste). Everything in the women's department was too old and business-like. We stopped at Joann's and picked up 2-1/2 yards of black ponte knit not knowing exactly what we would do with it.

She searched Pinterest for another design that could work for graduation plus some graduation parties and still meet her minimalist aesthetic. These wide trapeze dresses with the handkerchief hems are popular so we made up a pattern. The top is basically a Love Notions Laundry Day Tee with the neckline cut nearly straight across. It is just turned and topstitched with the double needle.

We wanted the overall length at the center to be 39" (from shoulder point to hem) and for the drops to be 5". We drew the bottom line across first and then went up 5" and connected that to the armscye. Our front and back pieces were identical. I had Olivia do the cutting as practice for when we make those skirts soon. Side note: We planned on not hemming it because ponte is thick and I didn't think we'd like the points hemmed. After adding the sleeves, I basted the sides together so she could try it on. Then she took it off and we removed the basting and cut 2 inches off the bottom and the side drops.

The lower chalk line at the neck represents where the pattern's back neckline should be and the higher one is where we cut both the front and back.

We added side seam pockets in a lightweight woven to reduce bulk and not stretch longer when putting something heavy like a phone in there. That is definitely an extra step worth taking. Sometimes I get lazy with those things, but with Olivia standing over my shoulder, no way could I skip it.  

She is super happy with this dress. She wore it today to mass and then to a friend's graduation party. She is currently out getting coffee with another friend so I'd say this dress is proving to be the new favorite and is likely to get worn plenty in the next couple of months. The fabric cost $22 with a coupon. That's way less than any dresses we saw in the stores.

Thanks for checking in. I'm going to try my best to participate in Kids Clothes Week for Elena so I should be posting a lot this week. When it rains it pours with me.