Nautical but nice

I've been eyeing the Sail away school dress tute off for a while, and last night I finally sat down with my just-arrived Sarah Jane Out to Sea fabric and got to work!

I didn't have any old shirts to upcycle, so I made my own shirt - using the same basic method of cutting around a tee.  I just made sure to add an extra couple of inches to the center of the front panels so that I could make a placket there.

She told me she was doing some sort of pirate dance here!  
Apparently the striped shirt is a "pirate shirt."

I also did a couple of little things differently.  I added some darts at the back of the shirt as little miss has her mother's sway back (poor thing, welcome to a lifetime of ill-fitting shirts!), and I attached the shirt bindings and skirt waistband a little differently to give a neater finish as I wasn't keen on the exposed seams.

The buttons on the skirt are some cute little metallic shank buttons that I was recently given from my Grandma's stash.  I remember fossicking through Grandma's button tin when I was my girls age.  I love that I can use these on their clothes now.

Buckets of fun

A while ago, Oliver + S released a free pdf version of their their bucket hat pattern (you can get it here).  I downloaded the pattern straight away but hadn't gotten around to making it.  Anyway, with the days getting sunnier, and last summer's hats getting a bit snug on the girls, I decided to make a couple of new hats for them.

The pattern comes together super quickly - I think it took me about an hour to make both, after I was finished cutting.  I found it a bit tricky sewing the top and side pieces together - you've really got to snip into the side pieces a fair bit to get it to fit the curve - but other than that it is a pretty simple process to put it all together.  I also used this "cheat" (from a little grey) to avoid the hand stitching!

I added extra topstitching to the seams, because I like the look of it and because my girls are pretty rough on their clothing.  Don't let their sweet faces fool you!  

This hat is great for scrap busting.  I used "leftovers" for both hats, which is great because it means there is less scraps in my scrap basket and they now have nice hats to coordinate with existing outfits.

Ellie scored a yellow/green hat.

Katherine scored the pink version - of course.

I probably should have used red thread for the topstitching (and in the bobbin when doing the brim) on this one but I was lazy.  I don't think it looks too bad with the contrasting topstitching though.  I thought I would be a bit decorative and only do a few rows on the very outermost edge of the brim, but I might still go back and add some more rows of stitching in.  I haven't decided yet.

Time for a Puppet Show

Have I mentioned how much I love Oliver + S patterns?  I was so happy when they re-released a bunch of their discontinued patterns as PDFs.  I bought the Puppet show tunic/dress and shorts pattern, mainly for the shorts as I'd seen so many cute versions online.  With the warm weather coming up (any time now...) I finally had a reason to give this pattern a go, and as I've resolved to make more outfits and sets, I thought that I'd give the tunic a go as well.

Katherine chose some seersucker fabric from my fabric cupboard (we got it from Spotlight).  I actually had this fabric in mind for a less fussy summer shirt but 4 year old's can't be reasoned with, haha.  For the shorts I used what I think is a poly-cotton blend drill fabric, from my Nanna's stash that I recently raided on a trip to my mum's house!  This set is a 3T.  I thought about using the 4T length for the tunic but I was happy for it to be a shorter-length top rather than a tunic length for this time.

As with all Oliver + S patterns, it's the little details that really make them special.  I love these little sleeve cuffs on this top.  I didn't make a buttonhole with these like you are supposed to though, I just stitched the button straight on.  I used fabric covered buttons I made up in the same fabric as the top.

You can see on the shorts photo up top that I also trimmed the pockets with some piping and popped some fabric covered buttons on there as well.

The pattern didn't call for buttons at the front, but I thought some fabric covered buttons would be a nice touch here too.  The edges of the collar look puckered here, but honestly, they aren't (I had a panic and checked them after seeing this photo!).  I think it's just the texture of the fabric that makes them look a bit wrinkly on the edges.

To top it all off, I made a little twisted fabric flower hair clip out of some scraps.  I think this is a really cute little set and I can't wait until it's warm enough to be worn!

Spot the obsession...

So this is the third and last spotty dress I will make for Katherine this year... I think.  She actually chose this fabric on a recent trip to Spotlight, and I knew it was going to be a Summer dress of some description, but I wasn't sure what I was actually going to do with it.  Well, I've been seeing all these Peter Pan collars around the place and then I came across this super sweet tutorial on Craftiness is Not Optional that shows you how to draft your own collar using the neckline of the top.  Oh yeah, that dress is totally on my to-do list now as well, I just won't be making it out of spots!

So I used the Rosy Posy dress pattern again - you really can't go past it for a fitted bodice and lovely full skirt.  I made the bodice a little leaner and the neckline a little higher at the front.  I also left off the sleeves, but as the bodice is fully lined in my version I didn't need to worry about bias binding or anything fiddly like that.  I used the method outlined in the tutorial to create and attach the collar.

Am I the only one who buys those cheap bags of "craft buttons" which are all mismatched singles and factory seconds? Sometimes buttons can be so expensive so I try and use up my mismatched buttons wherever I can! This dress was perfect to use mismatched buttons on, because of the different coloured pink circles. Even my husband said, when I showed him the dress, "I like how you've done different coloured buttons to match the spots on the dress." You can tell he has been spending too much time with me!

I have been trying to take a bit more care with my sewing and really concentrate on matching patterns up - I think I almost managed to get it right here too.

A spot of sewing

I have been doing a spot of sewing lately, just a little bit, in preparation for the warm weather that will hopefully be coming our way soon. I was also lucky enough to have a week off work last week, so I managed to tick a few things off my to-do list.  My plan is to try to ignore the temptation of all the cute clothes in the shops (and there are so many!) and try to make most of the girl's wardrobes this season.  We'll see....

I bought this red and pink spot fabric a while ago with the intention of making a dress for Katherine.  Well, I had actually forgotten I had it stashed away, but I came across it while I was searching for some green polka dot fabric I was sure I had (which I couldn't find anywhere).  This prompted me to admit to my husband that maybe I did have too much fabric, since I am always coming across things I had forgotten I had.  I'm pretty sure he realised I wasn't being serious.  You can never have too much fabric, after all.  But anyway, I dragged this fabric out of the cupboard and decided to finally make that dress.

I used the Rosy Posy pattern from Ottobre 3/2011.  For a while I was tossing up whether to make up the Oliver & S Family Reunion Dress instead, since I haven't made one of those yet, but in the end I went with the Rosy Posy as I've made it a few times now and it always gives such a lovely result.  The only thing I like to do differently is to fully line the bodice (and sometimes the skirt, but not this time), and use buttons down the back of the bodice instead of a zip.  With this particular dress I also added a gathered sash and tie, which I sewed into the bodice/skirt seam at the front, rather than use a detachable ribbon tie.

Continuing with the spotty theme, I decided to make a beige and white polka-dot dress as well.  I was inspired by a dress I saw somewhere but unfortunately I can't remember where.  I actually thought I first saw it at Target but when I went back to have a better look they didn't have it.  So I don't know if they sold out of them or whether I saw it somewhere else.

The pattern I used was Simplicity 2683, and I made view A.  It was the first time I've used the pattern, even though I've had it for a while.  I made it up in the size 3 but with an extra half inch of length in the bodice and an extra inch or so at the hem, for my bean-pole 4 1/2 year old.

At first I was worried about the sleeves as they kind of look funny on the pattern cover.  I was almost going to make up some Rosy Posy style elasticised sleeves instead, but I stuck with the original design and I am glad I did, they are lovely.  The only thing I did differently was not line the sleeves.  I just overlocked the sleeve edge and turned it up to hem it instead.  I figured it would be cooler for summer this way, plus I didn't want to fiddle around with a lining.

Excuse the wrinkled sleeve, I haven't quite figured out how to iron something that small with that many gathers!

The dress has buttons down the back (yes, zipper phobia strikes again!) and a salmon coloured sash and tie.  I really like this dress, but the fit is snug and I am hoping she won't grow out of it by summer.  Although at the moment she only seems to be growing up so maybe it won't be an issue.

I have a couple more dresses I want to make before I'm done yet.  How many dresses should a little girl have?  Is there a limit? Or is is like fabric, and there is no such thing too many?

One scoop or two?

A few weeks (months?) ago I bought some fabric with the intention of making each of my girls an Oliver+S Ice cream dress. I was inspired by all of the colour block dresses that had been popping up around the place, like here, and here, and here. Oh, and there was also the one I made for my sister a little while back too.

Anyway, I enlisted Katherine's help to choose some colours and whaddya know, she chose pink for herself and blue for Ellie. The girls helped me layer up the colours and cut out the pattern - they loved it!  And they really like their finished dresses.

Katherine's pink dress was made up in size 5, but with some of the fullness taken out of the bodice (I was working with fat quarters here, so didn't have a lot of width to start with - plus she is a string bean!).  The heights of each the layers aren't cut exactly according to the pattern either, because I didn't have a whole lot of each colour, I had to use more of some fabrics and less of others.  And I also just made them with a regular old boring hem, because I didn't have enough fabric to make the double-layer hem that the pattern calls for.  Oops! 

Ellie's was the size 2T. Is the neck opening supposed to run small on these dresses? This one only just fits over her (small-to-average sized) head.

Now I wouldn't say the Ice cream dress is my favourite Oliver+S pattern, but I am happy with these dresses and I'm glad I can tick them off the to-do list.  The most important thing is that the girls are also happy with them - I'm guessing they'll get a lot of wear once the weather warms up a bit more for us (do you hear that, Spring?  You'd better hurry up and get here!).

Nightie Night!

Last night as I was getting the girls ready for bed, Katherine asked if she could wear her nightie instead of her pj's.  Well, she only has summer nighties, and even though spring is supposedly only a few weeks away, it's still been getting down around 0 degrees at night here.  I remember when I was a little girl, my Nanna/s (and probably mum too) used to make us these adorable "old fashioned" winter nighties that were all flannelette and lace and frills.  In fact, I don't recall ever wearing winter pajamas... probably until I was much older anyway... it was always nighties.  Or at least, it was always the nighties that were memorable!

So last night I told Katherine that I would make her a winter nightie.  I had some flannelette that she picked out at the beginning of winter that I'd previously promised I would make her some pjs out of, but I figured if it hadn't happened by now, it probably wasn't going to happen any time soon.  So I set about cutting into it - I didn't have a pattern, but took some basic measurements and borrowed some inspiration from a quick Google image search.  This is how it ended up:

The nightie is just a tad too big, but I don't think it's anything a couple of rounds in the dryer won't fix.    She insisted on wearing it tonight, so it's a big success all round!  The only thing was that I couldn't get a decent photo of her actually *wearing* it, but you'll just have to believe me when I say it looks very cute on!