KWC Maggie Mae dress

Yikes, it's Friday already, the week has flown and I'm way behind on KCW. But, I have been tracing, cutting and sewing each day so that counts, even though I haven't actually had a finished garment til today!

I had something in the works for my big girl the other day when I started feeling guilty for not making anything for little girl. So I asked her if she'd like anything and of course she said a dress :-)


I suggested the Maggie Mae pattern from Shwin&Shwin. I made one for big girl this time last year (see it here) and we love it - it's such a classic little shape and has had so much wear. Luckily little girl went for the idea and also my fabric suggestions (cottons from the stash).


When I asked her to model the dress for some pics she obligingly gave me these poses :-) This kid kills me sometimes - she can be so cute at times and other times she drives me absolutely bananas!!


Next on the list is to finish big girl's parka top. Then I have a few pj's I'd like to make... I think my KCW will be spilling over to next week.
And I'm loving seeing all the pics on the Flickr group and the Instagram feed (#kidsclothesweek) - so inspiring!!

Pattern ponderings

We had a couple of unseasonably warm days in Sydney last week and that's all it's taken to get me daydreaming of summer sewing patterns. There's not much structure to it really, just thoughts of lots of dresses...

Maybe the very popular Cambie dress from Sewaholic (though strictly only the A-line skirt version)

 Pic: Sewaholic

The 'Simone' from Victory patterns is very cute...


Pic: Victory

and I've wondered about their 'Chloe' too...

Pic: Victory

 Or maybe the Jamie Christina Mission Maxi?

Pic: Jamie Christina

And I'm planning to scour this list of independent pattern designers from A Good Wardrobe for further ideas.

How about you - any plans for new season sewing? Do you have any suggestions for dress patterns? I'd love to hear.

Girly dress no. 2

My lovely piece of Nani Iro japanese fabric has been sitting around in stash waiting for "the perfect dress pattern" to appear. So I got realistic and decided that it wasn't going to happen soon, and I'd rather wear and enjoy it in an OK form than not at all. So... I just used the trusty Simplicity 3835 AGAIN. Yes, I can't say I haven't had my money's worth with this pattern!



And as with the 1st "girly dress", I made a few modifications til it was right for me. It's easy to wear and great on a hot day. Looking at the photos taken last week though, it makes me shiver a little as our temperatures have plummetted and we have non-stop rain. Which makes for interesting child care conditions, as I'm sure you can appreciate. Still, at least we're not flooding as other areas are.



Please excuse the headless shots - the hair and makeup people hadn't been in that day ;-)

More creative goodness to see over here.

My Creative Space - girly dress

It's nice to see Our Creative Spaces back up and running for the year - it's like welcoming an old friend back :-)

Do you remember this fabric that I found late last year? I decided to make another version of Simplicity 3835, not because I really loved the style but because I knew it was a quick sew and just wanted a summer dress!



The style tends to look a bit shapeless on me so I considered putting front waist darts in but then thought I'd probably have to put a zip in, which might make it a bit restrictive to move in and look a bit strange with the elasticated bits so.... I put in a few short rows of shirring (any excuse for a bit of shirring ;-) to give it some shape. There's a bit of a weird pulling going on around the bum area which if I knew properly about sewing I'd probably work out how to fix, but it doesn't bother me too much.



I also added in-seam pockets as we all know how useful pockets are in a dress. They do add to the weird pull of the dress drape though. I think maybe the fabric is too fine to hold them. Ah well, at least they're useful.

Overall the dress is a tad too girly for me (hopefully not 'little girl' looking though - that would be tragic) but if I try to 'rough it up' a bit with accessories etc it's not too bad (any suggestions welcome). I think it might also work layered when the weather turns cooler, if I'm still keen on it then. Ah, I'm so fickle.

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By the way, is anyone else having problems commenting with Blogger recently? I've had several problems lately, it's driving me nuts. Let me know if you have any problems too and I'll find someone at Blogger to have a whinge to.

My creative space: Schoolhouse tunic

This is the dress that I mentioned on last week's creative space, I thought I'd show you how it turned out.



I finally tried the famous 'Schoolhouse Tunic' and enjoyed the experience. I set out to make a 'muslin' to test the size and save my precious black linen til I had it right, but then I ended up quite liking the muslin after I'd done all the little adjustments to it (see notes below if you're interested). I'd made it in a lightweight denim for my stash and had to use something else for the sleeves as the denim ran out, so it was a bit of a hotch potch to say the least.



To tidy it up I finished off the seams then decided to dye it (this beautiful dress being a big inspiration) and do some top stitching, all in an effort to bring it all together and also just as a fun experiment. There's a sense of freedom in working with something that's not precious, I'm sure you'll agree. Here it is above awaiting its dye bath.



The tie-dyeing was fun to do, and turned out reasonably subtle, which I liked. Obviously it would be much better to dye the fabric first and then cut it out to sew, but it's still OK. And the dye overall helped to tie the two different fabrics together.

As for the pattern, I liked it much more than I thought I would and would definitely make it again. I love how the sleeves sit, and they are in a voile type fabric, so I'm thinking a voile version for summer would be nice.



Some pattern notes:

• Size. I always find sizing tricky. I'd looked at lots of Schoolhouse Tunics in the Flickr group and decided I wanted it to be a little more fitted than I think it's intended to be so I cut the size down from the one suggested for my measurements, thinking I could narrow the seams if necessary. But the smaller size was perfect, what a stroke of luck.

• The pleats. The pattern calls for 2 in the front but I thought it looked too 'boxy' on me and tried one instead (and idea from someone in the Flickr group). Much much better. Love the pleat and how it comes off the front opening.

• The sleeves. Love them. Didn't think I would for some reason. I imagined chopping them off or changing them in some way but I found the elastic just adds a little softness to offset the general structured feel of the dress. Will try this on other garments.

And that's about it. The pattern's easy to follow, turns out well and it's an enjoyable sew.

More creative spaces to be seen here.

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We've had lots of computer problems in the last couple of days. There's nothing like technical problems to make me feel crazy! I think I've typed this post about 3 times - arghh! Hopefully I will see you back here again in the not too distant future...

Just one more Simplicity 3835

... well, at least until summer! This is the dress that I started back in May and then abandoned in frustration and fatigue. It wasn't working and I couldn't be bothered fixing it. But since I made my boring dress and have enjoyed wearing it, it's spurred me on to finish this one.

You see it was meant to be version B on the pattern - mini dress with sleeve ties, neck band and zip. But when it was almost finished I realised that the neckline looked awful on me and that's where I left the dress, til I came back recently and hacked into it to try to make it work for me (see my notes below if you're interested in the details).



I'm pretty happy with it now, though I'm still working out how to wear it - it's a bit chilly for winter to wear by itself, and the sleeve ties are too bulky to cover with a jacket or jumper, so I may have to wait for warmer weather to comfortably wear it. The cardigan is comfy but not quick to get on and off when necessary. Anyway... all up a reasonably wearable dress, but yet another reminder for me to listen to my intuition when it's telling me something won't suit me... but it's all experience, I guess :-)



A few pattern alteration/sewing notes:

• The neckline. It looked great on everyone in the Flickr group, I'm sure it's designed well, the construction was fine, but I just hated it. I felt like I'd just stepped off a factory production line. Not that there's anything at all wrong with that of course, but uniform wasn't the look I was going for. So I went back to the elastic as in the previous versions I've made. I wish I'd taken a photo before I hacked the yolk off, then you could have told me if it was all in my imagination or not!

• The zip. I was going to keep it in the back, had figured out how to simultaneously have the zip and elastic but in the end didn't need it so took it out. I thought the balance would be out if I made the bodice area so fitted that I needed a zip to get into it. So it's a pull over the head. With a bit of wiggling.



• The sleeve ties. Still love them. Thought there was a big chance of them annoying me, but after wearing for a day I find they don't.

• The fabric. Has been lovely to wear. It's a medium weight linen, and the colour is that sort of blue that goes purplish when you iron it. Hopefully it won't fade too quickly. As I love the fabric so much I thought I'd better try to do it justice and do french seams. My scruffy white overlocking would not do it justice.



• Darts. I added some darts to the front to add some shape and it worked well, I'd definitely do that again. I know I've spoken before about feeling 'swamped' by loose shapes.

• Pockets. Not sure whether to add them, and if so, what type? Definitely not the production line version supplied with the pattern (sorry designer). Should I trim them in the red fabric? Put them in the side seams? Leave them out altogether? What do you think - pockets or no pockets?

* I've been asked by several people for advice on where to purchase the pattern as it's out of print. I think the best bet is to keep checking Etsy and Ebay, particularly from those shops that sell other Built by Wendy patterns. I bought mine from Etsy, shipped from the US. It's a shame that they're out of print as they're so popular, but I guess the pattern company has it's reasons!

My creative space: dyeing

I have blue fingers again today - only slightly from the cold, mostly from the dye that I have been playing around with again today.



I've been getting hugely inspired by all the blog posts on dyeing I've seen lately. I came across the Make Something blog recently. Have you seen it? Karyn sews the most amazing things (check out her '13 dressses' - I want one of each!). She writes about natural dyeing and 'Shibori'. Inspiring stuff. Karyn also owns and runs a sewing shop where she teaches sewing (and sells sewing related stuff I think) and hires out sewing machines by the hour - how cool is that!! I just want to be Karyn ;-)

OK, off to be me... see you tomorrow for my blogiversary giveaway!! Yay, I've finally got it together (well, almost).


* I'll explain more later about the dresses I'm dyeing and my plans for them - lots of experiments going on.

More creative spaces to be seen here.