Summer Sewing.....

 

For me, Winter  is all about knitting and crochet, using beautiful yarn to make beautiful warm things, to snuggle up with! Fast forward to Spring, and the yearning comes upon me to break out the sewing machine and start to sew.... I love sewing lovely summer dresses for Little Madame, I have already found some gorgeous summery fabric, and have set about finding vintage looking dresses to adapt

Cutting Out, Not My Favorite Thing

Patterns and Gorgeous Fabric!

 

As I have mentioned before, my pet peeve is cutting out fiddly pattern bits, so what I normally do is wait until I have about 3 patterns bought, and then I get stuck in , with a cup of hot chocolate next to me , the TV on and a very, very sharp pair of scissors! Another trick I have learnt is to fold all the pattern pieces so that I can see the numbers/letters of the pattern at a glance. You would no believe how much time I have spent unfolding every piece to find the one I am looking for! AND that piece is ALWAYS the last one!! Grrrrr!! 



Folded and In Order

 

My kitchen island becomes a make shift cutting table because it is really easy to move around, and I also cut out everything in one go.....  Although it is kind of daunting when I have an entire pile of cut out patterns waiting for me.

Cutting Table - Love This Print!

 

Half the Pile Done!

So this particular cutting out marathon consisted of the following:

A Peasant top for Little Madame
A Dress for Little Madame
Another dress( An idea I had that I am going to show you)
A Teddy type thing I found in a book
And Finally...... a skirt for little ole me!

 

All Cut Out and Waiting!

So lets start with the little peasant top! I used a pattern for this and it was an experiment , as I also want to make dresses like this, because they look very vintage and are cool! It was very quick, I think I whipped this up in an hour, start to finish and I love the result! I buy pure cotton quilting fabric, it is dear BUT it is really cool summer fabric! This print is beautiful purple roses, it caught my eye as I walked into the shop, it is very old fashion, and very vintage looking - just up my alley! The pattern I use is a McCall's pattern number:M6313

 

The Peasant Top

And here are a few pictures of the finished item, as modelled my my very own Little Madame, I just love that she will happily wear the things I make for her, that she is so excited by them and loves to tell everyone ' My mama made this for ME!'

Sweet Child Of Mine

Cool and Pretty

Off The Shoulder

I Love The Vintage Print

 Next......

Now there is a little story behind the next dress - The "shuffle dress" Little Madame came to me a few weeks ago and asked me if I could make her a shuffle dress, to which I politely replied - "A WHAT??" She went on to explain it to me and after much gesturing and twirling, I realised she was talking about a ruffle...... so sweet! So I have been thinking about how to make her a dress that would twirl out really well and was cool too, and here is what I came up with:

 

I took her chest measurement, and cut a piece of fabric double that measurement ( I chose a random width, 20cm) for the next ruffle I doubled that measurement, and tripled it for the third ruffle! Got that?

so - ruffle 1 = 60 cm
       ruffle 2 = 120cm
       ruffle 3 = 180cm

All widths 20cm

I then hemmed the top one and pull elastic through it so it gathered up

I then sewed the 2 pieces of fabric together and gathered the 2nd ruffle to fit the first one and sewed it onto the first one (make sense?)

And did the same with the third....
So I ended up with a 3 tiered piece of fabric, which I then sew up( I have used this as a back seam)

I cut straps and sewed them on, and hemmed the finished dress!

 

Sounds complicated but in actual fact the most difficult part was gathering such a loooonng pieces of fabric.

 I think a Ta Dah moment is in order - Ta Dah - A shuffle Dress!

 

Shuffle Dress In Progress!

Adjusting The Straps!

Will Stop The Straps Falling Off

It Twirls REALLY Well!

Could Not Get Her To Stand Still!

Whew, so although two little items are finished, I still have a long way to go, and am literally dying to make my skirt, but  guess where that is, yes right at the BACK of a very big pile of sewing....... I have also recently been informed that her Little Highness now also wants a "peacopt" dress..... A WHAT? .... Yip, you guessed it before I did, a peacock dress! Don't know how I am going to pull that one off....... Any idea's out there??? All suggestions gladly accepted! xxx