New Look 6136

I made a birthday dress for my niece. She'll be 2 in August, but I wanted to get this entered into the fair (drop off is tomorrow). This was so fun to make!

I fell in love with New Look 6136 when looking through the pattern books. I used an old Amy Butler print from the Ginger Bliss line, and found this great orange print at Joann Fabrics. The bow is removable for washing.

I constructed it a bit differently than the directions. The bodice is lined, per the pattern, but I completely enclosed all the seams, instead of having a raw edge at the waist. I also trimmed the back lining so that I could sew it to the back piece and then have the back flat (I don't think I'm making sense). Per the pattern, they wanted you to cut the fabric and lining using the exact same pattern pieces, stitch them RST at the neckline and back, then fold over the back section for the buttonholes. I didn't like that, so I did it differently.

The pattern calls for the bottom band to be interfaced, but I felt that would be too stiff, so I omitted it. To put the band on, I first did half the miters, like this. Then, once I knew those were stitched well, I did the rest of the band, with the other miters. If I tried to do the band all at once, I'm sure I would have messed up the miters that I would not be able to see.

(I don't know why this picture keeps uploading sideways.) Since the side seams are the only exposed seams, I just did a clean finish, instead of using my serger.

Three little buttons close up the back, and the cuteness just kills me!

Judging is on Thursday, so we'll see how I do. For children 4 and under there are 2 categories: Play Outfit, and Any Other Garment not Listed. This particular dress is going in the latter, or what I call the "everything but the kitchen sink" category.

Brown/Aqua Skirt

I finished the second skirt in my Spring Line (yeah, I know it's July) this weekend. I used New Look 6596 again, this time adding a ruffle on the bottom. The fabrics are leftover from this bag, and I had only 8.5 usable inches left of the stripe! I cut 3 2.5" strips, stitched them together and hemmed one edge. Then I put 2 rows of gathering stitches on the other edge (I use a medium length stitch, about 3.0). I divided the strip and my skirt into eighths and pulled the gathers to fit. The skirt is lined in aqua.

Asian Linen Skirt

Here is the first of at least 4 summer skirts I have planned. I used New Look 6596 , which I made last summer. I've admired Beki's various skirts that she made using the Favorite Things pattern, but didn't want to pay $10 for a new pattern, so I just whacked my pattern into gores. :) I made this a 6 gore skirt, and added 2.5 inches to the length of the original pattern. I flat felled all the seams (because I ran out of black serger thread), and lined it in ambiance. This particular skirt will be quite versatile, as it looks good with my boots, my wedge heels, and some black sandals I have.

I wore it today to a Nancy Erickson lecture on jackets that was held at Bigsby's (that's also where I bought the fabric). It was a lot of fun to see all her Chanel jackets -- the construction on some of those is just gorgeous. I came home with a new copy of her 1945 jacket pattern (my pink tweed jacket is from that pattern) because the boys ruined my original one. I also came home with some beautiful fat eighths of some asian cottons. Those fat quarters and fat eighths are like crack cocaine!

Connor was not happy that I was gone all afternoon and has been on me like glue since I got home.

New Look 6596

I don't like to wear shorts, so I made a new skirt last week, while the boys were in Vacation Bible School. This pattern is so fast and easy! According to the size chart and my measurements, I should have made a 16 (30" waist, 40" hips). After some flat pattern measuring, I felt that was a bit big, so I cut a 14 instead. The front and back are the same piece, and then the waistband, so cutting and sewing were really fast. Once I got the skirt together and wore it for a while, I felt the 14 was still too big. Last night I cut it down to a 12, which you see pictured here. Click here to see the 14 on me. The 12 is 2" smaller than the 14, and I am much happier with it.

In April, Carolyn wrote about post on her blog about techniques that turn her on. I have some of the same feelings. Yeah, I can whip out a skirt like this in an hour or so, and it'll look nice and be quite wearable, but isn't it so much nicer to have it lined and finished like this? THIS is one of the reasons I sew: I can have what I want, and it's pretty both inside and out.

Not a bad looking skirt for 1.5 yds of an Amy Butler print (cost: about $8), 1 yd of Ambiance (cost: about $8, though in my stash for ages so it's really free), and 1 yd of 1" elastic (cost: 95 cents). I have two more AB prints in the queue for more of these skirts. David doesn't know if he likes it -- says it looks "June Cleaverish", but if I glam it up with some wedges and a pretty blouse, I'm sure he'll change his mind. ;)