Fall Pictures

Since Merissa had recently gotten back from her last photography course, I thought it would be nice if she could do fall pictures of the children for me. :)  These pictures were taken about 3 weeks ago, while we still had warm fall weather.

Olivia is wearing her Jump Rope dress that I made to match the boys' Western wear shirts.

It was fun to see the pictures once Merissa was done editing them.  Dear Samuel was being his mischievous self, giving his sister a little extra work, but they all had a wonderful time in the process. :)

I delighted in seeing the final product. :)  Memories captured for years to come...always precious!

Thank you, Merissa!  Love you!

Mum

 

Fancy Dress Stitching Time

Fancy dress and fun!  My daughter's dear friend was married this past weekend and she needed a new dress.  The dress that had been ordered wasn't quite up to the job, so I had the pleasure of trying to make a dress, inspired by the purchased dress.

When making your own dress, you get the pleasure of choosing what types of fabrics you would like to use.  I was able to find a lovely shade of purple (wedding colour) in silk crepe de chine.  I confess, I did not like working with that slippery silk.  I usually like to work with silk, but this was not one of those times. :)  I was fortunate to find a lovely black, embroidered lace fabric that was well weighted with the boarder design.  It gave the lace fabric a lovely, lovely drape. 

When finished, it was as if I made this dress 4 times. First there was the mock up, then there were the three layers.  You have the full lining, silk fabric and lace fabric, which all needed to be hemmed, except the mock up.

I stretched myself with learning some new skills.  I have made two corsets in the past, but this was my first corselette.  I made sure to study up on it as much as I could, as well as getting great advice from Dawn Luckham on the boning for the corselette.    I also used Dawn's wonderful tutorial on how to cut and tip boning.  The boning I have used in the past I just measured and purchased already cut and tipped bones.  Not knowing what this project was going to be like, I needed to have the freedom to make bones as needed and time was short, so learning to do my own was great!

The corselette was made from cotton batiste and cotton/poly drill.  The batiste was closest to the body and the drill was the outer layer.  By lining the corselette, I was able to make boning channels by stitching the two layers together, where needed.  You can see my chalk lines drawn all over the corselette as well as the waist stay pinned.  The back closure is a separating zipper, which was cut down to size, when all was done.

I quickly threw the dress onto the dress form, but it was not set up for Merissa's measurements, so the dress does not sit properly on it, but that's OK.  I was trying to get placement for the straps I was putting on.  I decided to quickly take a couple of pictures.  This was after a very long night of sewing, so the display is not very good...sorry about that.

From this picture you get a good idea of the colours of the fabric.

Here is a picture of Merissa in her new dress, at the wedding.  Unfortunately, you can't see the colours of the dress well, but you get an idea of the fit and more importantly, you see Merissa's wonderful expression, which truly gives a glimps into her beauty. :)

Carol

Western Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress

To match her brothers' Western Wear, Olivia now has a beautiful western style dress, made from the Oliver + S Jump Rope Pattern.

I had to grade up the pattern and took it up to about a size 12, which is a tad too big for Olivia at the moment, but I am sure it won't take long at the rate she is growing, to have this fitting her properly. :)

I did make some changes to the pattern, but the main was to lengthen the placket, based on reviews of the pattern and how tight the dress was to get over the head. I lengthened the placket by 2", giving me room for another snap. Olivia can get this on over head with ease.

When I graded up the pattern, I started with using the bodice from style B as it had a little more ease to it than style A.

Again, based on reviews of the pattern on the forum, I chose to shorten the belt loops, allowing the belt to stay in place a bit better.

Using my lucet, I made some cording for some piping for the collar.

I really like the looks of this dress and can see making many more from this style for Olivia. The pattern is well written and designed. Making the placket longer I think is a necessary feature, both for comfort and for ease, especially for children who are self dressing. :)

Two thumbs up for this pattern. :)

Sleep well,

Carol

Oliver + S Hopscotch Dress #2

One of the things I like to do when I make a garment for Olivia is to display it on the dress form for when she wakes up. It's fun to see her expressions when she comes up the stairs to see the new dress. :) She appreciates what I make for her and it's always a joy to put together something she appreciates.

The pattern goes together very quickly. This was made from a cotton knit we picked up at Sewing Expo this past march. Olivia really liked the fabric, so we purchased it.

Next time I make this pattern, I am going to do a few different things to it.  I'm not sure when  I will get to that, but in the near future, I hope. :)

Cowgirl Meets Camo.....Oliver + S

I had some girl camo fabric in my stash and Olivia had been wanting a dress or shirt made from it. We decided to do it now, because her brothers received new camo t-shirts. Using for the first time, the Oliver + S Hopscotch dress pattern, I whipped up a dress for Olivia.

The dress matches Olivia's cowgirl hat, and she put it altogether with her boots. The boots aren't exactly cowgirl style, but they will be a good substitute.

Joel thought Olivia needed a gun for when mummy took pictures....so here is Olivia hamming it up with a gun. She was being very silly.

The pattern came together very quickly. I am finding that these patterns tend to run a bit smaller from their published 'body' measurement sizing. I bumped Olivia up to the size 12 pattern and it came out perfectly. The length was good for her and the width worked well too. I have another dress cut out in some lovely butterfly fabric. and I am hoping to have that sewn together very soon.

Olivia had another cowgirl hat from earlier in the summer. We decided to purchase it because of the 'breast cancer' logo on it. One and a half years ago, Olivia participated in The Pink & Red Charity Event at Sewing Expo in Puyallup, Washington. Little did we know just how much more our lives would be affected by breast cancer. This past year, from Aug. to Dec., two more sisters were diagnosed with the disease. Life is a precious gift. We are learning to treasure it more each day.

Carol

Western Wear

The shirts are finished and the boys are very, very happy.  This was a fun project to do for the boys and I am happy we were able to finish them up before the Stampede was over.  We don't attend the Stampede, but the general attire around the cities and towns is western wear for the full 10 days of the show.  Since we live in red neck country, western wear is acceptable all year long, but at this time of year, more people participate in wearing western wear. :)

I used the Kwik Sew pattern #2274, but I had to grade up the pattern to fit my boys.  I find that at this stage of development, it's hard to find patterns that fit well for boys.  They are the size of small men, but not quite at the height, so the small men's sizes don't really fit them very well.  Grading up a boys pattern works easier for me, than trying to grade down a small men's pattern.

 Here are some closer pictures of the shirt.  You can see the inside collar stand is made from the contrasting fabric.

 The boys really, really like their new shirts and I am happy all went well.  My goal for this year was to work on men's dress style shirts, so I am off to a good start.  I am sure to be making more dress shirts for all my men. I realized there are so many details that various pattern makers put into their patterns.  Choosing which options to use to put the shirts together is difficult, but fun!  I will be trying out the various placket methods and such as I sew up more shirts.

The boys already have another project for me to work on for them.......the research has started and the process has begun.  This will be fun!

Thanks for visiting,

Carol

Beautiful Distractions.....And Projects On The Go.....

I had good intentions of getting some sewing done, but we had two very delightful, wonderful distractions that didn't quite allow me to get as much work done and I had hoped, but that's just fine.  These two precious boys stayed with us for a good week.  We were so fortunate to have them.  Lots of giggles, love and laughter in the house....just what we needed.









They were intrigued with the sewing machine and serger and really wanted to help.  We chatted about what the machines were doing and how they work and what I was making. They were eager helpers. 

Here is the project I am working on....hopefully it will be done very soon. :)

Good Night All!

Carol