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

Oliver + S Ice Cream Social Dress

This is Olivia's new Oliver + S dress.  It is made form the Ice Cream Social Dress Pattern .  I made the dress from a medium weight  embroidered cotton twill.  I chose to change the pattern up a bit.  I lengthened the dress by 4", adding the 4" between the bottom of the middle section and the hem of the dress. 

For the yoke, I added 1/2" to the bottom of it, so that I could assemble the yoke differently.  After reading some of the reviews on the forums for the Oliver + S site I knew I wanted to do things a little differently.  By adding the extra 1/2" to the bottom of the yoke, I was able to assemble the back yoke pieces slightly differently.  I was able to stop my sewing 1" before the end of the center back yoke pieces.  That left me with 1" to sew the back pieces together, giving the yoke a solid seam line, allowing me to put the dress back piece in much easier.  I will try to explain this and show pictures in my next posting on the dress.

I chose to stitch the skirt portion of the dress to the outside of the yoke pieces, stitching the inside yoke by hand.  The pattern calls to do this differently and perhaps one of these times I might do it that way.  I like hand stitching and this was a nice project to take along to stitch.

The dress assembles together easily.  I am playing with this pattern to get ideas for making dresses for Destiny Dresses and to do so in a way that is simple and quick.  This is an excellent pattern, easily put together with clear instructions.  The length for the dress is short for my liking, but that is easily adjusted. :)

Carol

Swimdress

We finally took pictures of Olivia's swimdress. Unfortunately, it was at night, before getting ready for bedtime. No sunshine or beautiful green outdoor pictures. Olivia decided to be silly....it was quite funny.





The patterns used were the Girls' Regency dress Pattern and Girls' Pantaloon pattern. The skirt portion of the swimdress was just a rectangular piece of fabric that I gathered and attached to the pantaloon part of the dress. I re-purposed an old swimdress of her sisters that was hardly used, but the material was too good to throw away, so I used it for this one. I'm not excited about this swimdress, I liked the older one better. The suplex for the skirt in the older one is very nice. I think I might go back to that style for the next one. With the way she is growing these days, I could easily see needing to make another one before the summer is out....maybe.

At least Olivia had a swimdress to wear in time for lessons and now the lessons are more than half way finished. :)

Good night,

Carol

A Sewing Bee (Sewing Love)

By now, many who read my blog will have heard of the devastating losses that have taken place in the southern US. It's very hard to fully understand the pain and grief all the families have had to face.

I have heard of two of the families, and know they are dear friends to a friend of mine. Please take a little time to read this information and join us in prayer for these families. Sewing Love

If you would like to be part of the "Sewing Love" we would dearly appreciate all the help.

Sewing for many people can be therapeutic. In a time of great loss, I would like to see these families be able to have time to focus in on their skills to help them work through their losses and their grief, as time allows for it. The sewing supplies become low on the priority of list of things needing replaced at times like these, which is understandable. We put our heads together and the Lord worked out this small way in which a sewing community could help. These families make many of the garments their family wears. In a very small way, we thought being able to help build up their sewing supplies would not only help in the healing process, but hopefully meet their families' needs.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Blessings to you,

Carol