Unprecedented Organisation

Believe it or not, I actually finished both of the girls Easter dresses for this year in January. Given that I started Sophie's last year, you could say it's actually the longest it's taken me to make them something, but I'm still celebrating this as a success. Yes, the Easter dresses are done.

Sophie's was in the cupboard from last year, you may remember I did post about it, but when we got it out and she wore it, I found it was a strange length. Almost too long to be a shirt, but not long enough to be a dress. Here she is pretending that her hand is being eaten by the bunny pocket:

The solution was to add a ruffle to the bottom edge to give it length. Luckily, I had the prefect white material to match in my stash, some lovely embroidered stuff. Who knows where it came from.

I'm a little concerned about it's longevity, give that it's white and the girls have no care for their clothes, but nothing else matched half so well, so we are going with it.

Spotlight had a pretty decent Boxing Day sale at the end of last year, and I picked up this grey bunny print fabric there that I thought Rachel would love. It's perfect for Easter - bonus. I was a bit worried about all the grey though, so I picked up a matching pink for $2 that I figured I could use as a ruffle somewhere. I told Rachel my plan and boy did she have input suggestions about that ruffle.

I was informed that her favorite dresses were ones with ruffles running down the sides of the bodice over the sleeves because the ruffles felt like wings. "I want to fly like a butterfly Mum!" Who can argue with such a sentiment from a little bug lover like Rachel?

I took the Izzy Top pattern out again and did some more hacking to add places for the ruffles. I just used two strips of the pink fabric, at least a metre long, ruffled up and put into place. After they were pinned in, I asked Rachel what she thought. My initial thoughts were that it was too big and needed tapering, but Rachel loved it. The rather enormous ruffles were exactly what she wanted and I was not allowed to change any of it.

Again, what can you do but just run with it?

Ruffles in, and bodice sewn, I finished the dress in a day. It's so much easier when you don't have to deal with zippers or buttons and you've made the pattern several times before. Easter dresses done. I nearly had to hide them until Easter, because both girls were so keen on wearing them, but after some careful explanations, and the promise that they could start wearing them just before Easter, they were satisfied. Whew.

Too bad we are now experiencing social isolation and the girls probably won't get to wear these dresses to any Easter celebrations anyway. Maybe I should have let them wear them back in January when I finished them after all. Luckily, even though COVID-19 is a reality in our lives right now, the girls don't particularly care too much about Easter events, and still just want to wear their dresses. Small wins.

Stay safe in these turbulent times people of the internet. And wash your hands.

K.I.D.S. .... Well, Kinda...

So you might be wondering what on earth the title of this post is all about. Well, I didn't realize quite how long it must have been until I was searching for the original idea for this post, but a while ago, I stumbled across the Kids Inspiration and Design Series (K.I.D.S) in the land of sewing bloggers. 

It was something brought to life by a sewing mum who wanted to create one of her daughters drawings, and you can read about that initial excitement here. The idea was that you had your children design something and you would make it into reality for them. Cool for everyone because it was a challenge for the mums and delighting for the kids.  

That initial idea grew and the blogger subsequently challenged other sewing bloggers to join her, and ran a series for three years. Somewhere along the line I saw it and also loved it. My girls were too  young at the time to even think of participating (Rachel wasn't even born actually!) but I tucked the idea away in my mind for later. 

This Easter holidays, I decided to give it a whirl. I actually managed to get photos of their drawings before they were recycled. To be honest, their drawings are not really very detailed, but they do give you an idea. The girls both talked more about what they wanted than they drew. Maybe next time I'll give a bit more design coaching. 

Anyway! Rachel was the first to take up the challenge, and immediately started drawing dresses (of course) that were covered in lady bugs (of course) and had pockets (of course) for collecting things in. She also wanted a shirt with a lady bug (and pockets) and a skirt with lady bugs (and pockets) and shorts underneath. Sophie jumped on this bandwagon with a similar request of a shirt with pockets and a bunny on it (because it's Easter and she was in bunny heaven). 

I quizzed them on what kind of shirts (fitted or loose) and we did a hunt through my material stash for fabric. Sophie loved this pale blue fabric with the white floral detail, which I've used before in her unicorn shorts here and here. It was free from Aunty Sue in Sydney and is so beautiful. She also loved this other floral print which I picked up from a fabric swap at the local sewing studio, Sewing Adventures, early in the year. There was not enough for anything else but this bodice lining, but it's still beautiful. 

There was no ladybug fabric in my stash (sorry Rachel), but we did find a white with blue floral butterflies that was nearly as good. Also a pick up from the fabric swap, with the intention of making something for Rachel with it, so I felt like it was a win. I ask again: free fabric, is there anything better? I wanted to make the girls something for Easter, so given the time constraints, I told them I would just be making them a shirt each (to start with), but that it would have their desired pockets.  

The pattern I used was the Izzy Top which I've used before (here), but can't seem to find the original pattern anywhere on the internet now. Thankfully it's still safe on my desktop, but sad for all the internet who probably can't find it. Anyway, before I made the tops, I stitched on some felt applique which also doubled as the pockets.

Sophie's is a bunny, as requested, and Rachel's is a lady bug, to try to bring some of her lady bug dreams come true. Rachel's is also lined with the same fabric that Sophie's is made out of (the blue and white floral).

Rachel was so delighted with hers that she wore it before I could get photos of it and what you see here is post-wash. Sophie's turned out a little big, and even though I offered to pin it in, she was content to grow into it and wear it next year.

So that's my first attempt at Kids Inspiration and Design Series. I do hope to do it again (or make a ladybug dress for Rachel to climb trees and catch bugs in at least). Aside from the design aspect, I think I did a good job of taking something that the kids inspired and made it into a reality.

Mass Production

This thing called mass production is really the best. I love it. I did it a bit last year when I made these birthday shorts (see?) and I got some cool new material recently so thought I'd make a few more. It's kind of handy knowing everyone has boys, because you really can just make a whole stack of boy shorts and then you are covered for the next six months or so of birthdays. Handy.

I did make five of them this time too (same pattern as last time, the Sycamore Shorts) but forgot to photo them until I'd given three away. Slightly silly, and when I went to photo them, it was a grey rainy day and the only place dry with good light was the front steps. Oh well.

Two pairs went to my sister's friend Jane in Melbourne who is having a little boy soon. One went to my nephew Harrison for his birthday this Thursday (spoilers). One more (the groovy ones with the blue pockets pictured here) went to Digby, my new friend Megan's little boy who will be one the same time as Rachel (spoilers again), and the last pair will go next door when they have their new bub in the next few weeks.

It's rather amazing how fast things go. Anyway, I am so loving the Izzy Top that I made for Sophie last year (see it on a hanger here, and on the child here). So I made another one for her (size 3, getting ready for next year). While I was at it, I made another two. One for one of the girls next door (Isla's birthday in May (spoilers!)) and one for my new friend Megan's little girl who will be three in July (more spoilers!).

What I love about these is the reversibility and the cool scalloped stitching I did on Isla's. So fun!

This Moment in Time

I'm pretty beyond excited to talk about what I've been working on in the spare moments, but it's not finished yet. Sorry people. On top of that, Sally the Sewing Machine started to make some very strange noises while I was finishing a part of it last night and I'm a bit concerned for her health and well being now. I hope she'll be ok, but I might take her into the shop or read the manual or something before I sew anything else.

Suffice to say, there has been some quilting involved so far. As well as the use of much of the material from my stash. Hooray!

In other news, remember that before Rachel was born, I got all organised and made a few things including this top for Sophie?

Well now (eight months later) it fits and she's wearing it. I love that it is reversible and I can't wait to make more. Am I addicted to sewing? Probably.

Last Minute Preparation: Dresses for Sophie

So you'd think that at nearly 39 weeks pregnant, I'd be doing last minute things for the new baby, or just lying around. You'd be wrong. Well, I am doing a fair bit of lying around, and we did do some final things in the nursery yesterday, but in the last week I've been preoccupied with some other things.

Given that I won't have much time on my hands to make Sophie (or the new baby for that matter) as many cool things as I have in the past, I thought I'd whip up a couple of size two outfits for her so they were ready when the time came. I am really happy with the results, though I have to say my gathering skills are still lacking in finesse.

 Firstly, I made an Izzy Top, with the free pattern found on Climbing the Willow. I have to say, I'm really thankful for the internet and all of the free things that it gives away. Because the bodice of this top is completely lined, some creative sewing meant that I could actually make the whole thing reversible. Two tops in one!

I'd do it differently next time, but it was good learning and practice. The back closes with a snap so no yucky button holes to navigate for me. I am well pleased.

The next thing I made was a Sally Dress from Very Shannon. I made another of these in December/January for Sophie's First Birthday. I really like that it has no buttons or zips, but it can be a little fiddly to get all of the bodice sewn. That said, it did only take probably an hour and a half from start to finish, so I can't really complain.

I lined the pockets and bodice with some of the left over material from the Izzy Top. Despite it's pink-ness, I really like it.... what's happening to me??

I did put away the sewing machine this morning with a bit of a sigh, knowing I've actually finished the important things on my to-do list and it might be a while before I can get Sally the Sewing Machine and Olivia the Overlocker out again, but I'm inspired by an idea for a travel mat, and some new car toys for Sophie, so maybe it won't be so long as I think.