The Sally Dress!

8.26.2013

O is just a bit obsessed with My Little Pony nowadays.  How obsessed?  Well, the other day she asked the babysitter if she had a horn on her head (you know - like a unicorn horn).  Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty obsessed.


So when I was lucky enough to pattern test Shannon’s newest pattern, the Sally Dress, I knew that I wanted to draw a little inspiration from something that O loves so much.  And when it came time to pick a pony as inspiration I settled on Rainbow Dash because who doesn't love a rainbow colored pony?

So just in case you were ever wondering, this is what you get when you cross an awesome new dress pattern with a rainbow colored creature.


To make the bodice I first pieced five strips together (each a little less than two inches in width) and I then cut the bodice out from the pieced fabric (super easy!).  Fortunately, I had just enough pieced fabric left over to cut out the pocket linings as well, so now there’s a nice little rainbow surprise in each pocket.  


And look at these pockets!  They are awesomely large (and allow for some really fun topstitching)!  


Because this dress was made from the test version of the pattern the pocket placement is a bit off so this dress is a little shorter than I originally imagined, but in the end I came to love the shortness of the dress and the vintage feel of the length.  O obviously loved it too - I mean, isn't this the face of a happy customer?



Which brings me to my latest idea – a whole series of My Little Pony inspired dresses.  Is that the most ridiculous thing that you’ve ever heard?  Possibly.  But I know that it’s something that O will just love.  And how could I say no to someone who thinks that she's walking around with a unicorn horn on her head?


Want to make your very own Sally Dress?  Grab the pattern here.

Manic Summer Sewing In The Form Of A Maxi Dress

8.23.2013

Having just returned from our last summer trip and with O starting school in less than two weeks I'm starting to realize that this summer is quickly drawing to an close and this realization is making me finish all my summer sewing projects at a manic pace.  First up, this maxi dress which I made with McCall's 6559.


I originally ordered this fabric to make the dress several months ago, but after receiving the fabric I wasn't in love with the fact that it was a bit textured so I decided to tempt the fates again and I ordered a different knit fabric from Girl Charlee.  And I'm so glad that I did.  This dress is made with a cotton/lycra blend and it is the perfect weight (awesome drape without being sheer) in addition to being ridiculously comfortable.  Like "I'm pretty sure that I'm wearing a nightgown in public" comfortable.


The contrast fabric is leftover from another project and is also a cotton/lycra blend.  The pattern calls for you to just turn under the neckline and armholes and hem them but I wanted something a bit more finished so I opted to bind them using this tutorial.  Ben things I'm rocking a little bit of a sports jersey look but I'm okay with that.

As for sizing I cut out a size 10 based on my measurements and graded out to a size 12 around the hip area but in the end up I ended up taking up the shoulders and taking in the side seams around 3/4 of an inch.  Oh, Big Four patterns, why is your sizing always so off?  Might you some day learn a little something about sizing from all those amazing indie designers?  A girl can dream, right?

Dulling The Pain

8.13.2013

Have you missed me? (Wait – don’t answer that question. I’m just going to pretend that you said yes.)

Things around here have been a bit topsy-turvy lately.  We had a house guest for all of July which meant that my sewing room was officially turned into our guest’s bedroom.  Somehow it seemed a bit rude to say “excuse me, could you get out of your bedroom so I can feed my compulsion to sew?” so sadly not much was sewn around here during the month of July.  Plus, I’ve been in the middle of completing my first prerequisite class (you know, in all my spare time).   

But now I can officially say that that my first class is d-o-n-e!  Which would be a lot more exciting if I didn’t have 8(!) more classes to go.  But for now I’m just enjoying the fact that I have my sewing room back and I’m out of class until the middle of September, giving me both a place and time to sew.  Hurray!

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To be completely honest though, I actually finished this top sometime in June…I’m just really horrible at getting around to taking pictures.  This tee is from the Scoop Top pattern, designed by the wonderful and talented (and nice!) Kristin of Skirtastop.  This is actually the second top that I’ve made from this pattern but the first one turned out to be a bit of a disaster due to my poor fabric choice.  When the pattern first came out I was so excited to make it that I settled for using whatever fabric was in my stash and unfortunately all I had was a rather thick cotton/lycra blend.  This resulted in a top where the flared sides stuck out rather draped beautifully.  Not a good look.  Plus, I completely messed up the neckline and was too lazy to go back and fix it.  Needless to say, that shirt is now back in the fabric stash, waiting to be cut up into little waistbands the next time I get around to making some kid's undies.  Fortunately my fabric choice for this version was much wiser and, therefore, this top is approximately a thousand times more wearable (that’s just an approximation).   The only modifications that I made in making this top were that I slimmed the sides just a tad bit and I cut out my own neckband piece - which was probably a bad move on my part because my neckband ended up being a little wonky.  Eh, you live, you learn.  

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Perhaps one of the greatest things about the Scoop Top pattern though is how little fabric it uses.  I bought two yards of this fabric from GirlCharlee and after making my Scoop Top I had enough left over to make a top for O too. 

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Her top is the Banyan top by Figgy's that I purchased many months ago in the Sew Fab e-pattern sale.  Why oh why did I take so long to make this top?  It’s incredibly easy to make, comfortable, and stylish.  Perfect for O’s back-to-school wardrobe.  And by back-to-school wardrobe, I actually mean starting-school wardrobe because my baby’s going to school for the first time this year.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to reminiscence about how this girl was once my one and only tiny little baby.  Don’t worry though – I’ll be reminiscing while we both wear our matching shirts.  It dulls the pain.

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August 4, 2013

8.10.2013

The day my baby discovered her nose.