Trio of dresses done for my troublesome Princess :)

Well 3 out of 4 aint bad!

A long while ago Louise picked out her own pattern and Fabric from Ashley Brooks and I have only just got around to sewing them (bad mummy). 

       

Nice and simple pattern, great for the summer. These are the three fabrics Louise picked, I had the pink ditsy print in my bag from a previous visit. The muslin was nice and easy to put together. The first dress (pink ditsy with trim) I left out the buttons due to my fear of button holes….Not a good move!!!

          

So here we have my first ever attempt at button holes. My machine has a 3 step button hole setting but the sides come out different so I had to redo one side on a smaller stich size to make them look the same.  Second time round I got better but not paying attention too my measuring I made the top ones bigger (whoops). The gathering was nice and simple, used 2 basting stiches and pulled. I was also very impressed with the neatness of the neck and arm lines when lining is used.

     

All straight seams were French seams I am so impressed as its the first time I have done “real” ones :) I also used a long strip of fabric as bias type binding to hide the join at the waistband and stop it irritating Louise's skin. She is a happy bunny.

 

Its reportedly going to hit 28 degrees tomorrow here in the UK so she might just get a chance to wear them out! Now onto my dresses *big grin*

Yay Yay Yay Jersey Dress Finished

**DISCLAIMER** The following pictures were taken with the aid of my 4yr old daughter so please excuse the poor focus in some and I also HATE having my picture taken :o)

 

This dress has been in my to do pile since I brought the fabric back in February and I am so please its finished.

The fabric itself is a very very stretchy jersey fabric. I had to use a pattern specifically for knits/jerseys as I have never sewn with it before and was unsure. I did run into a few problems but needless to say it turned out ok in the end.

I used Project Runway 2883 and after reading the reviews and doing a bit of research I decided to modify the pattern by adding 2.5 inches to the bodice and shortening the skirt so the gathering was on my waist not under my bust (it really would have looked like a maternity dress on me).

   I paid less than £1.60 for this little beauty on eBay!

My biggest problem was gathering the fabric. I don't have a gathering foot yet so I done it using two lines of long stitching. This part was fine but trying to stitch the gathers in place was near on impossible for me and bloody well frustrating. I ended up going round the skirt/bodice join and tried to manually gather as i stitched which got most of the gathering secured. Then I tried the dress on and realised that the stitching would not hold with the stretch of the fabric…I wanted to cry by this point!

so I decided to use elastic….

I dont know what made me think of it but I thought it would be more secure, give the waist line more definition and help with the gathering issue. It did thankfully (I would not have want to unpick all that zigzag stitching lol)

  This is the view from the front so I was relatively pleased with the outcome.

The seams were nice and easy. I just used a basic fold over hem on the neck, arms  and hem  being careful not to stretch the material and the great thing is you can hardly see the stitching.

Below is the front and back as the dress is un-accessorised.

 

And me being silly because my four yr old was getting the hump with pressing the shutter button lol!

Presenting my first Burda (SS 2012–425)

Well I never! This was a first for me despite I having brought all issues of Burda Style since January I have yet to use the patterns. This is top 425 from the Burda Plus magazine, Spring/Summer 2012.

            

I love the fact its asymmetric with different length sleeves and the collar is unusual. The only thing I am upset with is that the fabric I used (a fantastic silky feel bi-stretch from Ashley Brook Fabrics) did not drape as well as I expected. Next time I will use a much thinner and a better draping fabric. My bad.

The biggest thing that scares me about the Burda patterns that come with the magazines is purely this:

            

It is the reason I am yet to use any of their patterns. It was hard but I managed to fins all the lines and pieces, I will admit there were a few minor errors but hey-ho. I did make a quick muslin just to check the sizing and to see if it suited me.

What I am most please with is the fact I was so very good on this project and made sure I finished off all the seams. I don’t have a over-locker and I really did want to try French seams (but thought I should leave that to a pattern I am more confident with) so I finished all the seams as I went with fake French seams:

    

I have to admit I am pleased with how my techniques are coming along and how much more professional this garment looks compared to my last. I cant wait to get started on my next project.

This is also the first time I have used Live Writer to compose my blog and am finding it very good and easy to use especially with the layout of pictures.