Clothes sewing

Mandala dress

I finished this dress/ long top for my 3 year old today, it was quite a process, but well worth it! First came the dyeing then the sewing, as I wanted separately coloured pieces. I used habotai silk and made up the design as I went along.

The back view is a beautiful turquoise. I love turquoise. The dress sits gorgeously on her and is light and flowing.

I’ll be making these in various sizes for my Etsy shop once I do a little more tweaking. I think they would do well at a market too, which I hope to do eventually. If anyone is interested in pre ordering for Christmas you are most welcome to contact me.

Lotsa leggings!

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’ve made many pairs of leggings for my girls this winter and I think they would be quite happy to live in them permanently. They look great on their own, with a skirt or with a dress. And they keep those little legs toasty warm.

Did I mention that leggings are super easy to make? I’ve used the same Burda pattern over and over.

I bought this beautiful spotty soft cord from Craft Mamas to make pants for G (that’s a little pocket on the leg there, it’s hard to see). I was a little disappointed when she proclaimed that they are “horrible!”

Apparently this is because they’re not leggings!

Ah well, lucky she has two little sisters who can grow into them.

Jalie Men’s top

by Kelly 2 Comments

I made this top using light grey Stella from the Crafty Mamas Shop for my husband’s birthday. He has been asking me for so long to make him something but I had never “got around to it”. I’m really pleased with the result, the fit is beautiful and most importantly, he loves it!

I really recommend the Jalie pattern, it was easy to follow, there aren’t many pieces and it came together in a fairly short amount of time.

You’ll have to take my word for it that he is very handsome – I was allowed to post these pictures on the condition that they were “anonymous”!

He has asked me to make some more so now I have an excuse to buy more fabric!

On the home front we have another birthday tomorrow – the little one is turning 1. July is a busy birthday month for our family.

The Melbourne Show planning continues – I’m now agonising over exactly what I will enter (embroidery, a doll, a toy???) and keep changing my mind. Entry forms have to be in next week so I’d better just make up my mind!

Easy fix for old pants

by Kelly 1 Comment

How many times do you find the elastic gone in a pair of pants or skirt that are otherwise fine? I saw these cute stripey knit pants at the op shop for a few dollars but the elastic around the waist was useless.

I had a length of fold over elastic (FOE) in my stash and thought of a quick way to fix the pants. I unpicked the old elastic band (admittedly this took a while but I knew it would be neater than just cutting it off). Then I simply stitched on the FOE (I had measured it around my daughter’s waist to get the right size first) with a zig zag stitch while stretching it as much as possible.

Have you ever used FOE? I know some of the Crafty Mamas use it for neck binding on t – shirts and tops but of course it’s main use is nappy making. Nappy supplies stores stock it.

The odd things our children do! This is how I found my almost 3 year old girl the other day, sitting perfectly still. Can’t say I blame her, it gets pretty rowdy here!

Hooray – a bit of sewing!

by Kelly 6 Comments

Life is so very busy these days I barely get to blog, let alone sew.

So much to do, so little time.

I did manage to make a top for Mim who turns 3 next week. I had the butterfly and chandeliers fabric saved for something “nice”. The pattern is from the book “Making Children’s Clothes” by Emma Hardy – a really cute little book full of simple kid’s patterns.

This top is actually a pajama top in the book, but I thought the style could suit day wear as well, I love the crossover style.

Not sure what happened with the sizing – I made size 4 but it’s going to be way too big on her.

I added a little suffolk puff with a button on the front.

If you haven’t seen me at your blog for a while please accept my apologies, I try to catch up here and there and comment when I can.

A fruitful week

by Kelly 1 Comment

It’s been great having a break and re focusing on the things I need to re focus on. Being away from the computer has given me more time to sew, embroider, homeschool, organise the house – I could go on. I’ve decided to restrict my computer time and prioritise.

I was going through my fabric trying to decide what to do with the smaller pieces of knit and thought it was high time I did some sewing for the little one.

The top is an Antonia and I used an old Burda pattern for the pants. A very cheap outfit too – the blue panne velvet for the pants was a freebie from someone who didn’t want it, the sleeves are from a swap with Gilly and the rest were Crafty Mamas fabrics I had left over.

Cute and comfy!

New play clothes

by Kelly 5 Comments

I made some much needed warm play clothes for the girls. This is what I like – simple and quick sewing with a cute result. I actually get a lot of clothes sewn up in my mind, but sadly not many in reality!

I modified the Miss Madeline dress pattern to make long tops with 3/4 sleeves.

The leggings are from a very easy Simplicity pattern.

This little one hasn’t quite got her “camera smile” figured out yet!

The fabric was all on special at Spotlight. I find knits really easy to work with these days, providing they don’t have too much stretch. I usually look for cotton with about 5% lycra or similar.

I’ll be making more of these, the girls find them so comfortable too.

Dyed skirt from scratch and a beautiful artwork

by Kelly 6 Comments

As I mentioned in another post, someone had skirt envy after seeing her sister’s old skirt makeover.

This time I made up the skirt as I went along. I started with white cotton lawn, made 3 tiers and an elasticated waistband.

The first dye bath was pink, then, while the skirt was still damp I dipped the bottom hem in yellow to get the graduated orange blending into the pink. The effect I was after was something like a sunset.

It’s a little more mottled than I would have liked and next time I’ll make the colours stronger, but it’s all good experience and plenty of fun.

My husband thinks I should make these to sell.

A while ago I won talented Israeli artist Ayelet’s giveaway and received this print of one of her artworks yesterday. It’s just gorgeous, she has a wonderful style. She’s also selling embroidery patterns of her artworks now, head over to her Etsy shop for a look.

Thank you Ayelet, I love it!

Skirt recon

by Kelly 9 Comments

We were given this skirt, it was a size 10, a bit grotty and stained and, well, you can see, not in the best condition. However, “G” could see it’s potential and “wanted it!”

First I cut out the dodgy old zip and seam and made an new, zipless side seam. I also cut off the original waistband and made a casing for elastic.

Next came the fun part – dyeing!

It was first dyed in a light turqoise colour and hung out to dry. Then I attempted graduation dyeing with a darker blue by dipping just the bottom hem for 10 minutes or so, wringing it out and wrapping in plastic overnight. Washed out again, hung out to dry and…….

Voila! A brand new skirt with a marvellous twirl factor!

Guess who else wants one now?

Hooray! Some sewing to show you!

by Kelly 9 Comments

Not one top finished, but two! I started with the Miss Madeline dress pattern for the top half then altered the bottom half (winged it, basically!) This one had to be “green and purple – my favourite colours!”

This one is the Miss Madeline pattern again, only shortened to make a long top instead of a dress. I prettied it up with some hand applique and embroidery.

A close up of the applique and embroidery. Both of the tops are made from Stella knit fabric which I purchased from Crafty Mamas.

I love making clothes for my girls, I find bought tops are cut way too short for little girls these days and pants are cut too low. I want my girls to look stylish but modest.