Category — Dress ups

I’ve been absent from this blog, but not through lack of finished projects. Last month I sewed three tutus, a quilt, 2 pinafores and 4 skirts (including one for me!). I’ve also been very busy with the store, adding new fabrics and getting parcels of goodness wrapped and sent out to people. I’m loving the beautiful fabrics I’m sewing with and the summery creations I’m making with them, although things would run a lot more smoothly if I had 30 hours in each day.

Here are the tutus I made for Zoe and her 2 cousins. Believe it or not these are getting easier to sew, although I have no tutu plans for at least the next 6 months.

I also got my quilts back from the quilter. Now *all* I need to do is so on the binding.

Did I say 30 hours in a day? Any chance of 32?

It is school holidays here, and I have been diligently finishing some of the large projects I started last term before I let myself start on any new sewing. After finishing the first of them last night (the blanket) I couldn’t help but sneak into my sewing room for 30 minutes this morning for a bit of fun.

Here is the Build-a-Bear bunny Zoe got at her last birthday party sporting her brand new veil:

Isn’t that just what any self-respecting bunny needs?

Pictures of blanket and other diligently finished projects to come.

I am aware that I tend to complain a lot about the sewing that I do. Projects are too long, or too hard, or I make too many mistakes. I really don’t want this blog to become a negative place - so I’m making a concerted effort not to complain any more. From now on, happy light-hearted stories only.

On that note, let me introduce last weeks project:

Thankfully these tu-tus were a joy to sew! No battling with my machine to sew the lycra, no breaking my $10 Schmetz twin needle, no staying up until 3am to get them finished in time for a party, and certainly no tantrums, swearing or dummy spitting involved. Nope, these were a piece of cake, and I highly recommend them to any sewer who has a long list of half-finished projects, a backlog of paperwork and a dirty house

One of the lucky recipients came to play with Zoe today and the girls wore their tu-tus the for the entire day. Awww, seeing these girls prancing around in their pink tulle made all the effort joyful labour worthwhile. And I can’t help but think that I might attempt another one of these some day soon (which is is more than can be said about that dasted pettiskirt!).

Ooops - nearly let some negativity slip in there. Nope, all is happy, all is good!

I am finally making progress on this:

But couldn’t resist dumping it this week for something a bit more fun. This skirt is made from luscious soft European cord and was briefly for sale (now sold!). I have lots more cord (and velvet ) on the way and look forward to sewing with it.

Then I made this mock Flamenco skirt, also to sell, but Zoe fell in love with it and hasn’t taken it off. I was so excited that she liked something I made that wasn’t pink I had to let her keep it. We watched some You-tube Flamenco clips together and she is now quite the expert.

And of course with another birthday party today there was another cape to be made. I made this one out of a different fabric just to prove I’m not showing the same one over and over. No not really, I made it out of different fabric because I had already emptied the bolt of the other. We have another two parties tomorrow and then the fridge is clear of invites…for now.

My kids aren’t really that popular - it’s just that the kids in Zoe’s kinder class seem to all be having ‘all-class’ parties, and with 28 kids in the class, that’s a whole lot of parties…

I made Zoe a sparkly skirt last week.

It goes very well with her pink boa:

And her cape:

Of course she can only wear it when she’s not wearing this little number:

Or this one:

At least Zoe the magnet wears the dress ups I make her*, because Zoe the four year old still prefers the $2 Sparties dress (which I conveniently left out of the photo shoot).

Magnets inspired by the fabulously clever women over at Sugar City Journal.

*Sparkly pink skirt made by Kirsty (which easily gets the most miles!).

Last week I got myself a gathering attachment for my overlocker, allowing me to gather, overlock and sew pieces of fabric together all at once. Of course the obvious time to buy such an attachment would have been before making a pettiskirt, but for some strange reason at that point in time I was feeling frugal. Luckily for me the urge to be frugal has left and have I ever had my $25 worth of enjoyment out of this little accessory. With some spotty fabric I (frugally) bought on sale at Spotlight I made my first tiered skirt, and if it weren’t for the 53 unfinished projects covering my sewing table I would be sitting down this minute gathering my way through my fabric stash.

Here’s the spotty skirt which I think Zoe received more excitedly than perhaps any other piece of clothing I have made for her:

Here’s Zoe modelling the skirt:

And here’s why Miss Zoe thinks this is a good one:

Oh - and what’s this? Another wizard’s cape?

You betcha! Another party today…and still one more invite on the fridge.

I’m going to try to finish some projects over the next week, which is not nearly as fun as starting a whole bunch of new projects, but I have sewer’s guilt which I’m going to try to alleviate. Then I’m going to alleviate my fabric buyer’s guilt by sewing up some of the piles of fabric under my cutting table which is earmarked for various purposes. Hopefully then I’ll start on something new.

This is my favourite yet, and far simpler to sew than attempts one and two.

Two more birthday parties this month. Is it wrong to give all the children in the class the same gift?

Ever since I made these capes I have been thinking about how I could improve the design. With a 4 year old birthday party coming up (and the sparkly stretch velour on special at Spotlight!) I decided it was time to give the cape another go.

I am much happier with this version. Rather than a rectangle, this one is a semi-circle (it would have been a full circle, but I only bought 1 metre of fabric). This one also has some special hemming tape in the bottom to make it flair out which is a nice touch.

I have a number of improvements in mind for the next one though, including the use of lining inside of it instead of satin which makes the cape too heavy for a four year old (I know - I felt like Einstein when I came up with the idea of using lining for a lining. Pure genius I tell you!). I also have a better idea for the neck shape. Oh and the next one will be pink, because next weekend it is a 4 year old girl’s party.

Here’s Zoe doing her best wizard impersonation before we wrapped the cape up for the party

We had a much better day today. No cooking, no bike kicking, and much less yelling. It seems to take several days for the kids to settle in to the idea of holidays. Thanks goodness they seem to be feeling a bit more relaxed and finally so do I.

This morning I was cutting out a skirt downstairs when Zoe called me up to the sewing room to see the dress she had designed. She had the fabric laid out on the floor - and asked me when I could make it for her. I picked up the fabric, sat at the machine, and told her she’d have a dress in no time. Thirty-three minutes later - here is the result:

After I had taken the photo Zoe said to me ‘Mum I didn’t expect it to be bunchy around the waist - but that’s ok, because I don’t mind when you make mistakes’. That’s her sweet way of telling me that she hates the dress and will never wear it again. Oh well, at least I got some shirring practice in.

I went to Spotlight later in the day and very nearly bought an arsonal of fabrics and trims to make her a fairy dress that she will actually wear. You see no matter how many hours I spend shirring satin (or nylon chiffon), the only dress she will wear is the made in China $2 number I bought from the bargain box at Sparties. She has worn that dress 7 days running now! I managed to come to my senses and realise that I could never compete with the $2 Sparties dress, and came home with just a few choice sparkly materials for my sparkly stash. And some linen…and some denim…and some lace. LOTS of sewing going on around here right now

I’m sitting here eating the kids Easter Eggs so I better hurry up and hide them and get to bed. No doubt it will be an early start tomorrow. Happy Easter!

Yep - that’s where I’ve been all weekend. Sewing thousands of yards of nylon chiffon. Ugh! I know I know I know….it’s not like I wasn’t warned. Who in their right mind would make one of these things when for a very quick and painless $75 you can buy one? Yeah…well…where is the challenge in that?

The truth is that I was never particularly in love with these things to begin with. But then more and more people kept getting them in more and more impressive colours, and then people started making them, and then I realised that I my daughter needed to have one like all the other mother’s girls. And since I was never going to pay more than $20 for one…I needed to make one. So I bought the chiffon, thinking I’d tuck it away to make one day when I had nothing better to do. But then I saw more and more pettiskirts arriving and my need to make one of these things grew stronger and stronger.

So, late on Friday night I started cutting out strips of chiffon, and then I sewed straight lines down that chiffon for hours on end, until the site of the fabric itself made me want to gag. The odd bits of ruffle I was trying to join together kept reminding me of cheap lingerie, and I wondered how on earth this thing was a) ever going to be finished, and b) ever look any good.

Well once I started there was no way back…so I emerged from the sewing room 2 days later with the skirt. I’d like to crow about how it was all worth it - but to be honest I’m still a bit bruised to really be able to enjoy looking at it. Anyway - after I begged Miss Zoe to try it on (she’s been sick with gastro all weekend and I think the nylon chiffon might make her feel nauseous too), she seemed happy enough to perform for the camera.

So now my daughter can hold up her chiffon masterpiece to her overawed friends and announce that it was her mum who created such a magnificent piece of art. And one day I’m sure I’ll look back and say it was all worth it. One day!