Pretty dress for someone else

I love making pretty dresses for other people. I like making pretty dresses, but there is very little call for a formal, strapless, ruched chiffon bodiced dress when dealing daily with two three year olds, so I don't make many for myself, funnily enough. (Not that I've ever worn a strapless dress myself anyway). Fortunately every so often I get a call from someone who was given my name by a friend for whom I made something once, and I get to make something pretty.

Note to self: Don't try to photograph flowy skirted dresses outside if there is even a breath of wind. It doesn't look blown about, but the skirt is wonky in this shot compared to the last one, and this was the best one!
I was going to document the construction a bit more thoroughly, but the teenager borrowed the camera batteries, the 11 year old had flattened the batteries first, and I just ran out of oomph on that idea, and much of it was sewn in the evenings when photography is difficult anyway so these two are all I have.

Bodice with ruched overlayer:
With empire band:
The dress has a separate boned corsolette with waist stay, and the dress itself is only joined at the top edge. I love this technique for strapless dresses - they STAY PUT and hang smoothly. This dress is the for teenage daughter of a teacher from Oliver's school (who was given my name by the secretary who was given it by one of the kids' teachers) for her school formal. She brought me a picture and I modified a Burda magazine pattern which is how I create almost all patterns for adults. So much easier than drafting from scratch!

Now back to the mischief of mice. (Apparently the collective nouns "horde" and "nest" are also applicable, but with a son like Nicholas "mischief" seems eminently more appropriate!

Getting a head start

So last year I made Nicholas and Isabella fabric activity books for Christmas. They were a great success, and I absolutely loved making them (and LOVE seeing the twins playing with them), so decided that I really should do more of this sort of thing. I was going to make an adorable mouse family and house for Isabella for her birthday, but, um, didn't get around to it. So right after their birthday I figured that it'd be great to make for Christmas, and if I start now I should get it all done with months to spare to make other presents. Good plan!

Here's prototype #1 for the mice. Cheap black acrylic craft felt, all hand blanket stitched. (Much easier with small fiddly pieces).

He (no idea why he's a he, but I'm certain that he is. Till I make "him" a dress) has his feet on the issue of Homespun from which part one (of two) the pattern is taken. (Issue #89, Vol 11.10, in case anyone wants to know). Designed by Rosalie Quinlan, the project has a family of four mice and their house as a carry case. This mouse, um, isn't one of them. The head comes from a Handmade magazine from at least ten years ago, and the body I think I drafted myself. I did use Rosalie's limbs. I seem to be incapable of using pretty much any pattern as the designer intended.

I expected this guy to be prototype #1 - ie, that more prototypes would follow before I splash out on nice wool felt to make the real ones, but I'm really really pleased with how he turned out, so he may end up being part of the family! I fancy shades of grey. (Georgia wants a purple one. Which I think I'll make her)

As before I'm not making any attempt to hide the making from the twins, and Nicholas has been fascinated by me making a mouse. This may well end up being a shared gift - the bane of twin childhood!

I Demand A Recount!!!

According to the calendar today is the twins' third birthday. It can't be three years since they made their seven-weeks-early entry into the world!

It is incredibly hard to get two three year olds to cooperate for a photo intended to showcase their new clothes.
Isabella's dress is the one I made a couple of months ago and wasn't happy with. Yesterday I suddenly thought that adding godets would provide the needed fullness, and sat up feverishly sewing till after 11.30pm to finish it. It wouldn't have been so late if I hadn't also had to sew a new shirt for Nicholas. He has seen the robot stencil appliques I've put on other things and rather plaintively asked "My ah-but?". So I made him an ah-but shirt of his own. I also made him new trousers. (I only had the hems and elastic to do on those yesterday though). He chose the dragon applique and when shown them yesterday afternoon insisted on putting them on immediately. (The gigantic sweatshirt is the one he wore home from kindy after playing very enthusiastically with the water table).
Just as well I took the pic as soon as he put them on because about 30 minutes later I was reminded that small boys who are not long potty trained shouldn't be put into new trousers which you want them to wear the next day.
I love this stretch corduroy but my overlocker hates it so I had to zig zag the seam allowances. Thank goodness for my walking foot!

What I did In My (Kids') Holidays

Man kids can get underfoot! I happily waved them off this morning, back to school after two weeks and sat down to the computer without anyone whining that it must be their turn!

I'll have to get the girls (there were five for two days) to bring over the voodoo dolls "we" made - two solid days of entertainment - for a photoshoot. (They very quickly dropped the voodoo bit in favour of fashion)

The Teenager has provided much of the fodder for this post. I got up one morning to find this on my desk.
He'd been asking for days, so this was pretty polite, so I fixed his jeans.

Then there was his other request, "Mum, can you make a mask like a balaclava with no eye or mouth holes?" (He was asking if I was able, before asking if I would!) "Um, yes, WHY?!" For a photography project involving a doll which comes to life. The doll has no features so the person playing the doll-come-to-life needs a mask of no features. I haven't made the actual mask, but have worked up a toile - I'll post the details when I've made the mask!

Which led to his next request - could I please make a tiny suit for the doll which was to come to life. He told me his photography teacher had those poseable artists' dolls which he could borrow, and would bring one home for me to dress. I thought I could just alter Barbie clothes patterns and it'd be fiddly but doable. Till he brought home the doll and I realised that it is 12cm tall. Instead of slightly enlarging Barbie patterns I had to scale them to 50% of their original size and then modify them a bit for use. Holy Cow that boy owes me big!!!
I used acrylic craft felt because I figured it'd be easiest to use. It was easy to use, but I still had to sew all those teeny tiny seams by hand. It's not even close to perfect, but it is good enough. And I am NOT doing another one!!!!! The Teenager is perfectly happy with the suit and admits that I'm the Best Mum In The World.

Eagle eyed readers may have noticed my back drop:I chanced upon it on Book Depository for GBP9.75!!!!! (It's now GBP12.88, which is still a great price, especially since they have free shipping worldwide) I ordered it as fast as I could get my credit card out of my wallet. (And then sheepishly phone the bank to activate the card, which I've had for several months, which shows how often I use it) It arrived in under two weeks (Easter was in there, so that was pretty good time!) and to my delight, it's even the English version! Happy happy happy. (The photo on the site doesn't have the "now in English" sticker on the cover, so I was expecting Japanese) I um, also ordered Pattern Magic 2 on Saturday when I noticed the price was no longer GBP19.95 but GBP12.88. Fingers crossed for the English version! I just noticed it's back at GBP19.95 today, so this is presumably something to watch for.

Project #1 (of several I plan to make) toile:

I forgot to set my dummy to my size, so it hangs awkwardly. But you get the idea. When I make it for real I'll model it myself. To my utter astonishment when I made a toile of the basic bodice block from the book (with nothing altered except for adding 3cm to the length) it fit perfectly! I actually said WTF? (not abbreviated) when I tried it on. I did have to make the largest size, but apparently I'm proportioned like a Japanese woman. Sadly the modified version of this block (which was to be manipulated into the design) didn't fit perfectly, but required only minor alterations before I could start the hack-and-slash, I mean pattern manipulation.

I also made a few garments from my own designs, one of which was a simple boys' shirt. I stenciled paw prints up the front, over the shoulder and down the back, but had the iron too hot when I heat set the ink and ruined the front panel. When I was having a go at gently stretching it to see if it was salvageable I did this:
And swore again. And tried to be grateful that at least I could remove and replace the panel, and even salvage the pocket.

Photos of the garments made are going to have to wait for a sunnier day than this. I am so over winter. Which doesn't even START for another month.....

To finish this rather all-over-the-place post, a story about the Teenager. Once a month or so he has three or four friends over for an overnight computer game session. They all bring their computers, network them together and proceed to kill each other all night. They traditionally eat pizza and chips, but last time decided to get chicken nuggets, wrap them in bacon, batter and deep fry them. This was a huge success, and the Teenager has decided that deep-frying is the best. So occasionally I get up in the morning to discover evidence (reasonably well cleaned up) that he's had a deep-fried snack overnight. One morning I got up to find three battered and fried discs on a plate in the fridge. I couldn't work out what they were (and wasn't game to try one!) so waited till the Teenager got up and asked him. The answer? Biscuits (cookies). I asked why he'd battered and fried biscuits and the reply was that he'd had batter left over after he'd made a jam sandwich, spread nutella (chocolate and hazelnut spread) all over it and covered it it batter before deep frying it. I think cinnamon and sugar came into it somewhere as well.

I am speechless.

Coat for Isabella

While I was pretty happy with progress on Isabella's coat the motifs on the front just didn't quite look right. The lightbulb moment (also known as the Attack Of The Blindingly Obvious) was reading Gail's comment - that she'd wear it sans motifs. Um, yes. It immediately brought to mind a picture of the coat without them, and the obvious solution - take some off. I only unpicked the top two and bottom one, which I think improves the balance considerably.

The buttonholes are made with my Greist buttonholer, which I love so much! Keely helped me pick buttons when we actually managed to meet up in person this week! (By "helped" I mean "distracted the twins while I looked at every button in Anne's and Threads")

Hard to photograph without it collapsing and hanging oddly. I need a child sized dress form.

And in other squealy excitement, this is currently drying on my kitchen bench.

Can't make it out? Here's a closer shot.

The logo designed by my clever friend, printed onto fabric with my computer printer! I used this tutorial, and it is so easy it's fantastic. Once it's dry I still have to heat set the ink with the iron, and do a test wash, but apparently they work really well. I can't wait to see how they stand up! I would love to print some vintage dress form images I have and make them into a collage to hang on my wall....

New stuff

I very firmly believe the adage that it aint what you know that counts, but who you know. I ran into M at her work a week or so ago (as opposed to running into her at our fortnightly craft nights, at which she is FORCING us to make a quilt. There you go M, I complained!) She mentioned running into a former colleague who has just opened a shop in Port Chalmers to sell locally made baby/kid stuff! Does that sound like me or what?! She suggested I contact her to see if maybe there'd be room for me. So I did, and yesterday I went to see her with some things. All of which are now in Little Chalmers on my behalf. I love designing, patternmaking and sewing. Don't like promoting myself, so having my things in a shop (on consignment) suits me perfectly!

Here's the latest crop. A bubble dress, modelled by Isabella. So willing. So unable to stand still. (I do love this shot though.)

Shirt.

Trousers. Not sure why the photo of the back is first, but it's too much trouble to shift them around before I post!
Front. I love the robot stencil. I have discovered that freezer paper stencils can be used more than once, which is great!

Here's Isabella in the altered Heidi dress. I re-cut the sleeves to be un-gathered petal sleeves which vastly improved the balance of the dress, and sewed buttons (from the shirts used) to hold the straps. Better.

Progress shot of Isabella's coat. Facial blurring done by Isabella, not me editing.
Back. Really loving this.
I still have to do buttonholes and buttons on a couple of things, but that means hauling out Georgia's sewing machine since it works much better with my buttonholer than mine since it actually sews slowly. Which mine doesn't. So that won't get done till the twins are in bed or at Kindy.

I'm on Felt!

Thanks to the fact that I know people who are way better at marketing me than me, I now have a presence on Felt. Neat huh? I realised a long time ago that I have confidence in my ability to do the designing, pattern making, prototyping and producing. I have pretty much no confidence at promoting myself. Thankfully I know Kahlia who has all that in spades, and she has taken on my stuff on my behalf. (And her Mum's a friend of mine so if she gets bolshy I can go crying to M!) Cheers Kahlia!

And since poor Isabella pretty much only gets prototype designs these days it was inevitable that her new winter coat would be one. The weather has suddenly gone from drab to "OhCr*pSheNeedsHerNewCoatSOOOOOOON!" So I thought I'd better crack on with it.

So far it looks like this.

Yeah, I should be sewing, not blogging!

Take Two

I would have finished this sooner, but I had to wait till I could get to town for thread. And I would have blogged it yesterday but the teenager had the camera batteries!

So here is Hotpatterns 1089, The Three Graces T shirt, take two. (Same fabric, totally new top) I've altered it very slightly from the original version - in about 6cm (total reduction) at the waist, and out about the same at the hip. I hemmed it at 3.5cm instead of the 5cm allowed, and messed with the neckline to make it less bulky where back meets front. I also omitted any form of sleeve, since I think it would have been too much in this shiny fabric. (And I like sleeveless tops - with a layer under for warmth I can wear this year round) I just used cross grain strips of self fabric to do a binding/facing on the armholes. Looking at these photos I think I should have spent a bit of time in front of the mirror arranging it to sit better, but it's probably better to have a truer representation of how a garment looks in the real world!

Back. Despite my waist reduction it's still not very shapely. I might have a fiddle with pinning out a little more on this one to see if it looks better, but I 'm not at all unhappy with this shape. I wonder whether the addition of a cb seam for additional shaping would be worth doing?
Verdict: this is (I think) the most expensive pattern I've ever bought, at around NZ$30, so I was very very keen for it to be a success. And I think it is. I love the drapes, and the way it feels to wear. While it was a lot of buck, I think it is worth it for the bang. And there are two more versions in the pattern to try......

Why prototypes are essential

Katy at No big Dill is hosting a month of guests showcasing clothing designs inspired by childrens books. What a great idea, I thought. I design childrens clothes, I read childrens books (I can recite "The Little Yellow Digger" from memory. Just ask David, who turned the pages for Nicholas while I recited it from across the room!).

So I started thinking about books, and suddenly thought of Heidi, my favourite book when I was a child. I remembered the illustrations, like this:

And this:
When I was about seven I got this dress as a hand me down from my cousin. I called it my Heidi dress and it was probably my favourite dress of my whole childhood.

So I decided to have a crack at a 21st century version along the lines of the designs I'm currently working on. Striped skirt, some gathers (I gathered a panel in the cf of the bodice and made puffed tulip sleeves, giving the feel of the peasant style original), flowers embroidered on the skirt (remember Heidi gathering meadow flowers?). Two recycled mens shirts (I'm sure Heidi wore recycled clothes) and here we go:
Looks ok on the hanger doesn't it?

Then I put it on Isabella. And inside my head I swore. Loud and long. I struggled to get a picture of her standing still and straight to show the problem in all it's glory, but you get the idea - the skirt collapses instead of gently flaring out (every other dress I have made along these lines, from this block, flared perfectly fine) and the SLEEVES!
This one really emphasizes the problems. Blech.
This is more like it should look. Unfortunately I don't think I can persuade Isabella to spend the day walking around with her hands in the air.
I am really annoyed - since I was using a known block and stable fabric I wasn't expecting this! I'm going to remake the sleeves (as much smaller probably un-puffed petal sleeves) and I'm thinking that some stiffening along the hem might help.

On a much less grumpy note, Beangirl has bestowed upon me the "Stylish Blogger" award. (Something to do with us unpopular girls sticking together I think) The rules state that I have to thank the person who awarded me (Cheers Beangirl!) and list seven unexpected things about me. Which is why it's taken days to respond - I couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say! I'll do my best.

1 I do not believe in any form of supernatural anything whatsoever, nor superstitions. Apart from one - if I make a bowl or glass "ting" I grab the rim to stop the noise - to stop a sailor drowning. My Mum told me this one when I was a child (her family loved to sail and were very involved with the RNLI)

2 I am totally unafraid of spiders (the joy of growing up in a country where practically nothing is poisonous!) I will cheerfully pick them up (or any bug with legs) but I cannot abide slimy things - worms, slugs, snails - they make my skin crawl and no amount of money would make me go near one. I won't step on one or run one over with the buggy wheels, not out of concern for their well being, but my own desire not to get worm on my shoe. This may have something to do with my total disinterest in gardening. I really really want to handle a tarantula. A lot.

3 My fantasy dream job would be either head of the historical costume department for the BBC or a conservator in a big museum with a huge textile collection.

4 I got my navel pierced about 8 years ago, to celebrate losing 29kg. I got asked a lot about how I lost so much weight, and how much work I did at the gym to do it. I got a huge kick out of saying none - I joined the gym after I lost the weight. And I lost the weight by watching what I ate, cutting waaaay down on snacking and being calorie aware rather than rigidly counting. I haven't stayed at that weight because it required fairly strict discipline. My set point is a few kgs above, and with fluctuations I pretty much stay there.

5 My favourite singer is David Gray. Hands down, no competition. My sister has seen him perform at Glastonbury. Twice. He performed in Christchurch a couple of years ago, but I was pregnant enough with the twins to be nervous about travelling. We thought he was going to perform there again this year, but can find no confirmation of this. If he does, we're GOING!

6 I have never had a fight with my husband. We've been together for 16 years and in all that time he's never made me angry. We disagree on plenty of stuff, but somehow we can disagree without heat. Dunno why that is, but it makes for a very contented home. I tell him that as soon as he p***es me off, I'll let him know. Possibly the fact that he notices and thanks me for every tiny little thing I ever do for him is also a factor.

7 I only learned to drive 9 years ago after having my third child. I got a speed camera ticket on a driving lesson, and failed my practical test for my full license for speeding up before getting to the sign that indicated a higher limit. I consider the $70 it cost me to resit the test a fine. (Just for the record, I passed with flying colours the second time. I went over the same route, and crawled down the hill where the sign was, with every other car whizzing by me.) I've never been done for speeding since. Because I don't speed.

Phew, anyone who got this far deserves a cup of tea and a lie down!

I can be quick!

I confess this post is pretty much only here so that I can have a slight smirk at Keely. We ordered some Hotpatterns weeeeeeks ago. (By "we" I mean she placed the order and I took advantage to piggyback!) The original order never arrived, so Hotpatterns resent them and they arrived yesterday. While texting Keely during the day arranging to pop out to her place to pick mine up, I smirked that maybe she'd like to bet on whether I could get the 3 graces top I've been dying to make done by today. She sensibly didn't take the bet!

Got home 8pm-ish and got to work tracing and cutting my trial version. If this one works, yippee! If not, no big deal. Um, yeah, those instructions are brief. I labelled the twisty seams and spent a while staring blankly at the instructions willing them to suddenly become clear. Eventually I just tried different configurations until I think I got it right. I wasn't prepared to sew at that point so left it till this morning when I could check the EXTREMELY helpful video Trudy has made demonstrating how it works. It's very easy to sew, but not easy to figure out.

And it looks like this. For the record, I cut a size 8. I didn't bother with sleeves, but I think the armscye will be fine (the weight of sleeves will pull the shoulder seam a bit further towards my shoulders. If I add sleeves. I may just finish the armholes and leave it sleeveless).

My fabric is very very drapey and I like how it hangs.

Back. See how it's pooling on my hips?
But there's heaps of room around my waist.

In a bit at the waist is easy enough to alter on this version, but out at the hips will have to wait till next time.

Meanwhile, here's that navy dress I was making for Isabella on her. Boy it's hard to photograph an excitable two-and-three-quarter year old!

Oh, and my latest Alabama Chanin corset. The fit of this one is better than the red and cream version (I made a small instead of a medium), but after I'd cut it out I remembered that I wanted to dip the hem at the front a bit more so it's more like the dip at the back hem. Ooops. The girls at our craft group immediately guessed that this means I need to make another one. They know me well.

Weird trousers

As promised yesterday, here's a scan of those trousers - #137 from Burda 09/03.

The big circle is a sewn-on motif or buckle or something.

And the pattern pieces - neat huh?

Difficult to alter, but fortunately I know from experience that Burda pants generally fit me well, so worth a gamble. I didn't have to alter these at all, except that they're SHORT! The grey ones I was wearing in yesterday's post have added flaps at the hem to give extra length.

I might need to make these again. You can never have too many subtly weird pants in your wardrobe.

Stuff I should wear more often

Like so many others I want to mention the Christchurch earthquake. We live about 300km south of Christchurch, and I have visited it many, many times - the last being two weeks after the September earthquake. I have nothing to say that has not been said infinitely better by others, but want to add my most heartfelt "Thanks, World" to the hundreds and hundreds of rescue workers from all over the world helping in the grimmest of tasks. David and I both have relatives in Christchurch, all of whom are ok. Facebook finally gets useful!

It certainly put my pouty whining about waiting for patterns into proper perspective. (They have been given up for lost, and immediately resent.)

I've almost finished the new Alabama Corset - stitching on the binding, then stitching around the hem. A day or two and it'll be done. (Depending entirely on how much Mad Men I get to watch). I have finished the navy blue dress for Isabella from my last post. Turns out I had a pile of piping cord tucked in another box marked "notions". I would photograph it today, but it is YET ANOTHER grey and dreary day. So our cr*p summer limps to an end. It hasn't been particularly cold, but it sure does seem to have been grey and damp.

So anyway, I decided that I am sick of the way I dress. (Again. This happens about once a week.) This time triggered by a really well presented Mum at Kindy. It got me thinking that I could do better. So I went digging in my drawers and found these pants. (I made them in a stone colour as well.)


They're from a 2003 Burda magazine, #137 from 09/03, to be exact, and are now a smidge too small, (made in the days when I was prepared to be disciplined enough to keep my weight under the recommended BMI.) but still wearable, especially with this loose tunic style shirt, also a Burda mag pattern, but I can't be bothered hunting out the details right now. I will if anyone wants to know. If I were less vain I'd show you a proper shot of the front, showing the angled zip, or of the back, showing the angled CB seam, but I couldn't bring myself to publish those! Looking at these pics makes me realise that the details are really hard to make out. The pattern pieces are really interesting, so when I get a chance I'll scan the line drawing and pattern overview to show them better - I love this sort of project!

Procrastinating again....

The twins are tucked up having their nap, although judging by the occasional chirp audible on the baby monitor Isabella is spending more time chatting to Soggy Bunny than napping. (Soggy Bunny is a very cute stuffed bunny. He acquired the "Soggy" bit from me, after I surreptitiously popped him in the napisan to soak for the squillionth time, since Isabella likes to suck/chew his leg. Even she calls him that now.

So I have about an hour and a half to myself before waking them, giving them lunch and taking them to Kindy (which gives me another hour and a half!) So in time honoured fashion I'm procrastinating.

I could be working on this dress for Isabella, the pattern for which came from a magazine I bought last September. The dress has been cut and partially assembled for weeks (probably months) and came to a grinding halt because I couldn't be bothered to cut facings. It'll only take a couple of minutes to trace facing patterns from the dress pattern (the original is double layered so didn't need facings) and cut them out, but I can't be bothered. And it's been languishing in a pile on my desk ever since. Hence the dire need for it to see an IRON before I take it up again.

Or there's this dress, which is the first iteration of a design from the grey toile from my previous post. I haven't abandoned the idea of puffed sleeves on something else, but not with this fabric. It's lines came from a rough sketch in my sketchbook (well, everything in my sketchbook is rough!) I've tried the bodice on Isabella and I'm happy with the look and fit, but she wasn't in the mood for a photoshoot.
I love piped edges! This one came to a halt because I ran out of piping cord. The waistband will also be piped. (Although since the bottom edge of the waistband is at the waistline, it's probably more accurately a midriff band.) And it also needs a really good press before I start working on it again. I love this crossover back design. Isabella often wears the pink dress I made a while ago (another prototype of course!) and I find the cross over back just brilliant - easy to get on and off with two domes holding it closed, and the back flaps far enough over that it doesn't open where it shouldn't, and it gives her plenty of room to move (handy when you're climbing onto the slide at Kindy) It is so helpful to have her test wear my designs to see how they work in use on an active toddler! Nicholas is less useful as a fit model since he's so tiny that I have to custom make his clothes in "Nicholas Size" rather than according to any size chart!

Oh, and there's this.
And the terrible reason I'm not feverishly working on this one? I've borrowed Seasons 1-3 of Mad Men from my sister and will be watching while the twins are at Kindy this afternoon. Handwork goes very well with DVD watching.

And of course the lavender dress from my last post hasn't been touched since I hung it up after taking it off Isabella. All it needs is some embellishment. Haven't decided what image or technique to do, so it's hanging there, eyeing me forlornly, another in-progress project.

Still waiting for the Hotpatterns. I'd have to check with Keely for the exact details, but it's been WAY OVER the 28 days it should have taken since she placed the order, and her emailed query was answered vaguely - not addressing her specifically worded questions. Delays are frustrating, but they happen. What is irritating me is that the response from Hotpatterns came across as giving her the runaround. I imagine that as a small company they're pretty busy, but I do feel that if a customer asks you a direct question as to the status of their order you should either give them the answer or say that you don't know for whatever reason.

And since I'm really trying to avoid doing anything productive, here's a question for you - if you see a tutorial on the web somewhere in which a strip of fabric very clearly cut along the grain is described as being bias, how much would it bother you, and would you comment a tactful correction? I saw this a few days ago, and it really really bothers me! The tutorial is written by a homesewer, for other homesewers, probably with little experience. I didn't comment because I don't want to look like a snobbish know it all belittling her efforts with a trifling correction. (Although since the strip in question was binding a neckline it would have worked a lot better had it actually been cut on the bias, so maybe not so trifling?)