Plaid Placket Dress

I've wanted to make a full-length t-shirt dress for quite a while now. However, since I started sewing in earnest I've always been nursing, pregnant, or both... and a dress like that isn't particularly awesome for those situations! I finally made one anyway, and made it work for nursing by adding a placket in the front.

  I used some super-soft, rather thin, and quite stretchy plaid that was in the KnitFix I bought last December. (This plaid is also one of the fabrics for this month.) Of course, that made a basic design more complicated because I had to try to match the plaid! I managed to get the horizontal lines matched up beautifully, but I completely forgot to try to line up the vertical lines along the side seams until it was too late. I also matched up two horizontal lines with the sleeve on the front bodice but couldn't make it work in the back.

  I used my basic tee pattern with some modifications to make matching the plaid under the arm a little easier, added a placket from some lightly interfaced black knit following this tutorial (only I altered the measurements to fit the dress better and pressed everything with an iron) and added bow cuffs to the sleeves.

  The placket turned out pretty great, especially since everything kept trying to shift under the presser foot. I planned on using KAM snaps for this, but the only ones I have that work well with this fabric are white hearts, which seem a little too youthful for this style. I ended up using some heavy-duty metal snaps that I had on hand... they are overkill for this fabric but since it's interfaced on the placket I don't think they will cause any problems there. The one on the neckband might though... I didn't interface there.

  Having made this dress, I probably would not make another in this style.

  I do like this dress, but it's not nearly as flattering as a style with a more defined waist would be.

  I added a knit belt with a flower... I wish I'd had some wide elastic to stabilize the belt, but it still turned out pretty cute. =)

  The hem is lettuce-edged as usual. I have another dress in the works too, with a different fabric from the same KnitFix bag... it's all cut out but I haven't started actually sewing it yet.

  Thanks for stopping by,

Heart Smocked Dress

  I started this dress really soon after finishing the first dress I smocked- smocking is addictive!

  Since I wanted this dress smaller than the last one, I started with Made by Rae's free Little Geranium Dress and made a few alterations to get the look I wanted.

  I cut the bodice pieces in half horizontally and added seam allowances at the cut. I added the height of the lower half to the height of the skirt, plus 2 extra inches so it would be closer to gown length. I decided to make the width of the skirt pieces 3 times as wide as the bodice pieces, plus 3/4" in the back for overlap, and cut rectangles that matched my measurements.

  I used the lower half of the bodice pieces to mark the armscyes, but didn't cut them until after I'd finished smocking. I looked for a smocking plate that featured heart shapes for a while before finally coming up with my own, and I love how it turned out!

  The cable row at the top is pretty uneven, partly due to the texture of this lovely Swiss dot that Karen sent me a while back, but mostly because I need more practice with cable rows! I did much better with my vertical spacing this time though. After smocking the skirt pieces I French-seamed the front and back pieces together.

  Then I cut the armscyes out and finished them with a narrow bias strip.

  I assembled the bodice but left it open at the bottom, and sewed the skirt pieces in after basting. I didn't like how the front came out even with the basting, and ended up un-picking and re-sewing parts of it a few times to get a better line above the cable row. I used wash-away wonder-tape to stick the back pieces on before sewing and they turned out a bit better.

  I slip-stitched the bodice lining down by hand before turning my attention to the hem.

  I wanted to do a blind hem on this dress, but I knew the stitches would show up on this delicate fabric no matter how careful I was, so I just did my best to keep them tiny and even.

  I'm pretty pleased with the results!

  I could barely wait to put this dress on Foof... here she is in it at three days old!

  She wasn't particularly happy about not being held:

  But she calmed down after a while and let me take a few happier photos.

  I considered adding sleeves to this dress, but I'm glad I kept it sleeveless so I can layer it for cooler weather.

  It fits decently right now, but there is room for her to grow too... she might be able to wear it for another 2 months!

  I really love how this one turned out... I'm hoping I get a chance to do more smocking soon! =)

Thanks for stopping by,

Red Corduroy Baby Dress

  I'm back! Although I can't say I'll be posting regularly, I took some photos of this little dress and wanted to share it.

  This dress is pretty much a copy of Tricia's lovely baby dress here, but with materials I had on hand- the wider trim was given to me, and the narrower trim was from Joann's a few years ago, as was the fabric. The snaps are heart-shaped KAM snaps, as usual. =)

  I didn't change the neckline to a square, but I did add tucks to the front bodice and skirt hem, and pleated the skirt on to the bodice instead of gathering it.

  I used the larger of the sizes included in the free pattern, because the first Itty Bitty Baby Dress I made only fit for a couple of weeks, and I added extra length to the hem too. It was a little big on Foof when she was born, but I'm happy that she will be able to wear it when the weather cools down a bit!

  The corduroy was a bit bulky around the bodice, and I didn't want to increase that bulk by doubling up on the pleats in the front, so I added two small pleats near the side seams... most of the time they aren't noticeable at all, but they helped take up that extra fabric in the skirt front. The bulk also makes the trim flip up a bit, but that wouldn't have been a problem if I'd enclosed the waist seam like I normally do. If I made this again I would probably use a lighter-weight fabric for the bodice lining.

  I didn't have to match the pleats to tucks in the back, so I just made those ones wider.

  I do love how this turned out, but I think I'd love it more with a couple of changes to make everything line up better and to reduce bulk. =)

 

  Obviously, sewing has been a bit slower lately, but I do have a knit dress and three shirts that have been sewn in the past few weeks... hopefully I'll have a chance to show you those soon, along with the smocked dress I made for Foof before she arrived. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Baby!

Baby R, who henceforth shall be known on this blog as 'Foof' or occasionally, 'Baby Foof', made her appearance on Sunday. =)

  I had been having occasional contractions most of Saturday and through the night, and they turned regular at about 5:30 AM. All of my relatives were worried about a repeat of Becker's birth (though I wouldn't trade that experience for anything!) so we piled all of the daughters and bags in the car and headed for the hospital at about 6.

  The grandparents arrived at the hospital a while after we did, bringing some much-appreciated snacks, and took the girls home with them. Everything slowed down once we were at the hospital (which is what I was afraid of!) so I spent the next 7 hours walking around and bouncing on a ball to try get things going again, between being monitored and poked.

  Finally, at about 2:30 things started picking up again, and at 3 the contractions were regular, close, and strong. I didn't feel an urge to push until about 3:26, and two pushes later Foof's head- still in the sac- came sliding out. One more, and she flew through the air as the sac exploded. I said, 'There she is!' and reached to take her from the midwife, who had caught her neatly. (My husband says that I snatched Foof from the midwife and startled everyone, but it seemed to me that I just gently picked her up.) And she was perfect.

  She still is perfect. =) She has tiny little fingers, a round little face with adorable dimples, itty bitty feet, and is delightfully calm.

  She weighed 7lbs 8oz at birth, and was a mere 19.25" long- short, as far as my babies go! Foof is absolutely perfectly healthy, and we were released from the hospital on Monday afternoon.

  She loves to be held, and hardly cries, and her little face can run the gamut of expressions in 30 seconds or less.

  We all adore her.

  I made the dress she is wearing in the photos, and will blog about it eventually, but for now I'm going to be spending a lot of time snuggling this little darling. =)

Thanks for stopping by,

The Seventh Syrah

  Here's another item sewn for myself for after the baby arrives (which, nope, she's still not here!).

  It's another Syrah skirt (the first 6 I made can be found here) in a denim-look knit from Girl Charlee.

  I chose the panel seams option and the flat waistband for this one.

  It doesn't really fit right now- I made it the same size as my previous versions based on the fact that those fit well until I was about 6 months pregnant. So hopefully it will be perfect once this baby is born!

  This fabric is thick enough on it's own, so I didn't include a lining. As usual, the hem is lettuce-edged... I considered doing a twin-needle hem but decided against it.

  I used this fabric from Girl Charlee (bought for a fabulous price during the July 4th sale)- I like the thickness and the stretch, and the double-sided factor is interesting, although I didn't utilize it in this skirt. Sadly, the blue side of the fabric pilled in the pre-wash.

  I have more of it, and will be using it again, but the pilling was pretty disappointing!

  And that's really about all I have to say about this skirt! It's pretty basic, and hopefully will be worn a lot in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nursing Things

  So, no baby yet! But I do have a couple of things I've sewn to wear once she's made her appearance. Firstly, a nightgown:

  This was pretty simple- I lengthened and flared my basic tee pattern to below-the-knee length, created cutouts in the front, and added an overlay with an elastic casing that hits about an inch below my ribs.

  Unfortunately, I made a grave miscalculation.

  My tee pattern is drafted for at least 30% stretch, while this fabric has closer to 10%.

  That means that the nightgown is too tight across my bust, which means it's pretty useless for nursing! The sleeves, which were initially regular short sleeves, were so tight that I cropped them to almost-cap length.

  So, sadly, this one probably won't get worn much!

  I also made a nursing bra. I've made 3 or 4 test versions that were non-nursing and altered as I went to get something that fits much better than any of my ready-to-wear, but not as perfectly as I feel it could. I used the Shelley bra pattern in size 38E with quite a lot of changes. I converted the lower cup to be one piece instead of two, took out a wedge at the lower center front of the frame. took wedges out of the top back band pieces at the underarm, added to the band at the center back, and flattened the cross-cup seam dramatically, as it was very poky.

  I also added an inner powerbar (out of powermesh but only because I didn't have enough of the main fabric) that sits slightly lower than the outer powerbar, and connected that to the strap, while the main cup is only connected to a nursing clip.

  I used a custom-dyed kit that I wasn't particularly pleased with... I'd used a kit from the same shop before and the lace was much wider, perfect for this pattern, as well as having gorgeous embossed powernet. This one just had plain powernet and the lace was too narrow. I was planning on lining the top piece with the main fabric for sturdiness anyway, so that wasn't a huge deal, but it doesn't look quite as nice as it would with wider lace.

  I paid extra to get extra finish elastic, but didn't receive any extra. I made it work by shortening the fabric straps by a few inches. I also paid extra for 3/4" band elastic, rather than the usual 1/2" elastic. After I had all the pieces cut I realized that the band elastic was actually 1" wide. The pattern recommends trimming the elastic just under the cup and sewing it down under the channeling if it's too wide, so that's what I did. Unfortunately, the elastic is fraying out from under the channeling, and it's going to have to be replaced at some point. The wider elastic is also a bit less stretchy, so the band is a little too tight.

  This fabric has a bit more stretch than is recommended for this pattern, so I doubled the fabric layers to add stability, which also gave me the opportunity to finish the inside of the cup nicely on most of the seams.

  The end result is pretty decent! I didn't enjoy making it, but it will definitely get a lot of use.

  I have another of the same kit in grey, so I plan to make another of these but widen and lengthen the band and frame so I don't have to trim the elastic and so it isn't too tight, and hopefully that will be closer to what I want.

Thanks for stopping by,