Ready for a party

The party season is here and we are ready for it. With Christmas, New Year and Eva's birthday and another birthday in line I couldn't resist making something special for her. Here it is - a taffeta dress in a princess style with a full skirt, pleat detail on the front, capped sleeves and full back button fastening.

I used the taffeta fabric and the black lace that I bought in Bulgaria not long ago (I wrote about them in my previous post). The taffeta fabric is amazing. It is 'chameleon' fabric as it changes its colour according  to the light. Just check how different it looks on these two photos.

"cool" purple 

''warm'' purple

I wanted to use the lace in the dress but wasn't sure where to attach it. It took me a week or two to decide what the design to be - the cute detail on the front, sleeveless or not, with zipper or with buttons.

This is the first time I sew a fully lined garment. When I finished the dress I realized that I should have used facings on the back openning. Everytime I finish something I see that I could have done it better. Then I get that right in my next project, but something new comes up.

Instead of making the classic capped sleeves I came up with the idea of these two piece sleeves.

The Buttons. Well, they compliment the dress well, but the downside is that they cost almost as much as the dress fabric itself. I didn't have time to wait for delivery from a webshop and headed to my nearest Hobby Craft store. There wasn't a great choice and I picked these ones. I like them but I think five pounds for 8 buttons is a bit too expensive.

It was fun watching my daughter wearing the dress as she kept playing with the skirt, lifting it and twisting it. Now I plan to sew a black jersey blouse for her to wear underneath.

I made a matching bow hairclip as well

This dress was definitely not a quick sew, but I really enjoy making it.

Thanks for reading and come back again!

My new fabrics

I got myself some new fabrics. And although sewing could hardly make its way into my daily routine recently, I still dreamed of fabribs and what I could possibly make with them.
I went back to Bulgaria for a week and I couldn't imagine not going to a fabric shop to stock on some new dressmaking fabrics, which were much cheaper than buying in UK.
So I came back with this little bundle. And I feel happy just by looking at it...

I forgot to add that beautiful polyester taffeta fabric to the bundle. Lustrous and crisp it would make a great skirt.

And now a closer look at the fabris in the bundle.

This is polyester taffeta in beautiful plum tone that changes according to the light. I love it. I plan to make it into a dress for my little girl. I bought some matching lining for it as well.

Here is a piece of beautiful black lace. It 's a small piece (app 50/50 cm ), which was left over from a dress the shop owner had made for a client. Most of the fabric shops were in fact little dressmaking and amending ateliers, which also stocked some fabrics. So when I asked the shop owner how much it cost, she kindly offered to give it to me.

Here I have some cotton jersey in dark pink. It's very soft and stretchy. I could make a dress or tunic for my Eva with it.

Another knit fabric in grey. Very soft and drapey, I think it was made from rayon. Still not sure what I would do with it as it was the end of the bolt and measured app 1.20 m, but I just loved the way it hung.

And lastly, this gorgeous woven fabric which has some cashmere in it. It is quite thick and would be perfect for a little coat. I got some lining, as well.

All I need now is to find some spare time to get sewing...