Showing posts with label pleats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pleats. Show all posts

Monday 4 August 2014

An easy summer dress

Time to blog my next project - a summer dress for Eva.




She already has so many summer clothes but that didn't stop me from making another one. What better than a light and comfortable dress that allows enough ease for running and jumping on the hot summer days. And you know, a girl could never have too many dresses!




In fact I sewed the dress a few weeks ago, but just couldn't sit down and blog it.
It is a very simple dress with two asymetric pleats on the front which meet just at the neckline. For this dress I actually drew a simple A-line dress with no pleats. Then I made two asymetric pleats on a piece of the chosen fabric (the piece had to be big enough to cut the front piece from it). I placed the front pattern onto the pleated fabric, adjusting it a bit and cut out the front piece.






 The fabric I have used is pure cotton from "Dainty Blossoms" collection by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake. It is the same print but in different colour which I used for this summer hat.


I even made a button loop on the back of the dress, using this tutorial from Oliver + S.


 If I had to give this dress a name that had to be "Lara" dress :) I like having some music on when I sew and while making this dress I was hooked on Lara Fabian' songs. Listening to some music and sewing - my perfect spending of leisure time! What is yours?

Monday 2 June 2014

The new addition to my daughter's handmade wardrobe - little green trousers

Firstly, I would like to thank to all who voted for my golden dress in the Improvisational Pleats Contest. It was fun taking part in it and seeing what other ladies have come up with.

Now back to my latest project.
It's already a fact - I have sewn my first trousers.




I am not sure why it took me so long to try my hand at making trousers. Somehow I always ended up making tops and dresses and never trousers or shorts. I suspect it was my conviction that it wouldn't be easy to achieve a good fit.
Well, starting with toddler trousers was a good point as they were more undemanding to make.



I drafted the trousers pattern myself. If you have followed me you would probably know that I don't like using shop bought patterns. It takes half of the pleasure of the whole process.

For my first trousers I chose not to make a front opening and insert a zipper. I added elastic on the back waist and incorporated two pleats on each front side. I thought this would make trousers look more stylish and less babyish.

I had a dilemma whether to attach a separate waistband or just to fold at the waist. Well, I decided on the second option. And guess what?.....I forgot to put the fusible interfacing to the waistband. This is the second time I forget about the interfacing when making a garment! I am really mad at myself for being so forgetful.


There is a little pocket flap on the back, without a real pocket. Toddlers don't need pockets on the back, right? They can't even reach them!

"These trousers are so comfortable that I can exersise in them!"


"I can run really fast in them!"


"They are not making my bottom look too big, aren't they?"


"This photoshoot is exhausting!"


For the trousers I used lightweight green cotton fabric which I bought from Bulgaria not long ago. It was for clearance and was unbelievably priced at 2 leva/metre which was around 80pence/metre. Now I wished I had bought all of it. I was told that it was cotton but the cheap price makes me wonder whether it could be polycotton instead. Next time when I go to Bulgaria, I intend to stock on some more cheap fabrics. The downside is that I can't actually find good printed cottons. There are mainly polyester and single-coloured fabrics.

"Ok, I am off now!"
Thanks for reading!

Monday 17 March 2014

"Ocean Blue" dress


I can finally show you the dress I have been making for my seven-year-old niece. It's ready and on its way to its future owner. Now I am so curious to find how the dress fits her. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a bit large for her, but I was so concerned not to be too small, that I prefered to be on the safe side and make it larger.
For the dress I chose deep blue fabric, which I found very easy to work with. It is a good weight for a dress and drapes well. When I bought the fabric last summer I was told that it was cotton, but it looks to me more like polycotton.
This dress is one of those projects which I wasn't sure how they would end up looking. I didn't have much time to make the dress, so I decided to construct the bodices, the skirt and the sleeves and once the dress was ready to choose a decorative detail. I wanted to add a decorative detail because the dress would be made with single coloured fabric and that was a way to make it look more interesting.


I had a few options on my mind. The first option was to make a big fabric flower for the front bodice, the second option was to add some pleats on the front and the third option was to add either trimming or applique to the skirt. As you can see I chose the pleates in the end.


I opted for a back opening in order to make the dress easier to put on and also to add more effect.
You have probably noticed that all the buttons are different and the reason  is that I didn't have four buttons of this size that were the same. I actually like the look of them on the back.