Pretty owls summer dress

Hello! Summer is not over yet, so I have taken the opportunity to sew another summer dress for Eva. Dresses have always been my favourite garments to design and sew.

It all started with two fabrics in mind - the pretty owl fabric from "Nested Owls" collection by Addornit (I wrote about it here) and the red mini polka-dot fabric by Sevenberry. I thought they would go well together so I started planning what I could turn them into. They both are 100% cotton and have a little a bit stiffness which is great for adding some volume to a garment.
For a week or so I couldn't decide on the style. I envisaged a little dress, coquette and with an interesting
detail.

For some reason my daughter didn't want to try the dress while still in the making. I would try to persuade her to wear it so I could do some measurements but she wouldn't try. What if she refused to wear the dress once it was all sewn up and ready. It would be a shame to have spent so much time designing, drafting, cutting and sewing something that could never be worn.

Luckily, once the dress was completed, washed and ironed, she willingly let me dress her in it. I was more than happy as believe it or not that little girl could be very stubborn and picky.

To make the dress hang nicely I opted for a decorative finish of the hemline. That was the best I could achieve with my mum's sewing machine (which to put it mildly could be unmanageable at times).

I used snaps to close the side of the dress. They are so practical and easy to sew that I wonder why I haven't used any before. For me one of the most important things to consider when sewing for the kids is the easy wearing of the garment. Because if wearing is complicated, kids quickly get annoyed and they might never want to wear that garment again. I remember when a few years ago my boy couldn't take one of his jumpers off and got panicked so I had to cut through it. After that for a period of time, he was scared everytime he was wearing something through his head.

Kids Clothes Week Winter 2014 - a "winter fairytale" blouse

 As I have wrote in my previous post, I had already moved towards another project of mine - "winter fairytale" blouse. This name popped into my mind when I saw the blouse, maybe because of its white colour and delicate print.

 

This would be my second project during Kids Clothes Week (KCW), which surprizes even me. I started both projects from scratch and actually spent more time on drafting the partern, making toiles and adjusting them than sewing them. For the white blouse I had to make three toiles to get the desired fit. But it was worth it because looking at it now, I can say that I am happy with the result.

choosing which button to use

 

I even start thinking about trying to grade the pattern in bigger sizes. I am thrilled to see whether I could manage to do it.
Here is a little hair accessory which I made from the remaining fabric scraps. Not that any hair accessory manages to stay long enough on my little daughter's head.

 

And that's what my little cheeky boy did with some fabric scraps, while I was busy sewing.