Ditsy flowers summer dress

The summer is almost over and I still haven't shared my summer creations.
One of them is this summer dress I self-drafted and sewed for my toddler girl two months ago. Since then I've been working on something very time-consuming which hopefully will be ready soon.

I've been dedicating some time for making hair accessories as well (I find that such an enjoyable activity). Sometimes I find it hard to balance the time spent on different sewing and craft activities. I am keen to do so many things, but simply don't have enough time for everything.

Back to the dress. It's a simple dress with a little square neckline decorated with lace trimming. It features a little pleated pocket on the front and button fastening on the back. I aimed for something light and comfortable.

























The fabric I used for the dress is one that I bought from Hobby Craft store. I loved the ditsy floral print and although I had many other fabrics waiting to be sewn, I couldn't resist it. It's quilting cotton and has some stiffness. For a garment for an adult I would definetely go for fine and drapey fabric, but for kids garment I can easily use quilting cotton.

I have decided that my next challenge would be sewing with knits. I have very little experience with them and even have bought a book on that. Having a small collection of knits, I think it's time to put them into use.

A "Frozen" inspired dress

It was shortly before last Christmas when the whole family went to the cinema to watch "Frozen". After good reviews from friends I thought that maybe my son was already old enough to understand the film. I expected my two-year-old daughter to get bored really quickly and twist in her seat most of the time. To my suprise it was my little girl who watched the movie with greater interest, mersmerised by the beautiful animation. It's a girl's kind of movie. Honestly, I don't know a little girl who doesn't love it.

Anyway, my daughter definitely didn't understand the story, but she loved the songs. She was dancing around to them using her little blanket as a cape. So I thought I could sew her a princess dress to wear at home whenever she wanted to feel as a princess.
Initially I didn't plan to be "Frozen" kind of dress, it could be any suitable colour.

But then I came across this beautiful snowflake organza fabric in a local fabric shop. I bought 1 metre polyester fabric and 1 metre snowflake organza. Now I think I should have bought a little bit more to make the skirt with more gathers and maybe have added netting fabric under the skirt for more fullness.

 

 

Hair clips

I love spending my time sewing and making patterns but often those spare time gaps during the day are so short that by the time I get my sewing stuff out, lay it on the table and get ready to start, it's almost time to do the school run, or my toddler wakes up from her afternoon nap or something else needs my attention.

For that reason I needed some really quick projects, something that I could make in these precious twenty minutes when it's quiet and there are no other distractions.

These small felt hair clips turned to be the perfect project. They are so quick and easy to make.

Till recently I had never used a hot glue gun, but now I can't imagine not having one. It's so useful in making accessories.

My daughter loves the hairclips, although she plays with them more than she wears them. I am lucky that I managed to photograph them all. You can find them around the house in the most unusual places. Yesterday I found one of them in my son's school bag and another one in his pencil case.

My very gathered party skirt

It's been a long time since I sewed something for myself. I sewed for my daughter, for my mum, for my friends' kids but nothing for me recently.

It all started from the fabric. I liked the shiny taffeta and the first thing I imagined was a skirt. The stiffness of the fabric would be great for achieving shape. So here is what I made for myself : a very gathered party skirt.

The skirt is knee length, with an invisible zip on the back. For the construction I used three rectangles - one for the front and two for the back skirt. I haven't added flare as I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. I have decided that this would be a quick project (not that quick in the end).

Unfortunately, that skirt is not a garment I would be wearing very often. It would probably gather dust in the wardrobe for a year before the next wear. Next time I sew for myself I will make something for an everyday wear.

The handmade gifts from granny and grandad

I have always loved handmade gifts. How dear is to receive something in which much thought and love and effort has been put in.
I wished my children realized that and appreciated the lovely handmade toys their granny and grandad hade made for them this year. For now such appreciation is not seen, as I they are too young, but hopefully with time they will learn to.
I remember that a few weeks ago I mentioned to my dad that the kids liked playing with playdough, always "cooking" something with it - a pizza, spaghetti, cakes and much more and I was wondering whether to get them a little play kitchen for Christmas. That's when my dad decided to make one for them. That was going to be his surprise for them when they come to stay for Christmas.
So here it is. Ready for them to play.

No need to say that they love it. They haven't said it but you could see it from their being around it most of the time. It never looks that tidy of course, they are really messy cooks!
I forgot to mention that the kitchen didn't cost a penny as my dad used some wooden boards he had left from something else.
In addition he made a little doll's bed.

My mum made a little mattress, a pillow and two sheets for it. She even found the time to stitch a little applique.
I can't say I was suprised to see the wooden toys they had made. When I was a child they often used to make stuff for us - little wooden chairs and a table, a doll's bed, my mum had sewn clothes for my dolls and even knitted jumpers for them. Most of our pillowcases and duvet covers were decorated with beautiful appliques. That's where my interest in sewing and crafting must have come from.

Merry Christmas!

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...