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.

A parcel full of fabric loveliness

A parcel full of  fabric loveliness arrived yesterday. I have written how I fell in love with Nested Owls fabrics by ADORNit and wanted to order some of them. So the last few days I was eagerly waiting every morning for the postman to knock on the door and hand me the little precious parcel over. Well, it happened yesterday but not exactly that way. In fact he handed over a delivery card, notifying me that £20 custom charge had to be paid in order to be given the parcel as it came from outside EU. I expected a charge but definetely not that much. I should have checked it beforehand.
Then when I went to the Royal Mail Collection office to collect it, I had another disappointment when it turned out I didn't have enough cash with me to pay the charge, being short of only fifty pence. So a trip back to home followed and then another one again to the Collection office.

Finally I was able to open the little parcel and see its lovely content. The fabrics were also much appreciated by my little girl, who quickly came and sat on them the moment I lay them on the carpet. There were also two ribbons which surpisingly quickly found their way into her little hands. I hardly manage to save them from her.

Now, I start thinking what can I make with them. Any ideas?

Some adorable fabrics

To say that I am a fabrics addict would be an exaggeration, but the truth is that I do love fabrics. I love looking at them, playing with them and imagining what could I turn them into.
I came across ADORNit Nested Owls fabric range by chance. You can see images from that range throughout the post.

I was admiring the lovely items on display in a small shop called San&Sab, in which the owners were sewing everything in there. And with the current boom of online shops, it is such a pleasure to be in a brick-and-mortar fabric shop, where to be able to touch and feel the fabrics. I could stay there for hours, and maybe I would if I wasn't starting feeling a bit uncomfortable .
Unfortunately I don't have such shops near to where I live and often have to browse fabrics on the internet. A few times I have been disappointed when the fabric arrives and it turns out to be too stiff or not the right shade.

Anyway in that little colourful shop I noticed some scrap fabrics,which they didn't sell. Later I searched for them on the internet and found the complete Nested Owls range. And I am in love with it. For my great delight ADORNit ships to United Kingdom and I am looking forward to ordering some.

There are some lovely ribbons, too.

And have you bought something recently that you feel quite excited about?