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?

What I sewed for my mum's birthday

How do you choose a present for someone special? Do you usually plan it well ahead or leave it for the last moment?
For me personally choosing presents for children is easy but choosing presents for adults could sometimes be a torture. I am a fan of practical presents. I don't want to clutter up someone's home with beautiful but unusable gifts. Maybe because I don't like receiving such.
Anyway, my mum's birthday was a month ago and that was a good reason to get creative and make something special for her.

In fact, the initial idea was to buy her something, but with two little "helpers" with me on the shopping trip, the only thing that I would have come back home with was lots of stress and probably no present.

Just like me, my mum loves clothes. We have similar taste for clothes and I knew it had to be something simple with a little twist.
That simple thing I decided to be a short sleeved top(which I drew using a vest of mine as a guide - luckily we are almost the same size) made with two contrasting fabrics and "crooked bamboo seams" on the front. The "crooked bamboo seams" is improvisational pleats technique which I saw here and I loved it . The fabrics are lightweight polycotton and fall really well.

The necklace was also a part of my present. I grabbed one for myself as well.

If you wonder whether my mum has liked the present, to be honest I don't know. I just hope she has. She has worn it once so far. Now I am planning to sew a knee-lenght skirt to go with it. I will probably use that orangish (??? how do you actually call this colour?) fabric for it.

Another summer hat

Wow!  A few weeks since my last post here... Time has been flying...
The last few weeks I have been taking it slowly and spending less time in front of the computer. That doesn't mean that I have given myself a break from sewing. I just didn't have the opportunity to photograph my recent creations. By the way I have been fascinated by the beautiful and quality photographs of some other bloggers.

One of the latest things I made was something for my mum's birthday, but more on this in a future post.

Another thing I made was a summer hat for my daughter.

 Yes, another sunhat!

 If you have seen the previous two sunhats I had sewn (one for my boy and one for my girl), you have probably started thinking that I am addicted to sewing hats. Well, I am not. And although I have already made three of them I can say they just don't bring me that excitement as the one I get with creating garments. I was just trying to be practical and sew things that were needed.

The blue hat has been much worn so I decided to make another one in pink to go with her swimsuits and some of her clothes.
For the making I used a cotton fabric from "Dainty Blossoms" collection by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake. I didn't want to make exactly the same style as the first one. I wished to try something new.
The pink hat featured a wide brim like the blue one, but this time the crown of the hat consisted of several triangle pieces joined together.
To draw the pattern I used an old favourite summer hat of mine which my mum had kept over the years.

My old little summer hat

 I liked how the new hat turned out in terms of shape and execution, but was disappointed to see that it was bigger for my girl's head. And the annoying thing was that I actually started making it right but somehow got concerned it would be too tight on the head and added another little triangle to the crown, which I regret now. One or two more years before she could wear it....What a pity!

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!

Golden Dress and Improvisional Pleating contest

 I have mentioned before that I have been making a dress for my friend's four year old daughter. I wanted to make something special, which she could eventually wear on her birthday party. She is the kind of girl who loves wearing princess dresses and appreciate things like tiaras and other accessories, so I wanted her to feel like a little princess.

Luckily she is the same age as my son, which made things easier when I was drafting the dress.
I had chosen a simple shape and was wondering what detail I could add to it to look more impressive. That was when I saw The Improvisational Pleats Tutorial by An from Straight Grain and quite liked the ideas. They were all so easy to make and at the same time produced such a nice look. That was what I wanted for the dress.

For this project I used golden coloured fabric, which I suspected was polyester satin. I got that fabric from a fabric shop in Bulgaria an year ago.

It wasn't easy to sew with this fabric as it was very slippery and fraying. And because the dress would go as a present to someone else I had to be even more careful while sewing it.

The dress participates in Improvisational Pleating Contest organised by An from Straight Grain and Birch Fabrics and if you like it you could vote for it here. The contest ends on May, 26 10pm.
Thank you in advance for your vote! The winner would receive three yards of Flight Voile Fabrics from Birch which are really gorgeous and I would be more than happy to sew something with them. That's why I need your help.

I must confess that although it's a challenge to sew an occasion dress, it somehow feels unjustified to spend so much time making something which could possibly ends up being worn only once or twice. I find it more satisfying sewing practical and useful clothes that would be worn over and over again.

Anyway, expect more fotos of the little birthday princess wearing the dress. Fingers crossed that it would fit her well! I am also planning a hair accessory for it, so come back and check out these days.
Thank you for reading!

Quilted fabric bins with cute appliques

Two years ago I still hadn't heard of freehand machine stitching.
Then I came across Poppy Treffry's book "Free and Easy Stitch style" on Amazon, liked the cover pictures and bought it. And I wasn't disappointed. I liked her style of uneven stitching and rough edges. They made things look even cuter.

Around that time I had my baby daughter. I needed a kind of storage bin/box where to keep some nappies, nappy bags, nappy cream and moisturiser handy and organised in our living room where we mostly spent the day. I got fed up of always looking for any of them when changing my baby's nappy . And although spare time was a luxury for me I decided to make myself a fabric storage bin. My baby girl had colics and would sleep mostly in my arms during the day. I remember how I drew and cut the applique motifs while I was cuddling my sleeping girl. I was trying to figure out if there was a way I could sew on the sewing machine while holding her. I even tried a sling so I could have my hands free. Unfortunately she didn't like being in a sling so I just had to steal some time here and there to complete my project.
First I made the ''apple, pear and cherry'' fabric bin. I used linen fabric, polka dot fabrics and cotton wadding.

I liked the result and another storage bin followed, this time the theme was cupcakes.

And then baby feet storage bin..

I was planning to do a fabric bin with pink baby feet applique as well, but I ran out of linen fabric. For some time it was out of stock. When it finally came in stock and I ordered it turned out slightly different linen fabric. A bit disappointing for me..
Now I have plans to do a big fabric bin for the kids' dirty laundry but I still haven't decided on the applique theme. I have two ideas on my mind. The first one would feature houses, cars, trees and the second one - beach huts and boats. Hopefully one of them gets accomplished soon.
Thanks for reading!

New projects on the way and some new trimmings and buttons

I haven't been posting much recently but this doesn't mean I haven't been sewing. I have been working on two new projects. The first one is a pair of trousers for my little daughter. This would be my first time sewing trousers and I feel pretty excited.
I wish they were ready and I could show them but the first toile I made was a disaster- it was so wide that my girl looked like a clown. She looked so hilarious in them that me and my mum had a really good laugh watching her moving around in them.

The toile for the trousers

Now I have to alter the pattern and would probably skip making another toile and move directly to sewing the trousers as I get too inpatient to finish them. I already have a certain fabric in mind, something lightweight and drapey.
The second project I have been working on is a kind of a party dress for one little princess who has a birthday soon. I have done the pattern, picked the fabric, bought an invisible zipper and even ordered some lining fabric today. Once it arrives I will start sewing it. The girl is the same age as my son, so I used him to fit the dress. I just hope it would fit the girl as well.
 And finally here are some white trimmings I bought a week ago. As usual I didn't have any idea where or when I would use them. I think they would make a good addition to a white feminine blouse (one day).

And some colourful buttons...for cheerful outfits..