Thursday 30 May 2013

Bea's rainbow dress



I found this unfinished dress that I started to make for Bea last summer.  It was mostly sewn up - it just needed a button and some details.  I'm thinking it was probably the arrival of little sis that put this project on the back burner!

Luckily it still fits (just a bit shorter than intended!) so I decided to finnish it off.  It definitely needed colour so I added some little pockets made from vintage fabric.  When I showed it to Bea she insisted it was lacking in the rainbow department so after a brief head scratch I added a quick running stitch rainbow to one side.  Its slightly crazy but I like it!





Friday 17 May 2013

Stop the bandwaggon, I'm hopping on



I've finally made my first Geranium dress!  I've seen so many beautiful versions of it floating around the web and when I came across this linen look cotton fabric it came to mind as the perfect pattern for the colour block dress I had in mind.




I made the age 5 with fingers crossed (the pattern only goes up to age 5 so I was praying it would be big enough) but luckily it fits really well, with even a little room for growth.




I wanted to line the flutter sleeves in the same fabric as the bodice lining as I thought it would look cute peeping out so I rejigged the sleeve pattern piece a bit to allow for the extra seam.  I love how it turned out.




The fabric is really soft and drapes nicely.  I went for the gathered skirt option.




Bea objects a bit to my button choice, but at least she can't see them once its on!




And Miss Fussy is happy with it thank goodness!  I will definitely be making more geraniums for both girls.  I can see why the pattern is so popular!

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Stanley



Just popping in to introduce Stanley, my latest one of a kind handmade toy.  He is listed in the shop now.



Thursday 2 May 2013

Summer sewing



I've been cheating on the blog a bit lately with instagram (@juliastaite) but here is a look at some summer dresses I made for the girls recently.  The pattern is the madeline dress by sew sweet patterns on etsy.  Its a lovely classic dress with a great collar - very cute!




The pattern was simple and came with clear instructions.  Its quite a quick dress to whip up apart from the dreaded buttonholes (my worst part of sewing!)





I did however have major sizing issues -  Bea is pretty tall so I cut out the age 5 for her (shes three and a half) but after partially sewing the dress together it was very clear it was way too small.  So as not to waste the fabric I cut it down to fit Nell.  Shes 9 months old so I cut out age 2 after the first came out so small and as you can see below its fits - but probably won't for long!




I made Bea a bigger one (age 7!) and it fits well for length but still comes up a bit snug in the width.  Its a shame as its such a sweet little dress.  Maybe it was just me but I would recommend going up at least two sizes if you're making your own.