This blog is to chronicle my sewing adventures, or more accurately ‘misadventures’. I love sewing and making things, but I don’t really know how lol. With persistence, enthusiasm and Google, I am determined to master sewing and make some really great outfits for myself and family.
It has been so long since I last posted. I decided to take on Sunday School at my local Church and it has been dominating a lot of my time. Here is a link if you are interested.
I decided to put my Repunzel dress on Etsy and I sold one! I was so apprehensive and excited all in one. Unfortunately, I underpriced the postage and it ended up eating into my profits. I worked for $5 an hour for 3 hours lol. Anyway, it's a learning curve and the thought of a little girl in the US wearing a dress I made, makes it worth it. Fingers crossed she gives me a high rating.
My first Etsy sale! Repunzel Play Dress.
I went into Spotlight with Miss 2 and she found dinosaur fabric in the clearance rack (she absolutely loves dinosaurs and dragons). She pulled it out and said it was hers, so I bought it and made her a little dress. I used the Simplicity 2377 pattern, but I omitted the tie. The kids just play with the tie and it annoys me. Because I made Miss 2 a dress, of course I made Miss 4 a dress too. I got her fabric from my stash. The white with pink poker dots was fabric that my Mother made into a dress for me when I was little. She found it and gave it to me. The dress is cute, but I think it's a bit dotty. I top stitched around the waist on both dresses by attaching some trim. I am definitely a fan of top stitching now (especially after I had to restitch a couple of Miss 4's dresses).
Dinosaur and Spots Dresses
Dinosaur Dress
I added extra trim around the bottom of the dinosaur dress because I wanted to make it girly because the fabric was so boyish.
You can see in this photo that the girls have had a hair cut. Miss 4 decided to play hairdresser. Miss 2 had just been accepted by a modelling agency and had a photo shoot booked in. I don't think it was jelously because we never told Miss 4. I never wanted to put Miss 4 in because she is just another cute kid and I didn't want her missing out on School. I put the little one forward because of the curly hair (and that EVERY TIME I go out - no matter where - people stop me to comment on her hair, and no, it doesn't annoy me). A few people suggested I get her into modelling, but what made me do it was when I met a woman who did model's hair for photo shoots and she said my little girl could be the face of a brand. I try not to expect too much because that is how you get let down, but I have noticed a lot of curly haired kids on tv commercials and in brochures lately. Anyway, enough of that lol.
I am getting so good at the Simplicity 2377 pattern, that I whipped one up for Miss 4 in an hour so she could wear it to a birthday party that day. I love Hello Kitty. I should have put the bow in the middle instead of the side though.
Ready for a birthday party!
I also experimented with making dresses out of tank tops. I read in a blog how to do it and tried it for myself. One woman recommended cutting away the bottom hem of the tank. I did this and I would not recommend it. It made the fabric stretch more and the thread break after 5 minutes of the girls wearing them. I bought a couple of really cute tanks from Target and raided my stash for the skirt. I had the perfect fabric to match. They looked really good.
They love their dresses
Ahh the hair...
Detail on back
Strike a Pose
I also went to Kmart and bought some tanks too. I made the size 2 first. I don't know what happened, but it fits Miss 4 who is a size 4. At least now it will go through 2 kids.
I also found a vintage pattern at St Vinnies which I picked up for 20c. It is Butterick 6184. I made the size 2 first and put it on Miss 2, but it was HUGE. Miss 4 now wears it. Lucky I didn't make the size 4 first.
I got a lot of great feedback about the dinosaur dress, so decided to make another boyish dress and see if I could sell it on Etsy. It is based on this pattern Burda Kids 9494, but I changed to top half so it didn't need a zipper. Miss 4 loves it. I should make her one too...
I have this really beautiful fabric in my stash. It is Cloud 9 Moody Blues Sashiko Birds and Cloud 9 Moody Blues Floral. I thought I would use the birds as the main fabric and the floral as trim. The problem was that I couldn't find the perfect pattern for it. I really like the peasant dress design and wanted to make one for myself. They are so expensive on Etsy. I googled them and came across Sis Boom Meghan Peasant Dress. I really like the look of it and thought it would be perfect for my Cloud 9 fabric. I was a bit apprehensive about using a downloaded pattern, but printing out and gluing the pattern pieces together really wasn't that hard.
I made the dress and added the trim. It looked great. I tried it on and I could hardly get it over my bust, it was so tight. I couldn't work out what I had done wrong. All the measurements were in inches, which I don't understand, so I just went on the fact that I am a size 8-10. After I tried it on, I went back to check the sizes again and came across the seam allowance. I did a 1.5cm seam when I should have done a 0.5cm seam. I always check the seam allowance before I start and I just started this time without checking. I am so dirty at myself. There are not enough birds to make another dress and I really like it. I'm going to have to unpick the WHOLE thing and start again ;(
My too Small Cloud 9 Moody Blues, Sis Boom Meghan Peasant Dress
This brings us up to date with my sewing now. I have some more dinosaur fabric and will put more on Etsy. My shop is here.
My name is Jayne and I am a married stay at home mum of 2 beautiful girls. I really needed something to do for myself. Before she died, my Nan gave me her Husqvarna sewing machine with all the bits and bobs. I always imagined that when I had kids I would make all their clothes (well some of them anyway). My oldest was just about to turn 4 and I decided that it was time to start. While I don't lack enthusiasm, I do lack experience and skill and have to google how to do even the most basic things.
My first project was matching dresses for my girls. I used the Burda Kids 9494 dress B.
I admit that I didn't quite get how the top section went together, so had to unpick it about 4 or 5 times. I can't even guess how it connected the shoulder straps, so I just sewed them straight across. I don't think I have a zipper foot, so my zippers were not the best. Regardless, it turned out really well and everyone commented how good the girls looked!
I was feeling really positive and loving that I had made something that the girls could actually wear, so I decided to make a library bag for my 4yo. So I googled library bags and came across a monster bag (http://lessordinarylibrarian.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/monster-book-bags.html). For about a week I thought about how to make it and even wrote out instructions for myself. Finally I ended up with this:
So proud of this effort! My 4yo didn't think that much of it though lol But she does love going to the library.
So I was super confident by this stage and decided to make Vogue V1247.
It was just a huge failure! Talk about a misadventure! When I finally finished the skirt, it turned out to be more like a size 6 than the size 12 I was trying to make. Again I had trouble with the zipper. I will really have to invest in a zipper foot (or at the very least get my Mother over and show her what I have - maybe I do have a zipper foot?). Nevertheless, I gave it to my niece who said it fit and that she will wear it next week.
The top turned out (well not really). I couldn't work out how to do the cuffs and I got the bottom front section around the wrong way. On the advice of the sales assistant at Spotlight, I used the wrong fabric and it didn't even look good at a squint. The fabric was absolutely beautiful, so I was very disappointed that I wasted it making that top.
Miss 4 was then invited to a princess themed birthday party, so it sparked my creativity and I decided to put my Vogue disaster behind me and make Frozen play dresses for the girls based on the Burda Kids 9494 pattern B. I used Frozen satin for the skirt, blue sequined dance fabric for the top and added an organza cape. I still don't want to attempt a zipper, so I changed the back of the dress so it was V shaped and could fit over the head. Unfortunately it was a bit of a comedy of errors. My first mistake was to use a wrong bobbin. Apparently bobbins are not one size fits all. My second mistake was that I sewed too much and too fast the blue sequins, which caused the needle to heat up and the fabric to melt. These mistakes caused major (I repeat MAJOR) damage to my machine. I had to take it to Vera's Machine Shop to be fixed. They had it for about a month.
I still really wanted to finish the dresses for the party, so I borrowed my Mum's machine. With strict instructions from Vera's, I used oil every couple of inches on the needle and went really, really slowly. Everyone said the girls looked fantastic. So proud of my work! Miss 4 loves to put it on, even to play in the backyard.
With my confidence restored, I decided to make the V1247 top again, this time with fabric that will drape. I managed to work out the cuffs and didn't have to unpick at all. It's not perfect, but I love it! The first time I wore it was at Church when I was scheduled to do a reading. Miss 1 was restless, so was going for a walk outside with my Mum when I went to the front of the Church. When I started reading, Miss 1 heard me and came running back into the Church and straight up the aisle like a little elephant. I started to giggle, so had to stop. Then she proceeded to grab at my shirt and pull it down. OMG my bra was exposed in front of the whole Church (although I was told that the Bible covered everything - someone else also said that they thought there would be a strip show). I completely lost my place and someone had to point out where I was up to. By the time I finished and looked up (because I was too embarrassed to look up before then), the whole congregation had Cheshire Cat smiles on their faces.
This now brings us up to date with my completed sewing projects. I welcome any advice on offer. I am still learning, but am finding that it is getting easier. I love sewing and buying fabric and patterns. I have a couple of projects ongoing at the moment and can't wait to share when they are completed.
