Long Time No Post

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.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Jayne