Shirred Pillowcase Dress

I had an idea the other week, it came to me in a flash.

I wanted to make my daughter a smocked summer dress but I also had a huge stash of pillowcases I wanted to turn into dresses and suddenly a lightbulb went off, ping! Combine the two, combine the two!!!

I went to bed thinking about this and the first thing I did when I got up was start making one and it turned out beautifully!!

I have searched on Google and haven't found anything the same, but I can't believe I am the first to think up such a simple idea!!! I'm sure there must be others out there.

My First Pillowcase Dress

I have been meaning to have a go at a pillocase dress for ages but never had any spare (or nice) pillocases, anyway, I have recently aquired quite a lot so I thought I'd take one with the least attractive pattern topractice on (didn't want to waste a snazzy one), it turned out to be extremely easy to make, even the bias binding, and weirdly once made up as a dress the print actually looks really nice, who'd have thunk it?

60's Tunic

I used the free pattern that came with Prima magazine and some of the HUGE piece of 60's fabric I got from a charity shop for £1.50 to make this tunic, I LOVE it!

Simple Summer Dresses

This design looks very similar to a 'pillow case dress' whereby a dress is made from a pillow case and a ribbon is run through a casing around the front and back necklines to make drawstring straps. This version is slightly more elaborate with a contrasting bodice, rick rack and fixed straps (which I made out of bias binding instead of buying another yard of fabric just to make to thins straps!!)

Linen Summer Dress & Jacket

These were both Prima patterns I believe, I made them last summer from a designer linen I bought in Forest Gate for an absolute knock down price, I paid about £7 a yard for it and then saw it for sale in John Lewis for £20 a yard!!!

I do like a bargain :)

Robin Hood Boy In Tights

My son had to play the Town Crier in his school play about Robin Hood, he only had a 30 second slot out of an hour long play but I was determined to make him the best costume I could and this is what I came up with.....

Holidays Dress

I used the same vintage pattern to make a Halloween dress and a Christmas dress in novelty print fabric, I adore this style, it looks so sweet and innocent on toddlers.

Summer Playsuit

Another great vintage pattern, a fabulous little shorts playsuit, this time I used the good old Ikea children's fabric, I still need to put 2 big red buttons on this.

A Manly Apron

I am so slack at updating this blog!

I made this for my brother for Christmas, I spent AGES trying to find a manly, kitsch fabric and finally found this one, which was perfect.

I lined it in red cotton and the pattern is.......misplaced for the moment, it's a 'get everything out the cupboards' job so I'll look tomorrow!  Anyway, it was a very easy pattern but looks very complicated and clever when finished, I like patterns like that ;)





 

My Best Friend's Wedding

My wonderful friend Claire who I have known since I was 12 and who I love to pieces and is the only person I feel totally comfortable and at peace with (apart from the Mr) got married at the weekend.

I wanted to make something to wear to her wedding and used and original 60's pattern for the dress and a 60's style pattern for the jacket, I used an amazing purpley blue 2 tone silky fabric which also had turquoise motifs and metallic bronze thread embroidered throughout for the dress and plain for the jacket.

It turned out perfectly (which my things never do usually!), it was fate! I wore it and it was so comfy, I am very, very pleased with it.

Busy Bee

Yes, I have been very busy, Poppy's band new and rather expensive (especially when you have just lost your job) scooter was stolen from the park less than 2 weeks after I bought it for her 2nd birthday but a wonderful cyber buddy of mine emailed me and asked (begged) if she could could buy Poppy a replacement.

I didn't know whether to accept or not, I didn't want to say no in case I looked rude and offended her by snubbing her very generous offer but I was worried it was far too expensive for her to buy, and I didn't want to say yes in case it looked like I was taking advantage or something, arrrgh, you know how it is, situations like that are difficult!

Anyway, I discussed it with dh and we decided to accept, I was very emotional about it, I mean just how kind and generous was that?????

I came up with the idea that I would make her some dresses for her daughter who is the same age as Poppy as a thank you and it's taken me a while because I had to wait until I had a bit of cash for the fabric and then finding time to make them has been hard but at last I have finished them !!!!!!!

I would have completey finished them if I could find the tiny red button for the Christmas dress, I am sooooo annoyed, I wanted to post them off tomorrow but I'll have to go to the haberdashers first, Isaw that button the other day too, grrrrrrr

So here they are, a cup cake dress, a Christmas dress (for wearing at Christmas, it will look great with a red jumper and red tights) and a bag  for the wonderful Mama herself.








And I actually made something for myself yesterday too, I managed to make it in an afternoon with constant kid interruptions so it would proably take an hour in all.
I bought the fabric and the lining from Husseins Fabrics in Forrest Gate for £2 a yard and it was a double fold yard so huge, I can get several bags out of it.
I just need to buy a button for it tomorrow and it's finished!

Wilful Neglect

Yes, I have been neglecting this little baby of mine due to school holidays, 3 children and a dog to look after, disaster befalling us in the form of my husband  loosing his job plus a bout of illness that has inflicted us one after the other and which is still on going. Who'd have thought you could squeeze all that into 6 weeks ??

 Anyway, I had been working on something which is almost complete, I just have to hem it plus completely re-do the bodice because it doesn't hang right on me, is there seriously any such thing as a standard body shape because I'm sure as Hell not it!!!!!

Here are a couple of photos of the unfinished dress, they were taken on my mobile phone because the battery has run out in my camera and I can't find the charger at the mo, so not that great quality but you can get the idea......

Getting Better

Here it is, I'm so proud of this dress even if there are bits that haven't gone quite right but now I know what and where I can correct it next time.

 I bought this fabric from an ebay seller in the US as you just cannot get decent, cheap fabric for love nor money in the UK, God I hate living in England sometimes :(

I put bias binding around the neck and armholes for decoration rather than on the inside as the pattern suggested and after some trials and errors with the 'button loop' I finally decided to use some very thin ribbon and it works perfectly.

 

 

A bit more than a toile

Ages ago I bought a HUGE piece of fabric with pink butterflies from the remnant box for about £3, I had no idea what I was going to with it but it was too much of a bargain not to.

The other day I bought this pattern..

http://www.simplicitynewlook.com/index.phpmain_page=product_info&products_id=1790#

...which is also the pattern the Ikea trousers came from, this time I had a go at  the dress but without the puff sleeves because Pops could get more wear out of a sleeveless one by wearing tops under it.

So I used the butterfly fabric as a kind of toile that she could wear if it turned out ok.

I had a few troubles with the weird bias binding on the arm and neck holes but it's wearable....

Now to make it in some funky fabric! Come back tomorrow to see what it was!

Poppy, my Guinea Pig

I'm thinking toddler clothes should be a lot quicker to sew what with them being so much smaller right? So using that theory my 23 month old daughter Poppy gets quite a few items made for her....like these trousers made from some left over Ikea fabric I had!

They are meant to be cropped but I think I made a big mistake sewing them up by sewing the wrong legs together so the front and back are half front and back if you know what I mean and they have taken on a slightly odd shape but, ho hum, it's all a learning curve right?

Anyway, they are great for mucking about in the park and I can always make another pair, they were so easy I think if I didn't have any interruptions I could make them start to finish in a hour.

I love this fabric......

My First Time

Ooh, my first blog post, very exciting!!

Another reason to be excited is I have just bought a new sewing machine, the one I have already I bought second hand a couple of years ago and it really is on it's way out, it probably just needs a service but I'd rather upgrade and get a new one.

I have settled on the Janome 4623 as it was the best I could get for my budget, I'm waiting for it to arrive, it should come any day, maybe tomorrow!

In the mean time I have been practising and making some simple items with my current machine.

The first project I tackled was this dress by the April 2007 Prima Pattern which came free with Prima Magazine. I bought the fabric from Husseins Fabrics in Green Street, Forest Gate, the fabric along with the thread, zip and a collosal sheet of interfacing came to a grand total of £9.

The pattern and instructions were very easy to follow and the bodice is all one piece, no sleeves, yay!!! (I hate sleeves, attaching them that is , not wearing them) the only bits I had problems with was the interfacing on the V-neck, I spent ages trying to work out how to get the 'point' at the 'v' to lay flat, crisp and sharp, mine kept puckering up, I got it in the end, well nearly.

The other bit I had a HUGE problem with is putting in the concelaed zip but that was due to the fact I'd never done one before, had no-one to show me and didn't have the appropriate foot.

Here is the finished result...