Mermaid baby dress and leggings set

What little girl doesn't need a mermaid dress? Especially at the moment, is it just me or are mermaids definitely the on trend print right now? Not that I mind, Ariel always was my favorite Disney princess anyway.

This amazing fabric was from LLFab who design custom digital print jersey fabrics. Most of their stuff is done in 'runs' for pre-order so is only available for a limited period. To be honest I find that a little annoying, but I can understand from a home business owner thats the practical way to do things as you don't have the means to store endless runs of custom printed fabrics. This does however mean that sadly there isn't any more of this fabric to buy, though they have been known to do re-runs so do join the facebook group if you are interested.

The pattern is another one from Ottobre issue 4/2016. It is a lovely jersey tunic length dress with an integrated vest top underneath. I also made the matching leggings to go with it to make it a complete outfit. I really like tunic style dresses for babies as I never really liked the idea of babies in dresses (despite having sewn a few) as I always think by the time they get to crawling a dress must really get in the way under their knees.

My hope is that this dress will fit Miss Fox once the weather starts to get a bit cooler, though to be honest I'm finding it really hard to sew for her at the moment as I have no idea how big she is going to be. Having said that though I know I won't have any time to sew once she arrives so I am just trying to make the most of it and wing it a bit.

My binding went a lot better on this make as opposed to the kitty romper I last made. I made a couple of adjustments to the way I attached them this time. The first thing was to make sure I didn't stretch the fabric when overlocking and the second was to release the tension in my sewing machine when doing the top stitching, I think this made the biggest difference. Its very nice to have found the biggest cause of the problem though as it will vastly improve future projects. the neck isn't ideal but its ok. I definitely prefer adding a neck band as opposed to binding a neck, something to bear in mind.

I am not 100% sold on the mauve colour of the vest and leggings, It was an online purchase and I was hoping for more of a cadbury purple like the binding. The vest is less of an issue as once its on with some trousers you won't see it. I am hoping though that the colour grows on me more once its actually being worn by a tiny human. I'm sure she will be plenty cute enough to pull it off.

Have you ever bought any fabric from a custom designer? I would love to hear about them and how you found the fabric/service. Its definitely a perk of the digital age, especially in the UK where nice prints have historically been much harder to come by.

Another Victory for Ava!

When I bought the pattern for Ava the plan was always to make a LBD (little black dress) out of it. So once I had got the practice peplum version out the way I got straight on to this.

The main body fabric is some polyester/lycra blend which I purchased from my local fabric shop. I really wanted something that had some stretch, but also a really good drape. I knew jersey would be a bit too flimsy though. This fits the bill pretty well as it has quiet a lot of weight too it. It was also really easy to sew with.

Moving on from my last version of Ava I did make some alterations to the pattern:

• Added a 1inch full bust adjustment. This helped so much, and I am really pleased with how it went considering it was my first attempt at one. If you compare this to the other version of Ava I made you can really see the difference it made to the armholes, much less gapey, hooray!
• Took the bodice down by 5cm so that it sits closer to my waist rather than just under my chest
• Omitted the zip (got to love stretchy fabric for this reason!)
• I changed the way I sewed the bodice to the skirt. The pattern asks you to sew the side seams of the bodice and skirt together and then join them around the waistline. This is mostly because it makes zip insertion much easier. However I knew I didn't need the zip, and guessed I might need to take it in a bit at the waist due to the stretch. So instead I attached the front bodice to the front skirt, and the back bodice to the back skirt and then joined in the side seams. This did make taking it in at the waist really easy and I ended up taking it in by about an inch on each side. 
•  I also turned the binding edges under and top stitched them down. I couldn't see the pattern tell me to do this, but have seen other people do it on their versions. I do think the edges look a lot nicer this way.

I am really pleased with how this came out. I only finished it last weekend and have already worn it twice, and had some lovely compliments on it. I can definitely see me making this again in the future. Also, see that belt, its a bit floppy right? I got it on sale for £2, I have already hacked it and sewn it back together to make it fit.

So finally after 3 toiles, 1 peplum and this, I now think I have mastered that confusing neckline! I am planning a post just to go over this because I know a lot of other people have got confused with the instructions, and I searched like crazy trying to get tips on it. But look, the two pieces are sitting lovely and flat on this version.

I hope you like it. Any ideas for my next version?

Victory! for AVA

I am proud to present.... my Black and White Ava Peplum:

Thankfully we had a lovely sunny January Sunday over here and while Mr Fox was slaving away at his dissertation on the laptop downstairs I thought I would use the time to finish off my black and white Ava peplum. It also meant I got to take some piccies indoors. This is my very first make of 2014 and has taken a little while due to me working a lot of overtime to try and pay for Christmas. I think this is 'officially' the start to my sewing blog, and my attempt at making myself a wardrobe and so I wanted to make sure I took the time over it. Not to mention make sure it is 'sewn for my style' as I have previously been posting about.

The main fabric is a black and white striped poplin and the top a black spotted tulle. I really like the two together, and especially like the black and white look with my in your face hair! I am however most pleased with the binding. I was dreading this, and was convinced I would end up with a wonky neck line or something but it went really well (smug face!) I was going for 'chic office attire' when I thought about making the peplum version.

About the pattern: AVA by Victory Pattern

You get a tissue pattern, and a little booklet explaining the construction of this dress. It comes in three lengths: Peplum, Knee, and Tea dress. Although I had to re-read a few of the steps over until they made sense this was a very simple pattern to follow. This might be down to my in-experience, but i see that as a positive thing as if I can get it, as a relatively new pattern follower, then anyone can.The only really tricky bit about this pattern is sewing the upper and lower bodice pieces at the sweat heart neckline. I really don't have any good tips for this other than practice, mine if far from perfect.

(sorry about the boob shot, but I wanted to show you the neckline)

Alterations: As previously mentioned I lengthened the body by about 5cm to have it sit a bit nearer my natural waist. I also extended the darts on the back bodice piece by a couple of cm as I do have quiet a small back. I also took in the side seams by about a presser foots width. I think my previous comments about learning to do an FBA might also help this pattern as it gapes a little bit under the arms, which I think would be solved by some side bust darts. But its not so bad that I can't live with it.

I am really pleased with this top over all. I am not sure if the stripes are not too busy, and I think this would be much better in something that has a better drape than a poplin. But hopefully this will make it into my summer work wardrobe.

The plan all along has been to make the knee length version of this dress and so I have purchased some black fabric which hangs a lot better. And so I will get going on this shortly whilst I await the start of the Georgia sew-along.