Rainbow striped Dotty dress

It doesn't get much brighter than this does it! Its making things like this that genuinely just bring joy to my life and show me why I love to sew. This gorgeous little dress was on my make nine this year, and so in keeping with Children's week on The Great British Sewing Bee it was the perfect time to sew it up. Its also been an amazingly sunny week here in the UK for Feb so what better time to add even more sunshine to your day. Read on for more gorgeous pics of this dress, pattern details and a list of current rainbow jersey stockists... 

Velvet and stars faux wrap

The thing I really love about sewing is that you can turn your ideas into a reality, whether that be a design that pops into your head or an outfit you have seen else ware and want to recreate. Not only can you create the look you aspired to yourself, but also it is truly made to measure and to suit your own style.

Halloween LBD - A Ghoulish Georgia dress

Happy Halloween! and hello on my most favourite of all the holidays. I absolutely love how year on year the UK seems to get more and more into Halloween and we are seeing so much more participation. We have a long way to go to complete with the likes of the US but I like the way this is heading. I'm even happier to be bringing you a halloween themed post.

I have been a bit slack this year and haven't managed to make the kids costumes, mostly because he wanted to be batman, and sadly I had to work on the day we could have gone to a toddler party. I also haven't managed to get out anywhere in fancy dress myself because, well, its a Wednesday BOO! 

Lil Space Critter

Following on from the adorable fox dress I made Miss Fox last week (if you missed it go check it out here) here is the second of the two dresses I made. I know the fox dress is super cute and all that but I actually think this one is my favourite, I mean that colour is just adorable and so perfect for this more autumnal weather that's finally coming our way.

Lil Foxy Critter

One of the things that seems to come as part of the territory with being a Fox is being tagged for every item of baby fox clothing imaginable! Now if you've read my blog before, or looked at my instagram you will have seen there has been no shortage of fox related crafts, however it seemed it was time to recreate that ever popular Fox dress we see popping in up in all sorts of guises all over the internet.

I've always been very defensive about people interpreting fox dresses because I have been a huge fan of the work of Wild Things Dresses on Etsy for a long time (honestly, these are the most amazing kids clothes ever!). However it seems that sadly all the high brand kids retailers have cottoned on and copied her designs in one form or another, which as a creative makes me very sad. So if you want an amazing dress like this one, and are not a sewer, please pay her a visit and purchase one of her amazing creations.

 

Here is an image of one of their amazing fox dresses along with the book which so thankfully tells you how to make your own, perfect for the likes of me who get enjoyment out of the process of making as well as the clothes.

I do have a copy of the book, as you can see in my first image, but sadly the patterns don't run as small as Miss Fox, so in this instance I have had to improvise a bit until she grows up and I can use the patterns in this book.

I used a tried and tested pattern the Lil Critters dress from Puperita. This pattern is so easy to follow and is the perfect dungaree bib dress, with slightly flared skirt it really is adorable. As with all her patterns the instructions are really clear and are a doddle to follow so I managed to make 2 of these on my day off today. Go me!

In order to make the fox face I just drew the shapes onto the original bib piece and then traced the individual shapes onto separate paper adding a 1cm seam allowance where I needed to join the pieces together. I am really happy with how it all came out, its a very cute little foxy face and this pattern lent itself really well to this adaptation.

For the fabric I used some babycord or needle cord which is very fine corduroy fabric. I love making dresses for kids in cord for Autumn/winter, its such a nice thick fabric and is relatively easy to sew and comes in a huge array of wonderful colours. It can be a little stiff but that's why it lends itself so well to this type of dungaree pattern.

I'm really chuffed with how this turned out and its a lovely fit on her so should serve her well this winter. I will definitely make more of this pattern and there will definitely be more Fox dresses in Miss Fox's future.

Have you ever made any cute adaptations to a regular pattern like this? I'd love to see them, the more cute critters the better!

My first Bruyere shirt and how it nearly went in the bin

Hello there and welcome to my first pattern show off in quiet some time. I've been really keen to start sewing properly for myself again, and by properly I mean making something fitted not just more jersey.

This is the Bruyere shirt by Deer and Doe made up in some cotton shirting fabric which I bought online from Croft Mill.

I actually bought the fabric and pattern for this make in May last year when I was heavily pregnant with Fox cub #2 with the intention of it being a staple part of my breastfeeding wardrobe. Fast forward a year and the reality of the situation was that I couldn't face making all the adjustments to the pattern whilst my body was still ever changing shape.

I'm really pleased to have picked it up now though and got my head around all the adjustments because I just love it and I think one of the main reasons for that is the thought I put into embellishing it, more on that shortly.

Fitting: I had to do a number of adjustments to this pattern; my usual full bust adjustment which is to add a whole inch into the front section and remove an inch from the back because for some reason I have a very small back. I found this a bit daunting at first for this pattern as there are so many adjoining pieces: the waistband and the collar and these would all need adjusting as well as the pleats in the skirt. I'm pleased to say though it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined, my toile of the bodice turned out perfectly. 

Well then it all went wrong didn't it! Somehow when I retraced my new bodice piece to make a proper pattern piece I didn't cut it properly and the bodice was far too big. I was gutted. I spent so much time on the fit and then had planned and bought all the notions I really didn't want it to end up in the bin. Thankfully my very talented sister came to my rescue and suggested I added a neck dart which we then turned into a fake princess seam to remove the bulk. Its not as great as my toile but thanks to her its now completely wearable so thank you Rachel x

Bling: Well i'm sure your keen eyes have already spotted them but yes, I added a studded collar, its frikkin awesome I love it. 

After I started Me Made May this year I realised I had a lot of clothes that I liked but that I didn't love. I decided after that to try and think a lot more about what I was making and how to make sure it really stood out and felt a lot more special. 

I had a number of ideas for this shirt: Holograph star applique, metal collar cuffs, rainbow buttons, glitter but in the end these simple studs won out. I think they really make this shirt and the buttons are such a perfect match for them. Its functional but still a bit edgy. I could easily wear this chilling in the park like today, smart for the office or glammed up for a night out.

Will I make it again: Definitely! I need to test my pattern adjustments properly. I still want to try those rainbow buttons so might try a black dobby fabric or similar. I also have some fabric which I might use to try a dress hack version.

Would I recommend: Yes, its not nearly as difficult to make as I expected it to be and its such a flattering fit ,especially if you are lucky enough to have an hourglass figure like me.


Do you ever embellish your makes? I'd love to see them or hear your ideas.

Thanks for reading and hopefully this will be the start of me blogging on a more regular basis again.

You've got a friend in me

How amazing is this fabric! Master Fox is a big fan of basically anything Disney, I would tell you which is his fave but it changes weekly so who knows which it will be by the time this post is published. Having said that he is always happy to go back to an old favourite, and who doesn't love a bit of buzz and woody. 

This fabric is some more from llfab who recently ran this as part of their pre-order rounds. The fabric quality is amazing, its so nice to sew with. Its a very thick jersey but it gives the most amazing finish to these adorable little garments.

I bought the fabric to make Master Fox an adorable little tshirt to wear. The problem (is it a problem?) with making kids clothes is that you end up buying by the meter and you have so much fabric left over. Of course I am sure there are other things I can make with the rest of the fabric but how many Toy Story tshirts can one little boy have? So I decided to as well make one of his little girlfriends a matching dress as she is also a big fan of the films.

The patterns for these two outfits are both from the most recent Ottobre magazine (Summer 3/2017). The tshirt is the whales and tigers top and the dress is a mash up of the Donuts and California Surfing dresses. Thankfully these two dresses were drawn on the same pattern pieces so they were easy to mix and match. I do love the versatility of Ottobre patterns, and the great thing about having their magazine subscription is that if I want to make something you can almost always guarentee you already have a pattern for it. Having said that the instructions are vague at best and come with very little visual instruction if any. This does make them quiet difficult to follow for a novice but as long as you read them carefully and follow the instructions they are fine to work with.

I am really impressed with my binding on both these outfits. They are sitting so perfectly flat. I think that can be partly contributed to by the fabric its attached to being of such a good sturdy quality but I have also done a lot of practicing with my twin needle and the threading/tension on my machine. I really do love to challenge myself with sewing now, and knit binding was a skill which was trying to evade me, but I think we are finally getting there.

The binding fabric and green jersey came from caboodle textiles, not a site I have used before but they have some lovely knits, these plain ones feel gorgeous. The knit binding was also from them. it doesn't feel to the touch like the best quality I have ever had but it certainly stitched up fine, I think the pictures prove that.

So which is your favourite disney movie, and if you could score the fabric what would you do with it? Also does anyone have any good ideas for what I could do with the last bit of this fabric? I don't have a massive amount but it would be enough to make another small child/baby outfit. 

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.

2 nap times, 2 maternity dresses - part 2

In this second installment of the 2 nap times, 2 maternity dresses posts I am happy to show off the second version of my Megan Nielsen maternity pattern hack dress with this beautiful pale pink number.

Last week I showed you my stunning snow leopard version of the dress and talked more about the pattern and why I decided that it was still ok to sew maternity dresses into your 3rd trimester! Well this week we are going to talk all about the fabric.

Both of these dresses are made from Jersey fabric which I bought from Stoff & Stil. Stoff & Stil are actually a Danish fabric company who have a few other shops in the EU and ship to the UK. Their shipping costs are quiet pricey (I blame you Brexit!!) but the fabric isn't too dear and its such good quality I highly recommend. Plus their range of fabrics are stunning, for me much better than a lot of the stuff you can find in the UK, so if you do a bulk order it makes the shipping more reasonable.

I've talked before about my love for Danish fabric stores. One day I will make it back to Denmark to see friends and next time I'm saving up for months in advance and taking an entire empty suitcase!

The fabric for this dress is some gorgeous pale pink heart cotton jersey. As I mentioned above the quality of this stuff is amazing, it has great stretch recovery and its nice and thick, perfect for this type of project. I made a version of this dress in a cheap poly jersey from the market and you can really tell the difference with this. I think the great quality helped these two dresses come along so perfectly. They just behaved and the finished outcome really does speak louder than words.

The fabric I used for last weeks Snow leopard dress is this absolutely stunning cream leopard jersey which has a very subtle pale pink in the centre of some of the prints. This is probably the most amazing fabric I have ever purchased! I mean we all know I love a leopard print but again the quality is stunning, it was so easy to sew, the finished item looks amazing I really can't fault it.

I would say these jerseys are a medium weight though, they make perfect bodycon dresses, would be good for skater skirts/dresses and more fitted tops (like Tilly's Agnes top, in fact this is now on my to do list!), but they are definitely not lightweight so wouldnt suit something which needed more drape like a floaty, baggy top.

I purposefully picked light colours for these dresses for 2 reasons; a) summer is hopefully on its way and b) I have decided I have become too lazy to keep up with my hair dying and am considering growing out my natural colours. The lighter clothing much better complements my ever fading locks than darker ones do, so watch this space to see how this terrible hair saga goes (it will probably end in me crying from bad hair and dying it pink again!).

So I hope you liked these dresses, I finally managed to get a couple of outfits I am happy to show off my pregnant figure in and that give me some confidence, for me that is a massive thumbs up. I hope I have inspired you to do some selfish sewing just to cheer yourself up, its definitely worth it.

x

2 nap times, 2 maternity dresses - part 1

Its probably a little late to start sewing more maternity clothes in my 3rd trimester but I got so fed up of hating all my clothes and how I look in them I had had enough and decided I might as well just do something about it to cheer myself up.

I mean I probably only have about 12 weeks left, which when you think about home sewing doesn't really seem worth the effort. That being said I know I will get a lot of wear out of these in the coming weeks and as the title of the post implies these dresses really didn't take me very long at all (2 nap times in fact!).

The first one I am going to show to you in this post is this amazing white leopard print version which as you can see I appropriately wore for a recent trip to the zoo. Thankfully I wasn't attacked by a lion or adopted by the snow leopards.

The main reasons why these two dresses were so quick is firstly they are both the same pattern, meaning I could sew them simultaneously and secondly they are a dress I have made before so I already know it fits and the construction method - bonus.  The pattern is the Cara top and Erin skirt from the Megan Nielsen Maternity survival pack. I made another leopard version of this dress a month or so ago which I blogged about here. For this version I used the ruching placement for the top rather than the skirt which I think I did last time and its sitting a little higher this time giving a much better fit around the bump. I also made these versions ever so slightly longer as its getting warmer meaning I could wear them without tights if needed. The technique for this hack couldn't be simpler, just cut the two patterns out in your size and then overlay them following the contours. You will likely find the skirt is slimmer than the top. When cutting I decided to keep the bottom of the skirt the same size, graded up to the top size in the hips. because I am a very curvy figure, then follow the shape of the top up to the shoulder.

This pattern hack really is so easy to do and its super quick to sew, I really recommend it.

(It's actually snowing in this picture, I mean its April and its snowing!)

I have basically decided that this type of dress is the only type of thing I am comfortable wearing during pregnancy and its completely pointless trying to wear anything else. It fits easily, pulls on, grows with you and is not in any way restrictive so its just so comfortable. Its definitely the type of clothing I reach for every morning as long as I have a clean version so I am really happy to have two more in my rotation of clothing hence my decision that this was not going to be a waste of sewing.

I love this dress, i'm so pleased with it. I think its the fabric that really makes it so amazing and it brings my total count of leopard maternity dresses to 3!

Next week I will post the second version of this dress and talk about the fabric in more detail so I look forward to seeing you then.

How do you feel about sewing for the short term? Is it worth it? I suppose a lot of us sew for special occasions, items which might be quiet costly but only get a very small amount of wears? Is the value in the longevity of an item or the amount of pleasure you get from it? I've often previously thought it was about it only being worthwhile if it was going to get a lot of use, but maybe I have been looking at it all wrong?

Llama Llama Baby Dress

Hopefully you all remember my amazing Llama Llama dress, well obviously I saved the very small amount of leftovers I had from that dress in my box of fabric scraps which can only have been called the 'just in case I ever have a little girl' box of sewing supplies! Thankfully that box of scraps is now getting its very own lease of life again and this is one of the first makes from it.

Its ok for mama and baby to wear matching dresses isn't it?

The dress is the Puperita Mini Tulips dress which I have blogged about before. The dress is reversible but I have only lined it with a grey cotton as why would you ever wear it any other way round than this?

The pattern is for an overall type dress, so ideally worn over a tshirt or baby grow, but its such a simple pattern. Very easy to sew, easy to adapt and perfect for using up odds and ends of fabric you have collected. I made this dress in 3-6m so it will be a while before we are wearing it, but I think its a pattern better suited for slightly older children than tiny babies.

Just look at those happy little llama faces!! The fabric is Michael Miller 'packmates' and its 100% quilting cotton. Sadly its no longer listed on their website so you will have to do some digging if you wanted to try and blag yourself some of this fabric.

The fabric type isn't ideal for baby clothes as its very rigid but this pattern lends itself so well to a sturdier fabric as it doesn't call for much drape.

I don't really have much more to say about this make, I'm just going to let those little llama's do all the talking instead x

Leopard Maternity Dress

Hello, finally as a little respite to all the baby sewing I am pleased to say this week I am here to show you some slightly more grown up sewing in this lovely leopard print maternity dress.

I love wearing dresses when pregnant, nice big stretchy ones! You see all these stunning pictures of pregnant ladies in their skinny jeans, but its not for me. I wish I could wear a pair of jeans but I just find them so uncomfortable. Hand me a nice stretchy dress instead and I'm so much happier. As you can see my bump is progressing very nicely (with a big help from chocolate!) so its nice to get another outfit to add to my currently very limited wardrobe of clothes that actually fit (and look good).

The dress is actually a mash up of two of the patterns from the Megan Nielsen Maternity survival pack set of sewing patterns. It is the Erin skirt and the Cara top. I cut out both patterns to my size and they overlay one over the other. The ruching is in slightly different places in both patterns so I had to wing it a bit but it came together really nicely. I think the ruching maybe could have been slightly higher but it works where it is perfectly fine.

These patterns really are so quick and easy to sew and this dress was no exception to that. The fit is lovely and its just so easy to pull on and can be worn with tights or without. I can definitely see me adding at least one more of these to my collection before baby is due.

The fabric is some very old jersey that I bought at a local market which I used to make my first lady skater dress (some time ago now). Its been sitting in a box in my craft room for at least 2 years maybe more. I hadn't managed to find a better project for it before now so its nice to see it finally getting some love and in turn making some more room for me to buy more lovely fabric in its place.

I hope you like the dress, and I hope it inspires you to have a go at making one if you haven't already. Its so nice to make maternity clothes, even if they aren't going to get the most wear ever.

Now i'm off to go consider whats next on my ever growing list of sewing projects, whats your next project going to be?

Liberty Milky Way Sweetheart Sun Dress

I don't even know where to begin with this post, this dress has me almost speechless. There are not enough words to describe how much I am in love with this little dress and just how proud I am of it. The dress is such a dainty little thing, sewn up in a beautiful lightweight cotton lawn in size 0-3 months, its just so delicate. 

Not only am I super chuffed with the final thing I just really enjoyed the whole process of making this. From the cutting out to the final bits of hand sewing the whole thing was a delight. It wasn't a fast project, but it wasn't too complicated either. I wanted to make sure that I took my time, and didnt make any silly mistakes. I think this was mostly down to fear of ruining the fabric but thats not a bad thing.

The fabric is some beautiful Liberty Tana Lawn in their new Milky Way pattern. I'm not really a fan of Liberty prints, they are a bit too dainty and floral for my liking, plus they cost an absolute fortune, but this one really caught my eye. Mr Fox thinks its a bit gawdy but I love it, what do you think?

I was hoping this would be a lovely little summer dress, but in reality I think by the time Little Miss Fox is big enough to wear it we will be coming on to winter, but she can pair it with a long sleeved vest and some leggings to keep her warm so we should still get plenty of wear out of it.

You need to think carefully about making baby clothes because they need to be made from a fabric which will be soft enough on baby's skin, but also breathable. This is why I knew I wanted to make a dress in a cotton lawn as its so soft and lightweight. The fabric really was beautiful to sew with, it behaved spectacularly well, cottons usually do, but I was expected a lightweight lawn to be a bit more temperamental. Who knows, maybe this will be the start of a new found love for Liberty fabrics??!!

The sewing pattern is another gem from Puperita and it is the Sweetheart dress. It comes with 2 options, one with a skirt and this one without which is a bit more tunic style. Puperita do a few lovely dress patterns but I wanted one which was very simple to really showcase the fabric pattern which is why I chose the plain tunic version of the dress. The dainty flutter sleeves compliment the fabric perfectly and I think this was a great pattern choice for this fabric. As always the instructions were spot on and this was a really nice simple pattern to make.

I hope you love this as much as I do! I could just stare at it all day, is that weird?

So if you have any recommendations for me, of any of your favourite girl sewing patterns or places to buy cute baby fabrics I would really like to hear from you. You can never get enough inspiration and the sewing community is my favorite place to find it.

x

A Happy Festive Wren

Before we get into this post I want to tell you to keep reading as I have something exciting to tell you at the end!

So lets get into it by saying hi, and a big welcome to 2017! I'm not going to start out the year with a big rundown of everything I made last year (I think I have hashed that stuff out enough on here) nor am I going to do any plans for the year ahead. Instead we are just going to show off a simple sew which I quickly knocked together when I had an urge for a new festive outfit.

For me 2016 trailed off a bit with both with the sewing and the blogging. I have to admit I really lost my mojo there for a while, so its nice to start off the year by celebrating something made. Hopefully I can keep it up as much as possible in 2017.

About the dress then. Its the fitted version of Colette's Wren dress made using a gold studded Ponte Roma fabric which I got online from Fabric Godmother. Sadly I think I bought up the last of this fabric but its really lovely, I love how the gold spots are actually raised on the fabric, it gives it a real festive glitz appeal. Its hard to tell in this picture but I will see if I can get an image of them in later.

Generally speaking this was a really quick sew, I cut it out and stitched it together in 2 short evenings which is pretty good going. The fabric did fight me a little, my machine definitely did not like those little raised bobbles going into the feed dogs under the presser foot. I also had a massive issue with skipped stitches using my twin needle which I could not manage to rectify. In the end I just gave up and used a straightforward zigzag stitch. The fabric is so stable that this hasn't been an issue at all and you really cant see the stitching.

I made the same fitting adjustments on this dress as I did with my last version of Wren (cutting the front pieces on the fold, and doing a FBA). The FBA is definitely needed for me, it could maybe even do with a bit more as it still gapes in the armholes a little bit, something I didn't notice on the last version as it has the sleeves. I cut the bottom half in a straight size 4. I do think its a little on the clingy side so I might want to consider drafting out to a 6 in the hips but the fabric is lovely and stretchy so I think I have got away with it. The dress was also made, and worn, before the Xmas food blow out, so I think it probably fitted me a bit better a fortnight ago!

Sewing this up in such a rush I have misaligned the top and bottom front pieces when sewing them together, which is I think what is causing the pull you can see under the bust. It hasn't stopped me wearing it though, you would only notice if you really inspected it, and I hope no one is inspecing my bust that closely in public anyway!!

Moving on to something completely different, I am sure you haven't failed to notice the shoes. Santa (A.K.A. Mr Fox) was very generous and bought me this beautiful pair of irregular choice shoes for Xmas. I have been eyeing these up for a very long time, I mean whats not to love, they are pink ombre glitter heels! They are so completely impractical and I don't attend near enough special occasions to justify them but they are so pretty! I suppose I best get finding excuses to go out more.

So, finally on to the exciting news, you may have already been able to guess, but I was really trying to suck it in in the earlier pictures. The Fox family will be welcoming a new little fox cub in the summer :). We are very excited, happy and looking forward to meeting the little person. I hope that Master Fox enjoys becoming a big brother and I can't wait to find out what kind it will be in a couple of months. So that means lots more sleepless nights for us, dirty nappies and of course baby sewing!

I hope you all had a lovely festive break and I can't wait to hear from you and share the exciting year ahead x.