Anyone for badminton?

This isn't quite badminton as I remember it from my schooldays but the skirts are definitely better looking than the ones we had to wear!  The Oliver + S badminton pattern is actually a skort with shorts underneath.  This is perfect for a small person who occasionally forgets to put underwear on....

I have recently made 2 of these and they are relatively easy to make.  The first skort was made out of a small floral print with contrasting floral shorts:

size 3

I used a freezer paper template to stitch the scalloped edge.  This is certainly easier to do than cutting the scalloped edge and stitching a 1/2 inch seam and I think it makes for an more accurate finish. (Have you realised how much I love freezer paper?)

The second skirt was made from a pretty Japanese cotton/linen blend Echino fabric

size 3

 I made the shorts out of a pink quilting fabric in my stash.  I also attached the hem facing with a blindstitch rather than just edgestitching because I didn't want the stitching to break up the line of the border print on the front.  (I have it on good authority that some of the stitching isn't perfect but apparently that is on the inside so hopefully it won't be too distracting!)

And here is Rosa in her badminton skort: 

Oliver + S badminton skort with Ottobre t-shirt 19 - 3/2011. 

The belt and hair decoration are Rosa's own!

I made the t-shirt from an Ottobre pattern (number 19 in 3/2011) and used 2 prints from craftyscientists at Spoonflower to make it. The front is made from Anne plays the Pipes (http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1622232) and the back is The Jazz Band (http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1622237).  I needed less than a fat quarter of the knit fabric to make each side. 

size 98cm

 Spoonflower is a fantastic source for fabric prints that can really change a simple pattern to something that is special and unique.  After all, which little girl doesn't like a fairy?

Don't sew late at night!

Let this be a lesson to you:

size 6-12M

Colleagues recently welcomed a son.  Dad is mad on sport and supports one of the New Zealand Super 14 rugby teams... but not this one!  

Late on Wednesday night I remembered I had some material from an older version of the Crusaders rugby team jersey.  Yes, I thought, I'll be a little provocative and make the happy parents an Oliver + S sailboat top for their little Crusaders' supporter. I carefully cut out the various pieces so that the stripes matched, merrily sewed away (aware that the pumpkin hour was fast approaching), found some matching snaps in my sewing room (hooray for hoarding!) and hammered them in place, took a few photos, wrapped the top with the other goodies I had crafted, and gave my friends the parcel on Thursday.

All seemed well until this morning when I realized to my horror I had placed the back panel over the front panel at the shoulder.  This is not the way the top should look.  And now I think the top looks ugly.  Grrrr.   What was I thinking?!? Why did I make such a silly and amateurish mistake?  Sewing late at night perhaps?  Deciding I was going to put snaps on instead of buttons and in my haste placing the panel which would normally have the buttons, on top?   Anyway, if you take more care than I did you won't find yourself waking in a sweat,  your heart racing, and kicking yourself for being a klutz.

I have made this top once before

Size 4

And notice the buttons: just where they are meant to be and the back panel beneath the front panel

This fabric was a remnant of white sweatshirt material that I dyed.  The buttons were bought at Buttonmania in Melbourne and match perfectly.

And I will make this top again but will definitely be more careful.



Anyway, the purpose of today's post was to write about the music box jumper dress

I first made this dress at the end of 2012 out of some Kokka fabric in a pink and beige colourway.  Interestingly, a New Zealand fashion designer, Andrea Moore, used the same fabric for a woman's shirt but I think it looks better as this dress.

Size 3

This is view B with an A-line skirt and single, inverted centre box pleat.  There are 2 flaps which I fussy cut.  The buttons are pink shell buttons.

The bodice is lined and I chose a cute fairy fabric from my stash

This is a simple pattern (another single scissor pattern from Oliver + S) and quick to sew.  The simple lines are perfect for a small child and for showing off some great fabrics

Yum, that chocolate cake was good..

And the dress makes unwrapping Christmas presents very easy

"I hope this is another music box jumper dress...."

I have made another version of this dress for Rosa.  The fabric is a vintage sheet I recently bought.  Luckily there were two sheets on sale and although they were being sold either separately or at a reduced rate for both I just knew I had to have both sheets... because you never want to get caught short....

size 4

No buttons on the flaps this time because sister N said it would look like the dress had orange nipples!  

I love this dress and, no doubt,  there will be many more of these.

Move over Kate Moss!

This is Rosa

She is my new muse.  Rosa is a natural in front of the camera and a happy recipient of my sewing.  She is adorable and I'm sure that Kate M is relieved that Rosa is only 4 and child labour is illegal...

My 'thing' is sewing children's clothing.  The clothing can be bright and fun.  (After all, how many 40 year olds do you know who could get away with wearing that Barbie pink skirt and those matching shoes?!?)  As an added bonus, kids' clothes are usually much quicker to make than items sewn for me (groan), and it is possible to try things that you might not otherwise try - particularly if the material is expensive because you only need a small amount for a little person.     

I read a lot of sewing blogs and I have figured out that the best ones have lots of cute kids wearing funky outfits rather than fuzzy pictures of a handful of completed outfits.  Hardly very interesting ... and probably the reason so few people bothered to read my blog except for some folk in Russia.  

So I put the call out for a model and look who turned up!  How lucky am I?

Rosa wears Ottobre t-shirt (19) from 3/2011.  Size 98cm.  Model's own pants.  

The fabric is a cotton elastane jersey I purchased from the Ottobre etsy store.  I loved the retro look of the crochet granny squares and it reminded me of the "tank tops" we wore as kids.  Luckily for Rosa, retro is cool and so is crochet. 

I have also recently become obsessed with Oliver + S patterns.  For some reason I have decided I am going to make all of the patterns.  By my count there are currently 34 patterns and about 50 items...  So far, I have made 14 of the individual pieces (some multiple times) and here is one of them on Rosa:

This skirt is the hula hoop skirt

 

model's own t-shirt, necklace and shoes

It is a reversible skirt, with a "flippy flounce".  I chose two pink and white dotted fabric from the same colour range but with different sized white dots.  It was quick to sew and appropriately rated as a single scissor pattern on the Oliver + S difficulty rating scale. 

Up next, is the music box jumper which is fast becoming a favourite of mine.









  

... and yet more sewing for children!

I had a very busy Easter with five days at home to sew, sew, and sew!  No doubt, my sister N, will be somewhat annoyed that most of the sewing was for the children - although I am pleased to report that I have actually made something for myself in the last week - and I even like it enough to wear out....

First up was a little jacket I made from a pattern in one of my many Japanese pattern books

I had initially intended to sew this out of a relatively expensive Echino fabric but the last Japanese pattern I used for Miss L did not last very long before she outgrew it.  So I made up a trial jacket just in case this too proved to be a little on the small side....

I liked the little flaps on the jacket and used my freezer paper technique to ensure they were both identical

Unfortunately, I probably should have made the next size up as this jacket is a "little bit tight" according to Miss L's mum.  Phew, at least I didn't waste the Echino fabric!

I also made another version of the Birthday Party dress from Oliver and S 

and another Ice-Cream top (also Oliver and S) for Miss L

I didn't like the instructions for how the yoke and lower back pieces were stitched together so I made an alteration to the pattern:

I made the lining and yoke piece as instructed resulting in two free edges at the centre back.  However, I then unpicked both pieces 15mm from the bottom edge and stitched the lining fabric pieces together and then the main fabric pieces together (as I have tried to demonstrate here)

  

This allowed me to treat the back yoke piece in the same way as the front and I sewed the lower back piece to the lining and then folded over and topstitched the yoke in place.  This left a much more professional looking and neater finish on the garment edge.

Another Oliver and S  design that I completed was the Puppet Show Shorts Pattern

I used a distressed looking quilting cotton and I think they look quite funky.  The pockets are gathered, have a band attached and and are stitched on the side

The Oliver and S patterns are a good fit for Miss L and certainly appear to be a better bet than the Japanese pattern books.   I like the Oliver and S style as it is a classic look and generally the patterns are well written and easy to follow.

There were also a couple of long-sleeve tops for Miss L:

 Ottobre 1/2012 number 16 with its ruffled sleeves (with the very original title

 of "Funny Sleeves")

From the creative workshop t-shirt pattern for kids

I used my binder on my coverstitch machine to apply both of the neck bindings and think they worked out pretty well

I used the creative workshop pattern to make one of the boys a long-sleeve shirt also.  The fabric and binding came from Dots N Stripes and I think these two work really well together

And, I used the Kung Fu pants pattern to make Master T some shorts 

back pocket details

I also whipped up a few items for Master A using a few of my favorite Ottobre patterns 

 It was fortuitous that I had a huge amount of this fabric as Master A has outgrown his "favorite" origin t-shirt and desperately wanted another!

This hideous interesting material has been in my stash for many years (what was I thinking?!?) but actually didn't look too bad made up into a little boys t-shirt.  And it has all those things that boys are made of (slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails...) or lots of other creepy crawlies...

This weekend I made a (little girl's) skirt out of material I found in my stash.  It is the Indigo skirt (number 18) from 01/2011.  I didn't need to buy a thing: the denim was a left over from another project; the zip and button were in my stash; the topstitching thread was a King Tut quilting thread from Superior threads; and the plaid was something I think I bought about 12 years ago to make myself some shorts! Luckily I never got around to it.

I used my embroidery module to do the back pockets

I have also been doing some knitting and, although I bought the wool in Berlin and started this at Christmas time, I didn't get around to finishing this jumper until about 2 months ago!  

There are no pictures of MY top yet but if I am brave I may actually take some photos and put them on the blog. 

I started a new quilt pattern which has a very retro feel to it - but in a good way - and I will show it when I have completed a little more of it.  However, I imagine that it will go on the back burner until later in the year because the first week in May is 'Sewing Week' where sister N will venture south and we will sew, sew and sew and wriggle with excitement at all the lovelies that we will create....