Stripey Nursing Dress

This is the Turn About the Room Dress, a free pattern from the DIY Maternity blog.  I cut out the small/medium size (with a few modifications to the skirt) as part of my Me-Made-May challenge last year, right before my baby was born. I sewed it up in little snatches of time last summer, and have worn it a bunch since then.  It works well for nursing (with a nursing camisole under it), and I get lots of compliments on it - people tend to be amazed that I made it.  It's very comfortable. 

I changed the sizes of the skirt panels because I wanted to wear the dress as a nursing dress instead of a maternity dress, so I wanted less fullness in front (and more fullness in back, because I have wide hips).  I also lengthened the skirt, because I am tall.  In the end, I decided to cut the front and back panels exactly the same: 13" wide on the fold (for 26" total width) by 33" long.  I also added pockets, using the Washi Dress extra pocket pattern piece. 

The dress went together pretty easily, and I liked the hem technique the tutorial suggests - using a narrow strip of knit interfacing to stabilize the hem.  I hemmed the sleeves and skirt with a wide twin needle, using wooly nylon in the bobbin.  I ended up needing to take several inches of width out of the bodice and shorten the twist bands significantly, as the whole thing was too wide.  On the other hand, the sleeves are a bit too narrow for me.  They're fine, but if I were to make it again I would do a wide-bicep adjustment to make them more comfortable. 

A Nursing Washi Dress

My Me-Made-May challenge this year was to sew for myself every day until my baby was born, and when the baby was born I was just waiting for hot pink snaps to arrive in the mail to finish this nursing Washi dress.  Once the snaps arrived, setting five of them into the placket only took a few minutes - this has been finished for almost three months now.

I made the size medium, which is the same size I made my first Washi dress in.  (I tried that one on near the end of my pregnancy, to make sure the bodice still fit, and it did - then.  Now the bodice is *very* snug, but it works.)  I made it sleeveless, and trimmed a bit off the straps.  I more or less followed this tutorial for a button-front Washi (the blog seems to no longer be on the internet, but the text at least is still available on the web archive).  It is lined in the bodice only, and I made three parallel casings for narrow elastic at the back bodice, instead of shirring.  The dress is a lovely soft Alison Glass double gauze, and the lining is the same blue voile I used to line my first Washi.  I decided on a whim to topstitch with hot pink thread.  The topstitching isn't super visible in the pictures, or from far away, but up close the pink topstitching in combination with the pink Kam snaps really make the dress.

If I were to make another nursing Washi, I think I would size up in the bodice and raise the neckline a little bit, since nursing bras tend to have full coverage and sometimes I worry about the edge of my bra peeking out from the neckline.  But on the whole, this has been a perfect dress to wear to church or just out of the house this summer, and I think with a cardigan, wool tights, and a slip it will be cozy for fall and winter, too! 

Me-Made-May 2018

My Me-Made May pledge this year was to sew for myself every day until the baby was born - and I succeeded! (Technically, I didn't sew the day before he was born, but I was admitted to the hospital that afternoon, so I'm giving myself a pass.)  The baby was born closer to mid-May than late May, and most days I sewed for less than an hour, but I still got a fair amount done.  I started with this Washi dress.  I lined the bodice and made it snap up the front so it's breast-feeding friendly.  I almost finished it - at the end of my challenge I was just waiting for the hot pink snaps I ordered to arrive in the mail.

Next, I moved on to a knit dress.  I cut out all of the pieces for a Turn About the Room dress from the DIY Maternity blog.  I made the front skirt panels a bit narrower than the pattern specifies, because I intend it to be a nursing dress, not a maternity dress - I think it will be great with a nursing camisole under it.  It should be pretty quick to sew up on the serger once I get around to it.

And last but not least, the best thing I made this May:

(This will be the only baby photo I post on this blog - we have a no photos on social media or the public internet policy.)

Swan Lake dress

My niece turned four in September, and I made her a Swan Lake dress.  She is really into dance and ballet right now.  It's a flutter sleeve Geranium in size 4T (if I remember correctly), with some length and width adjustments to the skirt in order to take full advantage of the border print fabric. 

I used some digitally printed fabric from Hawthorne Threads, and to be honest I didn't love it.  It was pretty stiff, and the ink was very dense on the surface of the fabric.  I don't think I would use this fabric for quilting, and it would definitely not be appropriate for any application that needs to drape.  But the prints were adorable.  I hope it will hold up okay with frequent washing. 

Tiny Roller Skate Dress

I made this tiny Oliver + S Roller Skate dress for my cousin's baby.  It's the 6-12 month size, since I didn't make it until she was almost six months old.  It was pretty easy to sew, didn't take too much fabric, and turned out pretty cute.  I would definitely make it again, maybe with pockets if it was for an older child.  Next time, to save even more fabric and make it lighter for summer, I might try using bias binding for the elastic casing and to finish the sleeve/armhole edges.

A Yellow Hippopotamus Birthday Dress

I made this dress at the beginning of September, as a 3rd birthday present for my niece.  She loves yellow and animals and buttons, and I had half a yard of this yellow, pink, and green hippopotamus print that I got in a scrap pack a couple of years ago.  The dress has six buttons - three different kinds!

With only half a yard of fabric, I wasn't going to be able to make any of the dress styles I'd made for my niece in the past, so I chose the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress.  I had to cut the pieces in one layer, but I managed to squeak out the main panels of the size 2T with a few inches of added length.

It was lucky this fabric didn't have a clear up and down, or it wouldn't have worked!

I think the dress came out cute, even if it isn't the twirly kind of style my niece usually likes.  I hope she will be able to wear it as a dress, and then as a tunic as she gets taller.  I'm glad I was able to use this little piece of cute fabric that I'd been saving for her!

Seamwork Adelaide dress

I finished my newest dress - a Seamwork Adelaide!  On the whole, I'm really happy with it, and it's a nice, light, and comfortable casual summer dress.  My 2.5-year-old niece is really into buttons lately (snaps count, too), and when she saw me wearing this dress last weekend she very seriously asked me how many buttons it has.  We counted 15.

The fabric is a drapey polyester I found on sale for about $5/yard at JoAnn at the beginning of the summer.  I used gold bias binding to finish the neckline and armholes.  It was a windy day when we took these pictures, so the skirt looks a little weird in the next picture.

I love the print of this fabric, but it was a little bit slippery to work with.  The belt is not quite flat and there is a little bit of puckering or something going on at the sides.

I made a size 8 at the top graded out to a size 12 at the bottom.  Next time, I would made the grading more gradual (i.e. start at the same place around the bottom of the ribcage but finish lower), since I think the curve out to my hips is too abrupt and finishes too high.  I held up the paper pattern to my body and decided to make two alterations to the pattern:  I changed the angle of the dart, raising the dart point by about 1.5", and I lengthened the skirt by 3.5" at the lengthen/shorten line.  Since I had so much extra length, I ended up using 15 snaps instead of the 13 the pattern calls for - I kept the spacing between snaps the same as marked on the pattern.  I also used the bottom button loop markings for the tops of the button loops.

There were a few things I thought were a bit strange with the pattern:

• the armholes are a little tight on me.  After I printed the pattern but before I cut it out I got an email with a link to an updated version of the pattern, but since all the email said was that they changed the fit of the armhole (it didn't say how) I decided to just make the version I had already printed.  I assume that the change is to make the armhole a little bigger, and I will probably try the new version if I make this again
• the belt seems a lot narrower and bit longer than it looks in the pictures.  Also, it seems kind of strange to me that the pattern piece for the belt is concave rather than convex at the pointy end.  If it were convex the finished belt would be the same shape but it would be easier to sew
• the belt loop marks are only an inch apart, even though the belt loop pieces are 2.5" long.  I think the marks should probably be 2" apart

I bought a pair of KamSnaps pliers and this is the first project I've used them on.  I bought size 14 long snaps in black, and I had to cut off the tips of the prongs, since my test snaps wouldn't close.  The KamSnaps website was very helpful for troubleshooting the snaps.  For the most part they were easy to use and I'm happy with how they worked, but I did have two (out of 15) that I squished the protruding part of when I put them in, so I had to remove them.  Removing them was hard, and it put a lot of wear on the fabric around those snaps.  I put some fraycheck on, but I'm pretty much just hoping it doesn't become  a problem.  Here's what the worn places look like.

A green giraffe dress! With buttons!

My niece's favorite animal is the giraffe.  And she is currently fascinated with buttons.  She recently asked her mom for a green giraffe dress with buttons.  So they went to the fabric store to look for green giraffe fabric, but the closest thing they could find was a flannel with yellow giraffes.

It just so happens that I also love giraffes, and I happened to have in my stash a cut of fabric with green and blue giraffes on it, together with a coordinating polka-dot.

They became an Oliver + S Jump Rope dress.  I made view A, in size 2T with some extra length - I cut the bodice on the 3T line, and then added some more to the skirt length.  I think it was at least 2", but I wasn't super-precise about it and I don't quite remember exactly what I did.

The dress has SEVEN buttons.  Three functional buttons on the placket, plus one on each sleeve tab and one on each pocket.  My niece was thrilled.  She immediately asked me to help her put it on (thank goodness it fit, and has some length for her to grow into) and mentioned several times later in the day that her dress has giraffes on it.

I've never sewn a placket before, but it wasn't too bad!  I used the Sew Mama Sew sew-along and it was very helpful.  I also asked for help estimating fabric requirements in the Oliver+S forums, and Nicole and the other ladies there were very helpful!

All in all, I am thrilled with how this little dress turned out and I had a lot of fun sewing it!

Washi!

I finally made my Washi dress!  I bought the fabric with the intention of making this dress at least two years ago.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It's Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile, lined with a solid navy voile, and it feels so nice to wear.

I used Rae's video tutorials for a lined dress.  It was pretty straightforward.  I made a bodice muslin and then sewed the medium as-is, but with probably about 6 inches of extra length in the skirt.  Robert helped me level the hem at the right level.  I'm really liking my knee-length dresses right now.  The lining is hemmed about half an inch shorter than the outer dress, and that seems to work well.  I tacked the inner and outer dresses together at the side seams, which are french seams on both the outer dress and lining.

By far the most difficult part of making this dress was sewing in the sleeves.  There are notches in the armscyes for the edge of the cap sleeves, but no indication of how the sleeves should be eased in.  It may be that the length of the sleeve edge is exactly the same as the length of armscye between the notches, but if so that wasn't much help for pinning them in since the two edges curve in opposite directions.  I ended up aligning the center of the cap sleeve with the shoulder seam, but I have no idea if that was the right thing to do.  I guess it was, because it worked.  When I make this dress again I will not do cap sleeves.  Aside from being a pain to put in, they cut into the front of my arms a little bit.  I think I would be more comfortable in a sleeveless version or one with long sleeves - and I want to make both!

A Special Birthday Dress!

My niece turned 2 last weekend.  I decided to make her a special dress.  It is a mash-up of the Geranium from Made by Rae and the Puppet Show dress from Oliver + S.  I used the geranium skirt, the puppet show sleeves, and a bodice that was mostly geranium.  I made the 2T size, which it turned out was quite a bit too big.  I thought it would be the right size since I made the a Geranium top for her in the 18-24 month size for the 4th of July, and that fit.  The 2T size isn't that much bigger than the 18-24 month, but I think the way I combined the bodice patterns made the shoulders a little bit wider, and the sleeves made it extra obvious that it was too wide for her.

I had intended to cut extra length in the skirt, but I only bought one yard of the fabric (Heather Ross Tiger Lily voile), and I didn't have enough.  Instead I added a faux sash to the bottom of the bodice and lining, using some navy voile leftover from the lining of a dress I'm sewing for myself.  I was pretty proud of the way I added the seamless sash. I stitched the ends of the sash to the back bodice pieces (after sewing the shoulder seams), then sewed the bodice and lining together along the neck and back edges as directed in the geranium pattern.  Then I sewed the side seams (bodice and lining separately), then went back and sewed the rest of the seam between bodice and sash:

This way there were no side seams in the sash.  Of course, later I realized that I could have sewn the side seams first, then the sash, then the neck and back edges, since I was adding sleeves and therefore couldn't finish the armscyes as directed in geranium.  So this was a bit of extra work, but now I have it figured out in case I ever want to add a sash/waistband to a straight-up geranium dress.

I sewed in the sleeves - I had to trim off the armholes because they were incredibly small!  I used the armscyes from the Puppet show pattern, and I don't know what happened.  There was no way the sleeves would fit into them.  I ended up trimming quite a bit off.

Then I went to sew the skirt pieces and discovered that I had made a cutting error.  I cut pockets onto the front skirt piece but not the back.  I felt really stupid.  The dress lost its pockets.

I fought with my sewing machine's button-hole function, but eventually got it to work.

The inside of the dress has no raw edges.  I bound the sleeve cuff seam with the cuff seam allowance and hand sewed the bodice lining to the seam allowance of the sleeve and to the skirt lining.

I added a layer of gathered tulle between the skirt and lining to give it a bit of extra fullness. I had a bit of trouble gathering the tulle, but it turned out well in the end.  I gathered the tulle, lining, and skirt in three separate layers and then pinned them all together.  I wish I had read this post by Nicole at Five and Counting before sewing this - I think her way would be much easier.

My niece looks very cute in her dress, even if it is too big.  When she gets taller I can add a band of the navy voile to the skirt hem to give it some extra length so she can wear it longer (especially given that it is so wide on her)!

Lady Skater Dress

My mom visited the week before last.  When she visits, the two of us usually do some sort of big project.  This time, we made clothing - I chose the Lady Skater Dress, and my mom made a skirt from knits.  This was the first time either of us had worked with knit fabric before, and we both got really good results!

We traded off with the serger and my sewing machine - using the serger for all of the structural things and the sewing machine only for basting elastic in, topstitching around my dress's neck and arm bands, and hemming with a double needle (the first time either of us had used a double needle!).

I'm really happy with my dress, and I think I will make this pattern again.  This time I made size 4.  I lengthened the bodice by 1" and the skirt by 3".  Next time, I wouldn't lengthen the bodice at all and instead lengthen the skirt by 4", since I do think the overall length is right on this one.  I might also consider grading to a size 5 at the waist, since if anything it's a bit roomy in the shoulders but the lower bodice sort of seems to highlight the outward flare at the bottom of my ribcage.