A comfy dress for my little girl

This summery dress is perfect for a play day for little girls!!! Its too cute to call it a night gown! Well, I will leave that to my daughter to decide for herself!

 The pattern is from Burda Magazine 6/2011 Style 132. I have made it out of stretch knit fabric and therefore had to change the way I did the hem and the edge of the ruffle... The original pattern was for a top, I made it a bit longer.

And I just love the back! I skipped the buttons at the end of the straps. Since I made mine in a knit fabric, the buttonholes would just become loose overtime and wouldn't hold together well.... The elastic back allows for plenty of stretch, so no need for buttons...

Trendy Tarzan Top

Here is my brand new blouse! When I saw this pattern in burda I didn't think I would make it one day but it turned out perfect with my leopard printed chiffon that has been waiting for a while to be turned in to something wearable!!!!

This blouse is very easy and looks really good... Although I have to say that my husband thought I look like Tarzan in it! I really like it so I don't mind the Tarzan look! Will call it "Trendy Tarzan Top"!

I just loved working with this pattern! It was so easy it even made working with chiffon a pleasure! The pattern also has an invisible zipper, I realised I wouldn't need one after I finished sewing the zipper so not sure if I will ever need it but I might just use it to make myself feel better!

I also added  my brand new label to it!  The picture isn't all that great... Sorry about that, it was the best I could do! I had the labels on order for ages and was so very excited to finally get them in the mail! It was a bit fiddly to stitch it on, considering the chiffon and the ruffles but I think its not bad for a first timer... 

And here are a couple of photos from Burda Magazine 6/2010 Style 120... You see how you can get so many different looks with this pattern by simply trying different fabrics and they will all look great!

Printed jersey top

I have had this printed jersey fabric for a while now... Didn't have anything in mind when I first bought it but I just knew I can do alot with it... As soon as I saw this top in Burda Magazine 5/2011 style 107 I knew  it would turn out great with this fabric! I love the gathered front in this pattern... The pattern also has a twist in the straps... My first photo is with strait straps and the second one has twisted straps... I haven't decided which one to go for yet but I quit like the straight straps:

I have mostly used an overlocker to sew the pieces together... I had to use some iron on vilene bias tape for the neckline and the armhole edges to make sure it will keep the shape and not get stretched out of place... I decided to cut my own on bias, it just work out much cheaper...

Here is the top in Burda magazine in plain and printed fabrics:

Would love to know what you think! Leave me a comment!!!

Dresses! Dresses! Dresses!

I had this burda pattern for a while now but I have been looking for the right time and the right fabric to make it... I was in the mood for it a few weeks ago and i started cutting! Its a Burda magazine issue 5/08 pattern 114. The dress is made of so many layers of fine chiffon... They have used a printed layer first, then backed it with plain chiffon, and added the lining and interfacing (were needed). The top part is gathered across and the skirt is very flawy...

I had a lot of plain pink chiffon lying around so I made the dress in plain chiffon only...  I bought matching pink lining to back the chiffon pieces and added some satin for lining the bodice of the dress. The original pattern used ordinary lining, but I decided to go with some lovely pink satin.

Lots and lots and lots of cutting first!

Then I had to baste around a few pieces and treat them as one... just to dive more body to the chiffon and to help it hold the gathers a bit better...

Lots of gathering and hand stitching!!! Lots and lots of it! Every part of the top is made 4 layers of fabric, one gathered chiffon layer, one flat chiffon layer, one lining and one iron on interfacing.... after sewing the top completely will also need to finish it off with a satin layer! Upeeeeeee!

This is the top front part all gathered up!

Back top bodice all gathered:

Since my top chiffon layer was plain, I decided to add some beads to follow the gathered front... Yep! more hand stitching!

Back view with an invisible zipper:

Overall I am very pleased with the result! There was lots of cutting and hand stitching involved in this dress so it did take a long time to finish (with 2 kids running around, things only got slower) but its done now and I can tick that pattern off my list!

I had done another pattern from Burda with lots of gathers years ago, and that really encouraged me to go for the new pink dress... It is worth posting here, Burda 7919 in plain and embroidered taffeta:

The pattern is made of two separate pieces, the top part is gathered and do need a bit of hand stitching to hold in place but it was way less than my recent pink dress, partly because taffeta is much much easier to work with than the crinkled chiffon... 

The other great thing about this dress is that since its made out of two pieces it can be used as a top only on a pair of pants in less formal occasions.... I absolutely love this dress and highly recommend it!!!

Superman cape

I was in the middle of so many unfinished projects, I hardly had time to even think about what will be next! But you know what? sometimes you don't really know whats ahead of you until you see a need for it! Somehow my daughter has been introduced to this superman idea! So you can imagine how she would use her imagination and pretend powers to turn anything to a superman cape! Table runners, my scarves, her brother's blankets, dad's shirts,... They all had a turn!

So, here I was making two superman capes for my two superkids! (Forget about my other lying around projects, this one was urgent! LOL!)


Here is the way I cut the fabric to get a large flawy circle:

First fold the fabric, then measure 18cm from the pointy edge and mark to form a nice curve. We will be cutting on this line to form the area around the neck. But don't cut it yet! Depending on the child's hight ( I made them in a 70cm (for a 4 year old) and a 50cm (for a 2 year old) hight) make a few marks on your fabric as you did for the neck line. Make sure you still use the point of your fabric as a reference, that will help you get a nice round edge. If you measure from the first curved line, its more likely to have an uneven circle.

In the image below the top point is were you should start all your measurements from, The right side is the folded edge and the left side of the photo is the open edge. So once you open it in to a single layer of fabric, you should get a nice 1/2 circle.

I have also rounded the lower front corner of the open side of the cape for a smoother look, and to make it easier for me to overlock it. If you don't have an overlocker, you can just turn it in and use a straight stitch to go over it or use  a fine zigzag stitch. I have used an overlocker on rolled hem settings. Very quick and easy to go right around the cape.

Then we will need to make some sort of tie bands for the cape. I have decided to use velcro here fo a few reasons... First of all, I think velcro will be the safest around the kids necks.... You really don't want them to pull the cape when the cape is hanging to their neck with a very tight knot! 

and secondly, I just wanted to avoid "Mum can you tie this for me?", Then two minutes later, " Mum can you take it off now?", 30 seconds later same story again! They can just do and undo velcro as many times as they need to with no help! Although its a bit tricky to sew than the normal two long strips of fabric, but i think I prefer the velcro!

   

So, to add the neck tie, we will need to measure around the neck and allow for some extra moving space around it... Then we will need to cut (on bias) two long strips with the correct measurement (depending on child) and with the width that will allow for out velcro to fit in nicely... remember to leave extra space for seam allowance. Now sew the velcro pieces as seen bellow:

Gather the top edge of cape and fit on straps, allowing about 5cm on each side of strap to stay free.

To attach the cape to the top part, I am going to sandwich the cape in between my two long strips of fabric:

Then put the second strip of fabric and stitch over it... Making sure you  have the velcro in correct spots.

And here we go! Super-kids all ready to go!!!!