Kids Clothes Week - almost done!

Been plugging away at getting these dresses finished for the girls to wear to a wedding next week. And finally they're (almost) finished! Thank you KCW for giving me the push to get them finished - otherwise they'd have been going to the wedding in shorts and t-shirt or a princess dress-up - possibly not appropriate.

Here is S's dress....

The spots were inspired by this beautiful dress which I pinned literally years ago. The colour of the spots doesn't come out quite right on the photos, they are a lovely bronze colour. I used a dylon metallic fabric paint to paint them.

The dress itself is based on the geranium pattern from Made by Rae. But I wanted a added length to the bodice to make the dress a little more sophisticated for a five and half year old (who hates dresses!)I also modified the neckline a little by making it wider.

I was super duper pleased with myself with the seams. I couldn't get my head around how you would do french seams with in-seam pockets - so was on the cusp of losing one of them. The fabric is extremely prone to fraying, so french seams were called for, and I love in-seam pockets for little girls, so didn't want to lose them. So in came my goole-in-shining-armour! I found this tutorial and it was easy pips!

And here is H's dress

This time with gold spots which I thought looked better with the pink. I did the dame sort of modifications to the bodice as I did for the blue dress, and was inspired by the Caroline Party Dress for a full skirt with tulle.

It's the first time I've sewn a garment with a zip, and it was pretty easy and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome (I won't show you the bottom of the zip where the seams don't meet - shhhhh!) I used this tutorial from Groovy Baby and Mama for the zip

And this time I used the lining fabric for nice soft pockets.

The fabrics which I used for both were a complete bargain. I think I paid about £4 for each colour. I think they are curtain fabric. They look a bit like silk, but I'm not 100% convinced that it is!

It doesn't wash well, so these are one wear only dresses. Writing that down makes these dresses seem silly - a lot of work for one wear - but I think my girls will look so lovely in them, and at least no-one else will be wearing the same thing! 

Right - now I need to paint spots on the back, and sew some tulle onto the lining to make them princessy and hold their shape a bit better!

KCW Day 1,2,3 and 4!!

Not a lot to show for days one through four - well no finished garments anyway.

I'm working on dresses for my girls to wear to a wedding in two weeks - a modified Geranium and a Geranium with some inspiration from the Caroline Party Dress. Hopefully I'll have something worth photographing tomorrow.

Today I worked on a bow tie using this tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home. I think it's turned out a little bit too big - G is only 18 months, I think the sizing would be fine for an older boy, but I'm going to remake it slightly smaller.

Hello... back again...

Whoa, quite a break from the blog (again....)

Just popped in to show you my latest quilt.

It's one ring from Denyse Schmidt's single girl pattern, surrounded by cream linen.

I quilted it with simple (almost) straight lines, and it's bound in a grey honeycomb dot.

I rummage through my scrap bin to find lots of interesting i-spy type of fabrics, there's a London bus, a sock monkey, a mermaid and a goldfish mixed in with some pretty florals. The backing is Old Lace Shasta in Pink from the Glamping collection by Mary Jane for Moda.

The quilt is for sale at Afterglow in Olney, Northants.

It's only a small baby quilt, but I love it. Every time I finish a quilt I have a yearning to make more - but there are only 24 hours in a day, three small people to entertain, a house to clean and five mouths to feed...... oh and piles upon piles of laundry!