Pattern Alteration in ONE easy step...

Step One: Alter entire mind set!

All my life I've thought of sewing as something quite difficult, incredibly frustrating and probably not worth the effort.  The basis for this sewing outlook started for me at the tender age of 5 with "The White Dress".  Mum decided to make a white pinafore dress for a special occasion when I was about 5.  From what I can remember it had a fairly simply bodice, waist band, skirt and a side zipper.  While I dont clearly remember the dress in great detail, I can quite clearly remember the frustration and angst it caused Mum, not to mention getting called over every 5 minutes to try the damn thing on (well it felt like every 5 minutes anyway).  I dont remember her making any of our clothes after that, the machine only came out for mending.

That was my first experience with home sewing (and it wasnt even me doing the sewing) and its shaped my sewing life.  Fortunately as I complete projects I'm finding it easier to shake the ghosts of sewing past and as I do so I've come to find that yes while sewing can be frustrating and sometimes difficult it can also be particularly rewarding and often times far more simple that expected, not to mention you get to hoard incredibly gorgeous fabric.  That last one, I'm really good at!!!!

So here goes... step one: alter entire mind set...

When I received my yard of Minny Muu's Tiny Strawberries from Sew, Mama, Sew, Paul was home and the first thing he asked was "so what are you going to do with it?"  Now I had every intention of hoarding it away as I do but it doesn't go down too well when you say you are adding it to the stockpile.  So I kind of evasively said I didnt really know yet.  As it turns out that doesnt go down too well either because he immediately said "why did you buy it then?" (Well derrr dear... although that probably wouldnt have gone down well at all LOL).  "Because it was cute" was my reply and cue male eye roll.  Anyway, I was determine to make something immediately just so I could say "see, see, I've done something with it".

As I said, I had no idea what I was going to do with it but I knew it was going to have to be something simple to compliment the fabric.  A flick through my Japanese pattern book gave me the idea to do simple pleats in the front but I wanted two pleats not just the one pleat dress which is in the book.  A flick through my Ottos provided further inspiration in the form of this:

It was exactly what I wanted... well except for the glaringly obvious fact that its a winter dress which lets face it would be absolute overkill in an Australian summer and not really the best way to use such a soft light fabric.

In the past I would have thrown up my hands in despair and gone for the Japanese dress even though it wasnt exactly what I wanted.  This time I really thought about what I was doing, similar projects I had done in the past, how the dress was constructed and if it would be possible to alter it the way I wanted.  My recent experience with the Button Top and Cherub dress made me realise that I could very easily remove the sleeves and simply line the bodice (which would be a plus considering that the fabric is very light).  However the dress in the picture has a zipper and not being confident to do the lining and zipper I decided that the zipper simply had to go.  With no zipper in the back I didn't need two separate back pieces for the skirt and so I cut it out as one just like the front.  How I was going to keep the whole lot together at the back with no zipper was a complete mystery and it wasnt until I was top stitching that I had my light bulb moment and finally decided to do one simple ribbon at the top to compliment what would eventually be on the front.

Once I had it clear in my head exactly how I was going to construct this it all went together so very easily.  In fact, the hardest thing about the whole dress was the agonising decision on whether or not I should add the ric rac trim to the neckline and hem.  Fortunately a quick poll at Crafty Mamas and the overwhelming majority voted that ric rac was the way to go.

(Actually I'll amend that, the hardest thing about this whole project was trying to find the red thread to stitch the ric rac on with.  I found the bobbin no trouble but it took ages to find the cotton and I knew I had used it to sew on the ribbon at the front and I was determine not to buy another because I knew I had some.  Anyway I finally found it... lets just say, dont leave cotton reels out where new kittens might get hold of them otherwise they could end up in a completely different place from where you left them such as oh I dont know in amongst all your shoes in your wardrobe maybe.)

So there we go, more sewing ghosts banished.  Its nice to know that I am competent enough to make alterations if necessary and not just tiny alterations either.  That just because a pattern says "this is what I am" it doesnt mean that is exactly what it has to be.  I'm absolutely thrilled with the way the dress has turned out.  Its perfect, exactly what I wanted!!!

 

PATTERN INSPIRATION: Ottobre 4/2005 Pattern 1 Baby's Dress with modifications (Size 98cm)
FABRIC: Minny Muu Tiny Strawberries Natural from Sew, Mama, Sew
TRIM: Red French Baby Ric Rac from Ribbons Galore

When is a quilt cover not a quilt cover...?

When its a cute little Button Top and Ruffle Pants of course.

When I first saw this quilt cover on Ezibuy, I knew I absolutely had to have it and I knew immediately that it would not be used as intended ie as a quilt cover.  The great thing about the Ezibuy quilt covers is you get a lovely top print, you get a lovely coordinating back print (and you get a lot of both), the quality is really good and you can often get them at around 40% off if you wait for them to go on sale... and thats what I did.

So I had my super cute material, I needed a fun pattern to go with it and I decided to do the Button Top and Ruffled Pants from Ottobre 3/2008 again.  The pattern really suits this material dont you think.  All the ruffles have such a fun look to them and the two materials compliment each other perfectly, as you would expect.

So next time you are looking for some coordinating fabric for that next project, try a quilt cover.  In fact just as soon as this one goes on sale I think I might have to get it... for me this time.

(Pics are coming... just waiting for the camera battery to recharge *sigh*, why do these things always run out when you are in the middle of something).

And here we go... you'll have to forgive us for its rather crumpled state, Madam had quite literally just woken up from her nap, yes pigtails and all.

Just on a side note, I couldnt even use the pattern pieces I had already cut out from my first set.  My dear daughter decided to grow 5cm between October and December meaning she needed the 98cm rather than the 92cm.  What a ratbag!!!!

Customer Service Announcement

I've set my commenting to Anonymous because I like to feel that it allows more people to particpate.  But please be aware that if you post any sort of "advertising" in your comment I will immediately delete your comment.  That specifically means you Ms videosof womengivingbirth.com (or whatever the hell it was) but includes anyone who thinks they can use my blog as their dumping ground.  If you have a blog that you want to link to then sign in and leave your message, I love to visit other blogs and chances are really high that I'll become one of your followers. 

Woohoo, my Jap.anese pattern books have arrived...

...and I'm in love!!!

I will admit right at the outset to being a teensy bit concerned that they took so long to get here.  Afterall, they were sent out on 30 Nov.  But taking into account that little festival called Christmas and the fact that an awful lot of stuff is getting sent out of Hong Kong these days I'm guessing that they got here as quickly as they could.  And bless the cotton socks of my incredibly overworked parcel delivery guy who delivered them this morning (yes thats right, a Saturday morning, isnt he the best!!!).

They are so perfect, gorgeous in their simplicity, just like the patterns inside.  Can you believe they even have sweet little dust jackets.  I cant wait to try out one of the patterns, despite being in Ja.panese, they do look fairly easy to piece together.

Simple yet elegant... *sigh*

Thanks for the reminder Tracy I meant to get photos, but with the holidays and all... well you know how it is.  So here they are: Simple Chic and Girly Style Wardrobe

Baby Nay grows up (I'm a wee bit excited about this one)...

OK its fair to say that I have a bit of a Baby Nay obsession.  I love the designs, kind of traditional but with a modern twist and many have a definite Asian influence.  Anyways, The Fabric Fairy has quite a nice array of Baby Nay and I've recently bought quite a bit of the Petit Fleur Stretch Poplin.  The only thing is when I bought it I only saw the design.  True to form I didnt actually read what it was, just did the usual "that looks nice" and into the shopping cart it goes.  In fact, when I finally received it I gave it a bit of a glance "yes that really is quite nice" and into the stash it goes.  It wasnt until a few weeks later that I actually got it out and really touched it (and this is after I put in an order for a bit more).  At that point I'm thinking "hey cool, this stretches".  Yes I know, sad isnt it.

So here I am with my beautiful stretchy Baby Nay and thinking what am I going to do with this.  Because its a stretch it is quite a bit thicker than the usual poplin I work with and felt it was possibly a little thick for something for Chloe.  And given that there are only two girls in this house guess who gets a new Baby Nay outfit - yes me!!!!  And thats pretty damn exciting let me tell you.

But what to make?  I dont actually have a lot of patterns for me.  I've started getting the Ottobre womens magazines but having only just one winter one didnt help.  Flicking through the kids patterns however I came across a lovely summer top I've been wanting to try for ages.

I've recently got myself a massive Olfa cutting mat and an Olfa rotary cutter with guide arm.  Boy did this make tracing and cutting a breeze.  The material sewed up like a dream, it was so nice to work with.  And I even had some really nice buttons which compliment it perfectly sitting there waiting to be used (I had actually bought the buttons for Chloe's cherub outfit but decided to go with the clear ones instead).

All in all I was thrilled with the pattern, I was thrilled with the fabric and I'm certainly thrilled with the results.  I might even have to make myself some more bits and pieces

Fabric: Petit Fleur by Baby Nay from The Fabric Fairy
Pattern: Pattern 39 from Issue 2/2005 Ottobre Design

Handmaden Giveaway... its a beauty!!!

I seriously urge you to pop over to THE HANDMADEN.  To celebrate her 300th post and just in time for Christmas, The Handmaden is giving away a $50 voucher in conjuction with Corrie from Retro Mummy.  How exciting!!!  I will totally envy the winner of this one... Corrie specializes in cute Japanese imports, because lets face the Japanese have cute all sewn up.

It's always nice to have visitors...

...but it's also nice to get back into the old routine as well. There is something comforting about routine.

Back in Sept/Oct we had my SIL and her husband with us for 3 weeks. No sooner did they leave than we started getting ready for FIL and MILs arrival. They have just left (less than a week ago now) and we are starting to get back into the old routines of school runs and shopping. And no sooner will we be back into that routine and it will all be over for the year. Samuel finishes school on 4 Dec - YIPPEE!!!! I'm really looking forward to the school holidays.

This morning I only had Chloe with me, Samuel was at school and Alex at Kindy so I took the opportunity to have a browse around Spotlight. I ended up getting some awesome bargains. Remember the lovely red quilting fabric I used in Chloe's Cherub Outfit - $4 per metre (how typical hey!!!) so I grabbed a metre, I've still got lots of Cherub fabric so I thought I may as well. I even managed to pick up so really nice fabrics for the boys just for a change.

One range that I specifically went in to look at was the new Provincial range. I ended up getting the butterflies and the green scroll featured in the apron. Spotlight are certainly getting a better range of fabrics lately, you just have to look for them.

I've also had a bit of a spend up at Crafty Mamas recently. After seeing this to die for fabric over at Tas' blog, there was no way I was going to say no when I saw it for sale again at Crafty Mamas. And just while we are on the subject of Tas' blog, she was also the driving force behind my first foray into yesasia.com In fact, I ended up getting the Simply Chic one that Tas got plus one called Girly Style Wardrobe. I've also got another 20 books on my wish list for future purchase. And if hubby says anything I'm just going to say "Tas made me do it!!!!"