Bonjour Playtime Tunic

There's nothing like pulling out an old favourite again.

We had a pretty crappy week last week so I needed something simple and rewarding for some time out. This is an Oliver and S Playtime Tunic, a pattern I have made a number of times now.  With the weather beginning to cool down here a bit, it seemed about time to make another one.

I made up a size 4 for my almost four year old (sob!).  It's a little roomy but the size 3 would be too small to last very long I reckon.  I didn't really make any changes, just a slightly narrower hem.

I always stick with the tunic version of this pattern.  I've only made the dress version once and found it far too long for my girl.  This is a great practical length and looks great with leggings.  And guess what?! It's perfect for Playtime!  She gets a lot of wear out of these and it's super practical.

It's a very quick and simple sew.  The trickiest bit I reckon would be the sleeves but that's really very easy!  You attach the sleeves before sewing the side seams.  The trickiest bit is the underarm curve but I found if I used a smaller stitch length for that part it all lined up better than ever!

The fabric is some cute little French kittens with hats.  It's from the 'Oui Oui Paris' line by Suzy Ultman.  I'm not usually one for novelty prints but I knew instantly what this would be perfect for!  I bought 1.5 metres which left me with plenty left over!  I'm thinking of making a skirt with what's left over.

The disastrous (but I'm going to wear it anyway) dress

Sometimes, despite all your efforts things don't always work as nicely as you'd hoped.

I recently bought the book Boundless Style by Victory Patterns.  It's a great idea of a lot of mix and match sleeves, bodices and skirts.  For my first project I chose to make a Celine bodice with the pleated Lydia skirt and a cap sleeve.  I made a muslin of the bodice and adjusted the side seam and shoulder seam slightly and it seemed to fit really nicely.

I never know what to do with my hands!

Then I started sewing.  The front dart and placket are a little tricky to line up and it's not 100% clear to me how some of it should fall correctly.  I kept experimenting and thought I had done it right, but then the collar just would not fit.  I have been hoarding this fabric for ages and was determined not to waste any so I used some bias binding to finish the neckline instead.

The sleeves then took some manouerving too.  They weren't supposed to have to be eased in but I found I did have to use a slight gathering stitch to get it them to fit.  It also called for some interfacing.  I use the lightest one I had but I think next time I wouldn't bother.

Everything else went well, even the invisible zipper went in easily.  I was excited thinking I was going to have this great fitting dress, but when I tried it on, disaster!  It's far too roomy at the front and bunches at the sides!  I think it gapes a bit too much at the armholes too for my liking.

I think it's still wearable (just) and I'm determined too as I love that skirt and that fabric too much not to wear it.  I just think next time I'll have to work on my adjustments a bit more.  I'm thinking of blending between sizes for my next one as I determined to get it to work!

Blue and White Miss Polly Dress

Ever since Sewpony showed a few pictures of her Miss Polly dress I was eagerly awaiting it's release.

Green Mori Dress

Every now and again it's nice to sew something a bit out of my usual style.

This is the Mori dress and top pattern from Elegance and Elephants.  I have loved and used their previous patterns before and I was excited to see them releasing a new pattern.  That said, I was abit unsure about the large flounces.  I loved them in some photos but wasn't sure in others.  I'm usually not one for a lot of ruffles and flounce.

In the end I decided to take a bit of a risk and get the pattern anyway and I'm kind of glad I did.  I used this Dear Stella quilting cotton.  I thought the green was a nice bit of a change and thought the simple pattern would suit it well. I'm very tempted to go back for some more...

As I was a bit worried about the flounce sticking out I decided not to line it as the pattern suggested.  Instead I folded over a hem the same as the seam allowance.  I'm glad I did.  This fabric did end up being quite stiff and I think lining it would have resulted in what I was afraid of.

I made the tunic length as we really have lots of dresses here and figured that would be a bit better for layering in the colder weather.  Here's she's wearing it with jeans, but I reckon it would also work well with leggings.

The pattern itself was great.  The instructions have clear photos and instructions.  The PDF went together easily and it has a layers feature which is something I'm appreciating more and more lately.

The only thing which is slightly tricky is that the back and front pieces are very similar so it can confusing to work out which way to put it on her!  Next time I'll be marking the lining or putting in some kind of label.  On the plus side there are no closures so it's very quick to make.  

I'm glad it has the ties to cinch it in a bit.  Normally I keep every scrap for using "one day"  but this was the one time I didn't.  Then I remembered the ties that I hadn't cut out!  Luckily I had this green in the stash which matches pretty closely.

Overall it's another great pattern from Elegance and Elephants.  I will be making it again, in fact I have some floral fabric that I'm hoping will drape a bit better that will be perfect.  Florals and flounces, whatever next?!

Lion Maeve Jumper

It's so nice to come back to an old favourite.

Denim Clementine Dress

There's nothing like a classic-style dress to make you smile.

I was lucky enough to be able to test the Clementine Dress pattern by Amelie and Atticus recently.  It's a lovely A-line shape with a collar.  It buttons up the back and has a facing on the inside.

The instructions were quite basic but easy enough to follow and the dress went together very quickly.  I had a little issue with collar overlapping but by the time I'd noticed I had trimmed, clipped and flipped so it will have to do.  It's better to be too close than too far away and it doesn't stick up.

I used some left over black denim I'd had in the stash for a while.  It took me a while to commit to a fabric for the collar.  I kept tossing up between the green I ended up going with and some red liberty I had left over and have been saving for a rainy day.  As you can see I ended up going with the green and I think it suits it nicely.

I made the size four and it is a bit shorter than I normally go for, but it suits the style of dress well.  I think it'll be handy for the last few days of Summer but I think she'll get a lot of use out of it in the cooler months as it will be easy top layer.

I had plans to do some self-covered button for the back, but I got struck down with this awful head-cold this weekend so I ended up going with some snaps in black instead.

All in all, I really like this dress.  It makes a great everyday dress that will be handy for a little girl who only wants to wear dresses at the moment.  I'm sure this won't be my last.

Anna Dress with some Twirl

Because it doesn't matter how old you are, it's still great to have a dress that twirls!