Ottobre 01-2015 #23 - Kid’s Peplum Knit Top

Have you heard of Monster High dolls? They are like goth Barbie dolls. My girls love them and all the doll’s whore-ish clothing. I was recently gifted a bunch of fabric from Paula on PatternReview. When my girls saw this particular fabric there were squeals of excitement. I guess this fabric very closely matches one of the dresses from Draculora, or some goth-monster-doll. I try not to pay attention to the names of the dolls (or the dolls themselves- they creep me out).

 

I made the top in size 128 and folded out about a 1/2” in the CF and CB. They are long and lanky, these 8 year-olds. That’s about the right length everywhere and the right width too. And yes, they have no teeth right now. Together the twins have lost eight teeth in about four weeks.

 

See? Here’s The Doll with the matching dress. If my daughter was a Monster High doll, she would wear this shirt with thigh high leather boots and nothing else. Thank goodness that will never happen.

 

She loves it because it matches her doll, but also because it has the fun flouncy peplum on the bottom. You can already tell she’s got her momma’s swayback.

 

I rather like how it turned out. I see more of these in the future. I also see this lengthened into a dress and worn with cute tights and (age-appropriate) shoes.

 

I used a cotton ribbing from Chez Ami that I bought many years ago. I’m almost out of this color. I think I only have pink and brown left. They sell great rib knit in many colors.

 

Next up? I’m going to work on my March Burda Challenge dress. The one with the gathers over the bust. I’m leaving soon and March is going to go fast!!!

Jalie 2805 - Blanche T-shirt

Oh, how I love this pattern. Here’s yet another version. This time, it’s the cap sleeve, t-shirt.

 

I had to make sure the rest of my animal print crazy knit was put to good use. There wasn’t much left after the Blanche Devereaux dress.

 

I made this top slightly more fitted in the waist and hips. Otherwise, it was just hanging off my upper assets and I looked like a tent.

 

I, again, hemmed the cap sleeves before attaching them to the top. So. Much. Easier!

 

I love this print. It’s the perfect throw-in-your-suitcase fabric too. No wrinkles, no ironing, no problem!

 

 

More later! Hopefully not animal printed something!

Burda 07-2013 #122 Strappy Knit Dress

Hee hee, duck lips crack me up. This is Burda 07-2013 #122. It’s a strappy knit dress. I kind of love it. I made it for our cruise to Mexico. And yes *hangs head*, I’m still making things with animal print. I can’t stop. I’m like Blanche Devereaux*. She’s my idol. She would totally rock this dress. And somehow, she’d have a millionaire on her arm by the end of the trip.

 

Isn’t it fun? You can’t really wear a bra with it, but you kinds can’t tell anyway. The bust and upper bust (?) layers are adjustable up and down a bit. I like them like this. I made my standard size 34. The only adjustment I made was to leave off the seam allowances for the hem (I usually do this) and then hem it a bit higher than in the model photo. Oh, and I also made my straps with elastic inside. This makes them sturdier. You want that if your dress is mostly held up with the neck strap!

 

The skirt portion has no side seams. It had a narrow front and back with wide side panels. You can see the side panel seam here. The back of the top is supposed to be gathered like this.

 

The back of this is loose. It is 95% held up with the neck strap. It’s too loose around the top to really hold anything up.

 

On the floor, it just sort of looks like a hot mess.

 

Here is where the straps go through the bust sections. You make two of the upper portion, and then don’t sew all the way to the corners. This makes a opening in the seam. You topstitch so it makes a “casing.” Sort of.

 

Here’s the back. You can clearly see the two different top sections and the side panels seams here. How fun is this fabric? It’s another goody from the National City Swap Meet.

 

This actually might be my last animal print. Ack! What will I do??

 

*Don’t know Blanche? You need to!!!!

Ottobre 01-15 #28 Woven Dress with Circle Detail

Obviously I’m crushing on Ottobre lately. I love how this tunic turned out. They call it the Home Girl dress. I just can’t call it that. I will call it Woven Dress with Circle Detail. Or something. Whatever. Behold the cuteness.

 

Yes, she must wear sunglasses. She is a Diva. I made a size 110 and pinched out about a 1/4” at CF and CB. I should have also pinched out that much on the center detail. I didn’t remember to do that. Oops. You’ll see what I did below. This is the “dress” length and it seems more “tunic” length to me.

 

I asked her to turn around so I could take pictures of the back. This is what I got.

 

That turned into this and I gave up. You guys are lucky you got two decent photos. At least you can tell that the range of motion is good.

 

It turned out very cute. The circle detail in the middle is kind of lost in this busy fabric. I love the fabric though. I’m pretty sure that Paulette gave this to me. Again, that was during the Dark Year and I think I blocked most of it out.

 

Because I forgot to pinch out a 1/2” for the circle detail, there weren’t many gathers. Once I realized my mistake, I unpicked the topstitching and seams, and took a 1/2” out of the middle of the circle. Hence the vertical line that is not supposed to be there. Call it a design feature.

 

I just did a regular ol’ center zipper.

 

The inside front and back have an interfaced one-piece facing. I stitched in the ditch from the right side on the shoulder seams to hopefully keep everything in place.  So far, so good.

 

More later! I have an another Ottobre shirt for the older girls. This one is going to be bright and hopefully not hideous!

February Burda Challenge - Burda 02-2015 #127

I do like the top. I just have a hard time in front of the camera. It’s one of my quirks.

 

Here’s my February Burda Challenge. (I still might do the seamed jacket too. I really like both the moto-jacket length and the longer hip length.) Since we are headed out on a tropical vacation soon, I thought it would be appropriate to make a flouncy crop top to wear. This is made from dupioni silk given to me by Karen* a loooong time ago. I’ve been shy about using it because it’s so pretty. I have more, so you may see a sheath dress too.

 

The back of it is completely open. I really like that for a warm destination, not so much for here. Think how sexy it would be with nothing underneath!

 

Be warned, it is very cropped. Like very short. Of course, this is also a petite pattern, so that doesn’t help with length. I made the size 17 and added an inch to the bodice. I muslined it, and then added another inch to the CF, tapering to nothing at the side seams.

 

Here’s the alteration I made. I didn’t want to mess with the dart or the arm seams. There is no alteration on the dart and lower left. That was just me not adding enough paper for the seam allowances – oops!

 

There are some very sharp sleeve points in the front.

 

You definitely have to mark your seam allowances to get everything to line up for crisp points.

 

How pretty is this fabric?? I think it was the perfect thing for this top.

 

The back is much longer than the front. It attaches with a single button at the top.

 

 

 

 

*At least, I think it was Karen. It was a very long time ago, and it wasn’t the best time in my life. I was under a lot of stress and Karen mailed this to me.

Another Jalie 2805 Dress

Yes, *hangs head* I made another one. I should be working on my February Burda Challenge. But, what am I working on instead? Another easy t-shirt dress. Shoot me.


But, isn’t it fun? Doesn’t it make you want to dance and run around with wild abandon????? I love this fabric. This is another FunkiFabrics fabric (yes, I got it for free).


Since we are going to Mexico again, I figured I needed a couple of very easy, non-wrinkle dresses for wandering around. And this just seems like the perfect Mexico print!!!


Don’t hit me! I promise to work on the February Burda Challenge tomorrow!


I just love this and it will go equally well with flats for comfortable wandering. Did you notice I cut about 5” off my hair? It was becoming an unruly beast.


I can not tell you how much I love this fabric from FunkiFabrics. Yes, they gave it to me for a review, but really, I love it. It’s a dream to sew, the recovery is excellent, the colors are vivid as hell, it’s thick enough to cover any lump and bump, and it makes smashing dresses. You can tell I cut the collar just a smidge too small for my neck opening. It’s pulling just a little bit. You can’t tell when it’s on the bod.


Let’s see . . . what did I change about the original pattern . . . I lowered the neckline by about a cm. I made this dress version a little more fitted by taking it in at the waist and hip area. Oh, and this was a *doh* moment for me, I hemmed the cap sleeves before attaching them to the dress. You know how cap sleeves have that teeny, tiny little hem allowance under your arm? Well, I hemmed the sleeves first, then sewed the sleeves on the dress. Such a no-brainer, but SO MUCH EASIER than trying to do the hem once the sleeve dress is already sewn together! This fabric coverstitches easily too. All in all, it took me maybe an hour to cut and sew (the pattern is already traced and altered).

Maybe my favorite one-hour dress ever! I could even wear it to school with tights, boots, and a cardigan.

Ottobre 01-2014 #19–Raglan Sweatshirt

Another kid project. I know, I know! I have started my February Burda. I have it all traced out already. But, who can resist these super easy projects?

 

Ms. Princess loves it and wants to wear it all the time now.

 

You’re lucky I got a few non-fuzzy photos. She’s a moving, posing diva.

 

This is just a basic raglan-sleeve sweatshirt pattern. I made this in size 110 and pinched out about 1/4” for the CF and CB seam. It seems to fit well although the arms are a smidge long. In a week, I’m sure they will be too short. Kids grow too fast!

 

I used fusible webbing to attach the star to the front. I sewed around the edges so it would not pull up, and because I like the look of it. I really like this bright pop of color on the front. I got this idea here from Boden.

 

The only thing I will change in the future is to make the waistband one piece. They use two pieces sewn together so there are seams at the side seams of the waistband. Next time, I’ll just cut it on the fold and use a single piece.

Another great basic pattern from Ottobre. I will probably add flatlocking to the seam next time. It’s such an easy way to amp up the design.