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.

Ottobre 01-2015 #16 Jersey Dress

Here’s my first pattern from the new Ottobre Kids’ magazine. I made design #16 which is a basic, loose t-shirt dress. This dress is showcased in the magazine quite a few times showing how you can cut up the bodice to change the look. I decided to make it simple this time. I made a size 110 and folded out about 1/4” at CB and CF before cutting. I should have added length back to the arms.

 

I used a beefy cotton knit for the dress and a thinner cotton knit for the sleeves and pockets.

 

She loves it, of course.

 

I like the length with leggings. She has quite a few pairs of leggings now, and I don’t really like it when she wears shorter tops with them. This goes with them marvelously.

 

The pockets are a nice touch.

 

I used green picot elastic for the neck opening. I like how it looks, but should have made it a bit bigger so there are fewer gathers. I measured and cut the elastic, sewed together the elastic at CB, marked the quarters on elastic and shirt, serge the elastic to neck opening, fold elastic to inside, and coverstitch. You can see when she is wearing it above that it pulls a little bit. I cut elastic at 85% of the true measurement. Next time, maybe I’ll do 90%.

 

This is what it looks like from the inside. 

 

 

I have one more kid thing to show you. I’ve started on my February Burda Challenge already. Well, I’ve traced it, does that count???? There are so many of you out there that are participating on the Burda Challenge!! Keep it up!!

Ottobre Magazine

So I’ve gotten a few questions lately about Ottobre and how it compares with other companies when it comes to kids’ clothing. Here’s my two cents and I’m getting no kickbacks from anyone. I love Burdastyle Magazine for me. I don’t really love it for kid’s clothing. I maybe have never made a single thing for my kids from my Burda magazines. Not that I can remember, anyway.

Ottobre magazine ends up being a little less than $20 per magazine. I only have a few of them for kid’s designs. I also have a couple for adult clothing, but they don’t fit me as well as Burda, so I’m sticking with Burda. Personally, I think the Ottobre magazines are a great deal for kids’ clothing. Yes, I could Frankenpattern something together and make it work, but like I said in this post, I lack creative juices. I can make anything, just not make it look great. Ottobre has really cute design details and they usually show many versions of the same pattern. My last two magazines were 01-2014 and 01-2015.  I don’t have a subscription and I buy them individually.

 

Here’s a little picture summary for you. Already made. You haven’t seen all of these yet. I need to take some photos and make some princesses smile before that happens.

 

Will make for sure. The white numbers are the pattern number and the black numbers are the size range. I have one in the 110 size, two in the 122 range, and one in the 134 range. The dots are the difficulty rating.

 

This is from the newest magazine. I just got it two days ago. What I also love about Ottobre is that they have sizes for that tricky “tween” size range. 

 

I do really think that Ottobre is a great deal if you are sewing kids clothing. Yes, you still have to trace them out, but they are easier that Burda patterns.

Here you can peruse all the magazines and all the line drawings for each issue.

I’m slowly working on a few simple projects right now. I’ve been really into making kids’ clothes lately and have a few things to show you!

Jalie 2805 T-Shirt Dress

I guess I didn’t have this pattern out of my head yet. I made three of these t-shirts a couple of weeks ago (#1, #2, and #3), and I used the same pattern to make a cute, casual t-shirt dress. For this dress, I used the left-most version of the pattern and extended the length by 10”. I lowered the neck by about an inch. It’s a really simple dress to make and I might make a couple more.

 

Lovely pasty Alaskan skin. This is a thin cotton knit. You can’t really tell, but the stripes are distressed looking and uneven. I bought this fabric at the Swap Meet in National City.

 

It’s loose and casual. We are again headed to a warm climate for Spring Break (sqqqquuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!) and I need a few things I can just throw on and go.

 

My little photo bomber was home sick today. She woke me up about 4am puking her guts out. I called in and got a sub, Sick Girl slept for a few hours, and seemed fine. I was a bit irritated that she seemed to be fine when I took the day off work. Then she puked about three minutes after this picture, and then I felt horrible for being irritated. She’s asleep again right now. Poor little thing.

 

She said that “Kitty” was being the photo bomber. Naughty Kitty!

 

More on our trip later. I may have to make another bathing suit. This is the one I made last year when we went to Mexico.

 

Burda Challenge Update: I’m starting to see lots of January Burdas popping up!! Check out Nancy’s top. I love the colors and drape of her top. I also love this top from the Burda 2015 magazine. And here’s another cute top. This is one I’ve made before. Just so you know, I’m not planning on linking to every single garment made by you guys. There are just too many and you guys are too prolific. It’s just fun to see what we are all making.