Hawthorn!

This is Hawthorn! When Sarai introduced the pattern she mentioned that girls trying it on described it as a “dream dress.” It’s true! This dress has such a flattering cut, yet it sits so comfortably on the body, it just makes you want to dance and twirl (I bet it’s that gorgeous circle skirt!)

Mine is made out of a royal blue Swiss dot from Fabric.com, and underlined with china silk polyester lining, which was a small nightmare to work with, but gave my dress a lot of body. I only underlined the skirt and bodice pieces, and to do this I simply stay stitched them together, then treated them as one piece. Maybe next time I will just sew darts on the main fabric, then use that piece as pattern to cut the lining. The hems are finished by serger, thanks to the knowledge I am getting from Amy Alan’s fantastic Craftsy class, Beginner Serging.

The pattern is beautiful. There are several pieces, but the instructions are so clear that one is never at a loss what to do. One thing I learned from this process, which I had never really done, is to make sure that I really understand and have read the instructions several times. I used to “read while I sewed.” No more! It was so easy to sit down to sew, knowing I knew how to finish. The sewalong posts by Sarai and Rachel were a great help!

I also learned how to use my buttonhole foot with this tutorial from the Five and Ten Designs blog, as well as a little help from my user manual. And, I learned to cover buttons with fabric, here. I love the look for this dress, because it uses 13 buttons, and I did not want contrasting buttons to compete with the texture of the fabric. I really like how it turned out.

I do have a little tutorial for you. This is how I made the sash to go with the dress:

This tutorial was my inspiration, but I made a little alteration to cut only the ends of the sash on the bias, rather than the whole length of it, to save fabric but still achieve the same effect.

I loooove my Hawthorn. Thanks, Colette Patterns, for such a gorgeous dress!!

Linking at:

The Train to Crazy

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Flip this Pattern: The Roller Skate Dress (and KCWC day 4)

This month, the girls at Frances Suzanne have us all flipping the gorgeous Oliver + S Roller Skate Dress.

It is 9:30 p.m. EST and I am barely making the 11:00 p.m. CST deadline, but I made it!

This is my 3-year-old (and Rapunzel) modeling size 4T for me. It was a beautiful pattern to work with. The construction was so interesting and fun; it reminded me a lot of the Ice Cream Dress. And, because of this clever construction, I was able to make the dress reversible with a change or two.

The Fabric: The fabrics are a Black Chambray from Hart’s Fabric and a cotton lawn from Fabric.com.

The Construction: I used DMC silver metallic thread to embroider a Sashiko-inspired design on the neckline of the chambray side, in place of the facing.

To be able to make it reversible, I opted to have a ribbon closure, instead of a button with a loop.

Another problem I encountered was the casing. Since both my fabrics were so contrasting, I had a hard time figuring out what color thread to use for the casing. I finally decided to thread my machine with gray thread and sew the casing from the chambray side, while I loaded the bobbin with black thread so that the black would not show on the lawn side.

Finally, I opted to hem by using a ladder stitch that I learned on my brief foray into toy-making. This stitch seemed perfect because it let me join both seams without having my stitches show anywhere, which was just what I wanted.

It was such a fun project to work with, and I can’t wait to make it again! My five-year-old needs one, too, but that did not stop her modeling this one. I love her props 😉

Thank you, FrancesSuzanne for the motivation to work with this lovely pattern! Also, thank you Megfor putting together KCWCthat is such an inspiration every time.
And, of course, thank you to Liesl Gibson for such a fantastic pattern!

Hawthorn Sewalong

For the past few weeks, I have been participating in the Hawthorn Sewalong over at Coletterie , and I am having an absolute blast.

When you open a Colette Pattern, you read “Patterns that Teach,” and it is so true. I have learned so much by following along (Thanks, Rachel and Sarai!) and by trying so hard not to rush with this but to take it as a process, I think I have become a better seamstress.

I am quite an impatient girl–I want results now. Yesterday. However, as with most things in life, in sewing the point is not only the dress but the process, because there is so much learning that goes on there. This has been the most important lesson I have learned so far: Take it as a process. When you first look at your pattern it is very easy to get overwhelmed, but if you take time to plan and schedule yourself, and complete steps one at a time, great things can happen. I have three children under five, one of them a seven-month-old, and finding time to sew has been a challenge; but, following along has been easy because it has been structured this way. I will approach any future project in the same manner!

Are you sewing along too?

Here’s a little peak at my dress, only pinned in place because we have not done buttons yet–I am scared to make a selection of buttons and ruin the whole look if I choose wrong!!

Go Tigers!

I had bought my son that cute little smocked LSU outfit to take hospital pictures after he was born and felt like my daughters needed something to match, so I decided to whip sweet little dresses up just a week or two before my due date. Talk about a race against time! But they love these dresses and so do I.

The dresses are very simple. This Leila & Ben pattern has to be my most sewn pattern and it sews up so quickly every time. I used gingham fabric from Hobby Lobby (these checks are 1/8, they didn’t have 1/16 when I was there) and added a ruffled ribbon detail at the neckline in contrasting gold for the LSU effect, as well as a ribbon hemline finish following Liesl’s instructions from the Lazy Days Skirt pattern.

The little girls love these dresses! And I must say that I love to see them wearing them.

Linking at:
girl. Inspired

The Train to Crazy

Nap Time Crafters

Making it on Monday

– Began work on the girls’ birthday outfits, and please wish me luck as they have to be completed by Saturday, on top of other party preparations.

The pattern is oliver + s Ice Cream Dress which I had never felt like I needed to buy until I saw this and this.

I am making mine of linen shirting (which is already turning out to be too light and flimsy. I am underlining the whole thing) and cotton facings. The colors are pink and orange since it is a Dora party– I thought it would be a nice nod to Dora without it being too Dora-ish.

Wish me luck!