Completed: Renfrew Remix

Here's another one from my Spring/Summer 2013 plan. It's a Renfrew with a twist.

My inspiration was this Shabby Apple Conservatory Garden dress. The Shabby Apple version (currently on sale for $49) is made with a lined silk skirt and jersey top.

I opted for a jersey top and quilting cotton for the skirt. Originally I intended to make the entire skirt top gathered, but I cut it out with the print upside down and had to improvise and just gather the center. (I am forever fouling up directional prints.) Also, even though they were cut and ready to go, I forgot to add the pockets. The seams are already serged, but one of these days I'm going to take this dress and these skirts and have a pocket-adding afternoon.

To make the top I used the Renfrew pattern and added a wide waist. I cut four rectangular pieces and constructed it so the inside of the waistband is lined with another layer of jersey and there are no raw edges. It's for comfort and for stability because I wasn't sure how weighty the skirt would be.

Next time I make one, I'll take pictures and do a short tutorial.

I put together the dress front, then the back, and then the sleeves. Then I pinned the side seams to snug it up and get the fit right. The neckband and sleeve cuffs went on last.

It's my first time mixing knit and woven (in a big-girl dress), so I'm pretty excited with the result. There are some things I'd change about it (centering the huge part of the print, for instance), but overall I'm pleased. It's something I could definitely tweak and end up with a great little go-to dress pattern.

Question: What do I do about my bra showing? The t-shirt top doesn't feel too tight, and I want a snug fit. Do I ignore it? Is it a fashion faux pas?

Stats
Pattern: Modified Renfrew
Fabric: Top - cotton jersey with a bit of weight from Spiritex. Skirt - Kumari Holiday by Dena for Free Spirit bought from Sew Mama Sew during one of their $6/yard sales. (They're closing their shop. Tear.)
Size: 4
Modifications: cropped, added waistband, added skirt
Extra Thoughts: I've tossed my 0/2s and started re-tracing ALL of my shirt patterns to size 4-6. Above the boobs I'm a 4/6, below the boobs I'm a 0/2. This shirt fit my shoulders perfectly. Live and learn, man. Live and learn.
Next time: fully gather the skirt top, tighten up arm cuffs, lengthen stitch length on top stitching, skip top stitching on upper waist seam, taper below bust to size 0 at waist.

Completed: Belated Valentine

I decided to try my hand at picture smocking after seeing this dress from Shrimp & Grits Kids.

The dress went together so smoothly.

The smocking? Meh.

It's my first attempt at picture smocking, so I'll cut myself some slack.

I started with the Goodship Dress pattern, but the only parts that remain are the armholes and side seams. Here are some of the modifications:

Re-drafted the front.

Inserted a pleated panel for smocking.

Eliminated the collar and lined the bodice.

Modified the center panel to be gathered.

Added ric-rac to the seam and piping to the top and bottom of the insert.

Sliced the back to make a button closure.

Excepting the smocking and the off-center back buttons, I'm really pleased with the design and fit. The piping and ric-rac are great. And the heart fabric (Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman) is adorable. Maybe I'll try it again.

But not right now. Right now it's time to Celebrate the Boy and make some big girl clothes! 

Completed: Eliza's Birthday Dress

"Eliza's Birthday Dress" is a nice name for it.

Much better than "My Sewing Nemesis" or "The Dress that Made Me Question Everything" or "Is Sewing Really This Hard?" or "Eliza Will Never Have Another Mommy-Made Dress Again. Ever."

In theory, the second attempt at this dress should have been easier. It wasn't. I debated about how much to tell you. Of course I've decided to share it all.

First I'll let you get a good look at it.

It's too big on purpose -- her birthday is three months away, and I want this dress to fit all summer. Maybe even next summer.

It's hard to tell because of the size and patterned material, but it's the same style as my PR&P Signature Style piece. There are gathers beneath the scoop in the front and back. 

It's fully lined. Why does a 21-month-old baby need a fully lined dress? Because I was hankering for one more complication apparently.

see her dirty fingernail? very fitting for a dress-wearing little girl, no?

This time I opted for an invisible zipper. Again, because the button placket wasn't complicated enough. The good news is the zipper is truly invisible. 

So now the truth.

Fabric: Tilda

Pattern: Self-drafted

Details: Piping and invisible zipper. Fully lined with enclosed hem.

More Details:

You're looking at BODICE #3. That's right. I started over from scratch THREE times on the bodice. I ripped it at least half a dozen times before scrapping each one. So, that's a total of almost 20 rips. The piping, the shaping, getting the dots lined up, the gathering.

Eventually I ran out of store-bought piping for the bodice and had to make my own. Fortunately I had store-bought bias tape in the same color. (One of my first attempts at piping a year ago was much more successful for some reason.)

You're looking at front skirt #2. I re-did the gathering at least four times. All the ripping shortened the thing by six inches, so I had to start over.

The zipper took four tries to get things lined up.

I sewed the lining in twice before figuring out how to turn things around. (Thanks to this video tutorial, it finally happened. But I don't recommend doing things this way for kids' clothes -- it involves sewing the shoulders in a way that is nearly impossible when they're this small.) I did use Lindsay's trick for the hem, and it worked like a charm.

Normally I'd wax poetic and say it was worth the learning experience, the result is precious, and next time will be better.

Whatever. It'll be a while before I look at this dress and see anything but a scream of frustration.

I love this baby. So much.

Sigh. Maybe I'll make her another dress after all. (Read "softie" across my forehead.)

P.S. Thanks to my Instagram friends @emodette, @callajaire, and @francessuzanne for all the piping advice. It's part of my reSEWlution this year to become a piping pro.

Signature Style (PR&P Week 6)

What excites me about this week's challenge at Project Run and Play (Signature Style Week) isn't my final look. I'm pleased with it overall, but that's not the best part.

The best part is that I've met my goal of cementing my "signature style." When I look at my first and second entries into PR&P last fall, I was all over the place. My intention this time was to use my stash and upcycle, which is the same as it was last time. BUT, this time each result was much more reflective of my preferred style.

So, if you want to see my "signature style," look at any one of this season's completed projects. You'll see a common theme: comfort (knits), upcycling, classic silhouettes, shortened bodices, applique, and muted colors.

The second-best part is that I've gotten more comfortable with drafting my own patterns! Just like everything else in life, Practice Makes Better.

The sweater is a maternity sweater from Old Navy. It was the very first maternity item I ever purchased. (Long before I got pregnant, by the way.) It's a self-drafted pattern based around the Flashback Skinny. The lining is original to the sweater, just sized down to fit the smaller version. 

The dress is gray corduroy from my stash. (It wrinkles so easily.) I made it too big intentionally so she can wear it next winter. The design is all my own. Several months ago I saw this dress (it's no longer available) that served as the inspiration. The bodice lining and piping are also stash fabric (you can also see the lining fabric here).

There are several tweaks I'm planning to make to it next time. I'd like to have gathers in the back scoop that match the front. Also, I plan to use smaller piping so I can manipulate it more easily. 

That's a wrap!

I've got two more baby girl dresses to finish this week. The new, improved version of this one is first up. The second one will be the unfinished dress from Valentine's Week. 

Then Eliza will officially have an obscene number of dresses, and I will go back to sewing big girl clothes for a little while.

Thanks for playing along!

** These photos were taken at Biltmore, one of my favorite places. A perk of living here and having season passes is that we can pop over on a Thursday morning. We don't take it for granted.

Tutorial: Tiered Ruffle Tee

I'm smitten with this style of tunic for Eliza. It's got the shortened bodice that looks precious on little girls, and the knit makes it comfortable. The ruffle fabric makes the possible variations endless!

I tried it with a men's shirt for Project Run and Play and decided to try twice more with different fabrics and lengths.

A little tidbit about the fabric used for this tutorial version -- it's the first Liberty fabric I ever bought. It was a birthday present in 2011, and I used it to make Anna Maria Horner's Four Corners Nursing Blouse. There was about a half-yard left over.

So, here's the tutorial! Please leave me a comment if you have any questions!

(1) Start with a basic t-shirt pattern -- either self-drafted or otherwise. (If you need help drafting your own t-shirt pattern, here's a great tutorial.)  Here you see the Flashback Skinny. I'd marry this pattern if I could. I'm using a size bigger here than normal so she can wear it this summer. (I'll cut off the sleeves.)

Everything in this pattern is cut on the fold. Just five pieces - front, back, two sleeves, and neckband.

(2) Decide where you want the first ruffle to begin. I prefer a pretty short bodice, so my ruffle will begin about 2/3 of the way down the armhole. Cut the pattern straight across. (Make sure it's straight!)

(3) Decide where you want the second ruffle to begin. I've made a shorter version (here&nbsp), and the version in this tutorial is longer. Cut the pattern straight across.

(4) You're left with three pieces. You'll discard the bottom piece. For the purposes of this tutorial, I'll call the other two the TOP BODICE and MIDDLE BODICE.

(5) Add 1/2" seam allowance to the bottom of the TOP BODICE piece. Add 1/2" seam allowance to the top of the MIDDLE BODICE piece. (This assumes a 1/2" seam allowance throughout.)

(6) TOP BODICE

(7) MIDDLE BODICE

(8) Here's another look at your three pattern pieces.

(9) Remember to add the seam allowances.

(10) Just in case you forgot.

(11 - 13) Determine your ruffle width. My preference is to measure across the bodice pieces where the ruffles will meet and roughly double that measurement. For example, the TOP BODICE seam here is 9", and the MIDDLE BODICE seam is 11", so I split the difference and made the ruffles 20" wide. (Doubled 10".)

(14) Now to determine the length of the ruffles. There's a little math involved.

Measure the length of the MIDDLE BODICE piece. Then ADD 1.5" to account for seam allowances, hems, and ruffle overlap.

For example, my MIDDLE BODICE piece here is about 6", so my ruffles are 7.5" long. 

Cut your ruffle pieces based on the determined measurements. (For this tutorial, mine were 20" wide and 7.5" long.)

You'll have FOUR ruffle pieces. (two FRONT RUFFLES and two BACK RUFFLES) I made them all the same width and height. (You could opt to cut them on the fold and only cut two, but I prefer to have side seams for matching purposes later.)

(15) For the two TOP RUFFLES, cut out the bottom part of the arm hole. It's easiest to go ahead and use the piece already cut for the MIDDLE BODICE as a guide. It already has the seam allowances included.

Be sure to cut out the arm curve on both the left and right side, front and back TOP RUFFLE pieces.

(16) You'll have four ruffle pieces, two TOP RUFFLES (with partial arm holes on either side) and two BOTTOM RUFFLES.

(17) Sew side seams of ruffles. Finish edges with your preferred method.

(18) You'll end up with two circles of fabric. (You can barely see the arm holes at the top of both sides of the TOP RUFFLE below. The BOTTOM RUFFLE is just straight across.)

(19) Turn up bottom of ruffles 1/2" twice and hem.

(20) Use the longest stitch setting to gather the tops of the ruffles. For the TOP RUFFLES, you'll have to gather the front and back pieces separately because of the arm hole.

I prefer two rows of gathering stitches for more even gathers. (both within the seam allowance) (because I'm lazy and abhor removing basting stitches)

(21) Sew shoulder seams. Finish seams if you prefer.

(22) It's time to attach the TOP RUFFLE. Lay out your pieces as you see below. The TOP BODICE is right side up in this picture. So are the TOP RUFFLE and MIDDLE BODICE. 

Flip over the TOP BODICE so it and the TOP RUFFLE are right sides together.

(23) Sandwich the TOP RUFFLE between the TOP BODICE and MIDDLE BODICE.

(24) If you are looking at it, it will be layered like this: wrong side TOP BODICE facing up, right side TOP RUFFLE facing up, and right side MIDDLE BODICE facing up.

Match top raw edges. Arm hole curve will still be free.

(25) Here's another view of the sandwiched ruffle.

(26) Stitch ruffle in place using a zig zag (so it stretches over baby's belly). Finish seams if desired.

(27 - 28) Tuck ruffle up out of the way through the neck and pin the MIDDLE BODICE side seams, being careful not to catch the TOP RUFFLE in the seam.

(29) Finish seams if desired.

(30) Here's what you've got so far. If you lift the TOP RUFFLE a bit, you can see the MIDDLE BODICE piece. It's ready to have the BOTTOM RUFFLE attached.

(31) Attach the BOTTOM RUFFLE to the MIDDLE BODICE, right sides together, matching raw edges and side seams. Use a zig zag stitch so it'll stretch over baby's belly if needed. Finish seams if preferred.

(32) Here's the view from the inside.

(33) On to the sleeves. Sew the bottom sleeve seams. Mark the top center of the sleeve with a pin.

(34) We'll be doing set-in sleeves. For me, it's easiest to turn the sleeves RIGHT sides out and the garment WRONG side out, and then tuck the sleeve into the arm hole. Right sides will be together. Match up the bottom seams of the ARM with the MIDDLE BODICE and TOP RUFFLE side seams. Match the top center of the sleeve with the shoulder seam. Pin in place, being careful to smooth the TOP RUFFLE that's sandwiched in the bottom part of the arm hole. 

(35) All pinned and ready to sew. (If they don't match perfectly, knit is forgiving. It's not necessary to ease in the sleeves as long as it's close to matching.)

(36) Sew in place and finish the seams, if you prefer.

(37) Finished arms. See how the seam with the TOP RUFFLE meets the arm hole? That's one of my favorite details of this style.

(38) Hem the sleeves with whatever method you prefer. In this version I turned them under once and used a zig zag stitch.

Attach the neck band. My preferred method is detailed here. **A note about the neckbands in the versions you see in this post -- these haven't been washed yet, and for me, the neckband looks better after a wash and dry.**

You're all done! Find a willing model and watch her twirl. 

You want me to do what?