The Odette by Sunday Girl Designs

I recently had the great opportunity to test The Odette for Sunday Girl Designs.  When she posted the testing call I really really hoped to get chosen.  This is an adorable pattern.  It is not the quickest project I have tried because the blouse is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.

This was even before the blouse was completed!

The finished project was so worth it and something I would feel proud to gift to a friend.  Fortunately for B, she got to keep it.

I went to the fabric store looking for something white with little flowers on it, and left with a beautiful ballerina border fabric by Kokka.  At first I was intimidated by the border fabric but it turned out nicely.  The pleat is not as centered as I would like it to be, but live and learn I guess.

Most importantly, B loved it and came up with her own choreographed dance.  I present to you, the ballet Odette.

Don't forget the shy shrug at the end!

The shorts have an adorable cuff and I made all the bows detachable so I don't have to worry about them in the wash.  Sarah over at The Crazy Tailor made hers into a lovely dress that I want to copy down to the elk fabric.

Improvisational Pleating Contest Entry

Alternatively titled: the Pleated Princess.

Whenever I try to do a task in addition to my day job as a mother the whole house seems to fall apart.  No cleaning or cooking gets done and the B watches a lot of TV.  A whole lot of TV.  The key skill here is multi-tasking, and I get a big fat F.  If I was being reviewed at work it would be the scary N for needs improvement and I would probably be put on probation.  Good thing there's job security in my current gig, and I don't get paid anyway.  Curious about what I have been working on?  Even if you are not interested, please don't leave until you have voted for me.  Here it is, my entry into Straight Grains improvisational pleating contest!

Here are photos of the dress before I added the buttons.  I think I like the dress better with buttons.

This is the bodice of the dress with my improvised pleats.

I started the design process by trying to find some inspiration.

I found a lovely dress but I wasn't excited about the volume of the sleeves and the ruffles down the front.  My little lady is a bit messy so ruffles are just too hard to clean.  So I thought that the design was perfect for tweaking.  I could easily replace the ruffles with a pleated panel.

I wanted the dress to be more form fitting and shorter.  The model had some strong opinions to the contrary.

I want it to be long!

This was her reaction when I cut the muslin "prototype" short.  And this is what happened when I made it more narrow.

No, you can't take a photo to see how it looks. 

Since she is the one that decides if she wants to wear a dress, I had to cave.  Have you ever tried to get clothes on a toddler who didn't want to get dressed?

I'm on the go, there is fun to be had!

Thanks for checking out my dress.  Now please go vote for me HERE!.

BGB Shirred Skirt

I was recently honored to be selected by April at Dandelions n' Dungarees to test their Baby Girl Bottoms skirt pattern.  At first I was a bit daunted because I had never shirred before.  But the skirt was so adorable that I just had to try.  Just check out my results!

The BGB pattern has a ton of options including skirts, shorts, pants, and diaper covers.  If you are nervous about shirring there are also options to use elastic casing instead.  The pattern has a shirring tutorial that covers both traditional shirring (elastic thread in the bobbin), and zigzagging over the elastic thread.  If you haven't yet,  you should try your hand at shirring, it's actually really easy!

The 3-6 month size is a perfect fit for my 4 month old little model.

Even with the shirring and the bias tape for the pockets, the skirt sewed up very quickly.  Time is essential for me since I usually do my sewing standing up with the baby in the ergo.  She's starting to get grabby so I have to sew while she's asleep.

My favorite things about the pattern:

1.  I only had to cut out the pocket pattern pieces, the rest of the skirt was basically rectangles

2. Quick and easy tutorial on shirring

3. Easily customizable details (I just did bias tape, some ladies did lace/ruffles on the pockets)

4. Adjustable waist elastic

5. POCKETS!  Pockets on baby clothes are so frivolous, but completely adorable

Baby C gives it 2 slimy thumbs up!