Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Another pillowcase dress for my daughter

It has been a very busy year. I can't find enough time to sew and when I do all I do are blankets for my children or alterations. While trying again to get my sewing "mojo" back I found myself doing another pillowcase dress for my daughter. This time I picked some Halloween fabrics. Sorry this is the closest picture I got of her wearing the dress. I hope to be able to do more sewing for myself next year.

Friday, September 2, 2011

In love with knot dresses - Simplicity Pattern 2171






I made a knot dress for my daughter using Simplicity pattern 2171. The pattern was very easy to use. It won't fit my daughter until next spring thou. I still don't understand very well how children measurement works. I measured my daughter waist and chest and decided I should go with a size 3. It runs a little bit big on the chest and I did not made adjustments because I would ruin the bodice part. Anyway, the dress turned out to be gorgeous.

This pattern is one of the most populars right now. Moms are using it to create "Matilda Jane" look alike knot dresses and I have seen a few dresses selling at Etsy for over $35 which I am pretty sure were created using this Simplicity pattern. My advice, if you can sew and like the look of this dresses go buy some Calico fabrics and you will love the results. I hope to sew more of this in the future.


Here is the dress I made. I picked up some Calico fabrics and tried to copy the one in the picture. I also made the ruffled pants which I altered so that she can wear them this fall. I will be posting pictures soon.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Simplicity Pattern 2699 - Cute apron!

While I am trying to get my "sewing mojo" back, it looks like all I can do right now is sew for children. It may be because a lot of the children clothes in the retail industry are not fulfilling my needs.

I made an apron which I intend to use as a bib mostly for my two year old daughter. I used Simplicty Pattern 2699. I made view A with a couple of alterations. It was very easy to sew and only took me a coupe of hours.

I recommend this pattern for begginers. It is very easy to understand. So easy that I did not had to be reading the instruction so much when I was doing.








Monday, June 27, 2011

My McCall's Pattern Fall review

I know I might be late for this review since it has been more than a week since the McCall's pattern fall collection was released. I may not be sewing a lot lately but I always check the new patterns and continue collecting them. There is nothing wrong about dreaming about new projects that may never become a reality because of my lack of time lately. Right?

I am not to impressed about this season adult collection thou. It doesn't look too different from last year. I see a lot of 90's fashion influence too. I love the fall crafting projects and the children patterns are darn cute. Here are my favorites.

Can you tell I have a girl? I love this look. Reminds me of Matilda Jane dresses.












Leggings continue to be a favorite this year.




Not loving this look so much because I would have to use knit fabric.






I like this quilting project, if I liked to quilt.





These pants are definetely a must have on my wardrobe.














Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Pillow case dress that took for ever

Finally I got to finish the pillow case dress from my last post. I used Simplicity Pattern 2383. It is not that it was difficult to make, it was just that I don't have the time to sew I used to have before becoming a mother of twins. I finished it about two week ago and did not have time to post the picture until now. The difficulty level of this dress is "easy". It shall not take more than two hours to accomplish and what took me the most was deciding if I should use ribbons or rig rag. The monkey embroidery part was not so easy for me because it was my first time doing this kind of work. Next time I will be better at it. I recommend using this pattern even for beginners.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Pillow Case dress Simplicity 2383


I am trying to get my "sewing mojo" back. I am working on a dress for my toddler girl who just turned 19 months. For experienced seamstress it may be ridiculous to purchase a pattern to make a pillow dress. It is just a rectangle and all you have to do is close it and add a ribbon at the top, right? Well, I have been working on the monkey applique dress picture at the left (view C) for three weeks. When I saw the pattern I liked the fact that it has appliques. I bought some inexpensive Calico fabrics and it is turning out very pretty but slow sewing is what happens when you have a set of twins. First, I was very enthusiastic about the dress and I decided to use some gross grain ribbons. Well, it occurred to me that after sewing the ribbons so nicely to the fabric they needed some ironing and one of the ribbons had painted dots and it melted. After that I decided it was better to used rig rags. The applique part was not so easy for me either because I have never done appliques before, so I had some issues with the embroidery around the monkey. It turned out good but not perfect. Last night I finally closed the seams at the sides and today I will try to finish and take some pictures. I think this pattern is really easy to use and offer so many options to the now so popular pillow dress for children. It is just me who has become a lazy seamstress.