Heather Ross summer blouse

When I started sewing, prior to my blogging days, it was to sew cute outfits for my daughters. But I have never, ever sewn something for myself. Mostly this is because I have big boobs. Hard to find patterns that cater to the sistas! But I have been a wee bit obsessed with sewing myself a fall wardrobe lately, given all the amazing fabrics out there, and I decided to take the plunge and start with the summer blouse pattern from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing book, which has been sitting up on the shelf for ages. Incidentally, that book has now been joined by her latest, Heather Ross Prints, which is absolutely freaking awesome and I assume you are all smart enough to buy! ;)


I definitely had some blips along the way making this shirt. I originally planned to make this in my long-hoarded Amy Butler lotus flower and moon dots, as the pattern called for 1 - 5/8 yards and I had 2 yards of each. BUT, wrong-o. The layout of the pattern pieces showed that the sleeve piece should fit alongside the front and back pieces, but it didn't, so I ended up needing about 2.5 yards to lay the pieces all out. Of course I didn't clue into this until I had ALREADY started chopping up the fabric (grr). Lesson learned, check and double check! So, to avoid further spoilage of dear and hard to find out of print fabrics, I started again with this cute print I picked up for a good price at Fabricland ages ago. I love the style of it for this shirt.


Overall, for a first attempt at sewing, this shirt is wearable. I love the laid back style of it, and certainly plan to make it again. When I do, in addition to the fabric quantity modification, I will definitely lengthen the shirt. It falls a bit too high for my liking, and while it looks good layered with a longer tank top, I think it is too short to wear on its own. Conversely, the sleeves were way too long. Also, I would probably shorten the neck slightly in the front. And while we are splitting hairs, I may choose a fabric with a bit more drape.

What I love about this shirt (and where I think I kicked some clothes-sewing ass), was the hand stitched orange detail and button along the neck. Just adds so much to the look! I love it.


Also, I made the shirt using French seams, which leaves no raw edges, and this makes the finish look so much more polished. Will definitely do this for all clothing I make in the future, and judging by the ridiculous amount of online fabric shopping I have done lately, there should be plenty of clothing to follow!

Pillowcase dress tutorial- Style 2: "Party Girl"

Like "The Classic," this dress was made from a pillowcase, and for less than $2! The big side bow at the neck is perfect for a party princess.

You will need:
- a pillowcase
- coordinating fabric for the bow and hem band (1/3 yard)
- coordinating thread
- safety pin

Steps:
1. Measure your little girl from her armpit to about the knee (I usually go a bit longer because I try to make it to last 2 summers!).
2. Fold your pillowcase lengthwise, and cut a j-shaped section from the top (closed) end, with the bottom of the j starting at the distance you just measured from the bottom (open) end of the pillowcase. This will be the armhole. The j should extend about 3-4" into the fabric horizontally, then continue up to the top vertically (see first photo below).
3. Cut a diagonal line along the non-folded side, starting about 2" into j shape of armpit and extending towards hem (open end of pillowcase). This helps give the dress some taper along the sides, otherwise I found it to be too boxy. 4. Cut 6 inch band of coordinating fabric to width of fabric. Fold over long raw edges 1/4 inch. Press. Fold in half. Press. Align along bottom hem of dress, and stitch into place near top of band. Trim excess. (Sorry! I must have forgotten to take a picture of this step!)
5.Sew side seems of dress with a straight stitch. Reinforce with a zig zag for good measure.
6. Fold the armhole area over 1/4 inch. Press. Fold 1/4 inch again, press again. 7. Sew along folded edge to finish armhole. Repeat for other side. 8. Fold the top edge (neck) of the dress over 1/4 inch. Press. Fold over again 2 inches and press. Sew, staying close to edge, leaving ends open. This will be the channel for your bow fabric. Repeat for other side. 9. Cut a 4.5 inch strip of your coordinating fabric, length the width of fabric.
10. Fold fabric in half, right sides facing. Press. Sew length to close strip using 1/4 seam allowance. 11. Use safety pin to invert strip tube you have just made, using fingers to work the safety pin out the other side. Press. 12. Tuck ends of strip in. Press.
13. Sew ends closed, and sew along all edges so that all of strip has a nice stitched edge as shown.
14. Attach safety pin to strip and use fingers to work it through the front channel until it emerges on other end. Continue through the back channel so that the 2 strip ends end up on the same side of the neck.

15. Measure 15 inches from end of each strip, then sew strip to dress as shown to secure. 17. Evenly distribute ruffles of neck. At other end of neck, sew dress to strip, arranging so that top part is shorter than the bottom, as shown. This will help the dress to sit flat on the neck.

Put it on your little princess and tie a big bow! You are finished! Congratulations! I hope you have enjoyed the Pillowcase Dress Tutorial series. I would love to see a picture of your finished creations in my Flickr group. Have fun!

Pillowcase dress tutorial- Style 1: "The Classic"

I first learned about pillowcase dresses last summer, and loved the idea. This spring I found a selection of sweet vintage pillowcases at a local thrift store for only 29 cents a piece, and started thinking about the unlimited number of ways this sweet swatch of fabric could be transformed into an adorable outfit for my daughters.....and here is what I came up with.

I love the simplicity of this dress- not only in style, but also in fabrication! You can seriously make this up in about a half hour. It will probably take you longer to read my over-wordy instructions!

These pillowcase dresses will fit children from age 2-6. If made with an old pillowcase from home or a thrift store one like mine, this dress will cost only about $2 to make. Lord knows I am not in this hobby to save money (as my designer fabric stash will attest), but I must confess that my Scottish/Ukrainian genes vibrate in joy when I can make something adorable, and for cheap.

Want to make one? Here we go!

You will need:

- a pillowcase

- 2 pieces of 1/4" elastic, roughly 6" in length

- a package of coordinating bias tape, or make about 2.5 meters/yards of your own

- coordinating thread

- a safety pin

Steps:

1. Measure your little girl from her armpit to about the knee (I usually go a bit longer because I try to make it to last 2 summers!).
2. Fold your pillowcase lengthwise, and cut a j-shaped section from the top (closed) end, with the bottom of the j starting at the distance you just measured from the bottom (open) end of the pillowcase. This will be the armhole. The j should extend about 3-4" into the fabric horizontally, then continue up to the top vertically (see first photo below).
3.Cut a horizontal strip off the top (closed) end about 4" from the bottom (horizontal) segment of the j (see second photo below). Discard, or save scrap for a future vintage sheet quilt!

4. Cut a diagonal line along the non-folded side, starting about 2" into j shape of armpit and extending towards hem (open end of pillowcase). This helps give the dress some taper along the sides, otherwise I found it to be too boxy.

5. Unfold pillowcase and turn inside out. Sew side seems of dress with a straight stitch. Reinforce with a zig zag for good measure.

6.Take top raw edges and fold over 1/4". Press. Fold over 3/4". Press again.

7. Sew, staying close to edge, leaving ends open. This will be the channel for your elastic.

8.. Attach safety pin to elastic and use fingers to work it through the channel until it emerges on other end.

9. Sew ends of channel shut, being sure to catch elastic in stitching to secure. Fabric will gather around elastic.

10. Repeat with second elastic. Your dress should now look like this:

11. This next part might seem tricky if you have not worked much with bias tape, but is really quite easy once you play with it a bit. I will try make this as clear as possible- here goes. Take the bias tape and cut 2 pieces, each of 36" length. Look at the tape. You will notice that one folded side is slightly shorter than the other side. Unfold. Pin raw edge of the wider side along the wrong side of the raw edge of armhole from elastic to elastic. Ensure that length of bias tape is centered (i.e 18" on either side of the armhole center) and folds of tape are all facing down towards the pillowcase fabric. Sew along raw edges from elastic to elastic.
12. Refold bias tape. When you do so, the line you just stitched becomes covered and disappears, the center fold of the tape will cover the raw edge of the armhole, and the short folded side will be on the outside of the dress. Pin in place to secure.

10. Tuck in ends of bias tape, and start stitching along strap portion, short fold side up, to close the tape and make your strap. Continue over the elastic into the armhole area. Since the longer folded side is in the back, if you follow the edge along the front, you sound "catch" the back as well. Continue all the way to the end of the strap.

11. Repeat for second strap/armhole.

Congratulations! You are done!

I hope you enjoyed the Classic Pillowcase Dress tutorial. Come back next week to see my second pillowcase dress style! I'd love to see a picture of yoru dress in my Flickr group ;-)

Preview of upcoming tutorials

I will be home from my Most Excellent Holiday next week, and back to the grind as they say...... When I am, I have some new tutorials I plan to get ready for you all. Here is the preview:

Ever heard of pillowcase dresses? They are exactly as they sound- made from pillow cases! You may recall that I picked up a bunch of vintage ones this spring for only 29 cents a piece. I will show you how I transformed 2 of them into sweet dressed for my girls, in 2 different styles, for under $2 each!

I have also been on a roll with bags. I will have a cute tote tutorial ready for you as well, using bias tape for the edging.

See you next week!

Quick fix- patching up my man's jeans

So, we get to the cottage and my hubby presents me with a big bag FULL of jeans that look like this: Don't ask me what he does to get them like this!! Anyways, he asks if I can do something to fix them. For my kids, I would put some funky fabrics over the holes, but he is looking for something a little less flashy. But my options are few, as I have not been forewarned and don't have much at my disposal. I think of sacrificing one of the many pairs to patch the rest, but they are all different shades and colors so I don't think it will work. So then I come up with the idea of taking jean material from inside the back pockets.

So, I cut it out and then sewed around the pocket to close it off. Sometimes I used contrasting thread to give it a little interest.

The color is slightly darker here than the rest of the jean, but it even looks good flipped backwards:

However, the amount of material is limited. But in the end, the hubby was happy with the results. His comment: "These even look kind of stylish!" I don't know if I would go that far, but they are good enough for slumming it around the cottage :-)

Applique t-shirt for my birthday girl

Five years old! I know it sounds cliche, but it seems like only yesterday....

The Middle Child always begins planning her birthday party in January, when Big G celebrates his birthday. This year, the undisputed theme was- FROG. We catch buckets of them at the lake, and she adores them, along with all creatures big and small- a really nurturer, my girl. So, I thought I would make her a froggie t-shirt for the big party.So cute yet so easy. I found this guy as a clip art online, then printed him onto some transfer paper from Dharma Trading. I ironed him on to a scrap of white solid, folded and pressed the edges, then blanket stitched it onto the pink floral fabric (her favorite from my stash). Again- fold, press, sew, on to a t-shirt I got at Old Navy for $5.

On the back, I added a little "surprise."

I think she liked it!

Party time, better "hop" to it! Happy birthday, Sweetheart!

Fabric Flower tutorial

These fabric flowers are a great addition to your Twirly Girl skirt, a handbag, or place some felt and a pin on the back to add a little something-something to a shirt or coat!

To make a fabric flower:

Cut a long strip of fabric that is 2 inches wide. The length can vary depending on how big of a flower you want; the one shown in the photo measured about 2 feet long. I joined 2 shorter pieces together to get this length, so feel free to use scraps or even a bunch of different fabrics. This part is more art than science, so be creative and have fun!

Take your piece of flower fabric and fold length wise. Press.

Sew a straight stitch starting at the edge on one side; slowly start wandering towards the middle (as shown below) so that one end becomes narrower than the other. Leave both ends open. Trim excess.

Using a safety pin, pin one edge of the narrow end, then insert the pin into the hole and use your fingers to work it down the length of this “tube” you have created until it emerges on the other side. Pull to make fabric right side out again. You will have a long tube with one end narrower than the other. Press. Invert raw end pieces ¼ inch inside, then sew ends closed.
Start with narrow end of strip to form centre of flower. Wrap fabric around itself, gathering at bottom (seam side) with your fingers to form a flower. Use a needle and thread to secure together by sewing in base of flower. If desired, insert button at centre. Again, this is the creative part- there is no right or wrong, so play with it and have fun to make your own one-of-a-kind flower! When you are happy, hand sew onto skirt or other item.
Congratulations! You did it! If you missed my Twirly Girl ruffle skirt tutorial, you can find it here. I hope you enjoy your Fabric Flower, but please remember that this tutorial is intended for home enjoyment only and not for commercial use. Feel free to blog about your creations; a link back to this page would be appreciated. I would love to see your finished skirts, so please shoot me an e-mail with your pictures or blog links to me so I can admire them! I also have a Flickr group and would love to see your photos there. Have fun!