Valentine's Day flutter dresses on Etsy

I am venturing slowly back into selling my sewing wares and am pleased to offer this cute Valentine's Day dress, made using Tie Dye Diva's Butterfly dress pattern, in my Etsy store.

You can order it in sizes three months thru girl's size 8! Sizes 3 mos thru 24 mos will come with a diaper cover in the pink gingham.

Please take a look!!  I can also take custom orders, if you have an idea. 

New Year, New Blog Design

I have been blogging for a few years but this year I have decided to get serious about it. So, that meant making my blog look really nice and inviting to read.  I tried free backgrounds and headers for a few days and could not find anything that made me happy.  So, I took a leap and bought a Blog Design Package from Simply Creative, on Etsy. 

I love Magaly's designs.  They are cute and fresh and fun and not expensive.  They are not custom or unique to the purchaser.  You might end up sharing them with another blogger. But, for the price, that is perfectly fine with me.   And, they are simply adorable and well made and she provides excellent customer service.  She also sells logos, watermarks, made to match designs, and Etsy shop packages. I decided to buy the blog package to match the Etsy shop package I bought from her a few years ago.  For $30, I got a banner with my blog name and tag line, two blog buttons to match, two backgrounds to choose from, a signature pic, and six color codes.  Love it!!  And it all came with easy to understand instructions on how to upload to blogger.  Took me about ten minutes to get it all uploaded!  Love it!  Don't you!

Sewing Lara and sorta-Sienna

I got to test out a new pattern recently. It is called Lara and is by a dear lady, Mira, of Tulips and Edelweiss.  Lara is a ruffled hoodie for girls. It can be made from velveteen or cotton knit or even microfleece.  It is very lady-like, according to one of my daughters.  I made a version in cotton knit, for my youngest daughter.  For fabric, I went stash diving in the bins in my garage and found some jersey knit from Chez Ami and some Michael Miller cotton knits. This is not a simple pattern but it went together very nicely.  It is meant for intermediate level sewists, so be aware that it is a great pattern but not simple.  It is well written with excellent directions.

You know a girl needs an outfit to go with a smashing hoodie like that! So, I used Lilblueboo Sienna dress pattern as the basis to come up with this cutiepie dress.  It doesn't resemble Sienna much anymore! I got creative and wung it as I sewed, adding ruffles to the sleeves, a gathered skirt, and side panels in turquoise rib knit.

It looks pretty cute with the hoodie!  

She loves it and won't take it off, so I count that as a great success.

Love sewing for this one!

Portrait of an artist

I grew an artist in my womb and now that she is out in the world, I still try to foster her creativity and help her thrive.  She loves to draw and was recently inspired by Project Runway Allstars to start designing her own clothing. Here is a recent design that she drew, something she wanted very much to have me sew for her.

Those are raspberries on the dress.  We spent a long time looking for fabric to match that, went to all three quilt shops in town, Joann Fabrics, looked on Etsy.  Finally, I found Moda Redwork Renaissance Cherries Porcelain at Sisters and Quilters on Etsy.   We were thrilled! Even though she envisioned raspberries, this cherry print fit the bill. Then, I remembed I had a copy of Portabellopixie Gracie pattern and I knew how to make her vision a reality! 

So, here it is!  Voila!  One tween vision come true.  She just turned nine and doesn't like little girl clothing anymore, so I am very happy to find something I could make for her that makes her happy.

new stuff in the store!

I am slowing getting back into the sewing swing of things.   I have re-opened my Etsy store, Delphinium Designs, with a few items.  Just a smidge of things I can do.  I hope to sew more in coming weeks and get even more items up.  For now, because of the herniated disc in my neck, I am going slow.  But, my neck is MUCH better, which is great.  You have no idea how great!!!

Well, anyway, back to sewing easter dresses and then I get to make a few of these lovelies for customers.  I love this fabric sooo much!  Dena Designs Monaco blue peacocks. I am fairly sure I bought the last ten yards of it last year.  And the sash print is also from Monaco.  I have this peacock fabric in blue, also, and my friend at Treasure Bay Fabrics just added it to her store in pink! I am going to have to buy some, when I plan out what to do with it.  It is softer and thicker than standard quilting wovens.  Just lovely!

New Beginnings

 It has been over a month since I lasted posted.  In that time, my sewing machine, a 20 year old basic Singer, has given me a lot of grief.  Thus, began the path towards a new sewing machine.  I thought it would take me a while to save up the money to buy the one I wanted but my lovely husband threw some into the pot from his bonus and I was able to buy my dream machine, a Janome Memory Craft 5200.  

 Isn't she loverly!   

And she has all these stitches and more on the back of this card.  I am just thrilled with her capabilities and power and her quiet, strong motor.  A huge step.

So, to begin to use her, I decided to make a few of these Bit of Whimsy Mermae dolls.  I bought the pattern from her website and the pdf came right away.  It is a well-written pattern with lots of good hints.  I especially liked the Youtube video about embroidering the face.  It has been a while since I did any emberoidery!

So, here is the finished doll.  This is dolly #2.  The first doll was a rough draft, so to speak.  This one, I have been told, is not perfect  But, I think she came out pretty cute and her next mates will be even better.

I like the zigzag stitch feature on the new machine.  

It was very simple and easy to sew this bodice top.

Sewing her face together was not hard at all, thanks to the video on embroidery.  

 

The new machine has such lovely stitches, including this one we all think looks like waves.

So, look for more stuff happening in Kathy's sewing area starting today.

Happy New Year!

Winners!

Here are the winners of my giveway!

First off, the winner of the twirly skirt is Ros!  Random number generator chose post #10 which was her.  Please contact me at delphiniumsummerblue@yahoo.com.

Next, the winner of the ruffle pants is mollibijouscloset!   Random number generator chose #7.  You can also contact me at delphiniumsummerblue@yahoo.com.

Thanks for participating!  I uploaded a few pretty peacock dresses on the Etsy page and they sold!  I will upload some more within a few days, I promise.  More fabrics and ribbon are arriving daily and I am trying to sew a few hours a day.  Hard to get everything done when you are a busy mom but I am doing my best!

Thanks for your support!

Summer Tank Dress, #2

Once again, I made a dress with the Jocole Shoreline Tank top pattern as the basis.  This one is for my tweenage neighbor, who is super sweet to my own two girls.  She deserved a personalized thank you. So, she picked out the fabric, Michael Miller Mod Blooms Knit, and here it is.

And thank you to Sewing Mamas for helping me make the binding a bit better than the last time. Still needs work, but it is better!!!

Summer tank dresses

Summer finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest this weekend.  It is currently 79 degrees and sunny!  It was equally nice yesterday, which marks the first two really warm days we have had all year.  So, it was fortuitous that I decided this was the weekend to make tank dresses for my oldest daughter and her doll, Amy.  You see, the American Girl doll opened near us, in Lynnwood, WA (they call it Seattle but it is not).   We want to visit soon so it is important that our non-American Girl doll, Amy, have a dress matching to her owner.  Don't ask me why this is important, but it is.  Here they are, doll and girl, in their matching dresses.

I spent a good week looking for a tank top dress pattern, one for a size 8 girl and one for a doll, and could not find what I wanted.  Finally, I discovered Jocole Patterns on Etsy, and her Shoreline Knit Tank Top pattern fit the bill as much as was possible. I knew it would be very simple to lengthen the pattern to turn a top into a dress.

First of all, this pattern is excellent! I cannot rave enough about how well written it is and how nice the owner of the store is!  She sent me a few messages to make sure I ordered the correct size and I knew she was available by email for help.  What a sweetie!  The pattern itself is full of details on how to work with knits and how to do the bindings in different ways.  Very nicely done!!

Here is what her tank top pattern looks like upon completion (from Jocole on Etsy)

As you can see, it is a cute tank top with two ruffles across the front.  Very feminine and sweet.  The pattern size I ordered is for girls size 8 thru 14 as well as dolls.  It is challenging to find pdf patterns for tweens so this was a great find. 

Secondly, since I did not want to make a top, I needed to find a dress to use as a sample for the length and width I wanted.  I used this Hanna Andersson dress that still fits my daughter, one she wears often.  It is a size 130 and falls just to above her knees.  We like the way the skirt is A-line.  So, I printed out the three pieces for the Jocole pattern and decided I only needed the top two parts because I intended to flair the skirt out.  Here you see the top two parts of the Jocole pattern, attached together (parts A & B).

 The next step was to use the Hanna dress to create a longer pattern.  I used a piece of printer paper for the middle section and then realized I need more width.  So, I taped together a piece of Swedish Tracing paper and attached it all with clear 3M packing tape, for strength.  Here, you see the whole dress pattern, taped to the Jocole pattern.  Because the Jocole pattern has straps and the Hanna dress does not, I had to modify the bodice placement accordingly. 

Then, it was a matter of following the Jocole directions.  As I said, it is a very well-written pattern.  She gives you options for binding.  You can use cotton knit and use regular thread with it or Wooly or Bulky nylon.  You can use a straight stitch or a zig zag.  You can also use fold ever elastic.  For the ruffles, you can use elastic to ruffle or you can ruffle in other manners.  I chose to use the same cotton knit as the dress for the bindings and elastic to ruffle.  The fabric I used is a cotton interlock knit from Chez Ami.

I decided to give Bulky Nylon, from Gutterman a try, and boy do I regret that!  My old, fussy Singer did not like that thread at all.  I tried it on the bobbin only and it caused me annoying tension issues until I finally gave up, put the regular Gutterman thread on the bobbin, and switched to a zigzag stitch!  Aaah, relief!  No more issues! 

I am not the best at sewing bindings so these came out a tad messy but they look ok.  Ok is better than ugly, right?  LOL!  I sewed a dress for the doll, Amy, first, and then one for my 8 year old.  I think they turned out pretty cute! I needed to custom-tailor them to fit well, but that is the point of home sewing, right?  So, here are the finished products.  We are ready to have lunch at the American Girl doll store/restaurant!

 Here is Amy and her tank dress.  Amy is a Madame Alexander 18" doll

 Here is my 8 year old and Amy.  The sun was in her eyes.

And here they are in the shade, very happy with their new dresses!  

This is a great pattern! I highly recommend it!

How to make a knit ruffle rosette swirl

Just how do you make the knit ruffle floral rosette swirl above?  Well, after much practice, I think I have it down.  So, I thought I would share.

Now, keep in mind that my brain seems to work differently than the average person.  For example, jokes usually have to be explained to me.  This tutorial may not be the best way to do this ruffle or the most common way, but this is where I ended up after trying it out a few other ways.

Here we go!

First of all, this is luscious bamboo knit jersey fabric I bought off Etsy from Bamblue Fabrics.   I was looking for this particular color and not necessarily for bamboo.   But, I have to talk up this knit. It is incredible!  It washes great, did not shrink a lot, and is the softest fabric this side of fine silk.  Seriously! Buy some!

Okay, here's the tutorial:

1.  I folded the fabric in half the long way, and in half again.  

 2.  I cut out one two inch wide strip with my rotary blade.  I think it would be hard to cut this knit with scissors because it wants to curl.  I used the rule to hold it down.  It is sheer concidence that my ruler is two inches wide.

 3.  Now I have a long, bamboo knit snake! 

 4.  I used my hem gauge to find the middle and I sewed a long stitch down the whole middle.    My machine has stitch length zero to 4.    I chose stitch length 4. 

 5.  I pinned it to the fabric by hand, scrunching up about an inch as I went along and pinning about every half inch.  Does that make sense?  It looks like this when done.  I had marked my starting point and ending point on the skirt panel so I knew where I was headed and I just eyeballed how to make it even from one side to the next.  This is a skirt for a size 2T top.  If I was making a larger top, I would use the same length of knit but it would not be as ruffled and it would not wrap around the back, as this one is going to do.

 6.   Taking the end thread, I gently pulled, using my hands to space out the ruffle as I went and making sure it did not pull the fabric along with it.  I do it this way because ruffling it first by hand created a piece of ruffle that was very difficult to pin and sew down.  I do not have a ruffle attachment for my machine nor does my serger ruffle very well.  So, I do it by hand.  Ruffling with wovens is much easier but knits are more difficult.

 7.  Then, I sewed right on top of the previous stitch, this time not such a long stitch.  My machine has stitch length zero to 4.  This is stitch length 3.

 8.   Now, it looks like this.

 9.  Now, I need to make the swirl.  This time, I folded the knit in half width-wise and cut out a two inch wide piece.  Again, I am making this up because I don't actually have a pattern for this!

 10.  I started in the same way as above, by sewing a long stitch down the whole length of the piece of fabric.  Next, I start by overlapping what I had just sewn on and, using the same technique, I pinned about every half inch while gently pulling up about a half inch to one inch of fabric.  I turned as I was doing this.  I only do the outer part of the rosette.

 11.  I then pulled the end string gently to create the ruffle and sewed it one, again sewing right over the previous stitch.  I did this very slowly and used my fingers to adjust the ruffles a lot.

 12.  This is what it looks like now.

 13.  I pinned back the insides of the rosette so that I won't sew over them for the next step.

 14.  Using the same technique, I pinned the inside of the rosette making sure my stitches will not overlap the outside layer.  I sewed this very slowly, making sure to take pins out as I sewed so I didn't sew one and break a needle.  I also used my fingers a lot to make sure the rosette would come out the way I wanted it.  This is a very forgiving fabric so you can be a tad messy with it and it will still look like a flower.

 15.  Finished!

 16.  A blow of steam from the iron later.....

 17.  And, once again, the finished dress.  This is a rather large rosette. If you want a smaller one, you could just make the swirl tighter together or make the knit less wide. 

Voila!

Making McCalls 5835 easier

McCalls 5835 pattern for dresses, tops, and capris for a young girl produces a fun and pretty dress.  But, the directions for sewing the bodice are notoriously difficult to follow.  All over the blogosphere, sewists have been complaining about it.  In conjunction with some sewing friends of mine, we have come up with better directions to make the bodice, so you don't have to toss out this pattern!

First of all, the pattern itself:

If you are a fan of Matilda Jane Flutter dresses, this is the pattern to get!  The capris and shorts are also easy and fun to make for a girl.  However, the bodice directions are not easy to understand and are time consuming to sew.  So, I made a few changes.

First of all, cut out your pattern as directed.  Here are all the bodice pieces, two for the front, two each for both sides of the back.  This dress has a lining and I am using the same fabric for both sides.

 Next, I sewed each front piece to its corresponding back pieces at the shoulders.  

See?  This is now what they look like. 

 Iron the seams down, lay them on top of each other, right sides together, and pin.  Do not pin the waistlines!  You are not going to sew the waistlines for any of these pieces. 

 Just a reminder, do not sew the waistlines!  Keep them open.

 Now, sew where you have pinned, around the neckline and down both armholes.  Remove pins and turn inside out.  Turn it inside out through the front waist.  Here it is halfway turned.

 Use whatever tool you have to make your corners nice and pointy and iron flat.  Like this:

 Top stitch all the way around the seams you just sewed. 

 Sew the two back pieces together at the waist, like you see below: Just a wee stitch to keep the back together.

 At this point, the fraying is starting to bother me so I like to serge the waist. I use a rolled edge.  I will explain why later.  Here it is with the finished waist seams.

 Now, on to the sleeves!  I like the rolled edge look.  If you do not, you can do whatever kind of seam you prefer.  The pattern calls for a folded and sewn edge.   I pin the sleeve to the underside of the armhole, like so:

 

Then, I flip it over and sew the sleeve on along the same line as the top stitching.

See, the pins are underneath!

Now, the sleeves is sewn on.

I now serge the corner, where the sleeve meets the bodice, so it is neat and tidy.  This is why I used a rolled edge for all the bodice seams.  It makes it all look neat and tidy when I am done.

Viola!  The bodice is now finished.

And here is a sample of the finished product!  This one has different sleeve fabric, but I followed the remainder of McCall's directions to produce the dress you see below.  I did make one more modification and that was to sew the upper ruffle on top of the dress with two rolled edges. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and are able to get this fun pattern.