Carnival of the Animals: Part I - The Zebra

The sewing around here has definitely taken a wild turn with lots of animal print, and here's why: Tomorrow night, the kids and I are going to the Playhouse to see The Carnival of the Animals.

It's opening night and kids are invited to dress up as an animal. So, I let the kids pick which animal they'd like to be, and then set out to make some theatre worthy clothes to represent their chosen animal.

First up is our little zebra ballerina:

The brief for this dress was exactly that; a zebra ballerina dress. It had to be obviously zebra, and as sticky-outey as possible in a dress that isn't actually a tutu. Beyond those requirements she gave me free rein.

The dress is my favourite party dress (one, two, three and four), the Fairy Tale dress by Oliver + S. I'd like to say I could make this dress with my eyes closed now, but I always seem to press the waist seam allowances the wrong way and then attach the zipper before realising my mistake and ripping it out again. The instructions are perfectly clear, I just seem to like making the same mistakes over and over.

Even though it was sewn twice it's still an invisible zipper that I can be happy with. I couldn't possibly try to match the patterns at the back after cutting the fabric to centre the front pattern. But I can't complain about how the bodice part lined up as it looks every bit as good as if I had tried. Freaky sewing luck strikes again!

Initially I searched online for a zebra fabric. There are a few quilting cottons that looked OK, but I was holding out hope for something that had a bigger print rather than tiny repeats of an irregular stripe. I was also hoping for a luxe or shiny looking fabric.

Most local fabric stores I tried were devoid of shiny zebra print fabric until I stumbled on this stuff on Sydney Rd. The selvedge has "100% pure silky italian style" written in a font that's reminiscent of African stick figures. There's nothing silk-like or stylish about it, it is pure ethno-polyester and it is perfect! Since I've made this dress I've seen a zebra print cotton sateen in Spotlight, so maybe the shiny zebra is an upcoming trend.

To get as much "poofiness" in the skirt as possible I chose the cheap, stiff net stuff rather than the nice soft bridal tulle. Then I used three layers of it rather than one as per the pattern.

Gathering that much netting to the skirt was not easy and it took a lot of patience not to snap the bobbin threads. I've heard dental floss is good for gathering this kind of thing and I wish I'd remembered to try it. Once I'd sewn the lining to the dress at the waistband the seam allowances wanted to stick up too much. I ended up sewing the tulle seam allowances down to the lining. Bit like understitching them. Exceedingly fiddly to do but it worked to keep the skirt lying nicely.

The lining is a simple white voile cotton from the same shop. I think I spent a total of $25 on fabric. I overbought on the pure silky stylish zebra fabric so that I'd have enough for the skirt panels. However the fabric was wide enough that I could cut the skirt in one piece and not have to match panels of print. Sadly that means I have quite a bit of zebra fabric leftover. I may have to "lose" it somehow. :)

The dress is mostly view B, but without the giant sash and bow. I would have been happy to have no belt but A requested the little belt and bow like her other Fairy Tale dress. It's a size 5 but with about 3" added to the skirt length to bring it down to knee length and balance out the big print on the skirt.

We were all going to have animal masks to match our outfits (yep, I'm getting in on the animal dress ups too!), but I found trying to glue this fabric to anything was impossible.

Instead, I turned to the wonderful tutorial by Marie-Michelle on the Oliver + S blog and made a Dior Rose to attach to a headband.

Those little rose buds were fun to make. I made it more time consuming than necessary by doing it all by hand, but I caught up with some TV watching while hand sewing.

There was a sneak peek of this dress on the Oliver + S blog as we're having a monochrome sew along. I've got some more black and white things cut out and I'm starting the sewing. But there will be more animals to introduce first....

Be sure to come back soon for Carnival of the Animals: Part II

Another fairy tale ending - courtesy of my fairy-freaky-sewing-luck godmother

There's something about the Oliver + S Fairy Tale dress. While you're sewing one, you're already imagining the next....

I was under birthday girl orders with this one, and so in my head I was imagining something much simpler, more refined, more, well.... more me to be exact!

Some blog readers may remember this fabric:

It's a nice quality stretch sateen cotton that I bought ridiculously cheaply and then couldn't work out what to do with. The stripes and the border print effect of the thick stripes necessitated a straight bottomed skirt. I wanted to keep it for myself but didn't have a pattern that it would work with.

Then, there was discussion on the Oliver + S forum about how to pleat the skirt of the Fairy Tale dress. The original poster came up with her own lovely solution (her blog: Bright Up My Life) and linked to this Alexander McQueen dress

Oh my, do I like that dress. So I was decided. I wanted a pleated skirt Fairy Tale dress with the pleats offset to each side. And here it is:

 

 

There was a little bit of planning that went into the dress and then bucketloads of good fortune. The planning went like this:

•  I wanted box pleats with approx. 1 inch deep folds.
•  I wanted a longer skirt in order to balance the three wide stripes at the bottom.



So I set to with my notebook to work out how wide the skirt would need to be to accommodate the pleats. I measured the bodice pieces, removed the seam allowances to get the minimum skirt width and then added my pleats, coming up with a sizeable number.

 

Would my fabric be wide enough?

 

 

Jackpot! By taking out the side seams and cutting the skirt as one rectangle my fabric was exactly the 56" I'd calculated I'd need. Obviously, a wise person would measure their fabric before getting carried away with an idea and investing any time in the maths, but hey, I like to live fast.

 

The only other bit of planning was to decide that the pleats shouldn't be too close to the side seams (which I'd eliminated anyway) and so I arbitrarily measured them in about 1/2" off each side.

 

So, how lucky was I that the first box pleat landed almost perfectly under the bodice dart?! Complete fluke!

 

 

Initially I hadn't planned any waist detail but since the box pleat was a millimetre or two off the bodice dart it looked as if it should have been perfectly aligned, but wasn't quite. Best solution to fudge things and break up a seam in stripes is piping.

 

The length of fabric I'd purchased had just one of the three stripes at the top end, so I used that to make some straight grain corded piping and tucked it into the bodice/skirt seam.

 

 

I toyed with the idea of sewing the armholes without the facing that the instructions suggest, but since I was having such an undeserved run of luck I thought I'd better not start trying anything clever.

 

So the rest of the dress is as per the pattern, although I left the collar off.

 

 

For my own records it's size 4 with probably about 2 inches extra length at the skirt hem.

 

I cut the lining (white cotton batiste from ClearIt) and the tulle (double layered again) to be the same width as the outer skirt but then just gathered them evenly rather than pleating them.

 

 

I was getting pretty excited by this stage. Normally my enthusiasm for a project is inversely proportional to my daughter's, but I must have been heavily dusted with the lucky Fairy Tale magic sprinkles as she LOVED it!

 

I was surprised to learn that this pattern hasn't been as big a seller for Oliver + S as some others. Frankly I'm baffled, 'cause what you get here is a lovely fitted (or not so if like me you just pick a size and don't mind if that bodice is a bit roomy - see pic above) bodice with a fullish skirt. The options for collars, sleeves and waist trim make it incredibly versatile and the only remotely challenging aspect is inserting a visible zip. Trust me, if you've never done that before then this is the pattern company that you want to have walk you through it.

 

 

This dress hadn't been intended for an Oliver + S blog post as I was sure Rachel would be all over the Pleated Fairy Tale idea. Turned out she'd been busy and so I was up for the feature.

 

It would seem insufficient to suggest people scratch out some sums and then wing it, so I set to and worked out how to get those pleats perfectly on the bodice dart for every size.

 

If you like a bit of maths with your sewing, or are just happy for someone else to do it for you, then hop over to the Oliver + S blog by clicking the image below.





If anyone does use the measurements I've set out I'd love to hear how it worked. I made up a couple of test runs in a few sizes using strips of interfacing and the stapler. I think I got all the sums right.....

Am I allowed to say that I think this may be my favourite of all the dresses I've ever made, and I really wish it was my size? Well, I just did!

A Sketchbook Shirt for a Duck

Last night was P's first School Concert. (it was also my regular French class which involves adult conversation, some wine, good cheese...). I'm sure you know which I attended.

I did the right thing and went and watched my little duck on stage. It went a bit like this: "Quack. Ooooh, lovely mud. Quack" then along with 24 other little prep kids, all dressed in check shirts, jeans and gumboots, they did a little dance. (they weren't all ducks. There were cows, pigs and horses and one appropriately bossy Mrs Wishy Washy)

So, my kid's first ever school concert required my first ever school concert costume. The notice came home from school the week before, saying they needed Jeans (got those), Gumboots (check) and a Check shirt (nope...).

 

But I did have one of mine that I had set aside when I did my big wardrobe clean out thinking it would be perfect to cut up for the kids one day. It was a Country Road shirt made out of Lyocell - which I hadn't heard of, but is a lovely soft, fine weave with a silky, soft feel. Checking that Wikipedia link, it turns out it's Tencel without the brand name rights. Makes sense, 'cause that's how it feels.

 

Anyway, I had thought it could easily make a sleeveless blouse for A. I had not envisaged trying to cut a long sleeved, size 6 Sketchbook shirt for P. But I did, and check out the photo of the remnants post cutting!

 



I am so proud of that! I had to unpick every seam. I thought and thought about how it could all fit. Thought I had it sorted but it was late and didn't start cutting. Thank goodness, as I'd failed to realise the check pattern was decidedly unidirectional and I would have muffed it big time. More thinking, more laying out pieces and I finally got it sorted.

I managed to cut every piece (I'd almost resigned myself to a different fabric for the inner yoke and the under collar) and I even added 1 inch to the length and 3/4" to the sleeves. Woohoo!

 

I didn't allow myself to entertain the idea of much pattern matching, but did try to get the front pieces and at least the uppermost placket to match. With some freaky sewing luck, one side seam also matches perfectly (but not the other) and bizarrely, without the slightest intention, the upper and under collar were absolutely spot-on.

 

An in-progress photo that had to go immediately to facebook!

 



Kind of pointlessly exciting because once that seam is pressed and the collar stitched you'd never notice, but weirdly thrilling all the same, hey?!

Speaking of stitching, I edgestitched and topstitched everything, giving it more of a country feel. The sleeve seams are pressed towards the shoulder and edgestitched and topstitched too. The side seams were flat felled, which is so easy to do with lovely soft, fine fabric. I've previously only done it with denim and thicker terry knit and found it to be a truly painful way to sew seams. This fabric resold me on the idea.

I had really wanted the back yoke on the bias, and while it's got a line of needle holes across it from an old seam, I managed it. The main back panel is cut about 1/2 an inch off the fold making the box pleat a bit scanty compared to the original pattern, but that was my only concession required to get it all out of the one thrifted shirt.

You can't beat this pattern for instructions like the sleeve placket. So neat and satisfying. (what's not looking so good is photos using the old D80 camera body and pushing the ISO in order to avoid using the flash - so grainy)

Love the fabric, love the pattern, LOVE the challenge of getting it all cut from one old shirt and REALLY, REALLY LOVE my little duck!

KCW: Round the globe with one little gift

Kid's Clothes Week was never going to be a full on sewing assault for me this time around.  The summer sewing season in the northern hemisphere wasn't fitting with our mid winter weather, and of course, there is the grand distraction of Le Tour. Throw in a few dinner dates and a weekend away and I was down to three evenings, and nothing I was overly keen to sew....

 

Then this little bias cut swing tank top arrived in the post. Here it is hanging at my house, and if you're thinking it's beautiful you're right. It looks just as lovely from behind.

 



And even lovelier when it was photographed in better light on the other side of the world. Flickr link (caution: contains blatant begging from me)

The story of it's arrival is told here and my new found enthusiasm for KCW was born of the idea that I would make one in return with the modifications required (or perhaps not).

Bias cut, stripey linen sewn into chevrons at the front seam: Check.

Same chevrons at the back and a self covered button to match the linen pocket: Check

My pattern pieces were created from Lucinda's original top. I deepened the armhole and added some width. She'd said about an inch more at the chest and so originally I widened my pattern pieces by an inch on each side. Thankfully my maths brain kicked in and I realised that an inch at each side seam would give no less than four inches all around. Probably going to be a bit big then. Trimmed that back a fair bit and started on my linen with the scissors.

I matched my front seams for the fabric then thought it might look nice to keep the stripes aligned at the shoulder seams. So I cut the back panels such that the centre seams would have the required chevrons and the shoulder seams would be, more or less, aligned.

So, I'd love to be able to say that the pattern pieces were drafted, and the fabric cut in order to achieve these side seams, but this is, yet another, of my freakishly lucky sewing accidents.

I would love to know how it would be possible to do this deliberately. But that "maths brain" completely deserts me when it comes to the angles and measurements that would be required. I guess it really is dumb luck.

I was happy that the bias strips used for facings at the neck line and armhole behaved better than I'd expected and as I sewed I became more and more delighted and proud of what I was making. I guess my fifth obstruction, which I'd not wanted to speak aloud, was that I didn't want to create something too good. Lucinda had never intended for her top to be scrutinised by another sewist and so I was uneasy about the possibility of "bettering" her creation. However, she gets full credit for the idea, design and fabric thrifting, so I relaxed into enjoying my nicely behaved bias strips and creating something that I really did want to share and show off. Sewing "sins" and pride is a whole other blog post for another day!



So here are our tops, from opposite sides of the world, sharing a coat rack.

I was curious to see how it might look on a kid, and I happened to have an obliging one of the right size to hand. Some may say the wrong gender, so if a bit of kiddy cross dressing offends then look no further. I think he looks absolutely beautiful!

I'm definitely keeping this pattern. I love the fit on P. It has a gorgeous "swing" and the high front / lower back hem is a great touch (and a little reminiscent of a cycling jersey!). I think I got the armholes right and while I didn't measure him to fit, it looks like it was custom made for him. Hopefully A will be the same size and shape one day.

So from all the way down here.....

 

To somewhere roundabout up there....

Off you go little linen tank, with best wishes for a safe voyage and a happy reception. Thanks for the distraction, the challenge and the social connections you've brought us.

Details:
Embroidered linen from The Fabric Store.
Brown linen leftovers from mum's shirt that was sacrificed for Hat Week

Postscript:
P really, really liked wearing this top. He did not want to take it off and has asked that I make one just like it for him. A got very cross with him not taking it off as it was for "my friend on side of world, him* need top go post office, NOW)
* There's no confusion that the top is intended for Lucinda's daughter, rather that A has no concept of gender pronouns yet.

KCW: Late Night Roller Skating

Here's my last bit of sewing for Kid's Clothes Week. Although the official finish is on the other side of the world and thus about 11 hours behind. I felt fully justified in stopping at the completion of this dress around 1am last night!

I found this fabric in the online remnants section of either Earth Girl Fabrics or Kelani I honestly can't remember which, and I stalk the remnants and sale sections of both websites quite often. The selvedge tells me it's called Uma Flora E Um Leao by Sayasans. There are cute little lions in them there flowers!

The remnant piece was only 90cm with this pattern along one selvedge and a less deep, but equally interesting pattern on the other selvedge (I think there's just enough leftover for that to become a basic skirt).

I held onto it and thought and thought about how to use it for so long. It was too narrow for many patterns, too decorative for others,...  then along came the Roller Skate pattern from Oliver + S and I knew this fabric had found it's perfect match.

A fabric covered button to match!

It's not really dress weather here anymore, so I decided to cut it 1" longer in the hope it lasts until next spring. The pattern didn't quite fit on my bit of fabric, so I took 3/4" off the side of the front pattern piece and the side of the back pattern piece at the hen, then angled gradually up to the point where the elastic casing would be.

I did do the whole thing in one evening. Pattern tracing, cutting and sewing. But it was a late night and I've decided I detest finishing seams open, especially with the very lightweight chocolate voile that's used for the lining.

Now, bearing in mind that I chopped the pattern to make it fit the fabric, folded the fabric in half and squeezed the pattern on: Check out the back seam!

I feel like I should buy a lottery ticket! Sheer dumb luck I promise.
But a very satisfying way to finish Kid's Clothes Week.

Oliver + S School Photo Dress

Here's one of those things that I just wanted to make. My daughter probably won't like it, she doesn't really need it, but when I saw the fabric I just knew what it wanted to be made into. The School Photo dress by Oliver + S

I love this pattern and I've made it once before, also using a remnant. That time was a size 5 as I had only bought the larger pattern size. It's in a cupboard, waiting another 3 years or so before it fits! Of course I had to buy the smaller pattern size and make another.

The fabric was a 70cm remnant that I picked up at The Fabric Store along with all these other lovely bits of woven goodness. I tried desperately to make it fit with the pattern running horizontally but there was no way even this fabric Scrooge could do it.

I made some notes at the time about what I thought I'd do with all the rest of the fabric. I don't think any of it has happened yet. Tragically, it had been my New Year's Resolution not to buy too much more fabric (I wasn't kidding myself I could go cold turkey) and in looking for this photo, it was in the January folder, dated the 15th. Didn't last long did I?

So while I couldn't get the pattern to run the way I wanted I completely lucked out on the back with this bit of pattern matching! There's three panels there and I'm so happy with how they came together. At first I sweated on trying to line everything up, but then I realised that the panels of the dress flared in width, so if the pattern matched at the top it wouldn't at the bottom and vice versa. So I poured another glass of red and just got on with cutting it anyway it would fit, so I really can't take credit for this picture. But I am pleased all the same.

The button came from a collection that my mother in law gave me, and the dress is lined in a milky coffee coloured voile that a local shop had for $2/metre.

The pattern is, of course, superb in it's explanation and design. The little kangaroo pocket in front is lovely, and is just the kind of trick that may persuade A to wear it. Meanwhile the instructions for the invisible zipper will always be my go to reference if I need to sew one.

The one thing I remembered from the first dress is that the instructions mention serging all the straight edges first IF you're using a serger. I don't have one, so I didn't. There are very few mentions of finishing the seams allowances after that and so I assumed I didn't need to, but the lining hangs free so those seam allowances do need finishing. This time I finished all the straight edges before assembling anything. The one in the cupboard is a velveteen that I just know will fall apart if it's washed. I can't bear to go back to something that I should be able to consider finished, but I know I must...