Koi PJ's for my niece

floral blouse

Lace top with cape and snow.

I only made the cape in these photos, not the dress. The dress is a vintage wedding gown from 1953, and was given to me a while back by a dear woman who didn’t want the dress to be thrown out and was afraid that was what would happen to it when she passed away. The zipper was broken and she only had sons so had no one to pass the dress down too. Knowing that I could sew she asked if I would like the dress. It only needed a new zipper. And being that I love vintage clothing and the dress was beautiful I accepted the dress and promised her I would fix it and put it to use. I’ve worn the dress a few other times and thought that a lace cape would look lovely with the dress. The day before one of our rare snow storms I got the idea I would like to have a lace cape to wear for pictures in the snow. I had about six yards left over after I made my sister's lace top in 2019. I didn’t actually buy the lace for the top I made her, I just bought a whole bolt of it with no real plans for it, other than ooh pretty, and really cheap.I really liked the way her top turned out though and thought I would like to make myself something too. I have always liked the look of a cape so decided that is what I would make. The dress was strapless but I added some straps for my own comfort. I used the top of simplicity pattern # 8144 from 1969 in view 1 leaving out the zipper making instead a keyhole opening with a pearl button closure so I could slip it over my head. I thought about making view 2 because I love the way gathered sleeves look but decided the sleeves being that poofy might be a bit much on with the cape deciding view 1 was the way to go. I used the width of fabric and pleated it on the back to make the cape, measuring out the length to have a bit of a train. I rounded out the bottom of the cape and sewed the scalloped edges from the sides to keep the scalloped look all the way through. The cape went together really quickly and easily and being that the lace doesn’t fray I didn't have to finish the insides which made it go even faster. I love the way it turned out. The lace itself is a bit itchy but that's not really a big deal. I think it makes a nice accompaniment to the dress and would look nice with other dresses as well. As for doing pictures in the snow; it was a bit on the cold side but I love the way white and cream dresses look in the snow so it's always worth it to be a bit cold. It's not the first set of snow photos I’ve done. and I always make sure to follow up the pictures with a treat of steaming hot chocolate to get warm.

* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Wide leg overalls.

This year hasn’t been great in the creativity department, but I know it will come back, at some point I will see something and be like, ooh I need to make that! I also didn’t do a very good job at keeping up with blogging about the things I made last year. This was mostly due to my computer going down right as a computer shortage hit, and then being unable to find a computer which made it hard to make blog posts. I did manage to post the majority of things I made but now I am trying to play catch-up on the things I didn’t post. I made these overalls in spring of 2020. They are made using Simplicity pattern #7372 from 1991. I picked up this pattern at a fabric shop probably five or six years ago. It was an amazing fabric store that was about a three hour drive. I would go about once a year and always ended up spending too much money. Even though I swore I would stick to what I thought was a high enough budget, and no way I could overspend. Okay so that was probably silly, it’s always possible to go over budget in a fabric store. And come on it was quite a drive, I couldn’t exactly just drop back by if I decided yeah I really did need that thing I saw but didn’t buy. Unfortunately the woman who owned the store passed away and the store closed down. The last time I was there was about a year before they closed. They had boxes and boxes of patterns from the 1990’s. The store had been around forever so I guess the patterns were stored in the back somewhere only to be uncovered 25 years late and put on clearance. I’m not a huge fan of the styles they had. Apparently not a lot of people are, they had hundreds and hundreds of the patterns ranging from 25 cents to 2 dollars. So of course I had to go through them all just in case there was a treasure. And I found this pattern. It was the only one I liked and it was only 65 cents. How could I possibly pass it up? I couldn’t. If you look up this pattern you will see it is not for long pants. it ‘s for above the knee culottes and mid calf culottes along with a jumper dress and a shirt. For these overalls I wanted them to be full length so I used view 1 and added 8” to the length which turned out to be perfect. I have thought about making them in the shorter view as well but can’t decide on fabric. I also made them in the wrong size. Totally my fault I should have paid better attention and measured the pattern pieces rather than going with what the back of the envelope said. I should always do my own math on patterns, they do seem to be all over the place in actual sizing. It's as if the sizing is more of a guide than an actuality. I ended up having to take it up alot in the back. So the back is a bit different than the pattern shows but it worked. I wish I would have had enough fabric to recut the pieces but alas I did not. So the front is a bit wide for me and the straps have this annoying habit of slipping off my shoulders if I’m not standing perfectly straight. Hmm… maybe a sign I need to work on having better posture. I do wear them though, annoying straps aren’t so big of a turn off that I can’t wear them, I just have to pay attention to my posture and it's all good. I also didn’t have any buttons in the right size that matched (I made these during shut down and couldn't really go out in search of buttons) I made up for it by using some adorable little roller skate buttons I had, they were too small so I used two buttons per strap rather than one. Better to use something from the stash anyway, otherwise you know what happens? Yes, I go get what I need but somehow other things end up coming home to join the stash as well. Ah, Those pesky little impulse buys. I think they turned out way cute though so I am happy with them.

* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Brown Gauze top

I realized when I was posting about the bear I made for my mom, I had not posted about the gift I made for her last year. Last year for my mom’s Birthday I made her a top out of a fabric that was a brown Gauze with dark brown embroidered flowers. I used McCall’s pattern # 6487 from 1993. This pattern is from their easy stitch and save series. This pattern was one of my mom’s favorite patterns and she has made it a few times herself over the years. I actually used her pattern since she had it and I knew it was a style she liked. Plus being that the top is not fitted I could guess at what size to make without having to take her measurements. this way she had no idea I was making her something and keeping it more of a surprise. I made sure to wash and dry the fabric before sewing it as I have heard, Gauze has a tendency to shrink a lot after the first wash especially when it is put in the dyer. This gauze didn’t seem to shrink much which was a nice surprise. The fabric sewed together nicely, and the pattern was easy. The best part, my mom really liked it and wears it all the time. When she opened the gift, she was like “did you use my pattern?” I told her yes and she said, “that’s my favorite pattern. I love it.”

* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Gray velvet bear

As I posted a while back,I was going to make my mom a teddy bear for her birthday. This bear is made using the same pattern I used to make the other bears I have made, it’s a pattern I found in a magazine several years back and has been my go-to ever since. This makes bear number seven. The bear is made from gray velvet that was a dream to sew on. It had a nice stable backing to it, which is always nice because it doesn’t stretch out of the shape the way some other fuzzy fabrics do, so there was no fiddling and fussing to get it right, it just went together. It was also nice that the nap of the fabric was so short, and I didn’t have fur flying about everywhere as I did with the other bears, I only had to pay attention to the direction of the fabric. I also figured out a slightly easier way to attach the arms and legs. When I made the other bears I tried to line up the buttons on the inside of the leg with the button on the inside of the body all at the same time. While making this bear I thought “why don’t I just stich the button to the inside of the leg with two stiches first to hold it in place; that way I only have to line up and hold one side rather than both at the same time.” that was kind of a duh moment, and made it so much more easy to sew the connecting buttons on. In the future, if I make more I will try to remember that tiny time saving trick. I thought it turned out cute and my mom loved it, so that makes me happy. Maybe this year the bears can get together on teddy bear picnic day and we can all finally see each other and be together again.

* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Blue Cat dress.

The day before my birthday this year I woke up and thought; I want a new dress for my birthday! Yeah I didn’t give myself a whole lot of time on this one. But to be fair I had planned out the dress well before my birthday, several months before in fact.
I came across the blue cat fabric while searching online for fabric for a baby quilt. I was not supposed to be buying more fabric for myself; I have fabric in my stash that I am supposed to be whittling down. But I didn’t have enough blue fabric for the quilt I was making. That is the only reason I was even looking at fabric. But as is all too common when looking for a particular fabric I fell in love with some other fabric. This time the cat fabric, I wanted it, it needed it, I had to have it, and it had to be in a dress. I thought though it might be a bit of an over whelming pattern for an entire dress though so I came up with the idea of making it a border on a 1950’s style dress and I knew the pattern I wanted to use. Simplicity #2499 it’s from the 1950’s and I have used it before to make myself and my sister a dress.

This pattern is relatively easy to make very straight forward and has a side zipper. I was impressed I had a blue zipper in my stash already so I didn’t even have to worry about the zipper. The lace and ribbon I used it also from my stash.

I ordered the fabric online and was not very impressed with the coordinating solid blue. Online it looked wonderful, it was in the suggestions as a coordinating blue, but when I got it it’s not really a blue I would have chosen in person. I miss the whole shopping in person thing. I had planned on making the dress the moment I got the fabric but when I saw the blue I was a might downtrodden over it and packed it away thinking well maybe in a while I can go shopping in person and find a better color.

As time went by it was becoming more and more obvious that was not going to happen and I had the fabric, and the fabric itself is a beautiful weight. I would buy that kind again it was just not quite the right color (the camera makes the blues look a lot closer than they do in person). I decided to just get over it, I bought the fabric for the dress I was going to use it for the dress even if that particular blue is nowhere in the cat pattern. And I think it looks okay once it’s all sewn up, yeah I would have been over the moon in love with it if it’d been a slightly different shade of blue, but even being the shade it is I love it.

I wasn’t sure I could get the dress done in time for my birthday. It’s been a long time since I did a dress in a day but there is something about having a deadline. I was off that day so I had the entire day to work on it. And it took the whole day. But I got it done finishing it around 9pm. I did alter the design a bit beyond adding the border I gathered the skirt rather than pleating it like the pattern calls for. I don’t think gathering is any easier than the pleats I just wanted it gathered.
The cat border is about 10” wide which I figure is just about perfect. And to finish it off to perfection for this year I made me a matching mask, which will probably get used a lot more than the dress, as I don’t have much of an occasion to wear a cute dress these days. But the days will come, and I will be ready.