Fun Sewing for A Toy Wedding

Not having much time for big sewing projects over the school holidays, there are still ways and means of getting some sewing in....

 

When my 3 year old niece wanted two of her toys to have a wedding & I got a request for simple wedding outfits, I needed no further excuse to get back to my machine.

 

 

This McCalls pattern 6005 was bought quite a while ago and it was a complete surprise when I realised that I had already cut out and organised all the tiny pattern pieces. The patterns don't quite shout 'wedding', however the pyjamas top was easily transformed into a wrap-around wedding dress by adding length and layers to the skirt part. The patterns for the leopard print coat and trousers were used for the grooms suit.

 

 

 

The veil, bow tie and shirt collar piece were my own creations! The fabric and trims were scraps and small leftover pieces, chosen on the premise that anything lacy and sparkly would appeal to my niece.

 

 

The 'wedding' had all the trappings of a true Irish wedding, though on a smaller scale in my brother-in-law's house with a meal, dancing, a disco and finishing with the national anthem! Of course, everyone was also talking about the clothes...

 

 

 

As an extra surprise for my niece, I sewed tiny (teaspoon-sized!) aprons as 'housewarming' gifts for the 'newly weds', inspired by the aprons I sewed in this post.

 

 

The grooms apron is Parsons Gray laminated cotton with janemeans beige narrow stitched ribbon as ties and a headband.

 

 

The brides apron is an Amy Butler laminated cotton, bought from this Irish shop (Pippablue). It has a Liberty print fabric pocket, janemeans narrow slate stitched ribbon ties, as well as a matching headscarf. The elastic was added to the ribbon at the neckline with a simple zig-zag stitch, to ensure the apron would fit over the head.

 

These little aprons were kindly modelled by Mickey and Minnie, before being delivered to a very appreciative niece.

 

 

 

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Sewing on a Budget - Easter Dresses and Bonnets

With Easter so early this year, there were dresses and bonnets on my mind!

This pretty balloon fabric from Abakhan Fabrics looked just perfect, mind you I didn't imagine that there could be snow for Easter when I was planning on dresses. Of course they would also be very suitable for any special occasion in (a warmer!) spring and summer!

These patterns are from a book of French patterns by Her Little World. The book is called Creations à coudre pour l'été (which includes 22 patterns) and the patterns are all in French, but the diagrams are excellent, so they are not difficult to sew from.

I picked these patterns for sewing on a budget because I had them already, so I count that as no cost! As well as patterns (French and English) and books (French only), Her Little World also have 2 very unique free dress patterns (Shutt & Mistinguette - in English) on their site, which would be another excellent way of keeping costs down.

The fabric costs for 2 dresses and 2 hats were:

4 metres cotton mix fabric (£2.85pm) £10.60

1 metre white linen fabric (similar to this) £2.99

1 metre heavy interfacing £0.89

(Elastic from a previous order with Abakhan Fabrics)

Total £14.48

(Apparently this is a 'flamingo' pose!)

 

The hats were easy to sew, and instructions are to sew the lining and outer layers separately, then sew right sides together, leaving a gap at the outer brim for turning. Turn right side out, then topstitch the outer brim. That's what I did for the dolls hat.

For the bigger hat I sewed it differently because I thought the interfaced brim would get very crumpled by being pulled through the opening. Instead I constructed the brim pieces first, using the method described on page 3&4 of the instructions for Oliver+S free hat pattern.

There's another free hat pattern available from Hot Patterns, which could be used for a child if printed at approx 75%

This picture of both dresses illustrates the two major changes I made to the dress pattern. I added lining (sewn to the front armholes and back top seam, then follow instructions, and sew each side seam of outer and lining all in one) to give the dress more body and sewed the straps into the top back seam of my daughters dress unlike the dolls dress. We thought this would be more comfortable to wear, rather than tying them at the back of her neck.

Of course the dress is twirly too!

It's been a while since I sewed anything for her dolls. She was so happy when she saw this dolls dress and hat, that I will have to make more, and soon, before she grows out of playing with them.

 

(The fabric and notions for these dresses and hats were chosen by me and supplied by Abakhan Fabrics, free, as part of their challenge to sew on a budget)

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Instant gratification ..... Of the sewing kind!

Late last night, I decided to buy my first 'digital' Oliver+S pattern. I have downloaded patterns before e.g. from Burda and Stitch Magazine, and the matching and taping together of up to 30 sheets of A4 paper is time-consuming and annoying to put it mildly. Also, the layout of downloadable patterns is not consumer-friendly at all. For example: the first picture is of pattern pieces for dolls dresses, some of which could easily fit on one A4 sheet, instead of being spread out over 4 - 6 sheets.

As there was a sale for Oliver+S digital patterns, and I only wanted to make one part of the pattern, I decided to go for it. I bought the Swingset Tunic and Skirt.

I was completely, pleasantly, and wonderfully surprised! The download was quick. I opened the file to find that the pattern pieces are placed so that they take up the least amount of A4 sheets possible. Because I only wanted to make the tunic, I had to print out 7 (just SEVEN!) pages. Each bodice and bodice lining piece was on a page of it's own, so a LOT less sticking together of pages is necessary.

After that it was a case of the planets aligning! An order of ribbons from JaneMeans arrived in the post this morning. And that was it, once I decided on the Liberty fabric, and to use the orange ribbon for straps, I just had to sew the pattern up.

I lengthened the tunic to dress length, and added a slight a-line shape to the pattern piece for the lower part of the dress.

Using the ribbon for straps, saved some time and turned out very well. I also added velvet ribbon at the curved seam of the bodice, because it was just lost in the fabric and is too beautiful a detail for that.

The Liberty fabric is a Tana Lawn, so is very lightweight. The orange ribbon at the hem provides some structure to the dress. These ribbons were bought from an English company JaneMeans that I only heard of recently. Though their business is gift-wrapping, they are a great source for ric-rac and velvet ribbons, which can be hard to find.

 

Because I made this dress so quickly there was no time for 'consultation' with my daughter on fabric and colour choices which is what we usually do, but I knew she couldn't resist 'Minnie' for the lining!

There are still a few bits to finish - the inside lining, ironing and adding buttons, but she didn't want to take it off this evening and told me she loves the colours.

I even forgot to tell her that the fabric was designed by Lauren Child of Charlie & Lola fame!!

 

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Lots of Tea Parties ... Part 2

Ok, so I went a bit wild with the Tea Parties! This bunch started with one I made for a niece who had just turned one, and first birthdays are special, so a little dolls dress was also deemed necessary. This one year old has a cute little 3 year old sister, and I couldn't leave her out, so I went matchy, matchy. Completely over-the-top matchy!

By the time I got to the dolls dresses, I was running out of matching fabric, but I kept them as close as I could.

Though the dolls dresses turn out really well, they are as time-consuming as the bigger dresses. I suppose leaving out the piping and ribbon would have made them much faster, but then they wouldn't be matchy!!

The insides are finished with flat-felled seams again. As these are summer dresses, they will probably be worn on their own ( on the 2 hot days we get in August;-) so I didn't want to leave scratchy seams.

And finally we have bloomers! my daughter wears leggings rather than bloomers, and because I feel I missed her 'bloomer' stage, this was my 'fix'. I topstitched the seam allowances of these to keep them neat and used French seams for the sides.

The smaller Tea Party dress is sized down from the 2Tto5 pattern to 12to18 size and I had to do the same with the bloomers. Multi-sized patterns make this relatively easy.
The main fabric is Patty Young Flora and Fauna and all the ribbons are Farbenmix.

There's one more Tea Party post, and a sneaky peek in one of the pictures above. Pin It Now!  

Lots of Tea Parties ....1

There's quite a few sewing pictures that I haven't posted recently, and I think most of them involve some version of the Oliver+S Tea Party Dress. I had no interest in buying this pattern for a long time, mostly because I thought it looked basic and I have sewn a good few pinafores(jumpers) and also it's lack of 'twirl'! But I kept coming back to it because of the curved yoke seam, which I have seen in some vintage childrens patterns.



Finally I gave in and bought it about 6 weeks ago, and it is already up there as one of my most used patterns.

This dress was a birthday present for a niece who has turned 5 and she's my daughter's most favourite cousin. She's tall, so I had to grade the pattern up to a six, which was more time-consuming than difficult, because it is a multi-sized pattern. The fabric is Stenzo cord from DotsnStripes, and I have completely forgotten where I got the elephant ribbon from.

I lined it with some Robert Kaufman Toyland fabric, which I thought she might like and to make up for the lack of twirl, in case that might be an issue.
The seams of the dress are finished with flat-felled seams, these are covered in a tutorial on the O+S blog.

The buttons were in my stash and matched perfectly. And the piping, my first time doing piping, and the directions took all the fear out of it. I even had to put piping on the doll's dress!

And of course my daughter got to model it, with all the accessories. The bag is the same Japanese pattern that I've used a lot recently.



My verdict on the pattern - well worth the investment, even for how to learn to do piping alone, and the directions for how to sew curved seams are also very good.

More Tea-Parties to come ....

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Lots of pink for a 4 year old

A niece who is 4, so another dress, and of course a hat - all of which matched one of the dolls dresses.

The pattern is one I used before for a dress for my daughter, and is from this Japanese pattern book

I modified it by adding extra pleats to the sides, and slightly changing the sides and armholes of the dress as I thought the original pattern was wide fitting.




I added buttons to the back rather than a zip. The hat is my own pattern, same as the one matching the Feliz dress.

This niece is in the middle of the 'pink' phase, her mother informed me, and she picked the fabric herself when she came to visit.

The pleat details, and the pocket with a little bit of Farbenmix ribbon.

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Ottobre Dresses for Dolls

I don't know why I didn't do this before, but now that I have, it seems such an obvious thing to sew. I never learnt to sew formally, but have very strong memories if sewing clothes for my doll (yes - only one!). Now that I have plenty scraps, and my daughter has plenty dolls - dresses for dolls is such a great idea.



These dolls dresses are presents for nieces - to match dresses I made, modelled by 'Baby Borns' that are over 12 years old passed on by my daughters 15 year old godmother.



My daughter loved the dresses on her dolls, so I have promised I will make more including some that match her dresses.

The dolls dresses are from Ottobre 1/03 and are reversible

There is a also a headband pattern in the Ottobre magazine, so I adapted it and made 2 child sized and 2 for the dolls. Maybe next time I will make bloomers to match.

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