Another Winnie the Pooh Toddler Dress

So, along with the two adorable Winnie the Pooh fabrics that I used on the last Winnie the Pooh toddler's dress and upper two-thirds of the tiered skirt in the previous post, I had another Pooh-themed fabric (found in the lower third of the tiered skirt). It's always fun to try to come up with the cutest possible way to use fabrics like these. This time I don't feel like I did as well as I could have, but it was fast, easy, and still turned out very cute!

For this dress, I used Butterick 4176, more or less. The biggest deviation was to add the lace around the neck edge instead of doing single-fold bias tape as they suggested. I also didn't just straight-line hem it. The machine I used has a cute stitch that almost exactly mirrors some of the design on the fabric; that was too much of a temptation NOT to do! Unfortunately the thread doesn't match as well as I thought it did when I started, but I think it still looks good. :)

With this, I think I'm finally done with all my Pooh-themed fabrics, though don't be surprised if one or more of them show up again as pockets on bags, dresses, skirts, etc.

Winnie the Pooh Tiered Skirt

I just love how fast these skirts are! I was able to use some of the scrap fabric from THIS outfit to create this adorable little tiered skirt.

I didn't have a pattern, and, to tell the truth, I didn't even measure anything. I just cut according to what seemed to make sense. Of course, I didn't do the elastic casing to what would make sense, but I was having a brainless moment when I did that. It works though, so all's good.

Matching Sister Jumpers

Well, sort of matching. I ended up having a lot more of this fabric than I thought originally, so matching jumpers immediately came to mind. I used Butterick 4842, views E and C. The little one, view E, I went along with the pattern exactly, I believe, but I experimented with the bigger one. I used bias tape around the the neck and armholes, and serged the flounces (I just couldn't bring myself to hem those two small circles!). I added the thin ribbon to both as well. They turned out cute, I think!

Winnie the Pooh Toddler Dress

I found some absolutely adorable Winnie the Pooh fabric at Sir's last year! Not only that, but I found 2 coordinating Pooh fabrics! I couldn't resist that; I just didn't know exactly what I was going to make with them. :)

Here's what finally came about, using Simplicity 2985:

Front view, including coordinating diaper cover/shorts/whatchacall'ems.

Back view.

Close-up of the cute fabrics!

Okay, the changes I made were few. The main change is the ties. The pattern has you cut out a couple pieces about as wide as the ties are now, fold 'em in half, sew a 1/4" seam, and the turn it. Uh... can you say difficult! I couldn't do it, and I didn't want to spend the time to cut out a couple more ties and top-stitch them. So, I pulled out our "Ribbons and Trims" boxes, and dug around. I kind of like what I came up with. :)

The other obvious change is the piping. Can you tell I love that stuff? It's probably my favorite type of trim! It's so quick and adds something that makes it look more finished than if you just hemmed or otherwise left it off.

The less obvious change I did was to almost entirely ignore the single-fold bias tape instructions. I used double-fold, and just did it how I wanted to. Each armscye is done different. I was experimenting, you see. :P

All in all, I think the outfit turned out very cute! I did the largest size in the pattern, which, I think, is about size 18 months. Now, on to the next thing! :D

Denim and Toile Skirt

I decided to have a bit of fun, and use up some of the inordinate amount of toile I got on one of my last visits to Sir's, and make Simplicity 4188, view E. I also decided to add some decorative stitching to finish my seams and sew the hem. I love how it turned out!

Luke called it "flashy." :)

Aside from the obvious differences to the pattern I didn't really change it too much. I did do the yoke facings out of a piece of lightweight cotton instead of the heavy denim, but that's about it. It's a fun skirt, I think!

Butterick 3485, View A

I've never used a pattern to make a bag or tote before, so I was determined to try it with some of my larger pieces of scrap fabric. I used the blue toile that I had left over from THIS dress to make THIS pattern, view A. I really like how it turned out!

The bag is fully lined. I hadn't really intended or thought to make this until I'd already started, so I used whatever we had on hand. I used a piece of small, cotton, craft rope for the button loop, a buckle from one of my brother's broken belts (it's a little heavy for the bag...), and a regular button as opposed to a toggle button. The only somewhat significant change to the pattern I made (aside from not making it out of suede or leather) was to add piping around the flap. I really like the clean touch that adds. :)

Simplicity 2926

I'm sewing up a storm while I'm waiting for my next study materials to arrive! This dress was one of the things I've made in the past week or so:

The pattern only lines the bodice and sleeves, but since my fabric was so thin, I lined the skirt as well. I love how it turned out! Oh, and I didn't have to hem the skirt!!! Here's a close up of part of the hemline:

Unusual Incident

I got myself into an interesting position this afternoon while trying on the dress I'm making. I'd sewn over the zipper as I was putting it in, but I fixed it to where it slid just wonderfully. Unfortunately, when I put the dress on... the zipper wouldn't go above or below the spot where I'd sewn over it. That spot happens to be in a position where I couldn't get the dress off. So, I had to do something I've never done before: rip the zipper out while I was wearing, or sort of wearing, the dress.

Anyway, it was an odd and rather frustrating, though kind of funny, incident. I hope I never have to do that again...

Other than that though, the dress is coming together wonderfully! I'm looking forward to obtaining another zipper and finishing it, hopefully this week!

Fabric give-away!

I posted about this on my other blog as well, but I couldn't NOT post about it on my sewing blog! So here it is:

Marie-Madeline Studio is giving away 21 fat quarters of lovely fabric! I can envision so many things out of that fabric, including a quilt like they mention!