Kitties and Tea

My sons went to Shop Rats excellent STEM oriented summer camp this past summer and while they were there having fun, I took my daughter into Mason, MI to look around.  Mason is a cute little town with all of the things that make me happy to see.  They have a nice coffee shop/book store, a quilt shop called Yards of Fabric, and antiques mall and artists coop and many other cute shops downtown.  Sadly, there had been a fire and so several other shops were closed during repairs.  All in all it was a town I recommend kicking around in.
Anyway, while there, my daughter picked out some kitty cat fabric (Window Tails by SPX fabrics).  It is nice to see we are diverging from PINK these days.  She wanted a dress, so this is what I came up with.  We are living in a hot climate now, so I went sleeveless.  It is easier and I didn't really have enough fabric to add them anyway.  I used one of her woven shirts to model the top of the dress on and then angled down from the waist to give it a slight A line skirt.  I finished the sleeves with bias tape since I did not have enough material to make it from the kitty fabric.  I also added the ruched insert and bow to provide a little variation for the eye.
And now for tea.  It is that time of year for Spoonflower's Tea Towel Calendar competition.  I chose to draw a modern day version of the Greek Goddess Hestia.  She was the goddess of the hearth and kitchen and one of her symbols is the kettle.  Seemed like a great fit for a tea towel.  Please consider voting.
Lastly, the new site, Sprout Patterns is having a sale today through Friday 12pm EDT.  This site prints patterns directly on the Spoonflower fabric of your choice.  The sale is for a $1 lined zippered pouch pattern.  WORLDWIDE shipping $1.  Limit three. 

Fierce Little Rose

This week's post features more sewing for my daughter.  She is still really into pink, so, while I have other colors of this design in my shop I went with her favorites.  I made two items for her in organic cotton knit, a drop waist dress with a Peter Pan collar and scalloped skirt and a pair of pants with a tuxedo strip.  I just love this photo of her looking fierce.
For the dress I used two of my designs, Hexie Roses Deep Hues (the top) and Profusion of Roses in Reds (the skirt.)  For the accents, I used Damask Matisse Style by littlerhodydesign.
The pants have a flower button waistband and use my Hexie Roses Deep Hues design and littlerhodydesign's Damask Matisse Style for the tuxedo stripe.
 My daughter is such a fun model it provides and extra incentive to sew for her.

Pretty Princess Pink

My daughter picked out a yard of Robert Kaufman fabric 'Girl Friends' while we were in the United States last summer.  It seemed the obvious choice as you may know if you have been reading the blog for a while or if you have met my daughter. 

With this fabric in mind I picked up a couple of other coordinating fabrics from Spoonflower; peacock pattern dots pink smaller scale by katarina and Dragon Girl Towers by Zesti.  The peacock pattern I used in the bodice and the Dragon Girl pattern is shown on the pockets.  Stocked with these fabrics I was ready to try my next foray into boutique sewing for my daughter.
This dress is adapted the free infant pattern Pretty Party dress from the Pretty Prudent blog. I used the pattern pieces for the bodice and resized them for my daughter.  I also added fullness to the skirt.  Since we live in a hot climate, I left off the sleeves. 
In other news, the Floral Cheater Quilt Fabrics are for sale and the coordinating fabrics will be available soon.

Island Jewel: Sewing a Harem Style Jumper

 Almost a year ago I purchased some pretty jewel tone prints with the plan on making something for my daughter.  At the time she would not wear any color other than pink.   Finally, she ready for other colors (although I did have to promise to sew her a pink dress as well.) 
The Process
The Aladdin Pants on the Blooms N Bugs blog were inspirational, however, I used my own process. While in the United States this summer, I purchased a tank top that coordinated with my fabric.  Using a pair of her pants I traced a template for the inseam of the pants but left the outer edge open--about 18 inches out.  I sewed the pants along the template I created so far.  The next step was to pin and baste box pleats around the waist with the exception in the center front, center back and about 4 inches on the sides.  I did not pleat the center front and back to avoid weird pulling in the crotch.  The sides were unpleated so I could adjust the last pleats to the diameter of the waist.  I sewed the sides up and then created the final box pleats on the sides. I trimmed about 4 inches from the bottom of the tank and then sewed the pants on to the bottom edge of the tank. The next step was to gather the bottom edges of each leg and fit them into the homemade binding tape cuff from contrasting fabric. The gathers should be lighter on the inside of the leg and fuller on the toward the outside.  Lastly, I added the contrasting belt. 
My girl seems to be enjoying her new jumper.

More Sewing for My Girl - The African Dress

I may have mentioned in the Shoe post that my daughter is in love with pink and purple.  When I offered to let her pick out some wax print material shortly after we arrived in Senegal she made a beeline to this very pink and purple fabric. 
I decided to use it to make a simple dress, similar to the pillowcase dress I made previously.  My daughter loves a full skirt so this gave me the opportunity to add some box pleats to allow the skirt more fullness. The trim and sleeves are made of white flocked pink polyester chiffon that I had in my stash.  I added turquoise embroidery thread behind the box pleats to help them hold their shape as well as bring a little of the color up from the border.  This dress is about ½ hand sewn and ½ machine stitched. 
My girl says she loves her new princess dress.