Simplicity 2372 - Bargainista Fashionista Contest entry

A recent contest on Pattern Review is the Bargainista Fashionista contest, where you find a designer (or not) look you like and make your own inspired-by look.

I'm not a huge follower of fashion, but thought the concept sounded fun, so went for a bit of a Google image surf to find something that took my fancy.
The criteria for my search was it had to be an item I would not generally be able to purchase at designer prices, and just for fun I decided it should be a New Zealand designer.

I eventually settled on a Trelise Cooper design - the Madcat Charm dress - regular retail $659.

My first challenge was to find fabric. You would think a simple monochrome fabric, preferably floral, wouldn't be too difficult to find. After a bit of a search, and even a desparate look at online fabric sources, I changed tack and settled on a white and wine floral cotton twill I found on the Spotlight clearance table!

For the dress, I used the dress from Simplicity 2372. It had the loose silhouette of the original, with a little bit of waist shaping. I added a full bust and full butt adjustment, and then sewed it together in no time flat. This is a lovely pattern, and I believe I will be making it again in the future.

Next challenge was colouring the flowers - I had been given some fabric paints which worked well, but were slow going. I didn't have quite enough co-ordinating colours though, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do about the glitter flowers.
A trip to Made on Marion, and the lovely ladies had me all sorted out -  Martha Stewart does a craft paint range that includes glitter paint and can be used on fabric. I was away!!

The painting took two weeks of evenings and weekends to do, but I'm really pleased with how it has come out.

If you would like to read my review and contest entry, you can find it here.

Hot Patterns Fast and Fabulous La Strada Tee

In my on-going love affair with Hot Patterns, and trying out their knit tops, I made the La Strada tee, from their Fast ad Fabulous range.

As my previous attempts at Hot Pattern knits had come out too big, I went down another size.
Unfortunately, I used a much more stable knit this time. It fit really nicely through the shoulders, bust and waist, but was a bit tight through the hips!   *head thump*

The benefactor of this sewing mis-fit was my sister. It seems to fit her as per the pattern illustration, so this counts as a win, even if I am still not adding any new tops to my wardrobe.

I will be making this again in the next size up, as I do like the style.

Style Arc Cozy Cardi

I found some really lovely sweater knit at the last Fabric Warehouse sale, and decided it would be perfect for a new cardigan. It is double faced, with 'knitted' hearts on the front face and charcoal grey on the reverse.

I had a couple of different cardigan pattern options in my stash, but decided to try the Style Arc Cozy Cardi as it had been marinatinng for a while.

It sewed up nicely, with all notches and pattern pieces matching up, and the fabric was lovely to work with.
Unfortunately, it didn't look all that lovely on me! It was a bit too shapeless and a bit too long on me.

As I finished it just before I was due to visit my Mum for her birthday, I took it with me for her to try on. She of course loved it, and it looked much nicer on her.
She has been showing EVERYONE her lovely new cardi, and seems to think I lined it to make it look pretty on the insides.

Jalie 2567 - Bathrobe

On a  recent shopping trip where small people came too, we returned home with some Pokemon fleece.

So that it didn't lurk in stash for longer than was necessary, I decided that it should become a bathrobe. I used Jalie 2567, which I had on hand.

Despite D. only having just turned 4, I decided to make a size 5 so there would be plenty of room for growing (and to use as much of the fleece as possible!!)

I duly traced out the pattern and cut the fabric, but am still left with about 60cm of 150cm wide fleece! The shop must have been doing very generous cuts, as I do tend to find the Jalie fabric requirements to be very accurate.

This sewed up quickly and without fuss, as have all the Jalie pattern I have tried.

D. is very happy with his new bathrobe, and has been wearing it round the house since it was finished!

New Look 6181 - A Dress for Mum

While home for a surprise party for my Dad's birthday, I went fabric shopping with my Mum. One of the patterns they had made up on their mannequins was New Look 6181.

It looked to be a fairly straightforward maxi dress, so I suggested that if she bought the pattern and fabric, I would make it up for her.

A couple of errors were made at this point.
First up, I failed to notice that the fabric suggestions were for wovens or stable knits. We purchased a slinky knit.
Secondly, it didn't occur to me to look at the back of the mannequin, or study the back of the pattern envelope too closely.

Only when I went to cut out my fabric, did I discover that all the front neckline and armholes had facings, and that the entire back panel was cut on the bias as a back drape with a tiny spaghetti strip tie at the back neck! Whoops!

As it transpired, the slinky knit was fine and I just topstitched all the facings down.
The back detail, while unexpected, was also quite simple.

 The only downside to using the slinky knit was that it is quite heavy, so a belt of some description will be a necessity. Apparently, Mum hasn't found one she likes yet :-)

Hot Patterns Riviera Regatta Tee

On my continuing adventures through my very large Hot Patterns collection, I made the Riviera Regatta Tee.

As with my previous experience with Hot Patterns knits, I went one size down from what my measurements suggested.

I had a stripe knit to give it a try, and it went together with no problems. The unique feature of this pattern is that the main front and back panel of the tee is cut on the bias to give it some added drape.

Unfortunately for me, the fabric I chose had lovely drape but no recovery, so my Mum was the lucky beneficiary of this garment.

If I were to make this pattern again for myself, I would need to go down another size.

Overall, I am very happy with this tee - just a little sad it didn't make it into MY wardrobe!

Kid Shorts

As I have mentioned previously, having a child who is quite slim means I can't just rock off to the shops and buy him new shorts and trousers.

This Summer, I have been trying out the Kid Shorts pattern from MADE.  This comes in sizes 12months to 10years.

This is a super easy pattern to put together, and the website has loads of excellent tutorials for changing them  - add pockets, flat fronts, piping, bias bound racer style, knee length boardie or shorter 'girl' style.

I have made these in various sizes, with and without pockets. I have also successfully turned it into a one piece pattern, so as not to break up a large scale print.

Mr School boy wanted skulls and orange shorts.

Mr Size 3 likes the Octopus fabric- More Octopus's Aunty Wendy!!!!

Mr 4 wanted tiger shorts.