Ottobre 03/2011-18

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted! Life has been crazy, but good. Starting with the reason for this dress! My sister was married at the end of November, in Scotland! And we got to be there! Naturally, some new dresses needed sewn...

All my photos were taken in front of the Leith Registry House in Edinburgh, where my sister was married. It was a lovely venue!

Obviously, November in Scotland demands a certain level of cold protection. Not something this Southern girl generally has to deal with, but thanks to my Ottobre subscription, I had plenty of pattern options for Myra! Those Finns know how to deal with the cold.

We settled on Ottobre 03/2011-18, which is a simple dress with long sleeves and a turtleneck collar. Very cozy.

The skirt is lightly gathered into a high-low waistline, which has a pretty effect on. The skirt is nice and long, and kept her warm over tights.

The sleeves are long and slim, with plain hems at the wrist. The sleeve caps are gathered into a full puff, which Myra really likes.

The fabric is a cozy ribbed sweater knit. I'm not sure where I got it, but it's at least four years old, so yay for a nice deep stashbust. It really was perfect for this dress. It's a little on the unstable side, so I did stabilize the shoulder seams and waistline with clear elastic, but otherwise it sewed up without much trouble.

We've had a surprisingly cold winter here in Tennessee so far, so Myra has gotten quite a lot of wear out of this dress. I'm pleased that she likes it so much.

Ottobre 03/2011-31

Of course, after her baptism, her white dress was all wet, so she needed another one. I found this amazing cherry blossom lace at fabric.com, and I knew it was the one.

Since I wanted the lace to be the star, I went with a simple style. This is a combination of patterns from the 03-2011 issue of Ottobre. This basic dress is done three different ways, so I went with the lined dress, full shirt and straight (non-puffed) sleeve. I also added quite a bit of length - 5 inches, I think. Myra likes her dresses long.

The skirt is nice and full - perfect for twirling. The underlining fabric is duchesse satin in a slightly paler pink than the lace. It makes the lace really pop. The dress is lined in hang free polyester lining, with some ruffles added to the hem for fullness.

It closes in back with an invisible zipper, which I'm pretty happy with. It's been a while since I've put on in, and it behaved on the first try. Whew! Picking it out of that lace would have hurt.

Since the lace had a lovely scalloped edge, I used it for the sleeves and hem. You can see the lace a little better in this pic. It really is so pretty and dainty. Just perfect for a girl's dress.

Even though she is a big, grown up 8-year old, her dresses still need to be play friendly, and this one passes with flying colors. It felt really nice to get back into something a little more complicated. I've struggled lately to tackle complex projects since my sewing time has been so erratic, but finishing this lined, underlined lace dress has really reminded me how much love to bite into a big project. Next up - jeans.

Easter dress: Sequins and sparkle not optional

Dresses for Myra follow a fairly straightforward formula. Pink, sparkles, twirl. For Easter, we went with all of the above.

Myra was happy to supply the sass.

The pattern I chose was the Rosy Posy dress, #26 from the 03/2011 issue of Ottobre. I've sewn it for her before here and here, so I knew it was a winner.

It's a very basic style - simple bodice with a full, gathered skirt and puffed, elasticated sleeves. I puzzled over the hem, as this fabric didn't blind hem invisibly and ended up just narrow hemming by machine. It works.

I mostly chose the pattern for it's simplicity. The fabric is definitely the star here! It is an embroidered and sequinned poly taffeta from FabricMart. Frankly, I could have just made it into a big ole sack and Myra would have loved it. The SPARKLES!

I fully lined the dress with hot pink bridal satin from my stash. The bridal satin has a lot of body, which gives the skirt more fullness. It's also very soft.

I'm very pleased with my zipper insertion. The pattern calls for an invisible zip, which would have been a disaster in this sequinned, textured fabric. A lapped zipper was a better choice. I decided to try a technique I read about in Threads (issue #171) for inserting a lapped zipper with a lining using an industrial method. It worked and it looks gorgeous! I'm so pleased.

I really love the sweet sleeves on this pattern. They are gathered just in the cap, and then elastic gathers the hem. They're so pretty, but still darn easy to do.

Of course, the most important part is that Myra loves her dress. She wore it to church and then for hunting eggs. Despite being sparkly and flashy, it's still comfortable and, for Myra at least, practical. I think she might wear it every day.

And who would argue?

Ottobre 03/2011-20 short shorts

My Myra is a dress girl. She tolerates skirts, but in her heart, she knows she belongs in a dress. But she's also a bit of a tomboy on the playground, and she hasn't quite learned the trick of sitting like a lady...

And I don't know anyone who can climb monkey bars like a lady! So I made her a couple of pair of short shorts, to cover her unmentionables while she plays on the playground and sits criss-cross applesauce.

I have a ton of little knit remnants and these little shorts only take a teeny bit - about 3/8 of a yard if you are buying yardage. I had several pieces that matched dresses I had made for her, and picked out a couple of solids in colors that went with her wardrobe. This was a great stashbusting project for leftover knits!

As an aside, it was REALLY hard to get good shots of the shorts with her Skater Dresses. Those skirts are really well designed! No wardrobe malfunctions. I had to stage all the shots. Anyway, all of the fabrics I used are cotton, cotton-lycra, rayon-lycra or poly-lycra knits, and all the shorts have an elastic waistband and are hemmed with the coverstitch (although I could have saved myself some threading and used this method to hem them).

The pattern I used is for a basic legging with only one pattern piece. I cut them off to give them a finished inseam of about 2 inches, which is shorter than her shortest skirt, but still covers the topic. They are a quick sew, which is nice. I probably spend more time changing thread on all the machines than I did actually sewing these up. Darn my inability to serge with mismatched thread! It's like my Kryptonite.

These have now been worn (different pairs of course) for the last three days. They work well, are comfortable, and Myra likes them. She has fun mixing and matching them to her dresses. Works for me.

Today's tip

Since I coverstitched all the hems, I thought I'd show you the method that I use to keep the coverstitching from unravelling. I had a lot of trouble with this when I first started using my coverstitch machine, especially on children's clothing that gets a lot of wear and stretching. So, this method evolved for when I'm coverstitching in the round.

First of all, you want to be sure that your needle threads are to the back of your work. I didn't take a pic of this step (sorry!) but basically, when you start your hem, stitch nearly to the end, then stop and pull the beginning needle threads to the back with a pin, then coverstitch the rest of the way around, overlapping the beginning stitching by about an inch.

Pull your work off the machine using this method (from Debbie's blog) that pulls the threads all to the back. From the front, it should look like the above picture. Pretty, eh?

From the back though, you should have a bunch of thread tails. I have six - two needle threads and one looper from the beginning and end of the stitching. I separate them into two bunches and tie them in a secure square knot.

Here's the little knot. I trim the thread tails, leaving a bit so that if the knot slips a little it's no biggie. Next is the critical step.

Get some fray preventer and drop a little bead right on the knot to really secure it. I like to smoosh it in with the tip of my iron to flatten the knot.

Since I've started using this method, I haven't had a single hem unravel. It may be overkill, but it doesn't take very long, and it is nice and secure. It may also work for a twin needle hem, though I've not tried it myself.

Ottobre 03/2011-30: Mermaid Swimsuit

Hey SwimAlong crowd! First swimsuit of the season - done!

I like sewing kids swimwear. Fewer fitting issues to worry about.

Given my last post, I'm sure you can guess that this is NOT a Big 4 pattern. This is from the 03/2011 issue of Ottobre. I have used this issue a ton! It has a lot of really great, versatile styles in it. This suit is #30, the Mermaid swimsuit.

I made some minor style changes. The original is made of a solid and stripe in pink and white, with the stripe on the lower section and midriff band. I decided to put the polka dot on the upper bodice and midriff instead. I also omitted the bow, but added some stretch piping to the seam between the midriff band and the bodice, just to highlight that seam.

I'm very pleased with the fit, particularly in back. Myra has a pretty prominent backside, and this suit covers it well. She measures nearly exactly to a size 104, so that is what I made. As you can see, it fits her well, but there is a small amount of room to grow.

I finished all of the openings with rubber elastic. I used 1/4 inch wide rather than 3/8. I prefer the thinner elastic for children's wear, but it is a little trickier to work with. I topstitched with my coverstitch machine. In retrospect, I wish I had used the narrower stitch rather than this wide one. Since the elastic is so narrow, I think it would have been a little nicer looking.

Not that you can tell when she's on the move! The suit is performing well, and she really likes it, so it's definitely a win.

Happy summer! Now to sew up some trunks for my boys...

Today's tip

This is a quickie, but hopefully useful. This pattern didn't include specific lengths for the elastic in the leg, arm and neck openings. Fortunately, the Singer Sewing Activewear book has a handy chart so that you can figure it out yourself. This is especially great if you need to alter an opening for fit or personal preference. Since the book is out of print, I'm going to share the chart here.

If you click on it, it will take you to Flickr, where you can see it much larger. Hope it helps you!

Ottobre 03/2004-9 & 03/2011-20

These two patterns are old favorites, so I don't have much to say about them.

This is the fifth version of this top, which I have now made in three different sizes. You can see the other versions here, here and here. I cannot be responsible for any deaths from cuteness if you click that first link...

The skirt is an old favorite as well. This will be my fourth make of it, and the second size. The prior versions are here, here and here.

While I've made this top many times, this is the first time I've made it since I got my serger and coverstitch machine, and boy, what a difference that made! It was lightning fast to sew! I thought about using my binder on the neckline, but I really like the wide band, so I used to chainstitch function on my coverstitch to do a single line of topstitching.

The fabrics I used are both single jersey, but pretty different. The solid coral is a rayon jersey that was left over from a top that my mother made. It is so soft and silky, but also fairly hefty. The polka dot is a cotton jersey from Girl Charlee. It is a little on the thinner side, but still paired fairly well with the beefier rayon.

Lest you think I am an evil, abusive mother who forces her child out in the freezing snow just for blog photos, it was totally her idea. And we're thawing. It's actually really nice outside, as long as you stay in the sun.

Ottobre 03/2004-13 top and 03/2011-20 patchwork skirt

At Sewing Summit, there was a whole lot of quilting going on. As you all know, I am more emphatically NOT a quilter. While I admire the beauty of a well pieced top, I do not have the patience for perfect corners. But last year, we got these cute charm packs from Oliver & S. So this year, I took advantage of some of the open sewing time at Sewing Summit (where I was surrounded by amazing quilters) to attempt a little simple strip piecing.

Which I made into a skirt, because that is what I do.

I pieced the strips totally randomly, interspersing the Oliver & S charm squares with some Kona cotton solid squares that were also part of our swag last year. Then I gathered the strips like tiers into a twirly ruffled skirt.I used the "Funky Stripes" skirted leggings pattern from the 03/2011 issue of Ottobre to make a pair of little shorts for under the skirt (just like this one) and attached the skirt and shorts to the elastic waistband per the pattern. I bound the hem rather than turning it under, partly to preserve the length, but also because I thought it gave it a quilt-y sort of look that was fun with the patchwork.

Naturally, a new skirt needs a new top. And I had a couple of charm squares left. The top pattern is from the 03/2004 issue of Ottobre. I really love my older issues for great basic shapes. This top has a slight a-line and the sleeves have a bit of a flare that is accentuated with a tiny bit of shirring below the elbow. For the applique, I just turned the three squares on the bias. They came already pinked, so I just left them raw and stitched around them just inside the pinking with a narrow zigzag.

Myra was not in the mood for pictures today, but a little help from Duncan and at least she didn't scowl at me. As I have noted with prior early Otto patterns, the top did run a little wide. I just used a wider seam allowance in the body, but left the extra volume in the sleeves. It still has a pretty loose fit.

Linked up over at The Train to Crazy, Make it Wear it blog party!