Butterick 4910 nightgowns

Now that Myra has been wearing her nightgown in place of PJs for a few weeks, it is clear that she is fully converted. She's been asking for more gowns, but the pattern I used before takes a lot of yardage, and my stash was in shorter "PJ" lengths.

So I decided to use Butterick 4910, which I have used before for this costume, this top and this dress. Since the gingerbread dress actually still fits her, I just used those pattern pieces and added length to make it floor length.

I made up all of the girly flannel I had in my stash - pink polka dots for one and a ballet themed print for the other. Both pieces were purchased at Joann.

I added a faux button placket to the polka dot one, just by appliqueing a strip of lace at center front and stitching on some coordinating buttons.

To the ballet themed gown, I just tacked a pink bow at center front. It's easier to tell the back from the front this way.

After I finished cutting out the ballet gown, there was a big chunk of flannel left that wasn't really big enough to save, but it was just enough for a matching gown for Myra's favorite baby doll. I used the pattern I drafted here.

Now my little sleeping beauty has plenty of gowns fit for a princess.

Butterick 4910 - Christmas edition

I saw this adorable dress on Crafts 4 Lily and decided to take a little break from my current WIP to make Myra her own Gingerbread Dress.

I'd forgotten how bizarrely long the sleeves on this pattern are. Do you like how she has styled her dress with her leopard print flats? Ever the fashionista, is my girl. She never leaves the house without a bit of animal print on her person.

 The pattern I used is Butterick 4910, which is just your basic raglan sleeve tunic/top/dress. This is the long version, but shortened 5 inches to make it below knee length. I've used this pattern a couple of other times and I like it reasonably well, except for the weird sleeve length thing. Really, any raglan sleeve dress pattern you happen to have lying around would work for this dress. The fabric is a 21 wale corduroy that I purchased at Joann specifically for this project. I wanted a lighter, gingerbread brown. I think velour, velvet or velveteen would be equally cute.

For the trim, I stitched red rick rack to the sleeves (about 1 inch up from the hem) and at the seam between the skirt and ruffle. I found some cheerful green buttons in the stash and stitched three to the upper bodice with red thread and then tacked a bow at the left sleeve seam on the neckline. The arms are shirred with elastic thread.

Myra is pretty darn happy with her dress, and so am I. It is amazing what a little trim can do to spice (ha-ha) up an otherwise simple design. I need to do that more...

Butterick 4910

We all got some serious sewing done at our last sewing group meeting.  I finished up this peasant top for Myra.

The pattern is Butterick 4910, which I also used to make her Renaissance dress.  This time I made the top version without the ruffle.  I left the sleeves long so that they would pouf nicely with the wrist gathering (done with elastic zigzagged on).  The body length is oddly short as compared to the arm length.  The bodice pattern pieces for the ruffled and unruffled version are the same, so I guess the ruffled version would probably be appropriately long.  Next time I make it, I'll definitely lengthen the bodice.  Otherwise I really like this pattern.. It's a nice basic.

The fabric is an Anna Maria Horner print that I've had in stash forever.  It's a good color for Myra (and hides chocolate stains well), and I have a couple of yards left, so you will probably see it again...

Texas Renaissance Festival!

Yesterday we we able to go to the Texas Renaissance Festival.  We try to go every year, and it is definitely one of the things we will miss about living in Texas.  This is the first year that I have made all of our costumes.

I've posted about the costumes individually , but I'll link them here for the Google searchers.  I'm wearing McCalls 6141, altered for maternity.  It's still is a great fit at 33 weeks!

Logan is sporting McCalls 5500 on top and Burda 9671 on the bottom.  The applique is a dragon, roughly based on an online coloring page.  He got tons of compliments on his cool dragon!  The pants get worn constantly.  They fit him well and he likes them.  The tunic is a little big, but he's comfortable in it.

Mitch is wearing a heavily altered McCalls 4530 on top, and Simplicity 4378 on bottom.  The pants are a TNT for him.  He loves his tunic, and I am so happy to have finally managed a Ren Fest outfit for him that is comfortable and looks good.

My little princess's gown is based on Butterick 4910.  She loves it, and passers-by universally found her adorable.

We had a great time at the Faire! We watched belly dancers, jousters and sword fights, enjoyed all of the interesting costumes, and ate way too much faire food.  But the coolest part?

The elephant ride!!

Butterick 4910 & Simplicity 2561

Well, back to the costumes.  But this is the last one - really!  Myra's Red Riding Hood dress is sweet, but without the hood (which she won't wear), really isn't very much like a costume, and really isn't very Renaissance-y, so I decided to make her a princess dress for the Ren Faire.

She chose pink, naturally.  I saw it as an excuse to use up this wretched poly taffeta that she made me buy.  It was also a nice way to finish off the trim that I used on my dress.  Yay for stash busting!

The dress is Butterick 4910, and the belt (?) is from Simplicity 2561.  The Simplicity pattern got a lot of use last Halloween when I dressed a pirate band.  It's a fun costume pattern with lots of different options.  I suspect that I will use it again.  Butterick 4910 has been in the stash for a while.  It is a simple peasant style top and dress as well as shorts and pants.  Butterick claims that it is not to be used for sleepwear, although the line drawing on the pattern shows a bunch of cute girls with their blankies all ready for bed...  Anyway, it has very simple lines and was a quick sew.

I borrowed the sleeve treatment from Joy's cute medieval dress.  It is just elastic shirring on the upper arms.

For the lace up belt/corset thingie I used some darker rose satin from the stash and the waistband pattern piece for one of the pirate skirts.  It's lined with the pink taffeta of the main dress, which I interfaced with heavy craft interfacing to give it structure.  Sort of a training corset, if you will.  I don't think a 2 year old needs boning...  I did attach it to the dress with a line of stitching at center back.  Myra doesn't have much waist definition at this point, and I didn't want it to slide around.

I think the sleeves might be a little long.  I can't decide if I want to hem them up a little, or just let them be long.  She'll drag them through everything she eats either way.
At least now we are all ready for the Ren Faire!  And just in time - we go next weekend!!!  More pictures then...