Birthday dresses

Myra loves her birthday dress, but as an added incentive I made her baby doll a matching dress as well.

Of course, you can't really see any of the dresses, since Myra is clutching Baby, Aurora and Jessie to her chest.

Here is the prototype, modeled by Myra's baby. It is a basic peasant style top with elastic shirring at the sleeves and cased elastic at the neckline, just like Myra's. For the final version, I added a 2 inch ruffle at the hem and a big purple bow at the neckline.

I couldn't find any free patterns that I liked for a 12 inch baby dress, and Simplicity patterns weren't on sale, so I decided to just draft it myself. I used the peasant top tutorial from indietutes. Her tute starts at a size 2 and is intended for a human, so I did have to scale it down a bit.

These are my pattern pieces. For the basic square shapes, the bodice (the upper piece in the photo) measures  7 3/4 inches tall and 5 1/4 inches wide. The sleeve measures 4 3/4 by 3 3/4. 3/8 inch seam allowances and 1/2 inch casing and hem allowances are included. For the armhole and neckline shaping, I just freehanded a curve . You do want the same curve on your bodice and armhole, so I drew the curve on one piece and then traced it onto the other. Vegbee's tutorial goes through the assembly so I'm not going to recreate the wheel  here, but should you need a peasant top or dress for a 12 inch baby doll, there you have it! This makes a knee length dress on my 12 inch tall baby, with the ruffle it goes to her ankles. I imagine this pattern would also work for an 18 inch doll, with appropriate length modifications.

A birthday surprise!

One of Logan's best girlie friends turned 4 and had a party Saturday.  She LOVES to dress up, so I made her a fancy dress up dress perfect for any little princess.

The pattern is the Lace-Up dress by Little Print Patterns.  I added some trim to the bodice, lengthened the skirt and added a double layer of tulle as an overskirt.  I thought about filling the overskirt with petals, but I've only seen that done on short skirts, so I wasn't sure about how it would look on a longer one.  Maybe I'll try that out next time...  It is made out of costume satin and tulle.  Not my favorite fabrics to work with, but not too painful, since the design is fairly simple.  Although I think it is pretty from the front, the real action is in the back!

The shoulder straps lace down the back corset style and end in a big bow at the waist.  How fancy is that??  I think the birthday girl will like it.  It isn't particularly modest though, so I made a tee for her to wear under it.

And it gave me an excuse to try out the Jalie Sweetheart Top in the kids size range.  Fun!!  And since I know Sister wants to know, I actually watched the clock as I made this one.  From tracing the pattern to sewing the hem took slightly under 2 hours.  I did have some machine trouble in the middle there and almost had to recut a sleeve that Janome nearly ate, so with smooth sailing I probably could have done it in a little less time, but not much.

Circle Skirt How-to

**If you surfed here looking for a half or 3/4 circle skirt, you can find a separate tutorial for drafting those patterns.  Just click here!

I wish all days could be like today. The kids (mostly) behaved. The weather was pleasant. And I finished the most fabulous skirt! I've been completely in love with the 50's fit & flare look, and so, a circle skirt was an essential piece to that look. I also have always liked the look of a black and white palette, and so, my black and white circle skirt was born.

I know that a circle skirt is pretty simple. Thanks to vegbee's awesome tutorial I had a place to start. Vegbee's version is great. It features and elastic waist, which is comfy, easy to do and easy on the fit. The only problem with an elastic waist is that it can add some bulk, if you have a significant difference between your waist and hip measurements, which I do. After two kids, I have enough bulk in the waist, so I decided that a waistband and zipper were the way to go for me. I also hate hemming. Especially curves. So, after reading about a hem facing on oliver + s, I decided to try that, too.

Let's learn together! I'll show you how it all went.

The first step is to create your pattern. Since a circle skirt is exactly what it says - a circle with a hole in the middle - two measurements and a little geometry is all you need. Don't worry, it's only a little geometry. The measurements you need are 1. your waist and 2. the length you would like your skirt to be, measured from the waist to the hemline. Since it is unlikely that you will be able to find fabric wide enough to make the entire circle, let's make our initial pattern piece a half circle. Your waist measurement is the circumference of the hole in the middle of your circle. So, take your waist measurement, divide by 3.14 (pi) and divide by 2. This is the radius of your center circle. I know this isn't making much sense without a visual. Fortunately, there's video...

OK, so once you have your half-circle, you can decide if you want panels or not. My skirt has six panels, with 2 alternating prints, so 3 of each. To cut out my actual pattern piece, I carefully folded my half-circle into thirds, then added seam allowances. This was the pattern for my 6 panels.

The other two pieces you will need are a waistband and a hem facing. The waistband is easy. It is a big rectangle, measuring (your waist + 2 inches (for the tabs) + seam allowances) long by (desired width x 2 + seam allowances). I used one inch for my desired width - that is, however tall you want your waistband to be. For the hem facing, you will need an exact copy of the bottom few inches of your skirt. I decided to do the facing in four parts, so that my seam allowances wouldn't overlap and get bulky. I again folded my half-circle, this time just in half, and traced the bottom 3 inches, then added seam allowances. Be sure to measure carefully - this needs to fit pretty exactly.

Now, let's put it together!!

For my six panels, I first attached them together in pairs. If you are alternating fabrics, make sure that when you are sewing your pairs together, that you have the same print on the top and sew the same side seam. So, in the picture, you can see that my three pairs are all together, with the black fabric on top. I seamed them all along the right side. I also installed my zipper at this point, between the first two panels that I seamed. I have a love-hate relationship with my zipper foot, so I am NOT going to talk about installing a zipper. There are excellent instructions included with the zipper when you buy it. Follow those. I should have.

Now attach all of your panels together. When you place them right sides together, they should alternate, as you can see below.
Pretty panels all in a row! Just one more seam to go!
Once you are all seamed together, it is time to add the waistband. Be sure to fuse some interfacing to the wrong side, within the seam allowances. Find the center of your waistband and pin it (right sides together) to the seam opposite your zipper, then pin all around.
When you finish, you should have a tab that hangs off the end. This is where your button or hook and eye will go.
Stitch down your waistband where you just pinned. Now press up about 1/2 inch on the free edge. This will become the inside of your waistband and will cover your seam allowance.
With right sides of the waistband together, seam the two overhanging ends.
Trim the seam allowances and clip the corner, then turn them right side out. It should look like this when you're done. You made a little "pocket" to hold your seam allowance!
Now press your waistband down, pinning it on the right side, making sure to catch the folded inside edge of the waistband as you pin. You can see my pin just where my iron has been.
Now from the right side, topstitch the waistband close to the seam. You can also stitch in the ditch if you don't want any topstitching to show, but make sure that you catch the underside of the waistband. It's a bit trickier. Attach your closure of choice to the tabs. I used a hook and bar.

Waistband done! On to the hem facing. Don't forget that with a circle skirt there are areas that are cut on the bias. Be sure that you hang your skirt for at least 24 hours to let the bias set before you hem it. Otherwise, your hem could ripple after the fact. OK, bias set - let's go. Seam all of your facing pieces together to make a BIG circle. Finish the inner edge of the circle with either a serger if you are so blessed or just an overcast stitch. Or I guess you could hem it, but that would defeat the purpose...
Now, this is the painstaking part. Pin it, right sides together, to your skirt. I laid it out on the living room floor while the kids where sleeping. Start at a random spot and just go around the skirt until you get it all lined up the way you like it. It took me three revolutions around the skirt.
Once it's pinned, sew away. Then clip the seam allowance every few inches. This will help it lie nice and flat when you flip it.
OK, now that it's all clipped, flip it wrong sides together and press. Be sure to press it so that you can see a bit of your pretty fabric on the inside, so that you know that no one can see your facing.
Now stitch down the facing and you are done!! I chose to hand stitch it because I wanted it to be truly invisible, but do whatever floats your boat.
See, it really is a circle!Now, let's see yours!

ETA 8/11/2010: I've noticed that quite a few of you are popping over see a half circle skirt, and since Anne commented that she was interested in a 3/4 circle, I added an additional mini-tutorial to include drafting the pattern pieces for a 1/2 and 3/4 circle skirt.  The math is a smidge more complicated, but hopefully the tutorial makes it clear.  Click here for the tute!

Simplicity 2985

This is another in my pattern stash that I really enjoy making. And I think it turns out super cute! I was a little nervous about it, since it looks so detailed, but it goes together quite easily and the pattern instructions are very clear. I made this one in the smallest size for Myra to wear when she was first born. It is view C, but without the elastic cased into the edges of the sleeves. As a note, the pattern does feature set-in sleeves. In the smaller sizes, this is ridiculously difficult to do on a machine without a very narrow free arm. Be warned.At that, it was too big for her until she was nearly a month old. Logan picked out the fabric - classy, hey? I was worried that it wouldn't translate well into a girly dress, but I think this pattern made it happen. The only things that I would (and later did) change would be to get rid of the ties. It doesn't seem very comfortable to me for a baby who spends all her time on her back to have a knot there. They are cute, though.

This is my second outfit from this pattern. It is view F with pant G. The top went together like a dream. I LOVE those little half sleeves. The armhole is also bound with bias tape, which I like. The pants, however, caused no end of swearing!! Those curved hems were the devil to press and sew! I learned later that a little ease stitch around the curve would have solved my woes. As you can see, she's happy and comfy. Or maybe that's just because she's with Grandpappy.

I also used the pants pattern as a rough estimate when making vegbee's awesome wrap pants (Click for the tutorial).
I got around the rounded hem problem by just edging them with cute bias tape. I think the effect is fun, and Myra loves them!I will say that the pattern does run a bit large and the pant (which is supposed to be a capri) is long. The XXS (up to 7 lbs.) didn't actually fit Myra until she was closer to 10 lbs, and the Small (which is labeled a 6 month size) is still fitting her at 8 months, while she is wearing a 12 month size in ready-to-wear. I don't think of this as a drawback, since it means I'll be able to use the pattern for her into toddlerhood, just something to be aware of.