And yet another batch of sewing for the little far nephews. They are now 4 and a few months and 2 and a half if my count is correct so they got out of the super quick growing period, they even wore the last year linen pants still this summer. On the other side, squeezing something for them from little remnants is becoming more and more difficult, so I really need to plan the sewing in advance now and reserve pieces of fabric for it.
This is what I did this year:
Linen shorts and t-shirt for the little one. I decided it was the year of a pocket so I really put them everywhere on the pants, I also had some fun topstitching.
For the pants, I used a remnant from a linen dress I sewed for myself and I still have to document. The white and black jersey is something I wanted a t-shirt from but the longer I have the fabric, the less I can imagine a shirt for me. So it was put to good use here.
Also, their mum complained last year that the little one has a real big head and does not get through the RTW and hand-made t-shirts, so this time I chose a pattern with a side opening.
The big one got shorts from some tencel I have a summer dress as well and mao-collar shirt.
As for the little one I had fun topstitching and I am almost missing having some more or more funny stitches on my machine.
For the shirt I actually really like the pattern, it is something quite rare for little kids and yet, I find it quite classy.
It seems that flowery dresses are totally in this year, so why not sewing another one. I had this cotton-silk stashed for some time, always waiting for the right project. The fabric was rather fine, so a lining is quite needed.
Once I had sewn my liberty dress, I thought that a similar one could be done from this fabric as well. However, I decided to make is less adjusted on the waist and sew something more similar to the Myosotis dress.
This somehow worked and not worked. Even though I added a cm or so on the bodice length, I find the bodice shorter than on the liberty dress, and I have absolutely no idea why. When I sewed the dress, I thought that I would need to cinch it anyhow, so I ended up putting in an elastic in the back.
The dress is lined with a little black remnant on the bodice and self lined on the skirt.
As for the buttons, I again found just the right ones in my button stash. Bonheur!
Do I need yet another summer dress: probably not. Is this fabric suitable for one: definitely yes. So I am sewing one. This grey cotton satin was actually line 1 of my stash excel, so the oldest fabric bought and still not sewn.
Also, I already have an autumn dress in this fabric, so I wanted to avoid 2 of them. But a summer one, that could definitely work. The only thing bothering me was the weight of this fabric: it is a fine satin and actually has no weight and creases easily. I remember having to interface it with a voile on my autumn version. I decided to wing it and just make a simple fit and flare dress.
I used the bodice from Burda 108-03/2011 and a plied rectangle for the skirt. Pattern matching was a pain, because the fabric is not 100% printed on the grain. Also, I stupidly decided to match the little points on the bodice back, and fortunately did not match on the skirt (cheating little bit probably). I lined the bodice with a little piece of silk which I saved from some other project.
No further difficulties, some nice handsewing and a new summer dress is born. And one of the oldest fabrics (2014) is finally used up.
I was having a month of indecisions. I pulled out fabrics from my stash, checked the patterns, matched them and then hesitated and changed my plan again. Pulled out some other fabric, found a new pattern and waited some more. In the end, nothing was happening on the sewing front and my fabrics continued to wait.
I decided I had to change the strategy, because obviously, my wishlist strategy was not working anymore, I still had a few to-sew items there which would not be worn before October.
I took my stash excel (yes, I have that and it is the best thing in the world for keeping me in check) and assigned a project to any fabric suiting the coming seasons (spring and summer). It resulted in 20m of fabric to be assigned to a project which is a quarter of my current stash. Now, I just had to start from the top, i.e. with the oldest fabrics.
So I did not start from the top but from the bottom, but never mind, it somehow worked and I got to sew things and I love the results, so that is the most important I guess.
I actually used one of the newest additions to stash which was kid of an internet shopping error. While I like the grey flowery fabric, it seems washed out in real life and I also only had a meter, as I planned to use it for a shirt. The problem is that it has quilting cotton weight so obviously not very suited for a simple shirt.
But a shirtdress... that might work. And it did! I pulled out the already tested Butterick 6333, chose the version without sleeves (because I did not have enough fabric) and narrow skirt (obviously the same reason and also, the fabric weight), no pockets and no belt (did I say I only had one meter?) and whipped it up in no time. Actually, not having to do a muslin helped and I knew that the dress was going to fit alright.
Obviously, this dress needs a lot of buttons, so I opened my magic button box convinced that I was not going to buy any and I found a set of perfectly grey buttons coming from my grandmother stash. They just blend in SO WELL, I cannot believe it.
The dress finished I tried it on and I am loving it. I cannot understand why I hesitated so much with this fabric. It only confirmed me one thing: I need to get more fabrics from my stash to my wardrobe.
This post will be short, but as I am trying to publish everything I sew, I cannot omit this cardigan. The fabric comes from a bundle of merino jerseys I had bought some time ago and am sewing through. I ordered everything from The Fabric Store and basically bought different weights and colours so that I can play with it. I mostly had different shades of grey.
I took some time to look for the right pattern and in the end settled on Burda 104-10/2020, my October issue had just arrived by that point. I remember changing it a lot, though.
Not sure if these pictures do it justice as I mostly wear this cardigan with black dresses or t-shirts under it. It is rather practical, warm and soft and the colour fits my wardrobe.
I am definitely planning on sewing some more merino cardigans, but next time, I will use a standard sleevehead and not the fallen sleeve - I feel like it is not the best look on me.
This is not new, but it is as amazing as my previous versions of the Bella Dress from LMV. I have sewn this pattern two times already and I definitely do not regret this third version. I bought the silk crepe in petrol little bit by chance when ordering something else. When it arrived, it was just perfect, the colour was exactly as I had imagined it and the silk crepe gives it such a nice shine, well, it is just magic.
I bought it without a specific idea on what to do with it, and then one day, it stroke me: I just need another Bella. And it was without doubt the best idea.
I really do not have anything to say to this pattern, I absolutely love wearing it in summer and the crepe just has the perfect weight for it. The bodice is lined with the same fabric and the skirt part is also doubled.
The best thing is that the pattern is so well tested that I do not need to try it on, just cut out the fabric and sew it up. Instant gratification. Sometimes just simple sewing like this is just amazing.
