A little piece of sunshine yellow

This little top started out as Style "m" in girly style wardrobe.  It was supposed to be a dress, but during a lapse in concentration, I cut it off at the wrong line.  I reduced the fullness and used pin-tucks instead of gathers.  I was taking in the armholes across the front chest, as I think many children's patterns are too wide there, and in another concentration lapse, kept cutting at the bottom of the armholes...so now they are cut a tad low  ("I think I'll just wear this one at home Mum, I don't want people to see my underarms"..."Yeah?  What about all those singlet tops you get about in?").  I swapped the patch pocket for one of my own design, and now that I'm looking at the photos, I realise that I've sewn it on the wrong side.  In spite of all that kerfuffle, it is still a pretty cute little top.

The yellow seersucker fabric is from Tessuti's Surry Hills store.  It is a medium weight seersucker, which would probably look good in those Burda WOF seersucker jackets that crop up at regular intervals!  The yoke fabric is an Amy Butler fat quarter.

Japanese Girly Skirt

 

I have been longing to get hold of some of these beautifully photographed Japanese sewing books.  I am sorely tempted by "Pattern Magic", but thought I would ease in with "girly style wardrobe".

The styles in this book are timeless and simple.  I am not the world's fastest sewer.  I am not one of those people that can disappear into their sewing room and emerge triumphant several hours later with a completed garment.  I sew children's clothing when I need my sewing fix and don't have time to sew something for me.  From start to finish, including tracing the pattern and studying the instruction diagrams, this took me 2 hours.

 

You can see the bias binding waist ribbon tied in a bow at the back

The fabric:  A Japanese cotton, Mustard Blooms,  from Tessuti.  The fabric has a gorgeous texture, which you can see in the photo in the Tessuti on-line shop.  It is hard to tell, but the little flowers are pale pink and white, which makes for easy matching of t-shirts.

I used a pre-formed pink gingham bias trim, from a local quilting shop "The Tinkers Cart".  And why wouldn't you, when it is so cute?  I also bought it in blue and yellow.

The pattern:  Style "d" from girly style wardrobe.  Only, I used less pleats at the front of the skirt because I had a different pattern in mind when I bought the fabric and did not have quite enough fabric for this style.

Here are my tips for working with these patterns

• Open out the pattern sheet.  Have a look at it, then go and have a cup of tea.  There are a lot of lines.  They will still be there when you get back.
• You can find translations for the Japanese symbols on the web, but I found it was easier to think about the pattern pieces logically than to match symbols (see here).
• Seam allowances are not included.  The diagrams in the book show recommended seam allowances to be added to each pattern piece.  There is usually no seam allowance when you are finishing an edge with bias trim.
  
• Identify the pattern pieces you need by looking for the style letters.  A bodice piece may be used for several patterns, so it could be labelled with multiple letters.  I did this outside dance class, and some non-sewing people helped me find the pieces I needed, once they realised that I was not looking at house plans.
• On the pattern sheet, the front bodice is positioned above the front skirt, and the back bodice is positioned above the back skirt.  See?  Logical.  Fronts generally have a lower neckline than backs. 
• On the instruction diagrams, the big numbers indicate the order in which the steps are sewn.
• Children's sizes are generally selected on the height (given in cm in this book).  Because my daughter has little hips, I chose a pattern based on hip measurement and then added to the length.  I probably didn't need to add so much length because she likes to wear her skirts under her belly.
• There are lists in the instructions for how much elastic to buy etc.  It may be helpful to translate these symbols (see here).  Because I was custom-making for somebody, I just inserted the elastic and then adjusted it to fit, before sewing it in place.

Holiday Sewing

Blouse + linen pants, cuffs rolled up for cricket

The first part of my holiday was spent with family on the Sunshine Coast.  We drove down, and were not camping, so I had room to take my machine.  I was still hand-sewing my LBD, so I didn't want to do anything complicated.  I thought it was time to catch up on some simple sewing for my children (and I get the guilts when I see all that adorable children's clothing on other people's blogs and my children are running around, grubby in worn out hand-me-downs).  I just took a couple of children's patterns and then bought some lovely cottons from Oh Sew Noosa.

I made a blouse and pants, adapted from Burda 9948 (now OOP).  It is sized 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.  When I first started using it, Sz 2 was too big for my children.  This time I had to cut out the biggest size, which was a little sad.  I have used this pants pattern for my boys as well as Lucy.

Blouse worn with jeans, rock-star performance

The top pattern is for an elasticated neck.  I changed this by gathering the front onto a bias band, and putting pin-tucks in the back.  I put a continuous placket opening in the centre-front (except I couldn't remember how to do this without my reference books and it is a little bodgy).  I gathered the sleeves onto bias bands.  I took up tucks around the hem-line to reduce the length.

Blouse, back detail

Next I took inspiration from here to make a tunic-top.  It is long enough to be worn as a dress.  Lucy has worn it as a dress, over a singlet (shown below), over jeans and over the linen pants.  It has already had quite a few wearings!  The straps are a red / white cord, purchased locally, which was actually the starting point for this little collection.  I would like to add to the collection with shorts.

Dress, worn over singlet (just waking up)

Dress, back view (criss-cross straps)

It is hard to see here, but the straps criss-cross in the back.  I made this dress using the full width of the fabric.  I tuned over the short ends to make the button placket, hemmed the bottom, and gathered the top onto a band.  I added loops to feed the straps through.

Dress worn as tunic, over linen pants