Far far away

These babies are on their way to Australia. Yes! all the way to Australia. A super sweet Mama from down under bought two of the dresses from my etsy store
 and I added these hair accessories to her order...because...well, who doesn't want to spoil little girls?

Of course! sales from my store make me happy, but what makes me really happy is the fact that somewhere far far away, there's an adorable little girl who is
wearing clothes I made. I think that satisfaction is what makes me get up and work that sewing machine every morning.
What do you look forward to in your day?

Sew Easy - Part 3

Read the story behind this series and the first part of the series here. The second part is Flutter Sleeves Dress Tutorial is here.

So we have worked on a skirt and a dress so far, now lets keep working on the little girl's wardrobe and make a butterfly shrug (I know, what is it with me and butterflies?). I have used some new techniques here, that haven't been used so far but I have still tried to keep it simple so that anyone with the basic skills can make it.


Supplies:
Knit fabric :  1yd ( I actually used the upper half of the Tshirt that we used in part 1 here, but I actually would advise against doing it, I'll explain more ...later)
Satin Ribbon: 1/2 yd
matching thread, scissor, marker
A top or another shrug that fits the child

Cutting:


1.

Fold the top in half lengthwise and place on the fold of the fabric. Adjust the length, e.g. the top is regular length but I wanted shrug to be smaller than the top so I measured only part of its length. Add no more than half inch for seams and hem. Mark around the edges of the top adding about half inch of seam allowance. Make sure you fold the arms to mark the armhole. Cut. This is the back of shrug.


2.

Now place the back part on another folded fabric. Ideally, I wanted the fabric to be large enough to get 
the whole back on the fold, but I was working with half the Tshirt, so I didn't have enough fabric.  I could just get three quarters of my back piece on the fold. That's why I recommend that you use the fabric or at least a whole Tshirt.


3. 

Mark the length about 5 inches longer than the back like above pic.


4. Now lets shape the front in the butterfly shape.

Fold the back piece in half lengthwise, now mark along the armholes, shouders and neckline, when you reach the end of neckline just extend it further upto the fold, as shown in picture. At the hemline, instead of cutting it straight like the back piece, cut it triangular the way I have shown in the picture. If I had enough fabric I would have both the neckline and hemline meet into another triangle. Like the picture below.

Anyhow, dont fuss cutting this too much because a little difference in shape doesn't really matter.


5.

For the sleeves, I just measured the width and length using the top, and marked along with some seam allowance. 
6. To make the curve at the armhole

I just placed the back piece and followed its curve. Then joined the end point of this curve with the mark for the length of the sleeve. 

Cut two of these.
Sew Easy Tip: For small children we dont need to cut front and back armholes differently.

These are the pieces that we just cut.


7. Now lets put these together

Sew along the neckline of a front piece and pull the bobbin thread of this seam to gather. You want to gather it such that its width becomes a little over half of back piece.  Do the same for the other
front piece.

8. Join the shoulders of back and front pieces, right sides together.

9.

Now join the sleeves to the main body of shrug, right sides together.

Sew Easy Tip: Start from the middle of sleeve ( Shoulder tip and work your way to one end first, then start from the center and attach upto the other end)

9.

Now turn the whole shrug inside out and sew the sides along with the sleeves on either side.
Sew Easy Tip: Start from the armhole seam and sew the sleeve seam first and then start from the  armhole seam and work your way down to the side of the shrug.  We do this because the armhole has to line up perfectly, and if you start with one end, when you reach the armhole, you may find that the two ends are not lining up properly because of small difference in cutting or seam allowance. To avoid this start with the most important seam, i.e. the armhole and sew the rest from there. If the hemline is uneven, you can always trim it, same goes for the end sleeve.

At this point you can try it on the child.

10. Now lets work on the neckline:

Cut about 3 inch wide strip which is equal to the (length of neckline+2)

Now fold it in 1/2 inch from one end, wrong sides together.

Now fold it again length wise.

11. Now sew this strip along the neckline, with raw ends lining up with the neckline.  Try to stretch the strip as you sew, this will make it easier to turn.

When you reach another end of neckline (actually about 4 inch before the neckline), open the strip's lengthwise fold, now fold another half inch from the width at the  end and fold it back lengthwise.
Sew it up to the end.

12.

Now fold the strip in half lengthwise and turn it over the raw edge of neckline, sew from the right side as
close to the strip as possible and making sure you're cathing the strip on the other side. Go easy in this step, because its critical that you finish it as nicely as possible.

13. Now cut the ribbon into two parts and sew each of these to the ends of the neckline.

14. Shrug is ready:

15. I highly recommend that you take the time to finish the hems and sleeves using rolled hems. Here's a great tutorial on how to do rolled hems


Optional: Adding ruffles on the neckline:

1.

Cut two strips of fabric, about 2 inches wide and twice the length of neckline

2.

Fold in quarter like above. Fold one more time, in eighth.

3.

Cut scallops

4. Do the same for the other strip

5.
You will have these:

6.

Lay the strips one over the other.

7.

Set your stitch length to longest stitch and se a seam in the center of this strip.

8.

Pull the bobbin thread to ruffle these strips such that the length become equal to the length of neckline.

Sew this ruffled strip along the neckline using zig-zag stitch. And Done!

Isn't it cute?

Bodice sewing pattern for the eyelet dress

Just popped in to let you know that I have uploaded the bodice pattern of the eyelet dress for you guys.

Click here to get it.

I made it for my teeny-tiny one and a half year old ( meaning average height and wayyyy below average weight) so you'll have to take my markings with a pinch ( or several spoonful) of salt. One good way to know if the pattern would work for you is to measure the waist of the child add 2 inches to it and then divide the whole thing by four ( Q = (W+2)/4). If this Q is equal to any of the markings on the pattern, then it will work for you, or you will need to adjust.


Also, this is my first time uploading a pattern and I'm pretty sure I must have screwed up somewhere. So do let me know, if you face any problem. Most likely its not you....its me!

Flower Girl dress tutorial

Hope you had a fun and relaxing long weekend with your family.

With summer here, its time to get ready for summer weddings.
Am I the only one who thinks that little flower girls are the cutest part of any wedding party ( Did I just invite the wrath of all the brides and brides-maids?)
I thought this would be a good time to share the tutorial for a simple and elegant flower girl dress.

Step 1. Take any plain dress pattern that you have and cut bodice pieces from the lining as well as main
fabric. I used lace for my main fabric and cotton for lining because little one is allergic to poly materials.
If that is not a concern, you can choose satin as the lining. It looks better with lace and not that hard to work with.

Step 2. Join the lining pieces at the shoulders. Also join the main fabric pieces at the shoulder, right sides together.

Step 3.
Now make a slit ( roughly 3 inch should be good) at the center of back of neckline ( both main fabric  and lining). This will help in getting the dress over the head while wearing.
Now join the lining and main fabric at the neckline, right sides together; treat the slit you just made as part of neckline .  Go slow and make sure the seam width is same across the neckline, and also that you are catching both the fabrics. The necklines make or break the dresses so be sure of getting it right.
One you have sewn across the neckline, cut small notches throughout the neckline going up to the seams but not cutting into it. This will help the fabrics sit flat when you turn the neck out.
Turn the dress out at the neckline and iron from the lining side.

It is looking like a lined bodice now.

Now lets work on armholes:

Step 4:  I think the picture is the easiest way to explain this step. From one side of the bodice hold main fabric and lining fabric separately and then bring them together at the other side such that the rest of the bodice is sandwiched between them.
Here's another pic:

See we are taking apart lining and main fabric and turning them over towards the other armhole.

And this the part where we have sandwiched the main bodice between main fabric and lining from the other side.
Now join the main fabric and lining at the armhole, make sure you're catching only the fabrics from the armhole you just brought to this side and not any other part of the bodice.
Now cut some notches inside the curvy part of the armhole you had just sewn, just the way you did it for   neckline.
Now turn it out by pulling out the bodice that has been sandwiched inside. It is hard to visualize ( dang! no pics) but quite intuitive when you're actually doing this.
Congrats! You have just finished the armhole of one side.

Finish the other armhole in the same way. Here you are:

Step 5. Finishing the sides:
now from the bottom of the bodice pull apart the fabric and lining. You will get something like this:

Now sew the side seams starting with main fabric right sides together and keep going when you reach the lining and sew the side shut, do it for both the sides. Turn out. Iron.
Now sew on a button and buttonhole (or snaps, or velcro) on the slit at the back to provide a closure.
Voila, bodice is ready! Now we will work on the skirt part of the dress.

For the skirt also we will cut two pieces one from main fabric ( lace) one from lining.
For determining the size of these pieces, you can just measure the width of bodice (W) and and half of W to it. So the total becomes 1.5W. So if your bodice width ( all around is 20 inches, your skirt width will become 30 inches. This will give you a skirt that is fuller than the bodice, but not too flouncy. In my opinion that looks better in formal dresses, but feel free o add more to the width, if you want a fuller skirt. As for the length, since the bodice is ready, you can just measure the total length of dress you want on the child and then subtract bodice length from it, that will give you desired skirt length, add 1 inch to this length for seam allowance and you get the length(L) and width(1.5W) of the rectangles for skirt.


Now cut one rectangle of above length and Width each from Main fabric and lining.
While cutting lace, if you can cut such that one end falls on the selvage, it would be great. That way you won't have to hem the main fabric at the end

Now for each fabric make a tube by bringing together length sides, right sides together and sewing it shut.

Now turn both inside out and place lining fabric tube inside main fabric tube. Such that lining right side is touching main fabric wrong side. Now sew two rows of seams along the top of this tube. Hold the bobbin thread from these seams and pull it gently to gather the top. Even out the gathers and measure the top of skirt against the bodice width. Once the top of skirt becomes equal to the bodice width, check the gathers again and even out if they are uneven.

Now the skirt is ready to be attached to the bodice.

 

Turn the bodice and skirt inside out. Line up the lengthwise seam  of the skirt with the center of the back of bodice and pin the bodice to the skirt along the width ( Right sides together). You may have to even out any uneven gathers during this step. Now sew across the width to attach the bodice to skirt. Finish the seam from inside with a serger or by zigzag stitch on your sewing machine.

Turn the whole thing inside out. 

Sew on a button/snap/velcro at the slit you made at the back for closure.

Hem the hemline of lining fabric ( also main fabric if it is raw edge - rolled hem seems to work better for lace fabrics )

Marvel at your sewing skills! You just made a fully lined dress.

Now lets make a sash to match the wedding colors.

For the sash I made ( with ruffles in the front ) I took a sheer fabric of 

Length = 5 inch

Width = 72 inches ( twice the width of a standard fabric, so you may have to join two strips together for this)

(Although I chose sheer fabric, I highly recommend making the sash from satin instead, looks much better)

Sorry no pics of this step, but I will tr my best to explain it to you.

Now fold the strip right sides together along the length ( to make a 2.5 inch strip ) Now sew along the raw edge at the 72 inch side. 

Turn the strip inside out. Now you have a tube of 72 inches which is open from both ends.

Gathering the ruffles in the front

Mark 20 inches mark from both ends, and sew two rows of seams between these two marks at the center of the strip. Now pull the bobbin threads of these seams gently from one end to gather the strip. 

Make the gathers equal to the front width of the bodice.

Sew the ruffled area on the bodice with a zigzag stitch.

Finish the raw ends of the sash by tucking them inside the tube and top-stitching them. This can be tied at the back.

The front:

The back:

Put it on your favorite flower girl! Enjoy!