Project #1

Six weeks of holidays and I am determined to find my creative side again ( it was sadly missing last year)... so project number 1, as requested by Miss B, a new summer dress.

far far away...

Image from Retro Mummy

Retro Mummy is giving away a pack of gorgeous Far Far Away fabric by Heather Ross ... you can enter HERE .

And go and check out her store while you are over there :)

Spring sewing inspiration...

It's still cold and grey in my part of the world, but I can wander through Flickr and plan and dream of warmer days... (you can click on the image to view larger)


1. ANKLE BITERS - Cabana Striped with Green Elephants - Baby or Toddler or Preschooler Lounge Pants - by Joey & Aleethea, 2. ruffle jumper in pink, 3. Peek a boo, 4. lemonade dress, 5. Sipping Sodas: The Mercado Skirt, 6. My first dress, 7. Sunshine Shortie, 8. cherry blossoms galore, 9. new dress-2, 10. another tiered dress, 11. Pillowcase Dress, 12. Ava Rose Knot Dress, 13. apricot a-line dress, 14. Fuchsia Flower Power Dress, 15. Bubble Dress, 16. twirl skirts, 17. IMG_2716 color, 18. shop till you drop 1, 19. blooms jumper, 20. go-go girl jumper

Raspberry Pavlova

No, its not a post about desserts! I've been in love with this skirt since I first saw it online. This Little Horn Pavlova skirt I've seen in real life, which only made me want one for Miss B even more. However I didn't really feel like forking out almost $60 on a skirt for a six year old. So after a quick visit to the Spotlight sale and several metres of sparkly tulle later... we have a raspberry pavlova skirt. Miss B thinks it is just divine, and in her words "perfect" for dress as a movie star day at school tomorrow. I think maybe I should have placed the first ruffle a little lower so that it sits down on her hips, it looks very cute, but is perhaps not the most figure flattering style... still don't suppose that is really a worry when you are six. Pink sparkly tulle solves all your worries then :)

The birdcage skirt...

See that black fabric, the one that I am sure has an image of a cake beater on it? Well according to Miss B that is a birdcage. Nothing can convince her otherwise, so this has become The Birdcage skirt.



I love this fabric, it has a beautiful depth of colour and a nice weight. I struggled to find a red top to match it though, everything I looked at was too "pinky red". In the end, despite the fact that I am not really a fan of black on little girls, I ended up going with a simple long sleeved black tee. I may be brave enough to attempt to applique one of the birds or an apple on the top... or then again I may not...



Miss B, just loves that it is full and twirly, and proudly tells everyone that "Mum made this skirt for me".


Unfortunately her delight does not extend to posing nicely for photos!

I think this could be addictive...

I love fabric! I have metres and metres of it stashed in my spare room. I love the colour, the pattern, the feel of smooth cotton under my fingertips. But I hate that fabric is so expensive in Australia... and then I discovered Etsy. Oh the possibilities, the combinations, the prices... the 24 hour shopping, limited only by the funds in my paypal account. I do think this could be my next addiction ;) Sharon tonight I even ordered some purple fabric!

This is Monaluna Metro Market from Fabric Supplies on Etsy. Arrived in the mail yesterday morning and is now an almost finished twirly skirt for Miss B... will post some photos when its done :)

Love Scraps ?

Check out this generous giveaway here . Make sure you say I sent you :)

For Roseanne...

Where did the pattern for the red and blue skirt came from?

I haven't ever used a skirt pattern for Miss B. The skirt is based on Angela's twirly skirt tutorial, I was aiming for more of can can look, inspired by this skirt from Oobi... not that it really ended up looking much like it.

So basically I followed Angela's tutorial, except that I like to make tiered skirts from the bottom up, so I gathered the bottom tier first and stitched it to the one above, then gathered that tier and so on. The tiers are about 7 cms in length and there are eight tiers in total. The first tier is 80 cm wide, and then I added about 25% in width to each tier, so the second tier is 100cm, the third tier is 125cm and so on... all the way down to number 8 which was around SIX metres in length. Note: These measurements fit a skinny almost six year old.

I stitched ribbon, lace or ric rac onto the tiers before gathering them. If I didn't have enough length to reach the entire width of the tier, I simply tucked under the end stitched it down and then chose another trim. I was planning to sew some buttons or small bows where the two trims met, while I was sewing I didn't really like the look of the trims butting up to each other, but when it was finished and on I decided it didn't really need it. I didn't find this particularly hard to sew, but it is quite time consuming, there was a lot of trim to stitch on and a lot of gathering... but I have to say now that it is finished I love it! As does Miss B... but in her case, that could be just about the accessories ;)