New Look 6968 Dress

Made this dress a while ago but didn't have time to take photo of it. I love the pleated sleeves and darts at neckline. 

But this dress really has lots of pleats and darts! A total of 10 sleeve pleats and 22 darts on the neckline, bodice, skirts and the lining! I think after tying the knots at the end of the darts, I've gotten so efficient!

The fabric is Red cotton with polka dots that I got from Spotlight. I line it with a dark red polyester that was in my stash.  I used size 10 for the top and size 12 at waist and below. Shorten the hem a little.

I'm happy with the blind hem stitch that I did using the tutorial from Ashley.  Even though I don't have the blind hem sewing foot, I just sew very slowly and get the seam allowance to be consistent when I sew. Most of the time, I got a really nice blind stitch so I'm quite happy with it.

Dresses for dolls

I really love the Oliver + S book on 'Little Things to Sew' as the projects instructions are so clear and the end results are so pretty. But it does takes time though cause there are many details in sewing the project which makes the final product really professional looking.

I wanted to sew some doll clothes for my girls' dolls since they look so pathetic with the lone costume that comes with it. I measure the height of the dolls and went ahead to sew up the doll clothes from the book.

The dress came up so pretty with the mix of colours. But it didn't fit! My doll, even though says 18" tall, was too fat to squeese in the clothes. Thank godness the 16" doll can wear it, even though it was slightly long. I think I got to customise the doll clothes then. I've not even sew up the buttons yet.

To make up for my mistakes, I made elastic-band skirt for the rest of the dolls so that they have skirts, not realising that 2 of the dolls are actually boys. I really fail as a mum : (

So, need to sew up some pants soon before all the dolls have identify crisis!

Anyway, I also sew up a wrap skirt for my girl which she prefer to use it as a cape. Just some random photos. Enjoy!

Art Smock

I've long since want to make this when I saw them on many of the Japanese sewing book. It's useful since it's like a tunic that pull over the head and with the long sleeves, there is no worry that the kids will dirty their clothes.

I was browsing through one of my favorite magazine Cucito.

And then, I saw this art smock.

Find the similarity? Yup! I got the exact same fabric. Bought this polyester fabric from Daiso for $2 but it is only 70cm X 100cm or 27" by 39" so it was not enough to sew up the full smock. Just enough to cut out the front and back. 

So I went back to Daiso thinking of getting one more. But that color was out of stock! So I decided to get the blue and white stripe available there, thinking maybe it will still looks good with the mix. And I'm glad I did.

I think the mix of print makes the animal print pop up more.  It was really easy with only 3 pattern pieces - front, back and sleeves.  Add elastic to the neckline and sleeves and you are done.

The pattern calls for bias tape around the neckline to be use to enclose the seams as well as using it as a casing for the elastic band! smart.

So now, she is safe to play with the paint and messy stuff! 

It looks so cute on her. Maybe I should just sew up a few more for kids of my friends.