Gabriela's Easter Dress - 2019

It's become a tradition by now - every year, I make a yellow Easter dress for my sweetness Gabriela. I don't know why it has to be yellow :) It doesn't, but it was yellow two years ago, last year I made it yellow because the first one was yellow, and this year, I'm turning it into a firm tradition: it must be yellow or some shade of yellow. Anyhooooo...

I made it early this year, because I wanted to give myself sufficient time in case I messed up or if my idea was good in my head, but wouldn't quite work when realized. But I think it turned out pretty well. And it's Peter Rabbit, so it can be worn for Easter, but it can also be worn as a regular day slightly dressier dress :)

I love that the materials for it came from everywhere! The corduroy fabric is from the luckyshot0228 on Etsy. It's actually in Seul, South Korea! The special carrot buttons are also from an Etsy shop - the MagiCuts, based in Lisbon, Portugal. The Peter Rabbit machine embroidery design is also from an Etsy shop - Stitching Blues. And the lining and rickrack for the hem are from my faithful local JoAnne's Fabrics in Ballard.

Here it is on a toddler dress form:



And here it is laid flat so that you can see the Easter eggs lining :) and get the close up of these very special buttons. There were 5 buttons total in the package that I got. I need to figure out what to do with the other 3!








Childrens Clothes

Wow! I can't believe my last post was so many months ago! I haven't exactly been idle. Quite the contrary: I've modified and successfully used quite a few patterns since the peasant blouse. I've played with many embroidery designs. I picked up a new amazing embroidery machine and several child dress forms.

The problem is that I'm short on time. My daughter Gabriela is 2.5 years old and the only times I get to sew is when she's asleep. And afterwards, there's simply no time to take pictures of the clothes and blog about them. It'll all even out eventually when she will start day care. But for now, I'm forced to keep it at one blog post per few months.

So here's what I've been working on most recently, during these last couple weeks. I started with the Simplicity 8430 pattern, but modified it to make the skirt much fuller and gathered, and lowed the waistline. The result was so pleasing that I made 4 dresses with this modified pattern for Gabby, and I'll be making yet another one. All the fabrics are cotton knits that I found on fabric.com








And here are some pictures of Gabster actually wearing one of these dresses :) She loves them! They are comfortable and stylish.





I also worked on the New Look 6504 pattern. No alterations on this one. I practiced on some Tutti Fruitti fabric at first. Here's a summer dress that I whipped up. It's fully lined, btw:


But this was really just practice for what I wanted to make for Gabster for Valentine's Day. It's a corduroy pink dress with the most incredible applique that I found in the amazing Elen Mari Etsy shop. This dress is also fully lined. I chose to further decorate the applique with some ribbon, rick-rack, and I picked up special heart-shaped buttons.



Here are some more snaps of this dress and of Gabby wearing it:






Halloween Peasant Blouse with Embroidered Yoke

I've size limitations when it comes to my embroidery machine, but I did finally figure out the dimensions and the pattern for a peasant blouse with an embroidered yoke. So I'll be making a few more of these - I've amassed a pretty good collection of machine embroidery designs :)

Quite happy with how this one turned out :)



Bow Neckline T-shirt

I got this idea from Sezane :) I saw the Lilian t-shirt and fell in love with it instantly. And then I figured out how to make it. I'll be making a few more because it's super easy, but this first one turned out perfect! And this is such a fun knit print. I scored it at the NorthWest Sewing expo a few months ago. I got a lot of this fabric, so I've quite a few yards left, but I used one to make this t-shirt. Already wore it today - comfortable and stylish!







Easter Dress for Gabriela - 2018

Last April, when Gabriela was 8 months old, I made her a pretty little Easter dress with some yellow jersey and delicate cotton print. It also had a tulle underskirt.

I've decided to make this our annual tradition - a custom-made TrapkeybyGaia Easter dress for Gabster. This year, my sweetness is 20 months old, she's walking, talking, singing and I wanted a more sophisticated look. And I tried to make a dress that is perfect for Easter but neutral enough so she could also wear it on other occasions - just a pretty spring party dress.

For this dress, I used the Diva Bunny Girl Easter Machine Applique Design by StitchAwayApplique that I found on Etsy. I chose the yellow and white floral printed Tutti Fruitti textured cotton. Then I added some decorative buttons in the back and a lovely yellow trim that I found at Pacific Fabrics.

Think it turned out pretty well, though I probably should have used the 5'' x 7'' applique size, instead of 4'' x 4''.

Since the dress is sleeveless (I did it using the burrito method), Gaby is wearing a light white Gap cardigan, it's still pretty chilly in Seattle :)

Interesting tip that I picked up this year: to gather the skirt, I used two rows of wide stitches instead of only one. I then pulled on both threads to create my gathers, secured each end with a couple knots, and then attached the skirt to the bodice. The two rows gave me a lot more control over the gather and I ended up with a lovely evenly gathered and very full skirt - exactly what I wanted. 

Happy Easter! 













Here's last year's dress :)



Sailor Collar Variations

I've also been playing with a sailor collar patterns. Made a couple tops with this gorgeous striped cotton from moodfabrics. Not too happy with the sleeve length on the first and the sleeve edge finish - I was lazy. But overall, the sailor collar looks decent.








Peter Pan Collar Variation

I've been playing with Peter Pan collars a lot lately. Here's a little cat top I made a few weeks ago. The collar looks like cat ears :)




Very Dolce and Gabbana

I'm still on a ruching kick and I've made quite a few tops like the white "Carrie" one I posted about below. But the one that I finished last night and wearing today stands out because of its incredible graphic print! It's so unique, vibrant and full of color! Very Dolce and Gabbana, indeed! I got this fabric at Stitches on Capitol Hill a while ago and it stayed in my stash all this time because I had no idea what pattern would work with it. I think this is a good blend of the print and design.

Here are some shots: