This is Big Sis's sewing project; finished, in true home sewing style, with a tight deadline, late nights, and sewing in pyjamas the morning of the wearing.
She has been asking for sewing lessons because lots of her friends are signed up for local classes. Given that I just have to spend the time and effort to show her the ropes, I thought I had better get on and do just that. I committed to sewing with her for an hour on Fridays and Sundays.
She decided she wanted a red checked dress in time for Christmas. We shopped for the fabric online and got a lovely soft flannel. She decided to use the wrong side out because it was unbrushed and she liked the cleaner lines of the pattern. She was not terribly impressed with using the same pattern as always, The Party Dress from The Cottage Mama, perhaps because she wanted cap sleeves. I wasn't about to go and trace and cut out a whole new pattern bodice block, but I did find a BurdaStyle pattern with sleeves so I traced the sleeve and the armscye from that to use over the block.
We spent a long lesson with the fabric laid out, working out grainlines and nap and cutting out with the rotary cutter. She was pretty bored. Then she moved the deadline up by 3 weeks to wear in time for the school Christmas Fair. From then on, we kept her role to sewing up and I was in charge of repairs, cutting and pinning.
The sleeves were a bit small, I re-did the seams with a 5mm allowance, but she doesn't have much room in them. The bodice was too short for her so we added the waistband. For future reference, it needs to come down by about 10cm. I cut the skirt at a length of 62cm, but hemmed about 15cm of it away.
Her sewing was excellent. With almost no practice, she sewed straight lines and got the fabric moving through the machine well. The second and third seams she ever sewed were putting the sleeves in. That is not easy to do and they went in perfectly. I was so proud of her.
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