More Dino Shorts

I got this t-shirt fabric from Fabricana in 2023, at the same time as my lurex for the bell bottoms. I thought Big Sis needed a t-shirt, but she decided it was too pyjama-like and so she would like some sleep shorts.

I went back to Sew Over It's Poppy Playsuit pattern, my favourite elastic-waist shorts pattern. I've been making the shorts in size 10/12 here and here but, in this fabric, they came out absolutely huge! Maybe it is because it is a stretch. This is ironic because I struggled to fit all the pattern pieces on the right way up. The back pieces were in danger of being cut upside down. Instead, I re-traced the pattern to remove 1cm from each seam allowance so that I could get everything on the right way up. I was planning to overlock the seams, so I only needed 5mm.

They were a very straightforward sew, side seams, crotch seam, waistband fold and hems.

Costs:

Fabric: Fabricana, $16.78

Pattern: Sew Over It, $0.00 (used previously)

Thread: eBay, $1.00

Notions: Waistband elastic $0.00 (upcycled)

Total: $17.78

Dino Shorts

I had 1.15m of dinosaur poplin left after the Dino Overalls, so the obvious garment to make was a pair of shorts. In fact, I think shorts are more practical and wearable than the overalls, although these do look somewhat like pyjamas.

I used the shorts pattern from the Sew Over It Poppy Playsuit, which I had used for myself a few years ago. It was great to have these to check the fit (no changes) and remind myself of the construction. I did flat felled seams for the legs and a french seam for the crotch. The waistband was elastic from an old pair of boxers, just folded over at the top of the pattern pieces. No additional waistband piece.

I didn't stitch down the cuffs at the top, just the bottom. For which I needed to do two rows, because I missed some parts on the first row. I also secured the cuffs at each side seam.

I cut pocket bags, but I forgot to put them in. I didn't want to re-do flat felled seams. I'll have to keep those pockets for another garment.

This really is the perfect elastic waist shorts pattern. I got some stretch dino fabric recently. I was thinking of a t-shirt, but she says she needs shorts more.

Supplies:

  Fabric: $0.00 (used previously)

  Pattern: $0.00 (used previously)

  Notions: $0.00 (stash thread, upcycled elastic)

Total: $0

Dino Overalls

Oh my gosh, how cute are these overalls? I feel like I am dressing a toddler again!

The dino love is real and she has been wanting some wild, loud overalls for a little while now. We went fabric shopping in Australia, at Spotlight, and this cotton poplin exceeded her wildest expectations. Pink and purple dinos! On a black background!! With lots and lots, and lots, of dinos!!! Ok, so it was poplin, but it would work.

I used the Seamwork Beckett pattern, with a few modifications. For the toile, I cut size 12, grading out to 14 in waist. This was too large, there would have been even more gaping at the waist, which in overalls, would mean that you can look down inside the garment. Not nice. I cut the pattern down to a 12 all over.

I also graded out the leg seams to make them less pegged. She wanted straight legs. I added 1/2 inch to either side on the back and front pattern pieces, for a total addition of 2 inches to each leg.

I lengthened the pattern pieces by two inches, one at each of the lengthen and shorten lines. She thought the leg length was too short in the toile and wanted an extra two inches. I decided to do it in both places because I think she is a bit short waisted, so the extra rise would give her a bit more fabric through this area.

Pockets! It needs side pockets! I decided to add pockets to the side fronts, which really did make things difficult. I can see why the pattern designers left these out. Firstly, I had to toile the making of the plackets, because I really didn’t understand how these all fit together, then figure out the construction order for putting the placket inside the pocket

My adjustments: Firstly, I wanted to do a flat felled seam on the inside leg, so I had to assemble this seam first. It is not possible to do once the other leg seam is sewn. I did a false flat felled seam (French seam to the right side and then stitched it down. 

Then, I sewed the front placket piece (known as the lining) to the back of the pocket bag. The back placket piece went on the back of the leg piece, as normal. I used the pocket pattern pieces from my SOI Erin Skirt. I needed to make the angle of the pocket opening steeper so that it would almost fully expose the placket. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to stitch it down at the bottom properly, and the buttons would not be properly accessible. I added stay tape to the top of the pocket opening.

I attached the front pocket bag to the front trouser leg, and the placket to the back pocket bag, then joined the two pocket bags together. Finally, I sewed the leg side seams together, catching the two pocket bags into the same seam.

Not gonna lie, these pocket-and-placket steps took as long as the whole rest of the garment assembly.

I made the straps wider. I wanted to use metal eyelets and sliders, not the tied on grommets that the pattern called for. The eyelets are 1 inch wide so I increased strap size to 3.25 inches. I also lengthened the straps by... quite a bit. I had to lower the back by about 1.5cm to allow extra width at the back. I just eyeballed this at the assembly stage. The sliders keep sliding down so I'm going to actually sew these in place, and she wants hooks added to the top of the button plackets to add more shape to the waistline. 

I should have added interfacing to the top of the front bib. It is a serious point of weakness, where the buttons are hammered through. Interfacing would support everything better.

The side fastenings are just two buttons. I went with purple, because I had them in my stash, and they are cute touch of whimsy.

I used 2.85m of the 4m of fabric that I bought. I cut the pattern pieces as single layers but I didn't bother to do any pattern matching. I have 1.15m remaining and she would like a pair of summer shorts. Stand by!

Supplies:

   Fabric: Spotlight, 4m, A$58 (C$52)

   Toile fabric: old sheet, $0

   Pattern: bought one pattern from Simplicity that I didn't use A$6 (C$5.40)

   Then Beckett from Seamwork, USD$16 (C$22.40)

   Hooks and sliders for straps: Amazon, $14.25

   Interfacing, buttons, thread: from stash $0

Total: $94.05

(Yikes! That came out a bit expensive for a novelty kids garment!)

Ruffle Cold Shoulder Top

When one is a tween, it becomes more important to have a wardrobe of “fashion” choices in one’s clothing. When one is the youngest, and therefore has more clothing than anyone, of a shorter lifespan than everyone, one’s mother is not taking her to the mall for new clothes.

Instead, the poor child gets offered an upcycled ruffle top from an old sheet. Thankfully, she loves it!

The fabric is an oldie but a goodie. Honestly, this sheet has been upcycled more times than the Von Trapp family’s curtains. I used it for my first Sorbetto - which then became the lining for a Sorbetto Dress - and this particular piece was previously a ghost costume, which will not be reprised. It is a cotton sateen in a high thread count with a lovely light blue-ish colour. I call it Eau De Nil.

For the pattern, I Googled a ruffle top tutorial and came up with this one from We All Sew. Sometimes, my linked tutorials and calculations get lost over time, as websites are upgraded or overhauled, so I'm going to re-write the good ones again on this blog. They are linked too, so I've given credit.

The ruffle is 2 x the circumference of the shoulders and the bodice is supposed to be the bust circumference. I don't really get how this would fit over the shoulders, even on a very busty woman, but especially for a child. After I had cut the bodice, I had to piece another panel through the middle back to make it fit over her head. I also didn't get the armholes large enough, especially to allow her to wear the ruffle on her shoulders, so I had to unpick the bias binding from these and re-do them much, much larger. That was a pain.

My order of construction was:
Cut out two pieces of fabric, one for the ruffle and one for the bodice.
Piece another section into the back of the bodice
Slit two armholes and cut away a small width of fabric. Mine ended up being 20cm long, from the top.
Finish armholes with bias binding.
Finish hem of bodice and ruffle.
Attach ruffle to bodice, using overlocker to finish edges.
Fold over to make elastic casing.
Thread elastic and sew up final hole.

Costs:
 Fabric: £0
 Thread: £0
 Pattern: £0
 Elastic: £0
Total: £0

Girl's Summer PJs Refashion

With sincere apologies to my mother's lovely, gorgeous and talented friend, who made this nightie for her: I have refashioned it into girls' summer pyjamas.

The original nightie was super-fun to wear for the "before" photos: floor length and billowing fabric, but not so fun to sleep in. There was just too much fabric, and the underarms were a little too tight so the lace scratched my arms.

When I opened it up, I could see that it was just two straight rectangles, sewn selvedge to selvedge. It was very nicely done, and yielded about 2.5m of fabric, plus a lot of lovely lace and ribbon. I used almost all the fabric for these pyjamas, with none to spare. Partly because I had to work around a few stains as this nightie is quite a few years old.

For my pattern, I used Simplicity 1504 in the Child/Teen size M. There are a few printing mistakes on the pattern pieces, some of the child ones say teen/adult and are in fact child/teen. The sizing on this pattern is also a little funny in that the adult XS fits in between the sizing for the child M and L and then the child L fits between adult XS and S. They shouldn't bother with the whole child / adult sizing and just carry on up the chart, but I suppose customers are used to picking a certain size.

I shortened the sleeve to 28cm, to include a cuff detail. The legs, I shortened to the lengthen/shorten lines and then removed another 1 1/2 inches. I should have flared out for the cuff piece, the legs taper to the cuff and I lost some width when I turned them up.

I spent a long time adding piping to the front facings, the collar and the pocket pieces, plus the hem and sleeve cuffs. All told, it needed 3.4m of piping cord. I used one of M's old work shirts for the piping fabric. It was nice and stiff, which I needed since I was pulling apart a 3mm piping cord to make 1mm and the bumps show through if the fabric is not made of stern stuff. Plus, free fabric! All I had to put in to this whole project was the interfacing, piping cord and waistband elastic.

I made two breast pockets - the fabric is very sheer - and did a top hem, rather than piping around the bottom. I stitched a line of stitches around the fold lines of the pockets, and a row of gathering stitches around the corners to draw them up more neatly. Still didn't get rounded corners 'though.

I tried to start tracking my hours of work on a project. Not that I am trying to put a value on my labour - this is a hobby - but I thought it would be interesting to see how much time I do invest in these things. But I sew in bits and pieces of stolen time and if I record when I start, I usually forget to note when I finish.

After piping, a huge chunk of time was spent doing flat felled seams on every single seam. I stitched the seam allowance to the underside for the top, because this looks neater, and to the outside for the shorts, because I think this is more comfortable to wear. I used Carolyn's tutorial for sewing a flat felled seam on a curve. These meant that I had to set the sleeves in flat, and then sew up the side seams and underarm seams.

I added a back facing too, as I did for my adult version. I had forgotten that I'd done that. I think the collar is too heavy to just sit there on the back piece all by itself, and it neatens up the whole back neckline easily.

I made the cuffs by turning up the sleeves and leg cuffs. By sewing the piping to the bottom edge of the wrong side, I could fold it up, right sides together and flip it to the inside of the cuff piece. So the cuff is an additional single thickness, plus seam allowance. I made the separate casing for the waistband, thinking it was slightly smaller than the top of the shorts, meaning a few less gathers on the elastic itself. But it turned out to be the same size, so a higher rise would have been easier. I used 71cm of 20mm elastic. Since I can't at all tell the front from the back, I'll add a ribbon tie at the front.

The pockets would have looked better at hip height, but I wanted a bit of additional modesty at the front. You can see a pattern of her swimsuit through the sheerness of this fabric. Which my iron told me was polycotton.

Costs: 
 Fabric: upcycled, £0 
 Pattern: used previously, £0
 Notions: 
   Lightweight Interfacing, 50cm: £2.26
   Piping Cord, 112cm: 49p
   20mm white elastic, 71cm: 49p
   Buttons, from school uniform: £0
Total: £3.24

Red Fleece Zip Jacket

After the success of my pattern hacking on the Girl's Coco Dress, I decided to push the pattern even further and go for a zip up jacket. Big Sis needed a non-hoodie top for sports and I had this red fleece and this red separating zip so decided to make up my own pattern to suit them.

I decided to trim this jacket with new silver ribbing, the only thing I bought for this project. I had navy, but red and navy are their school PE kit. I think the silver looks sort of Italian. I have no idea why.

She chose the slightly smoother side for the right side and I used silver thread for the overlocker. 

Unfortunately, the separating zip that I had (bought from a charity shop on the Isle of Wight) wasn't long enough to make a turtleneck, which is what I wanted. This is a v-neck, and is a little too low to be truly practical. But still worth making, considering I had almost all the materials to hand, and no other plans for any of them. 

After studying some of my RTW zip up tops, I decided the order of construction should be:

1. Sew shoulder seams together
2. Set sleeves in to armscye
3. Sew up side seams and under sleeve seams
4. Add ribbing to cuffs and hem band
5. Insert zip, leaving a small part not attached at the top of the zip
6. Add neckline ribbing, reducing width so that it will finish at the top of the zip  
7. Sew remaining inch of zip into place, meeting at neckline ribbing 
8. Add band of bias binding to inside of zip seam to hide the raw edge of the ribbing and the top of the zip tape. Where they meet gets quite messy.

I loved putting in the separating zip! Easiest type of zip to insert ever! And I can't believe I changed my thread colour so the topstitching created by the bias binding was red through the body and silver for the ribbing. Too bad it was a terrible mess at the top of the back. I left it as is. 

She has gone on her trip now (sob!), and we didn't have time to get photos of her wearing it, so we will have to do that when she gets back.

Costs: 

 Fabric: very old, purchased 2011 to make Christmas crafts, £0

 Pattern: Simplicity 1584, used 7 times before, £0

 Notions: 

  Zip: Charity Shop, 20p

  Ribbing: eBay, £5.25 

  Bias binding: Granny £0

Total: £5.45

Mini Me Coco Sweatshirt Dress

Getting my sewjo back with a Coco dress seems to be how I need to ease myself through January. Even though I made my NYE Tablecloth between Christmas and New Year, I still find that the Christmas comedown and preparing for two birthdays in January means that I don't sew at all in January. Then I start to panic and think that I'll never sew again. Then I calm down and make something easy. Like a sweatshirt dress.

Big Sis has been an admirer of my Coco Sweatshirt Dress ever since I finished it last February. She, adorably, asked for one of her own. I had plenty of fabric left over from mine, so I added it to my sewing queue.

For the pattern I went back to one of my all time favourite children's patterns: Simplicity 1584. Seriously, this pattern is amazing! It is a perfect basic pattern block, the long sleeve dress can be made short sleeve, or sleeveless, I've done a drop waisted dress from it - actually, three; it also has a long sleeve knit t-shirt, pull on bottoms - which together would make great pyjamas - and of course capes. Because everybody needs capes. I've made three myself. Between this pattern and the Cottage Mama Party Dress, I think I have everything I need to keep my children in clothing. And it goes up to a size 8. Which still fits my 11 year old. Best Pattern Ever!

It was also FAST! On Thursday night, I got inspired to get on with it (two days until her birthday), dug out the fabric and pattern, cut out, realising I could cut the back on the fold - saving another seam in the process - and overlocked all the seams together. Win for already having dark thread in my overlocker. She tried it on and I scooped out about an inch from the front neckline. I didn't lengthen the sleeves because I was adding ribbing. I did add two inches to the hem length, and then shortened it by the same amount in the end. The side seams also needed shaping at the waistline. This is a very shapeless dress.

The next night, I found the navy ribbing I bought at the same time as the fabric and sewed that on to the neckline and sleeve cuffs. The fit was really good, but the colour (Dark Navy) is darker than the main fabric. She knew it was on its way, so I didn't have to rush to get it finished for her birthday. She was pleased that I was working on it though.

She liked the idea of pink patch pockets, and these scraps from my Liberty Sweatshirt (also Coco) are a very nice match with the navy. I really struggle with patch pockets. I never get them exactly right. And this style, with the marked contrast, is very unforgiving. I used the small pocket from the Coco pattern, and added 1/4 inch all around. I also topstitched the top edge of the pocket facing so that these were held down properly. I forgot to add a proper allowance for folding over at the time of cutting out. The pocket pattern piece should not really be square, but rectangular to allow for this.

Never mind that, it is a minor niggle with an otherwise great pattern. I mainly got my pockets sewn on straight, without too many wavy edges. The hem is finished with two rows of top stitching too. I would have liked a deeper hem, but chose to leave it just a smidgeon longer than requested because she is growing fast, this big little girl of mine.

Costs: 
 Fabric: used previously, £0.00
 Pattern: used previously, £0.00 
 Notions: navy ribbing, £6.45
Total: £6.45

Wool Cardigan

The poor child got shown this yarn when I first bought it in July 2011. That is SIX AND A HALF YEARS AGO! She waited so patiently for her cardigan, dear love. Luckily she still likes purple.

This Hayfield Bonus Aran is only 20% wool, but it feels as though it has a much higher wool content. It feels wooly and soft, but not poly-soft. The yarn comes in the most enormous ball: 400g at once. The good part is that there are no joins between balls, and you never leave your spare balls behind. The bad part is that the ball gets in a bit of a mess as you knit with it because it falls apart as you go along. A lot of re-winding was necessary. But... no joins!

I eventually started knitting it up in January 2016. That is TWO YEARS AGO! I used the same pattern as a previous cardigan for her, the Lace Panel Cardigan from Fabulous Knits. I cast on for the 6-7 year size again, expecting that it might be a size or two larger in the Aran weight wool.

It was absolutely enormous! Larger than the ball of yarn. It was massively large on me. So I put it aside for another YEAR AND A HALF and re-cast on for the size 2-3 this summer.

I did a rib waistband. I should have stuck with my original 2x2 rib and a thicker band. This one is 1x1 and only about 1 inch deep so it is prone to flipping up - which is something I hate about home knits.

I had to re-think the raglan sleeves so that I could join them to the body and keep knitting. I should have left a stitch between the decreases to make a thicker seam, rather than a row of eyelets, but otherwise it worked well. I had to re-knit a section because I was decreasing too fast and I needed the height of the shoulder to be taller. I think I switched from decreasing every second row to every fourth row, but we tried it on as we went along, and it is pretty quick by the time you get to this part of the shoulders. My actual notes are on Ravelry.

I seamed the sleeves rather than knitting in the round. My rounds show where the needles break the pattern and never look as nice as flat knitting. So I chose to have one seam under the arm rather than four breaks all around.

I am in two minds as to whether I think the seamed on button bands are necessary or not. On the one hand, they allow you to stretch the bands into place, making the edges firmer and giving a good finish. They also allow you to place the buttonholes evenly, especially if you are making up the size as you go along - as I was. I suppose, on reflection, the seaming is worth it, albeit painful at the time. I very nearly didn't finish because of this seaming.

I only had six of the metal buttons so I couldn't add any more, and had to make do with the button placement as it is. One extra would have been perfect. I sewed them on to the first button band and left the knitting of the second one to match up the buttons with the buttonholes as I knitted up. This is the edge that I nearly didn't finish. Luckily, I am not one to allow myself to get going with a new project until the old one is finished.

I did make an exception of a PussyHat, in case Baby Donald showed up in town and I needed to go to a protest at short notice. I also needed a de-stress knitting project and this was the right sort of mindless knitting that is just what the doctor ordered.

The Refashioners: Child Waistcoat

This is an unexpected, additional contribution to The Refashioners, SuitsYou refashion, going on this October. The Refashioners is a fun challenge which pretty much sounds like what it is: refashion an unwanted garment into something new. 2017's challenge is to use a suit. Luckily for me, M's favourite outfit is a suit and he has plenty of them. He also got two new ones this year, so it was time for a clear out.

This navy beauty is Georgio Armani. The fabric is actually navy, with a tiny grey pinstripe giving an overall effect of a charcoal colour with a subtle stripe.  

My first garment going in to the Refashioners is a dress for me. But this was finished first because it had to jump the queue since the child told me she is going on a school trip and needs a Victorian costume.

Oh dear, there was a lot of drama getting to the right costume! She wasn't hearing of wearing an apron over a dress. No matter how much we Googled, or how many pictures we looked at. No way! But she was willing to dress as a boy, so we solved the drama with this waistcoat.

Here is the suit before refashioning. (You can see I have gone to a lot of trouble with my hair and makeup for this photo shoot.)

I had cut up most of the suit for my dress: trousers, back jacket panel and jacket sleeves. Only the front of the jacket was left. I used half the fronts, and all of the jacket lining (minus sleeves) for this waistcoat.

The pattern is Burda Style 11/2013 which has some great child sized patterns in that issue. This pattern is actually for a fur vest, not a proper waistcoat. I traced the largest size, and added 1 1/4 inch of length.

I cut the two back pieces from the back jacket lining. These have a seam instead of on the fold, but they were already stitched together, so I left them as they were. They just fitted, with no other seams, but I did have to unpick the side backs from the centre backs. They had been taken in there so the seam allowance was large. 

This photo shows the whole lining being used. The pattern was lengthened after I took this. The two backs are going to run down the centre back and the two fronts are taking up the whole front lining, including the welt pocket on the right.

The front pieces were cut from the front of the jacket, with the jacket hem used as the waistcoat hem. The tailors had sewn bias binding around the hem curve and I wanted to make the most of their work. The front jacket is also interfaced with fusible interfacing. After I lengthened the pattern, I could just squeeze out the fronts without running into the buttonhole. It is in the seam allowance, as is the side of the outside welt pocket.

I managed to keep the small welt pocket from the lining that sits high on the inside of the left front jacket. I moved this to the lower inside waistcoat as it was the only pocket where the scale was right for a child's garment. All the other pockets were way too big. The handkerchief pocket would have been cute, but I couldn't get a lower front from it. The care instructions label was just below the welt, so I kept both of those features.

I had a terrible job figuring out the instructions for turning the waistcoat and a quick and simple project turned into a lot of unpicking. I unpicked the shoulder seams to try to get the turn the way Burda instructed. I unpicked the side seams when that didn't work. I sewed them up again, and still it didn't work, so they got unpicked a third time. Gosh, I'm so bored just writing this! I got there in the end, thanks to this tutorial. I was able to sew most of the hem closed from the inside and just hand sewed the last little bit. I wish I had stabilised the back neckline with a bit of ribbon or stay tape, it seems very flimsy.

I didn't add any closures, hanging open is fine, and kept the edge looking clean, preserving the edge that the nice suit tailors put there, stabilised and steamed so beautifully.

We decided that she looks like a farmer's son in Sunday best, rather than a beggar boy. She is going to put some pennies in her pocket and pretend she is a thief!

Dalmatian Dress

As I did my Disney research, I read about Disney Bounding. My first thought was, “How fun!” (My second thought was, “That is terrible grammar!”) Disney Bounding is the practice of dressing for your favourite Disney character, without being in costume, which adult visitors are not permitted to do at Disney.

The girls favourite Disney movie is 101 Dalmatians and Big Sis wears her Dalmatian onesie almost daily. Since I wouldn’t let her wear the onesie to Disneyland, it seemed only fair to make her a polka dot dress so that she could Disney Bound too. 

Then I looked in Little Sis’ cupboard and found a polka dot dress the same! I was really looking forward to seeing my two dalmatians in the park. We were planning to meet Cruella de Ville and I was going to say, "Cruella, darling! What do you think of my two dalmatians? Aren't their coats divine?"

But, sadly, Cruella was not in town that day, and Little Sis' dress got left at home in London, when she didn't go and fetch it for packing. oops. We had a cute meet and greet with Mickey instead.

The fabric is polycotton, and I lined the bodice with white cotton. It’s a shame to see the reverse of the polka dots in the seam allowances, but I trimmed them down a bit, and it is not too distracting. The skirt is 3 widths of fabric, so the amount of gathering means I could get away with leaving it unlined. I love the black sash. The bodice is way too short for my big girl (Cottage Mama Party Dress, again, in size 8), so I had to add a sash. This is black cotton, but has some stretch. I gathered it at the side seams, and sewed the tucks down to take the weight of the skirt. I made a black bow, but left it off, thinking it too fragile to last for long.

I couldn’t get Disney patches for the dogs faces, so we had to make do with generic Dalmatian faces. The back is fastened with some polka dot buttons that I got in Canada a few years ago and I faced the hem with white cotton. She likes dressing as an animal, so this dress is fine for normal wear too.

Floral Circle Skirts

I bought this fabric in the Isle of Wight 3 years ago. Finally, it has become the two circle skirts that I was always planning. I love the bright flowers on the navy background.

I squeezed out two circle skirts from 2.5m of fabric. I had to cut the larger one as one half plus two quarters to make it fit. The smaller one, I managed to make from a full circle. The fabric was in a terrible state though, full of pulls and flaws. Serves me right for buying polycotton. Something I am determined to never do again. It is neither drapey nor thick, just kind of thin and stiff, not nice to sew or wear, plus it fades fast in the wash. So why did I bother to sew with it at all? Well, as I said, I love the colours and patterns on this print. And, I have really enjoyed getting back to sewing with woven cottons. Simple projects that I can knock out quickly.

I was on a roll that week, making 6 garments in 8 days. Powering through my queue so fast that I'm worried about what I might do if I get to the end of it! Buy some more fabric? Maybe I'll finally buy that Vogue skirt pattern and make myself that navy skirt. Of course, my queue is never going to run out.

These are my third circle skirts for the girls. My best ones are still the turquoise ones. 

Using the same tutorial as my yellow Eurovision skirt, the measurements are:

Large: A: 64cm, B: 10.19cm, C: 54cm, D: 64cm

Small: A: 58cm, B: 9.25cm, C: 48cm, D: 57.25

The larger one came out too small in the waistband. I lowered it, but I have made the elastic too loose, so I'll have to pull it in and tighten it. 

The skirts each have different bindings on the hem, which I think is a cute touch. Light pink for the little one (1 inch folded bias binding), bright pink for the big one (1/2 inch bias facing, made by me). The colour on the big one is a little too red. Schiaparelli pink, rather than bright, light pink of the flowers. But I let them each choose, and I like that they chose different versions. 

Supplies: 

 Fabric: 2.5m @ £2.55/m = £6.38
 Elastic: salvaged from fitted sheets, £0
 Binding:
   light (stash) £0
   dark, 75cm £3.40
Total: £9.78 for two

White Sunhats

I've been waiting to make these hats for a long time, and some gloriously sunny weather, over a long weekend, finally prompted me to get on with it. That, plus a self-imposed rule that I complete one thing for me, and one thing for the girls each month. These were May.

I had quite a few frogs to eat, to get these made. First, I had to re-size a pattern, then I had to find some very old, stashed supplies. It's lovely to have things to hand, but it is also hard to look them out and find them when you want them. Easier to buy at the time, and make the project then and there.

But, back to the hats. E had this adorable hat when she was about 4-5 years old. I got it from Target in Australia and she wore it a lot. It went with everything, and looked really cute. I was very sorry when they grew out of it, but it has taken me about 5 years to recreate it. I finally got my Mum to SMS me this picture of the picture - because she has it up in her house, and I couldn't be bothered looking through my photo archives for it. I got the trim from eBay, and I knew my white cotton twill would be perfect. 


Their last two sunhats, red and starburst (blue-ish) have become too small. I had made the largest size of the Oliver & S Bucket Hat, so I knew I needed to increase the sizing of the pattern. Google showed me this tutorial for increasing a size in a pattern, so I used this as my starting point. I also looked at the changes between sizes of the hat, and tried to mimic the amount of change to take it up another size. 

Then I cut out a toile from an old white business shirt. I forgot to flare out the edge of the brim to make it broader, and decided to leave it out of the real hat, because the trim made the brim heavy, and I would not have had enough. I decided to add about 3/4 of an inch through the sides of the crown too.

I finally got on with this project on Friday when I had a day off and we were set for a run of sunny days. I wanted the girls to actually have them, you know, this summer. I didn't quite meet my target of that afternoon, for two hats, but I was pretty close.

I couldn't find my white quilting cotton for lining, so I used two old business shirts. They worked really well. There was no problem joining the two different weights of fabric, and the twill is very heavy so it was nicer to pair it with a light fabric for the lining. 

I joined the brim seams with a 1.5cm seam allowance (all others are 1cm). I interfaced with medium weight interfacing. 

Trimming them was really fun. I used light pink thread for attaching and just did it by machine. I did three bands of top stitching around the brim. The yellow doesn't really show up, so I put that closest to the lace. I had just three motifs left over: two butterflies and one flower. I supplemented these with buttons from my button jar, including two ladybirds that I have had for years. It was nice to find a worthy home for them. I didn't do any embroidery on the side of the crown. The original hat has this, but I left it off.

I finished off by hand stitching the lining down where the crown meets the brim. I'd like to trim the underside of the brim with a narrow ribbon. The hat is a bit plain up by the face, more so on the butterfly one, the flowers hang over the edge more. 

Costs:
   Fabric: £3.19
   Lining: £0.00
   Interfacing: £1.12
   Trim: £4.98
   Thread: stash
Total: £9.29 (£4.65 each)