Monthly Archives: March 2014

Dress Pattern – First Sign of Spring

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Hello all!
I have put together a simple dress design for my daughter which is going to be perfect for our spring trip to Cuba. Yes we are going for a short holidays and it is always nice to have something fresh, so I came up with this quick project last weekend.

dress pattern - spring 1

The best is that you can learn a couple of professional finishes which will make the dress look very neat and fashionable.

I used a pink fabric as a base and green fabric to add ruffles and the finishing around the arms.

So we have two large pieces of material which I made exactly the same for the front and the back. I cut about 15 cm deep indentations on each side for the arms.

Spring dress 1

Now we will use French seam to connect both pieces together. First sew thru the whole length on the right side of both fabrics. Then iron it on the left side and sew it thru on the left side.  Iron it again to make  the fold flat to the left, right or centered, as you wish. Easy! Now all the threads are hidden inside and the dress will look pretty on the outside and  neat on the inside. 🙂

Spring dress 3

Spring dress 4

Spring dress 5

Spring dress 6

The next step is to finish the top and bottom edge and to add green ruffle at the bottom. I made it a bit longer which will allow this fashionable dress to last thru the whole summer season too.

Now another new trick! We will use elastic thread. You can buy it in Walmart or any fabric store. It costs maybe $1.50 and it will create a super effect on this spring dress.

Spring dress 7

The elastic thread should be rolled on the bobbin manually, please avoid stretching. Put it inside your machine and use second usual thread on top. You can be creative here and use maybe decorative threads to give the dress some sparkle 🙂

Spring dress 8

Measure and mark a few lines across the top part of the dress. Now we will do some shirring (gathering)! Simply sew straight lines on the dress. Each time stretch the material back to it’s original flat form while you are adding the next line. It is important to make the shirring straight and with similar intensity each time.

Spring dress 9

Spring dress 10

Spring dress 11

Spring dress 12

Make sure to tie all the ends properly and then we will hide them under the finish with green strips of material.

Spring dress 13

Spring dress 14

Now we can make nice bows for each shoulder and  the spring dress is ready to wear!

Spring dress 16

I hope you had fun. This girl’s dress took me about 1.5 h to finish.

Pyjamas pattern for kids

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I’m going to present another sewing pattern which I hope you are going to love. My sewing ideas are usually driven by the needs of my daughter and this time she is in desperate need of a new night dress as all of the others are getting tighter and shorter with each week. I hope that those of you who come to visit my site are interested in more ambitious projects as well. I know that the internet is over-filled with those easy ones, so please be prepared to work hard but also to have fantastic results.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 1I prepared my materials as usually.
Then I cut all the necessary pieces.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 2

Pyjamas pattern for kids 3For the top we have two pieces for the sleeves, the back, the left and right front as we will have buttons on the front. Then I cut three pieces for the skirt.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 4

Pyjamas pattern for kids 5Each is about 1 length longer than the higher level line. This will create extra volume which will benefit movement and warmth.
I started with the back and front. First I connected them at the top of the arms.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 6

Pyjamas pattern for kids 7Then I included the sleeves on each side. I creased some extra material on top of each which will look pretty and create some comfort.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 8Pyjamas pattern for kids 9Pyjamas pattern for kids 10I sewed it all thru and connected the sides. Then I zig-zagged each stitching to prevent hemming.
The preparation of the skirt took some time (a couple of hours) to have it all ruffled equally throughout.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 11Pyjamas pattern for kids 12Then I covered the stitching inside with double folded tape. It will protect the material well and make a neat finish.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 13Pyjamas pattern for kids 14Since I decided to add red buttons I thought it may be a good idea to add some ribbon between the skirt and the top. It  adds some interesting details to the PJ and looks pretty along with the red buttons and red button hole finish. Please remember to use liquid hem  stitching for the ribbon!

Pyjamas pattern for kids 15Pyjamas pattern for kids 16Pyjamas pattern for kids 17The whole project took me about 3-4 hours, with breaks.

Pyjamas pattern for kids 19
Enjoy sewing!I’m going to present another sewing pattern which I hope you are going to love. My sewing ideas are usually driven by needs of my daughter and this time she is in desperate need of new night dress as all of the others are getting tighter and shorter with each week. I hope that those of you who come to visit my site are interested in more ambitious projects as well. I know that internet is overfilled with those easy ones so please be prepare to work hard but also to have fantastic results.