A little ray of sunshine

That's all it took yesterday, for the sewjo to come calling....

What better way to celebrate a bit of sunshine, than with a lovely bright yellow cherry print!

I missed a first birthday party for a friends little girl a couple of weeks ago, and I still hadn't made her a pressie, so I searched through my pattern basket to find this one.

This is a vintage pattern that I picked up from the oppy - The brand is Style 2463 from 1969 and only has Size 1. It was originally sold for the grand price of $0.60.

I'm no expert, but I found that the all-in-one neck and armhole facing made the construction much more difficult than necessary for such a simple little dres, which in turn, made the shoulder construction complicated. If I make this one again, I'll re-draft the pattern piece for the neck facing and just bind the armholes.

I think little Lily will look super cute in cherries!

...and now for something crafty

The pockets look mismatched in colour but it's actually the sun glare coming in from the side.

Sometimes it's seems like forever in between crafty posts..... this is, after all, supposed to be a Craft Blog!

I've been working on this project in dribs and drabs over the last week. It's another pinny for my cousin's little girl, Ava. It was supposed to be included when I sent the last one, which was a more summery version.
This is a wintery version which will be perfect over a long sleeved top and woollen tights.

It's made from my absolute favourite op shop find of all time - a vintage bedspread (which also features on my living room wall)

I even made the pockets from the matching fabric in the middle canvas on the wall!

After the little glitch with the armhole binding on the last pinny, I modified my method a little, and I'm much happier with the finish. It's nice and neat. I'm still not sold on the neck facings on this pattern, I think that they should be larger so that they sit more flatly against the dress. I think I'll re-draft that pattern piece for the next one.

For the final finishing touch, I added a little bit of vintage ric-rac at the end..... the print is so loud that it probably doesn't need much more bling!

I'm popping it in the post today so I hope she likes it.

A long time between drinks....

So I counted backwards yesterday, and worked out that I hadn't switched the sewing machine on for sixteen whole days. Now that's gotta be some sort of record for me.

I haven't had the energy to do much all week, but I really need to try to get back into the swing of things around here. On top of that, I have some lovely (and very patient) people waiting on custom orders, that I don't want to let down.

The first thing on the list was this little pinny for my cousins daughter. I totally love the fabric combo together, although I'm not 100% happy with the armhole facing. I need to rethink my method (I didn't follow the instructions, I just did it my own way.... not always the most intelligent thing to do).

I also finally shortened and re-hemmed my sisters jeans. Following along with this philosophy, there was no changing of overlocker thread to match as they're OFMS (only for my sister)....

It figured that it would have taken me longer to re-thread than the total time it took to re-hem!

More Mini

After making the little pinny dress for Gypsy's charity drive, I thought it might be fun to actually follow the pattern properly to see how it turns out.

With the other one, I used view A which had a square neckline at the front (and I made it in size 4), so for this one, I decided to go with view B which has a round neckline and pockets (and I made a Size 2).

It's amazing how much more fiddly the armholes are on a Size 2!

I couldn't resist adding a bit of vintage ric rac trim from the huge stash that I received last week.

I'll be adding this one to the birthday / christmas pressie stash for later in the year.... I thinking ahead for once in my life!

Pretty Pinnies

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. The sun was streaming in through the windows in my craft space, so with no other plans for the day, I decided to hit the sewing machine.

When Gypsy came along to the NCB this week, I promised that I would help out with her request for pinafores to be donated to the Dago Dela Hera Orphanage in Kenya.

I had a pattern in the stash that I'd picked up for $1 at the oppy yonks ago - it's a McCalls 7783.  The request from Gypsy was to make the pinnies reversible, so that each one is actually two dresses in one.
I cut out two sets of fronts and backs from the pattern, and then ditched the rest of the pieces and instructions while I worked out how to make it reversible instead.

I found that the easiest way to make it reversible was to sew up the side and shoulder seams of both the dresses, and then iron the seams flat on each. I then placed one dress inside the other (with wrong sides facing together), and stitched in the ditch along both side seams to attach the dresses together.

To finish off the seams, I first stay-stitched all the way around to join both, and then bound the neck opening, arm holes and bottom of the dress.

I was rushing at the end, so the arm hole binding needs a bit of unpicking and extra work still.....

There's still time to help out - just get in contact with Gypsy, or bring along your contribution to the next Northern Craft Bonanza to pass on. If you can't make a pinny, they're also taking donations of simple elastic wasited shorts for little boys.