Beige short sleeve dress

This is one of our winter dresses and with some sort of wool mix.

This dress is not lined  (quite unlike me but which I want to be doing more of now., at least for casual outfits)

This was made using burdastyle 9564  same as this dress  (the brown strawberry dress) 

Bias binding was used round the neck line, four chocolate buttons was used and cream  bows (just for the sake of it :)) attached to the sleeves and hem of the dress.

Made with Burdastyle 9564

Tired...

Could see myself making more of this kind of dresses as its a bit more grown up looking and not too 'girly', not that there is anything wrong with 'girly' dresses as we love 'girly' dresses.

...but finally managed a smiled.

Would like to call this part of 'my little lady collection'.

posted pictures in this post by mistake before finally editing and writing the words in. lol
Hope you like what you see and will be back.
regards.

Brown Strawberry Dress.

we started to make our winter wardrobe early.

One good thing about making clothes is !You decide, you design!

So we decided on lots of long sleeves, warm fabrics and jackets. (Haven't had time to make the jackets yet though.)

Been really busy sorting out our collection that's why we have not been in the blog world lately.

This is a dress made in chocolate brown corduroy. Its got a strip of brown corduroy with red/white trimmings on both sides. This trimmings was edged stitiched on the brown strip of corduroy. 

Started using design elements that the girls will love hence the strawberry buttons.

When the dress was made and they were asked to wear for fitting they both refused, which is nothing new..

  until they saw the strawberies!!! they happily wore the dress and didn't want to get it off.

Same trimmings was added to lower part of skirt which has another gathered layer attached to it.

More strawberries at the back.

Back view of dress.

Not a very clear picture but you can see some excitement over the buttons. lol.

The sleeves was made using this burdastyle pattern  9564

Well, another winter collection will be on its way shortly.

Regards.

Pink Two-layered dress with yellow trim

 Made this dress well over a year ago, but i just love it so much i have to blog about it.
Was made using butterick's 4967 pattern.

Butterick 4967

Made the yellow version. Fabric used is cotton fabric but with light flowery embroidery design.

 The instructions in the pattern are quite simple and straight foward.

Centred Zipper

 Ribbon trim came about when I wanted to hem and found hemming very difficult.( go figure, circle skirt) I then took the ribbon sewed it on to the edge without even folding it down. Luckily fabric didn't fray that much.

I just love this picture...

Someone is trying to make an entrance...

All for now.., until later. Regards.

Boys Shirt, waistcoat and trouser

Decided to try my hands on making a shirt for the boy, before now things like collars and placket used to put some fear into me, Used Burda pattern 9792 and made the long sleeved version.

Overlocked the seams to achieve a 'clean' look.

Took me about 4 hours to make this shirt, and I am happy I tried. the collar for this pattern in a single piece, guessing simpler than the two piece version. 

Burda 9792

At least now I am starting to understand how collars and plackets work. 

Waistcoat and Trouser

This is the waistcoat and trouser I made for the Paris wedding. it was made using black corduroy fabric. It came through pretty quickly... as it as been made before in navy blue corduroy. I used the size 4 years pattern for my 4yrs old, so I would say it is true to size for him.

Burda 9781

Some people have problems understand burda pattern instructions, but I must say I have had no problems with them. Although I did give the collar making part a very very good look to understand it.

Back View.

The bow in this last picture is a joke I know. Lol. My excuse is that I didn't have a pattern or sample to use in making it. :-)

Thanks for coming around.
Big Regards.

Lace Peplum/Dress

It's so hot, mummy !!

We went to Paris for a wedding this August. One of the themes of the wedding was to wear something purple and since I was blessed (given) this fabric earlier in the year, i decided to use it for myself and the girls. Also made a trouser with waistcoat for the boy but that is not featured here.

By the way temperatures that weekend reached up to (38°C = 100.4°F). It was sooo hot. So the frowns in the pictures are not real frowns :) but due to the sun.

Top bodice and peplum of my dress is self drafted. :)  yes, I am planning to eventually move away from store bought patterns because they are so limiting in designs and size variations.

Peplum was drafted by using the idea of a simple circle skirt. Total length was just about 11" long, width was my waist size.

Back View.

Don't have a picture for my back view but its pretty much similar to front view, peplum goes all the way around.

Used 'pinks' i.e bows, shoe to compliment their purple dresses.

Why the ribbon running down the centre front of the girls you say? Well i realised after cutting the top pattern that it was slightly bigger than i wanted, so i sewed about 1/4th inch seam allowance right sides together and ended up with a line down the centre which i covered with the ribbon. In fashion a mistake normally leads to another fashion invention. lol. it turned out OK i guess. 

Notice the purple trim detail on the peplum?

While we wait for the coach to pick us from the registry to the wedding reception venue...

Probably wanted a drink at that time.

That's a picture of myself and one of the girls. We mostly survived on drinks because of the heat.

The wedding itself was beautiful and fully romantic if I must say. The bride and groom were both adorable.

Until next time, have a wonderful day, week, month and please leave a message so I will know you were here.

Regards.

Purple floral Simplicity 2404

I have got serious history with this simplicity 2404 pattern. I bought it three times!!! Yes you heard read right. First time it got lost in the post, second time it got lost in the post. As if I knew there was something about this pattern and me, I bought it the third time. Phew.. it got delivered to me.

I just love this pattern. Truly an amazing fit. (well in my opinion.)
Navy blue lace trim added at the empire waistline as a little design detail.

Skirt in pattern was for a straight skirt, I used an 'A' skirt because I don't like my dresses clinging to me at waist level cos I still have a bit of a 'stomach' :)

Back view

There you have it, my simplicity 2404. Glad I finally got it. Planning another version in red and white but that might not get on the priority list until next year. lol.

At the rate I make clothes, I will soon need a charity to pass dresses to because of the quantity we all have combined. lol.

Well its all in the name of practising to perfect my skills!! :)

Reflections: Who knows Tomorrow.

Who knows tomorrow.?
Tell me exactly how you day will go tomorrow, hour by hour...
who will you walk past on the road, when will your phone ring and who will be calling.
and if after tomorrow it goes exactly as planned;  please let me know.!!



Our world is so developed...
Our technology has taken us very far.
Almost everything can be done with the click of a button.

Starting a car with the push of a button

We know what is happening in other parts of the world...

Just as it is happening or after it has happened.
All our technology cannot tell us what will happen before it happens.

Even the weather man gets it wrong sometimes.

Needless to say not one of us knows exactly what will happen tomorrow.

By the end of tomorrow, would you be able to say categorically, I knew everything that was going to happen to me today, how and when it was going to happen even before it did.

not to mention next week,next month, next year....

Yet The Creator knows what will happen at the end of a thing even from its beginning. !!!
Wouldn't you like to know Him so he can give you tips and hints, sometimes even tell you what will happen and generally point you in the right direction for your life. 

...

Purple Dress Jacket

I have wanted to make the girls a summer jacket since the begining of summer ! Finally got around to making it. Normally i love "quick and easy" but with this project i decided to spend more time...

...so I decided to make a fully lined jacket to include a collar and pockets. Buttons on sleeve hem and shirring was also added later. Shirring came about when I decided the jacket was a bit big and wanted to make it fitted. Buttons on hem came about when 'daddy' said the jacket needed 'extra wow factor.!'

'Take this sis'

I decided to have this photo shoot in the park since well, jackets are outdoor clothing. their purple jacket seems to match the playgronud. lol

Wheeeee.........
Can you see the button detail on sleeve?

Jacket E used.

This was available from 3-8 yrs, as I wanted it smaller I scaled it down. Does anyone want to know how to scale a pattern down? Haven't really seen the tutorial but could do one if anyone is interested.

Different buttons used for girl jackets

I was going to use the deep pink buttons thoughout but lost two buttons so had to go for a slightly different type of pink.

Fully Lined

Jacket was fully lined including the sleeves!!

Shirring detail.

The pocket detail.

Added a bit more colour by inserting this colourful striped fabric into the purple fabric to make the pockets.

See, I did take my time. Remember I had to make two of everything. The shirring bit was done 8!! times, i.e done on left and right sides, thats 4 times and separately for lining also.

So why did I call this a 'dress jacket' you say? well its the length of a dress.
In hind sight a summer jacket shouldn't be knee length rather just below the waist. Not a problem we will use this for autume then, ha.
Thanks for reading. Hope you have been inspired.
Regards.