Oliver + S Playdate dress . finally

So I am sadly realizing that the turnaround time from project-supply-buying to actual creation is well over a year. Remember this post from March of 2010? As you can see, I finally finished the Oliver + S Playdate dress and got my kid to stand still long enough for me to take some photos. At least I had the foresight to buy the larger size.

As usual, I got a little frustrated by all the details of the pattern and did a few revisions. And I have no idea where those red buttons went off to but I'm much happier with the lime green ones I bought instead.

I bought the loot for this pattern before I read the instructions and picked up piping trim instead of bias tape. That started the whole thing off on the wrong foot (pun intended) but I'm very happy with the results. I like the extra detail there instead of a ruffle.

But let me tell you, that yoke is a bitch. I have said it before on this blog that I learned my best strings of curse words from my mother while she was sewing. And one day Z will have her own sewing blog and say the very same thing about me. I made it hard on myself with the wrong supplies, sure, but it's a challenge either way. So here's what I did. I turned the yoke back inside-out (you'll know what I mean if you sew this) and made my seam allowance a little bit wider wherever I could but not at the seams. Then it still did not match up with the dress so I pulled apart my shoulder seams and tucked in the extra and made it work. To finish it, I topstitched both shoulder seams and you would not know I screwed it up.

Also, I didn't know what the heck I was supposed to do at the cuff so I just did a roll hem and added the extra button detail. Awesome. Finally, the hem called for handstitching and I wasn't about to bother so I just ironed the hem facing and stitched it to the bottom of the dress. Quick and it looks fine. I love my kid but there will be no handstitching if it can't be seen. That means embroidery and buttons will be the only time I pick up a needle and thread. Hello.

Here is a shot of the yoke at it's worst. What a mess. I have this foot that has a high edge and a low edge and I used that instead of the zipper foot that I started with. It worked great. I think it is supposed to be for hemming denim. You can also look at the photo of the back of the yoke above and see some crap topstitching but my hope is that the kid moves so fast no one will ever notice.

What happens when toddlers shop at JoAnn's

Purple. Pink. Sparkly. Shiny. Lots of stars. Coming soon: one skirt.

I'm itching to sew...

And I've got a 3-day weekend. Size 5.

This is how we gather

1 boys Barbapapa shirt from H&M Berlin plus 1 bottom hem of orange t-shirt from thrift store.

Pin the two sides of the orange panel to the seams of the blue shirt. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. Find the middle and pin. (I don't like pulling a thread to gather knits).

Stitch. Instant dress for a Barbapapa fan.

Fab challenge with Call of the Small

Before my little blog break, I saw some cool earrings on Fab.com and thought they would make the perfect accessory in a scene. Being too cheap to buy a whole pair just for myself, I asked the amazing mini designer behind Call of the Small if she would go halvsies with me and do a challenge. I don't think we set any rules: just use the earring in a scene. Here's my result.

I assumed she would do something much cooler with the earring than hang it on the wall as art so I took the safe route by doing just that. I made the frame myself (a first!) with dollhouse moulding. I used seed beads to shadow it away from the backing paper. The fireplace is actually a vintage Fisher Price couch that I turned upside-down and sideways. I printed out the brick paper and stuck it in.

The rug was actually my first idea. I don't know if it's cheating but it came to me shortly after I bought the earrings. I had the pattern printed from one of the artist's other designs before the package even arrived.

I used the roombox I designed (have I talked about that yet?) to stage the scene. My favorite part is the coral. I found the orange faux coral at Michaels and hot glued it into a bottle lid.

I bought the abstract expressionist stamps at the Post Office months ago specifically to use in scenes and finally Rothko made it.

Time: I must confess that I have been working on this scene all week! I've been playing with it bit by bit when I could get in a minute.

The goods: sparkly chairs are Petite Princess; coffee table is a glass tealight holder with a piece of paper glued on; dishes are re-ment, Ocara, Playmobil, and random eBay finds; orange chair is Reac; side table is a vintage Fisher Price chair, possibly a booster seat (?); the credenza is a dollar store table that I chopped the legs off, sanded, and washed with orange paint to be the right color and size; record player and other stuff is Tomy. I totally forget who made the earrings but hopefully Call of the Small will post a credit.

This was really fun for me. Thanks so much to Christine of Call of the Small for taking me up on this challenge. I can't wait to go see what she's done!

Handmade Wardrobe Mini Find

My mom bought a huge box of mostly trashed dollhouse furniture at a flea market a few weeks ago. Everything is pretty beat up and really old; I'm thinking 1930s but I haven't done much research yet. Among the rubble was this gem. It's a handmade wardrobe by Verna Ulrich from 1981.

Check out the leather hinges. Such fine detail!

I have the third drawer. The front has come off and I'll reattach it.

I'd like to replace the missing bunch of grapes with another if you have any idea of where to find something like it.

If anyone knows anything about this artist, I would love to know. A quick google search did not turn up any information. This is very well crafted and was obviously made with care. I feel lucky to have this piece in my collection. I wonder why it was with all that other stuff. The best word to describe it all is "primitive." I'll be photographing it soon.

Dresses to go

I'll be taking a bit of a blog break for Summer. Here are some dresses I made using the Sienna pattern from Lil Blue Boo and The Warhol Dress from Dana of made. The Salvation Army had a $1 a bag sale and I came home with 16 shirts!

Both of these patterns are super easy. I like changing it up a bit.

With the Warhol dress I made, I slashed the pattern across the top to fit the shirt I wanted to use. I don't think that was a good decision. I'm going to sew some vertical ribbons up the right side to even it out. I also added inches to the arm hole after trying it on the kid pinned. That was a mistake because it's huge. I'm not going to rip it out because it will fit next year. I doubled it over a did a quick hand tack that I'll pick out once she grows.

Enjoy the rest of July!