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Just right for any occasion: the girl with the dragonfly dress

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As you might know by now (if not, go back and read the last 5 posts a bit more carefully), we have been attending a wedding and I know that some of you can’t wait to finally see THE dress.

Well, we have established that much to some people’s disappointment the bride was only wearing a normal wedding dress (she did look really beautiful in it, but still just a normal wedding dress). Obviously for those of us who are born in England, the expectations are a bit higher when it comes to wedding dresses, you want to see something more royal, somewhere in between Lady Di and the Duchess of Cambridge.

But back to our outfit. Before looking for a suitable dress, we agreed that the bride should be the one with the most eye-catching dress so when choosing the number of layers of tuelle one should keep that in mind. I wasn’t planning on making a tulle-y dream of a dress for a one time occasion so we went shopping on the high street. But there was nothing. Really nothing. So we went fabric shopping instead. I was thinking of using a simple pattern and just doing two layers, tulle on top. The nearest fabric shop that had tulle on their website was biostoffe, my favourite fabric shop anyway. Unfortunately the organic version of tulle was not what we expected but they had some gorgeous voile by C.Pauli. We could easily agree on the turquoise version with white and glittery dragonflies.

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It was really perfect, sparkly enough for the little princess and yet still really nice and tasteful (I almost bought some of the aubergine version for myself)

Patternwise, we kept it simple, Leni by pattydoo a lovely summer dress for woven fabrics. IMG-20170904-WA0025 (3)

pattern: Leni by pattydoo, fabric: Libellensommer by C. Pauli

You might find the bodice a bit too wide. I usually cut her dresses in size 122 with a length of 134 (two sizes difference). If I would follow the measurements, I would have to go for another 3 sizes smaller but that seems just wrong. And in the end, even a princess needs to be able to run, jump and move around freely. Especially on the dancefloor.

To make sure that this simple dress would be slightly more suitable for a wedding, I added a silver ribbon around the waist

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and some Diamant buttons (considering how much they cost, I assume they are not real)

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The dress with its circle skirt was not only incredibly powerful on the dance floor (sorry no pics) but would also work for an afternoon tea party.

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I am really happy with the dress. It was quick to make (possibly quicker than finally finding something in the shops), it satisfied the desire for a nice and “elegant” dress without making grown ups feeling sick or blind.

And since the whole outfit, including white thights and shoes and sparkly nail polish, was good enough for a wedding, Madame decided to wear it on her first day back to school, too. So my worries of investing time and money for something that might only get worn once were completely unfounded.

I still owe you pictures of the amazing accessories we were all wearing but apart from that we could actually go back to every day’s life and work.

 

 

 

 

 

Day and Night

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Sorry for missing another Scrap Sunday but we only came back from the famous wedding weekend yesterday. And whilst, as a family we had been wearing lots of Scrap Sunday projects, unfortunately I did not manage to take decent pictures. Same problem for the even famouser (I do realise that this is not a real word, thank you) wedding outfit. By the way, much to her disappointment, the bride had only been wearing a normal wedding dress (luckily the kind bride had prepared us by sending us a picture beforehand – I guess she had a feeling the expectations of a certain young lady might be a little bit higher than she could provide with her “normal” wedding dress. Apart from that, the wedding has been great, lovely couple, lovely family members, lovely guests, great food, even greater music. We really had a good time and a lovely short break. As usual I am getting side-tracked, I am clearly not attending big events often enough.

Anyway, today I had the pleasure to hand over a present to a 12-year-old girl who had a big day today. I find her style really cool, very grown-up. Definitely more grown-up than my style. But then, that doesn’t mean anything considering how I usually dress.

Anyway, I tried hard to match her taste, I am not sure if I managed.

The fabric is a design by Susalabim, called Mannequin. It is the first time I have used a fabric which comes in pattern repeats (so you have to buy any multiple of 80cm if you see what I mean). As one repeat would have been a bit short, I used  a pattern with a yoke which allowed me to use a different fabric on top. It is called Pia and is a pattern for a top by pattydoo. So I elongated the main part of the shirt to the 80cm of one repeat to get the maximum out of it.

Unfortunately, I am unable to show you pictures of the dress being worn. Whilst I did manage to squeeze in to find the right hight for the belt, it would not be suitable to show of the features of a loose fit dress.  A clothes hanger will have to do.

 

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pattern: Pia by pattydoo, fabric: jersey by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

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Personally I am rather pleased with the result, almost what I had in mind. I just don’t like the armhole/sleeve cuffs. But surprise-surprise. I had cut out the fabric before thinking things through. Next time I would add two cm to make a normal hem.

In any case, I hope the new owner likes it, I will never find out, the whole family is far to polite to tell me if I have just ridiculed myself.

like a gazelle

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… jumps this project the blog queue.

But I am just so proud that I finally got the trousers project going.

I guess all those Sachensuchershorts have been good preparation.

A year ago, I already had in mind to take the trousers online class at SewOverIt and I finally purchased it, including two patterns, one for a pair of summer “Carrie” trousers and one for the “ultimate” trousers. It is mainly the latter I am curious about. I guess the Carrie, I could have made without an online class.

So, at the beginning of the summer, I did not only purchase said class but also a light woven viscose. In – and now you better sit down – black and white. With small pattern. It was hard work to settle on such a subtle fabric. But then on the other hand there was almost only black and white stuff available. In any case I was really determined to make something that would be easier to match.

I printed the pattern, glued the papers together and even cut out the right size weeks ago. But then the more urgent giant floor covering project came in its way.

We delivered the project on Monday, so I finally had time to make up those Carrie trousers. Just right for this very hot and summery week.

 

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Don’t I look cool with my hands in my pockets? I guess, my grandma would not only disagree but also tell me off.

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Revealing pictures, in my position as famous blogger I really need to be up-to-date with my pedicures.

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Not very flattering back view. Is it me? Is it the trousers? I guess, I would need something that looks like the Carries from the front but tight jeans from the back. We will see if the “ultimate” trousers are able to deliver. At least they have a promising name.

 

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pattern: Carrie Trousers by SewOverIt, fabric: woven viscose

As a conclusion, I’d say I definitely got what I expected. They are very comfortable and practicable, I tested them on an outing to the zoo. They already got a bit loose, close to dropping. We will have to wait and see how they look after a couple of washes. But I could definitely imagine to make another pair next season. But for now I am working on a set of two trousers for the children. I am worried because they do look tight. They are meant to be slim fitting but maybe I should have gone for a slightly stretchy fabric. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

And now over to RUMS to see what others have achieved this week.

 

 

Ups, I seem to have forgotten the title

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A while ago, I posted pictures of some very summery shorts for the two big ones. And I know that some of you are since then wondering how I could possibly make clothes for them and forget about the little one. Obviously I did not forget about him. How could I, he is constantly within 50cm and complains loudly whenever I try to leave this radius.

Aaanyway, I thought, as we finally live in a country where the sun is sometimes shining, it would be time for a few rompers.

I used the pattern Babyanzug Anton by klimperklein which has snaps between the legs so you have easy nappy access.

I am in general a big fan of ebooks, I just don’t get why they always have to start with the sentence “please read the entire ebook before getting started”. Seriously, I am experienced enough to just work my way through.

The pattern is designed in a way to save paper and you have to use the legs twice, once with the front top and once with the back top. So, I cut out the fabric, wondering a bit about the additional lines on the leg, probably the front is supposed to be smaller than the back… I guess. Everyone would agree. I guess. Well, I guess one could also have thought of it being the facing for the opening but I had not read the instructions for the facing version since I had settled on the binding one.

Luckily the boy has my slim legs so I got away with it.

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pattern: Babyanzug Anton by klimperklein, fabric by lillestoff

Obviously one is not enough for a whole summer, so I quickly made a second one, this time following the facing version.

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fabric by Hamburger Liebe

To be honest, I used slightly too thick interfacing in combination with negligent sewing so back and front opening don’t match up properly.

 

 

As clearly a romper is a must have, I made two more for my nephews:

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both main fabrics by Hamburger Liebe

To make sure, that their sisters wouldn’t get jealous, I continued to work:

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pattern: Sachensuchershorts by Fabelwald, fabric: Hamburger Liebe (I believe)

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pattern: Traegerkleid by klimperklein, fabric: dots by Hamburger Liebe (I believe), horses part of my Advent calendar last year

And just to complete this post about random recent makes:

a dress for a three year old lady who was very determined and quick when choosing her fabric out of my stash

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pattern: Traegerkleid by klimperklein

with a freestyle handbag

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and a couple of T-Shirts for a couple of boys:

 

pattern: Leo by pattydoo, fabric: Adventkalendar, no idea

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pattern: Leo by pattydoo, fabric Hamburger Liebe

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pattern: Leo by pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff , design Susalabim

Sadly this is far from being up to date but all the pictures I found on the computer. Clearly I need to do a shooting of another birthday outfit for a not so little boy, another little dress suitable for a baptism (but not for a wedding apparently), a breastfeeding friendly dress suitable for a baptism (and probably for a wedding), and two proper scrap sunday projects. But as I want to turn them into tutorials, this will take a while. I’d say a year or two realistically.

Oh, and the latest project finished today covered half of the living room floor and involves about 38 pictures.

I really need a personal assistant to get this blog up to date. Salary next to nothing. Applications welcome.

Since I am mentioning a finished project you might wonder if I already have a new project in mind. And what on earth happened to the often mentioned trousers project? Well, I can proudly say that three pairs of trousers are already cut out, waiting to be stitched together (each one individually, not all together, silly!) . In light and summery material. Never mind, the children will need 3/4 length trousers next year anyway.  And then there is fabric for new hoodies, tops, baby outfits for yet to be born babies, birthday presents for various nephews and nieces and about 7 skeins of yarn (150g each, just to be clear) waiting to be knitted up. All I need now is a little bit of time. Luckily I can fully trust the big ones to babysit the little one. So watch this space.