Simplicity 2444: The Kid Dress

The ward (or congregation) I attend has undergone some organizational changes recently, and I have received a new assignment to work with and teach the 1 1/2 to 3 year old kids during church.  I'm really excited about this new assignment, because the kids that age are so fun.  They are also super active and require a lot of chasing after.  I quickly realized that my current wardrobe of pencil skirts wasn't going to work well :)

So I figured I'd better find some clothes that allow for bending, sitting on the floor, playing, reading stories and chasing toddlers :)  That meant some full skirts.  I've seen several renditions of this pattern in the blog world, and they all looked great, so I thought I'd try making one.  I liked the fit and flare silhouette and the unusual darts in the bodice front, as well as the classic shape of the dress.

I made a couple changes to the pattern.  I cut the skirt front and skirt back, as well as the bodice front and bodice back on the fold, and moved the zipper from the center back to the side.  I used an invisible zipper and it actually went in really well.  I used the tutorial from the Seams, Closures and Hems video by Liesl Gibson, and the zipper went in beautifully and was, indeed, invisible.  I've used her method several times, and it always sees to work really well.  I used a lightweight cotton pique fabric from Fashion Fabrics Club that I ordered earlier this year.  I believe it is a Marc Jacobs fabric.  It was great to work with.  You can see the weave in the picture below.  I always thought pique was just that really heavy, textured cotton that you see a lot of, and was really confused when so many patterns recommended it as a fabric to use for dresses and blouses.  I now realize that they're probably talking about this type of pique!  You learn something new every day, right? ;)

As a side note, I have to say that I really love Fashion Fabrics Club.  Their shipping is pretty slow, but they have a great selection of, for the most part, really high quality fabrics.  I've ordered from them many times and am almost always happy with almost all of my order.  Their prices are really good for the fabrics they offer.  I've found that often they carry some of the same fabrics as Fabricmart, but at a much lower price.  Anyway, that's all :)

The fit of this dress was quite good, I just had a couple issues with it.  One was that the lower bodice in the center seemed kind of baggy.  I don't know if it had to do with the shape or position of the darts, but the rest of the bodice felt fine, except the lower center.  The other issue I had was that the neckline seemed to gape a little.  If I'm standing straight with my arms down, it's fine.  If I move around a lot, it starts to gape.  Maybe I should have cut a smaller size, but I didn't want the rest of it too tight, as I need full range of movement.  Oh well, they're minor quibbles.  All in all, I'm really happy with it.  I tested it out on Sunday, and it performed beautifully for floor-sitting and toddler-taming!

Tova the Second

Here's my second version of the Tova top.  I wore the first one last week and really liked it.  Being made from a lightweight cotton shirting, it didn't keep me very warm as we're headed into winter, so I decided to make another from a cotton flannel shirting.

I got this plaid shirting at the same local quilting shop as I got the fabric for the little Apple Picking Dress.  It's got gray and yellow lines on a cranberry background.  It is definitely warm.  I wore it a couple times this week and it did a great job of keeping me warm.

The drape is certainly different between a lightweight cotton shirting and a heavier flannel shirting.  I think the version from the lightweight shirting is more flattering, but I'm willing to accept a little less flattering for something warmer on cold winter days :)

I cut the yoke on the bias instead of on the straight grain, just to add some interest.  I like how it looks.  I think it highlights the fact that the yoke is there, as it can get a little lost in  a busy print.  

The top went together even faster than the last one I sewed.  It is really well drafted and is a very quick sew.  I probably spent 2 1/2 hours on it, which is not too bad for a new shirt, right?

First Tova Top (Finally!)

Way back in May, I was super, super busy with a high pressure contract design project I was doing from home while my baby slept.  And she didn't sleep very well...at all.  I was really stressed out and was having an incredibly difficult time trying to keep up with everything I needed to do.  I had absolutely no time to sew, so instead of sewing, I bought patterns and fabric.  Awesome, huh?  :P

One of the patterns I bought (and I blame this mostly on the pressure and lack of time to relax :/ ) was the Tova top.  I had seen quite a few versions floating around the web and everyone said it was really hard to get your hands on the pattern, because the availability was very limited.  So when I saw it was up for sale, I bought it.  It was definitely more than I would normally spend for a pattern, but I really liked it, and I may not have been completely sane at that point in time.  I finally (after 6 months) got around to sewing a version.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  It's very comfortable and fairly flattering for a flowy top.  It went together really quickly and the fit was right on.  I sewed size XS in a cotton voile that I got from Fashion Fabrics Club.

One reason I think this pattern works so well is because the shoulders are well fitted, and the armholes are cut high.  So even though it is flowy and loose, it's not big and floppy all over.  I've made some wadders that were floppy...very floppy...

 All in all, I like this pattern a lot.  I've got another in the works, out of a cranberry, gray and yellow plaid flannel.  I guess I'd better make a few more to make my pattern investment worthwhile :)

Tribute to an Old Piano Teacher and a Best Friend

I love pencil skirts, but since having a baby, I've found that most of my old pencil skirts don't fit quite right anymore (having a baby was definitely one of the biggest, but best, life changes I've experienced :)  Anyway, I had this fabric that I bought from Fabric.com a couple years ago when they had a huge amount of Vera Wang fabrics for sale.  At one point, all the Vera Wang fabric clearanced for $1.95/yard, which was awesome.  I bought a lot of incredible fabric for an even more incredible price, and this was one of the pieces.  It's been sitting patiently in my stash wanting to be a pencil skirt for a very long time, and I figured it was time to make its dreams come true :).

When I showed this skirt to my little sister, she said it looked like a skirt that our old piano teacher would wear, just in a different color, but she liked it anyway.  I'll just consider it a tribute to her :)

I have a wonderful friend named Holly.  We were roomates in college, and other than my family, she is my best friend.  She's gorgeous and amazing and a true friend.  She came to visit me about a month ago, and mentioned she liked a pencil skirt she saw in a magazine picture.  I told her I'd make one for her birthday and I knew this was the perfect fabric to make it from.  It's not going to get to her by her birthday, but hopefully she'll like it enough to forgive me for that.  Holly's skirt and my skirt are identical, except Holly's is longer, because she doesn't have short Shetland pony legs like me :)

The fabric is a mustard yellow wool-blend glenplaid weave.  It was great to work with.  I really love sewing with wool.  It moulds so nicely and is very forgiving of mistakes.  I pressed everything from the wrong side, so I didn't leave any iron marks.  It may be hard to see from the picture, but the fabric has a little bit of a pile in the darker checks.  It makes it feel kind of velvety, but it also is prone to crushing if you're not careful ironing it.  The pattern I used was Burda 8155.  It's a basic pencil skirt with back zipper and straight waistband.  The pattern originally had a slit, but I don't like slits in skirts, so I changed it to a vent.  It also was not lined, but I added a chocolate brown lining (Holly picked the lining color, and it looks great).

I used dark brown leather button for the back.  I know it doesn't match, but I like how it looks with the fabric and skirt style.  I also did a lapped zipper instead of a center back zipper, because I like how they look better.  I used a method from Threads magazine, Issue #134.  It's a great way of putting lapped zippers in and if you can find that issue, I'd highly recommend checking it out.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how the skirts turned out, even if they do look like my old piano teacher's skirts :)  I got 2 skirts out of 1 1/2 yards of designer fabric for a total cost of about $7.00 for both skirts, including lining, button and zipper!  Not too shabby...

Maybe Holly will send me a picture of her in the skirt when she gets it and I'll post it if she does.