March finishes

March has been a "process" month--lots of handwork on large items--so I don't have many finished items to record.

The first two are both functional and experimental.  There was a need for some cropped camis, so I thought I'd try my hand at drafting a simple pattern.  It was quite challenging considering that it is such a simple garment.  Still, it has to be comfortable, and that means not only getting the correct fit (the easy part), but also getting the elastic right.  I definitely need more practice working with elastic.

The white one uses a picot edge foldover elastic.  It initially fit well, and it looks quite pretty, but the elastic appears to have shrunk after washing, so it's now too tight under the arms and around the torso.  Alterations will be needed.  The beige one doesn't look so pretty, but it's much more comfortable to wear.  This one has a much firmer lingerie elastic encased within the folded edge of the fabric  It still fits very comfortably after washing.  They definitely look better on than they do laying flat.

My other finish is this dress for Keira.  It's made from Simplicity 2265.

I can't say that I was impressed with the pattern instructions.  This should have been a relatively easy dress to make, but the needlessly confusing constructions led to a lot of seam ripping and resewing.  Nor did it help when terminology changed midway through the pattern.  For example, at one point instructions began to refer to a 'slip', but after much re-reading of the pattern, it became evident that they had simply stopped referring to the lining as a lining and decided to call it a slip. It's not a slip, but if they wanted to call it one, they could at least have done it consistently. 

The dress is made from a lovely Valori Wells cotton from the Wrenly line, and it's lined with lawn.  The ribbon bow is removable (I sewed it to a brooch pin) so that it could come off for washing, or when not wanted. Under the bow, the bodice has a cute little tuck, so it looks pretty either way.  The petal sleeves are very pretty, as it the button-up back.  I sewed a strip of gathered tulle folded lengthwise (with the folded edge to the bottom of the lining and the stitching along the cut edge of the tulle) to the outside of the lining so that it was between the lining and the skirt.  This kept the poky cut edges from being scratchy against her legs, and gave the skirt poof while staying comfortable.

The dress turned out well, and she really likes it, so I guess it was worth the bother, but I wouldn't make this pattern again. 

Warm and snuggly

That's the only way to describe the dressing gowns that I made for the girls--very warm and very snuggly.

I used the same pattern for both, Simplicity 1946, and it was very simple and straight forward.
 

I had originally thought that Elyse could make her own dressing gown, but changed my mind because the fabric presented some challenges.  I couldn't find a mid-weight terry towelling anywhere in town, so I decided to use bath towels.  These were heavier than I really wanted, but much better than the very thin towelling that was available. Definitely not the route to take if you want to keep the cost down, but I couldn't find another option.  (Of course, now that they are finished, every store is having a sale on bath towels.)  I'm going to keep my eyes open for some fabric suitable for a summer-weight garment, and let Elyse try her had with that.

Working with fabric this thick wasn't easy. Because of the weight of the fabric, and in an attempt to reduce bulk, I tried different methods for sewing the seams . And, because of the thickness, a walking foot was essential throughout.

For Elyse's I wanted to incorporate the decorative bands throughout (turned up cuffs and pocket tops as well as the bottom band), without having to worry about the different finishing needs of the two weaves.  I overlapped the seam allowances and stitched them with one of my sewing machine's overcast stitches. I couldn't use the special foot for this stitch because of the need to use the walking foot. This worked quite well, and made a nice flat seam which I then trimmed back to the stitching lines on both sides.  I also added extra rows of top stitches along the front bands.While it looks somewhat faded in the photo, it's really a very pretty shade of blue - one of her favourites.

The towels for Keira's didn't have the same decorative bands to deal with, so I used a regular seam,  finished each edge, and then stitched each side of the seam allowance flat on either side of the seam line.  Terry ravels aggressively, so no unfinished areas could be left exposed. I also wanted to use that pretty pink binding, and it turned out to be a bit (okay, a lot) more fiddly to do that than I had expected. The binding is actually woven as part of the towelling fabric rather than sewn on after.  Still, it looked nice when it was finished, and there are no thick bumpy spots at the seams, so it was worth the effort. Keira wasn't in a picture-taking mood, but she liked it enough that she continued to wear it even after she got dressed.

The finished garments turned out just fine.  They are comfortable, and I suspect that they'll be very durable.  I don't think that I'll be sewing with bath towels any time soon, though. Once (or in this case, twice) was enough.