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{Sewn} Isabelle’s Art Deco Dress

Posted on February 24, 2017 by KMB

Here in the beautiful Hawke’s Bay of New Zealand we celebrate an annual ‘Art Deco’ festival. This festival commemorating the 1931 Napier Earthquake in which 256 people lost their lives, and many of the damaged buildings were rebuilt in accordance with the distinctive ‘Art Deco’ style of the time – thus giving Napier a real Deco flavour that still lives on today.

The festival is a pretty big event in our community with a lot of people travelling to attend and many people dressing up. Our kids’ school does a dress up day too, and when I spotted this fabric in my local fabric store (Spotlight) I decided to sew Isabelle a dress!

At some point during this blog post I had planned to make a hilarious joke about how I’d painstakingly stitched every sequin on, but unfortunately I’ve already revealed that I bought it like this from Spotlight, so that joke won’t fly! In fact, the whole sewing process was rather pain free – I just used my old staple, the Blank Tank pattern from Melly Sews, with a few modifications – the obviously one being that I lengthened it to be a dress and I also lined it with a soft grey marle cotton/lycra knit blend (because the back of the sequin fabric would have been a little itchy if left exposed against the skin.) Because I was sewing with sequined fabric (my first time), I used special needles called ‘sharps’ as recommended by my fabric store and a small zig zag stitch due to the stretchiness of the fabric.

The only trouble I encountered during the sew was trying to get my mind about how to line it and still be able to turn it in the right way. As the original pattern isn’t lined I had to work it out for myself and in the end I put the call out for advice in a couple of facebook sewing groups I belong to. From there the ‘Burrito roll method’ was suggested (as demonstrated by ) , but in the end I followed which gave the same end result. (All in all it was a very quick sew and I probably spent more time trying to get my head around this issue rather than anything else.)

Honestly, how gorgeous is this girl!? She shines with or with out sequins!

To complete the look, Isabelle and Pipi both made the flapper style headbands (with some assistance from me.) We just used stretchy black lace that I already had in my stash and tied it at the back and the girls attached the feathers and plastic jewels with the hot glue gun. They are big fans of the glue gun!

I would have got some photos of them making them, but I was too busy supervising two eager girls dealing with hot glue, so that didn’t happen!

Pipi, never one to be left out, decided she needed some photos as well – she’s not in full costume, but you get the picture… and I think these pics reflect her personality rather well!

No words!

I’ve been on a bit of a sewing kick recently, with heaps of things I want to sew (once I finish custom orders of course – nearly there!) … and also with a couple of unblogged projects/ works in progress that I hope to share with you soon!

Do you have any projects on the go/ in the pipeline?

Jen x

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{Sewn} Gingham Ruffle Dress

Posted on January 28, 2017 by KMB

On New Year’s Day, on a whim, I sewed myself a dress! Spotlight was having a sale and I needed to get some fabric for something else anyway, so I grabbed this super cheap gingham at the same time and away I went!

To be honest, it wasn’t completely on a whim as I’d the basic idea in my head for a while – essentially a lightweight sack cinched in above my growing baby bump with a tie and a cute elasticated ruffle neckline that could be either be worn trendily off the shoulder, or not (as I prefer especially with these maternity bra straps to hide!) ;)

It was super quick and easy to sew, I didn’t follow a pattern but had a top of a similar style which I loosely followed, of course lengthening it a bit and adding a bit of width to accommodate my ever increasing girth! Hemming and making the elastic casing was super easy too because I could just cut out and follow the line of the stripes which kept it nice and even with little need for a measuring tape. I bound the arm holes.

It’s a lovely comfortable dress to wear and nice and light and breezy, perfect for some of hot days we’ve been experiencing and it fits my currently 29 week bump rather well (with room to grow).

I have worn it a number of times since making it almost a month ago, but have only just managed to get some photos now. Unfortunately, most of the photos I got the ‘Instagram husband’ to take didn’t turn out so well, they were overexposed and washed me out! Honestly, I’m not that pale at the moment, I just got a little bit of a tan – although I do have a prescription for iron tablets that I need to fill! It’s really saying something when a mannequin is more photogenic with you!

It’s a good thing that beautiful Isabelle decided to crash my “photoshoot” with her dazzling albeit food covered smile!

Next on the sewing agenda, I have a couple of custom orders to get through and then hopefully, a little bit of sewing for this new baby!

What are you sewing at the moment?

Jen x

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My year in Sewing {2016}

Posted on December 24, 2016 by KMB

Yes, yes I know today is Christmas Eve, not New Years Eve… but I’m feeling a bit nostalgic and with a little free time to spare, being on holiday mode and all … so I’ve decided to post my annual sewing round-up now – hope that’s ok with you?!

2016 for me, definitely has been the year of less blogging and perhaps less sewing (although there are about 25 gazillion pairs of undies and a whole bunch of market sewing that would testify otherwise), but definitely less blogged projects than previous years – heck, in other years I’ve struggled to decide which of my numerous projects to choose for a couple of 9 square grids, whilst this time, I’ve struggled to fill them!

^{Left to Right: (Top row:) Take Flight Dolman Top, The Clementine Dress (Middle row): Katie-pie Play Dress, Homemade Lego Storage Bag/Mats (Bottom row): Pipi’s Bunny Hat, Pipi’s Liberty Vest, Merino Singlets.}

^{(Top row): Noah’s Lightning Bolt Quilt (still a work in progress), Isabelle’s Ballet Cross Over Top and Ballet Bag, Wayfearer Shoes (Middle row): Isabelle’s Solis Dress, Wild Things Bunny Shoes and Swan Pixie Shorts (Bottom row): A couple of unblogged projects, including far left a cushion cover collab between Noah and me and also (centre and right) Isabelle’s Ruemi Raglan (I tested this pattern for Little Kiwis Closet).}

So that’s that! Not so much sewing for Noah or myself this year, but I’ve definitely put a few hours into that quilt of his, with plenty more to come! I have a few things I want to make for myself, perhaps a few maternity things and things for after – we’ll see.

Despite the significantly fewer items sewn this year, my passion for sewing still hasn’t waned! I’ve just found myself busy with family life, the admin work I do for my husband and the exhaustion of early pregnancy (which I’m glad to say has now passed!) And I also really tried to pick quality and need over quantity this year.

I plan to enter 2017 armed with beautiful fabric and lots of ideas (including a bit of new baby sewing) – So watch this space!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, one and all!

Happy Sewing,

Jen x

Want to read more? Here’s the link to my 2015 year in sewing round-up!

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Posted in Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged sewing, sewing for kids | Comments Off

Tag Archives: sewing

{Sewn} Isabelle’s Art Deco Dress

{Sewn} Gingham Ruffle Dress

My year in Sewing {2016}

Birthday Dress

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