The Teepee Winter dress

 

 My little girls newest addition to her winter wardrobe courtesy of a free pattern from The Mix it Make it Blog

here is The Millie Dress.

I love so much about this dress, the frills around the arms, the comfy knit and the Teepees!!

But suprisingly for me I love the mustard colour

It's not a colour I'm usually drawn to, but for my girl she suits it so well.

 

The free pattern is only available to size 6, so I extended the bodice shoulder height and width to accomodate her size and make sure it would fit over her head without a fight! 

I also extended the length of the skirt to 50cm......but now I'm looking at the photo's,

 I realised I forgotten to lengthen the sleeves after I made the modifications to the width! Oops.

Now I'm just debating whether to make the long sleeve T shirt version.....it would be pretty cute wouldn't it? And sure to be a hit with girl too.

Bellbird Take Two

Keen to make another of the Bellbird dresses and keen also to use more of my opshop fabric stash 

( this is one my mum purchased for me on one of our outings, all for a bargain price of $1 )

I cut out what I would like to call a Autumn/Spring version, as this fabric is very light, and I would say likely a Cotton Lawn.

 Due to this, the bodice and the skirt are both fully lined.

But I decided to keep the sleeves unlined, as I liked the idea of the effect from the light shining through

 and if you look closely you may be able to see below it worked just how I planned.....

love it when that happens!

 I decided to make a alteration this time around, because I quite like playing around with patterns, and this is a great one to do that with.

I chose to gather the sleeves traditionally and bias bind the cuffs in a contrasting fabric ( actually the offcuts from the previous dress ) 

 I did this using the same circumference measurement provided for the elastic plus a extra inch.

 Teamed with a contrasting rouleau bow,

 this finished the dress of nicely.

And Lil Miss who was reluctant at first to let me take photos, soon enjoyed it, especially once she decided to accessorize with some of my Nana's collection of earrings, which are now part of her precious collection.  And believe me they are Precious! Even I need permission! hahaha

Bellbird Dress - The Perfect Addition to Your Little Girls Winter Wardrobe

Sophie from Below the Kowhai patterns has just released her first pattern the Bellbird dress.

A sweet timeless design that was just the piece I was looking for to add to my girls winter wardrobe

 With the addition of a optional embroidery on the bodice,

 this makes for a very special piece.

However due to the nature of my chosen fabrics, I found the embroidery design was getting lost, aswell as that, it was making my eyes go cross-eyed and giving me quite the headache.  

 But determined to make this work, I had to find a solution as this fabric was part of my opshop fabric stash, and I am desperate to use more of my fabric finds from local thrift stores, as well as keen to upcycle more ( but more of that on a future post ) 

 The woolfelt worked out to be the best replacement for the embroidered flower petals, which made it alot easier for the flowers to pop against my fabric.  

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, even though the silk stitch is not my strong point.....I'll leave that to the more talented embroiderers out there such as Sophie.

 I also love to make roleaux loops so I took the opportunity to make one for the button closure at the back, looping around the sweetest vintage button.

The pockets make a nice touch to this timeless design, and I'm sure to find many odd things in these pockets come washing time, including in the washing machine, if I've forgotten to empty the pockets......which I often am likely to do.

 The pattern itself is well written and Sophie guides you through the whole process with detailed photos, including how to line the whole bodice which tucks away all the seams and gives a nice tailored finish to the garment.  

It's perfect for any kid whom itchy seams are unbearable.

I don't know about you, but even though summer didn't really show itself much this year, I'm ready for the change of seasons with the layering of clothes, wool, tights and boots and a dress like this I think fits right in.