Death by neck binding...

I fear this will be on my death record.

I stayed up ALL night last night trying to perfect a simple round neck binding for my first Antonia pattern. What a drama - I just cannot help but have puckers all through the front. (Insert crazy/furious/exhausted face here.)

Here are my various attempts. I am using Stella Cotton/Spandex from Crafty Mamas.

Using the 2/3 ratio rule.

Using 80% rule.

Using 80% rule with correct quartering (I was doing it wrong before).

As you can see my results all look very similar - what else can I try? I was originally sewing the binding on with my OL but have now moved to the SM - no visible difference! I have done it in the round AND the flat - no difference.

This one turned out with no puckers as I just cut a long length and sewed it with a slight pull - but it just made a huge neckline - it didn't pull it in at all - it was also not enough binding...


This can't be so hard? Any ideas - I fear this will be the end of me!

Pink Fig - Lily Dress - Size 6-12mths

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Here is another of these divine dresses that I made up for my youngest daughter. I love the fabric combination in this dress and was lucky to have enough of the orange spot to use everywhere I wanted - I just had to use a little less in fullness for the bottom ruffle.

It fits really well and is so quick and easy to make - just love it.

Do you like the rocking horse behind DD? That belonged to her grandmother (my mother) when she was a child. My mother recently pulled it out of the shed and had it re-covered. Luckily there is only one man left in Australia who can repair these horses and he is located in our City! It has rocked many generations of children in our family over the past 50 years and we just adore it.

Thanks for looking!

Little Mod Dress - Amy Butler Modern Martini

This style of dress is showing up everywhere lately and rightly so - it is adorable and flattering on little girls.

I made this one up using Modern Martini by Amy Butler. I love the fabric and think it suits the style of the dress. I added a little yoyo flower and ribbon for decoration. The yoke is a pink/white gingham.

Another easy dress to make especially when you are in a hurry!

Back

Flower

Tie up back

Thanks for looking!

Ottobre 01/08 - Rose Dress

This dress is the reason I first bought an Ottobre magazine and yet, a year later, I have only just made the Rose dress.

I am lucky to have a copy of this magazine as it sold out long ago. I have made many of the items in this edition, the only ones I haven't made are just too big for my children.

I bought this spotted fabric from Spotlight and used it to make the Maya Blouse for DD2. I had plenty left over so turned it into the following:

It could do with taking in at the back side seams - I think 2 cm off would make it sit a lot nicer around the chest.

I have read online that some people have had huge problems with this pattern but it went together quite easily for me. I had read that people were getting a lot of fullness at the back of the bodice and that it looked like a hump. I guess they were not gathering their fabric correctly if they were getting the fabric to 'balloon out'.

I love this dress and while I think DD will not fit in it for long (I made a size 98) she has a cousin who has already put her hand up!

Make It Perfect Giveaway

Toni over at Make It Perfect is having a very generous competition - there's not much time left so hurry over and join in!

I have used her "Uptown girl Jacket" three times this winter and already have fabric set aside for my girls to make more of these jackets next winter. You can see two of the jackets I made here, and another here.

Good luck!

Pink Fig - Lily Dress

I have waited so long to make this dress. I bought the pattern at the start of winter and waited and waited for the days to get warmer. Suddenly we seemed to have skipped warm in Melbourne and gone head first into Summers Hot weather.

Both fabrics are from SL. I adore the orange floral and had a hard time finding anything orange to go with it. I finally found a fat quarter of just the right orange and used some of that for the belt. If I had enough the sleeves and frill would be orange too. Instead I settled for a pretty dark pink with little white leaves. I think it matches well and DD was more than happy with the outcome of this dress.

DD is only 100cm tall but I had to make the size 6-7 in this pattern. I have no idea why - she is a fairly thin 4 year old. The smaller size just seemed too small.

So I have now knocked over two of my goals...

1.) Learn to do a nice rolled hem on my overlocker/serger.

2.) Learn to shir.

I have scribbled my machine settings for both techniques in a safe place so that I NEVER forget! They are both so easy to do - just fiddly getting the tensions right.

I am so happy I bought this pattern and am off to make a dress for my youngest and some tops for the nieces in the family...

Thanks for looking.

Wordless Weekend

Cheeky grins

Chubby legs