Hello! I made a fun new frock…
I received 2m of this gorgeous blue gingham from Minerva; it’s very light and floaty and so I decided to make a little sun frock. I spent several hours laying different patterns down on the fabric to see which one would result in minimal leftovers; something that has become really common for me now when I’m deciding on a project for a piece of fabric . The Deer and Doe Myosotis pattern “just” squeezed on with absolutely no leftovers at all! and even then I had to cut the sleeve cuffs out on the cross instead of with grain. Which is no hardship at all, of course… Can you even tell? The gingham squares are so regular and even … it’s hard to see if you don’t really check it out very carefully!
I’ve used the Myosotis pattern once before, for this favourite little sun frock, and this time I did a substantial small bust adjustment to the pattern. Basically I rotated out the front waist darts completely and reduced the bust dart by about half, and the result is a really good fit for me! I left the back waist darts unchanged, because I do have a small sway back and so this shaping suited me well.
it appears that the shoulder is altered in the right hand photo, but it hasn’t; it’s just that the paper is floating up a bit at that point
I used three small white buttons for my stash for closure, and all the raw edges inside the dress are overlocked with ivory thread to finish.
I submitted a long blog post to Minerva on the dress, here, which you can read if you like..
In baking news, and yes! I do seem to be doing a bit of baking lately! I made a carrot cake for Dad’s birthday… to be clear, this was not THE birthday cake, which Mum made, but more of a consumable treat for Dad as a birthday present, since he’d stipulated absolutely NO birthday presents, please.
I did a bit of sleuthing to find out his favourite eatable treat, and lo! it is carrot cake (surprise!) So I made one! I figured at least this is a present that will be consumed and then it’s gone, and doesn’t need storing or dusting or anything.
I used this recipe from the cooking tree, yes she is my favourite thing to watch at the moment! and it was absolutely delicious. We all liked that there was a much higher proportion of icing to cake than usual.
I really enjoyed decorating the cake!
I’ve made a new coat, and I really love it! I’ve been seeing some oversized, over-long coats here and there, not in the flesh I mean since where I live we really do lag behind just a leetle bit fashion-wise, particularly when it comes to something as Perth-inappropriate as a coat. No, I mean I’ve seen them mostly in Vogue magazine or Pinterest, and had a fancy for one myself… when I saw this pattern by FibreMood I decided it was time to go for it and make one!
Hehe, I’ve had this gorgeous stuff in my stash since late 2010/early 2011, when I bought it in Tokyo… this was the first time I’d met Yoshimi and Novita in Japan, and they took Cassie and me out fabric shopping. It was such fun! and this lovely piece of fabric was one of my spoils of that trip. I 
I guess the title says it all really!
Oh, I also made the little white T-shirt I’m wearing too… it’s a modified Closet Core patterns Nettie, as usual. I have often joked to myself that the last thing I need is another white top… but I was recently forced to throw out my previous small, short-sleeved white T-shirt because it really was disgracefully shabby from over-wearing… and I’ve really missed it! White cotton jersey was thrown my way by Mum just recently; actually quite a massive length of it, like enough to keep me and the whole family in white T-shirts for the rest of our lives, I think. Thank you Mum!
The top is kinda selfdrafted, loosely based upon a bodice piece from a really old NewLook dress pattern that Cassie keeps as her “block”, and the cowl neckline is a hack, she got the idea for it from a Pattern Magic pattern book tutorial. The avocado green merino knit is leftover from a long sleeved tee I made for myself, originally bought from The Fabric Store. I did a binding finish on the back neckline, and the armscyes I did by rolling and invisible slip-stitching by hand, because you know; I’m a glutton for punishment.
The skirt is a heavily modified V8363 – honestly, not even the same pattern by now – and I lined it with a beautiful sea green lining fabric (stash). The skirt hemline is bound with pale pink poplin, itself leftover from some mask lining fabric I bought at the beginning of the pandemic for such a purpose; pale blue button from my stash too. Cassie supplied the blue cotton fabric, I think it was given to her by a relative of D’s who was cleaning out their stash.
So my niece is having a yellow themed birthday party! and since I currently have zero yellow garments in my possession therefore I needed a new dress… obviously.
thank you so much everyone; all your kind words about Sophie mean so much more to me than I can say…
Item 1!
new onesie for little Theo!
Items 3 & 4
little T-shirt and pants for Arthur…
I used some of Tim’s old trousers for the pants… I actually love doing this recycling old clothes/fabrics sort of thing and really want to get back to doing this more again.
That’s it for now! I’ll be more talkative next time, I promise! 🙂
