The Franken-Indie sewing contest (Alder Skirt meets Caroline Dress)

Welcome to my first entry into The Monthly Stitch. This month it is all about Indie patterns - which I love and use 90% of the time anyway.

I chose to 'Franken-Indie' the Alder Skirt by Imagine Gnats with the Caroline Dress by Welcome to the Mouse House. 

Here is what I came up with. After the leap I will tell you what I did. 

Basically I used the princess seamed bodice of the Caroline dress (With high neckline, next time I will make it lower), with the pockets and skirt length of the Alder.

Changes made: basically I made the bodice first and then used the measurements of the side panels to be my founding length of the pockets. This means that the seams line up and looks quite neat. I then just used gathered rectangles for the front and back of the dress.

Conclusion: Alder Skirt pockets are the bomb. Also this is a great dress to wear to work.

Fabric used: Cloud9 Organic cotton in Straw Hat - Gray (Lined in Straw Hat Pink). 

Improvisational Pleating and a baby geranium dress.

I was pretty excited to sew up this dress for An from Straight Grains competition, admittedly I was more excited to get squishy cuddles from this one and her big sister!  

I used the Geranium Dress  pattern in size 0-3m for my little 6 week old niece. As this is an improv pleating exercise I used the method Faux Seams - you can find the tutorial here.

I love how this turned out and will definitely be using it more! I already have 3 more in the pipeline for the next size up.

The rest of the information:
Very sweet tiny mother of pearl buttons down the back.
Top of the bodice is a quilting cotton in a pumpkin colour - lined in some orange floral that I am not sure of a name.
Skirt piece is Cloud 9 organic floral from their Garden range. 

The pants are organic jersey knit in 'Gelato'. Pattern found here.

And now for some other cute baby photos!

 Her squishy cheeks are coming in. 

 Behind the scenes: Spit up and a big yawn.

 But seriously, this face?

I mean seriously! 

And a kiss from the big sister.

Thanks for stopping by!

Selfish Sewing Week for the time poor

This week I had high hopes for sewing myself some Wintery clothes... So far my count stands at 2. 

 I made this very simple Washi dress out of cotton lawn I got for $2.99m. I used a contrasting black and white japanese lawn as visible bias and decided to make it without any linings etc so it was a very quick sew.

 I have some gorgeous Cloud 9 organic cotton picked out to make myself a long sleeve Washi dress to wear in Winter to work. Cannot wait to see how it comes together.

After coming across some Cloud 9 fabric for only $9.99 at Spotlight I HAD to get a whole lot. Mostly I sew to sell and only use clearance fabrics and the like for me. I decided to spoil myself this week though and make myself some baggy, comfy, silky soft organic lounge pants.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this weekend I finish my Winter Washi dress and Alder skirt I am pattern testing for Imagine Gnats.