Portabello Pixie Part 2 or Shirring Madness

After my good experience with Portabello Pixies' Apron Dress from their Claire pattern, I decided to try another view from the same pattern-- an innocent and simple looking peasant dress. Before I knew what I'd gotten my self into, I discovered the instructions called for SHIRRING and it was too late to turn back. I've NEVER done shirring before, but have seen posts about it on some of the blogs I follow. It always seemed a little intimidating and now I know why! The actual technique on paper is fairly straightforward, but putting it into action proved a little more tricky. Tutorials I found online were helpful, but my machine was... not so much. After days, that's right, days of fiddling around with bobbin tension and different elastic threads and thread tension and stitch length and my beloved ironing board dying, I finished the dress. Hooray! Even with the trouble I had getting the shirring to come out right on my Brother machine, I still really enjoyed the process and think the finished product is really neat.

I did alter the pattern a bit. It called for a ruffle along the bottom, which I left off and for multiple rows of shirring around the waist. I decided to just do one row partially because of the trouble I was having getting the shirring to work right and partially because I thought it would be over kill on that small bodice.
The fabric I used is from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line.

Tweed-ish and Tweaking

The last time I went to Dallas and discovered Heaven on Earth, I picked up some interesting cotton called Quilter's Tweed to add to my stash. It's visually textural, but fairly smooth to the touch and lighter weight than it looks. You can click here to learn more about it. I really liked the blend of colors and thought it had a lot of potential. So, in the midst of my School-Clothes-Sewing-Extravaganza, I realized Lucy would need some shorts (especially to go with this shirt) and I thought of the tweed. Tweaking my Oliver + S Puppet Show pattern was the trickiest part. Enlarging a pattern (four sizes larger than it was meant to go) always makes me break a sweat. I'm never quite sure if I've been exact enough with my measurements until they're finished. But, these little shorts seemed to turn out okay. I guess we'll see if they hold up after a day of breaking in!

Never mind my reluctant model, good help is so hard to find.

Cream Dress

I forgot to take a picture of this little dress before it got dirty... so, you'll just have to imagine what it looks like with out spaghetti sauce on the front! I used unbleached muslin and pale pink rick-rack. I think the vintage button pulls it all together. I like how light and feminine it turned out. I used Simplicity pattern 2986 from their Project Runway line. This was the first time I'd used a Project Runway pattern and really liked it. It was easy to follow and I can think of lots of ways to change it up for future projects.

Boys!

Boys run rampant on my side of the family. I have six brothers and was over the moon when my first baby was a girl. The blogosphere is bursting with projects and inspiration of the feminine persuasion. I have more ideas of things to make for Lucy than I know what to do with. But, since Henry came along, I've had a harder time finding things that inspire me to create for him. A blog I follow dedicated last month to all things boy. I thought I'd share it for anyone else with the same dilemma. You can check out tons darling ideas here.

If I really get on top of things this year I want to make Henry a matching Easter tie to Lucy's dress. The Y chromosome is dominating the next generation of my family as Henry has seven boy cousins (five of which were born within a year of each other). Wouldn't it be cute if they all had matching ties for Easter, Mom?!? :) I found this pattern and instructions online. I think this is something I could get really into making for my little buddy!