Some weeks ago I was attending a dentist visit with my youngest, and while waiting I was flipping through a magazine. When my eyes fell on the picture above, I knew all of a sudden how L's birthday dress would be. And this idea was there to stay; the egg hàd to come out soon after.
At first I was thinking about the fabric. It had to be cotton and stepped or at least have some embossment. As our fabric shop only sells polyester lining fabrics, I considered to buy and use this
coverlet of Ikea. Finally I decided to make the stepped cotton fabric myself, and was able to choose color, thread and topstitch.
A relatively thin fiberfill layer was added between lining and outer fabric. I first cut the pattern pieces, as used
before and found in this
book, and then topstitched horizontal in the color of the fabric and on 60° with yellow thread.
The circular skirt I turned inside out to avoid a seam at the bottom of the skirt. After finishing the body piece, I measured it's bottom line to be sure about the size of the circle I had to cut out of the skirt. How to make the cap sleeves I found as well on
Griet's blog.
For the accent edging I chose yellow and a salmon pink in the color of L's cheeks. As you can see I wanted to avoid a shoulder seam in the yellow part of the edge.
About the topstitching a final note: my head wasn't able to finish this laborious job. I decided to decrease the number of yellow lines of the skirt. And I was happy about that: the handmade look of the fabric is more obvious now and I like the change of embossment, something you might not see at once, but only when you look closely. This kind of perception on different scales is my cup of tea.
It's a tradition on this blog to end each year with an overview, to remember things. Although there's few nowadays, I do my best to keep you posted when there is something coming out of my hands. The good news is that at the very moment some projects are in the making.
Our youngest L goes to the 'Vrije School' (like the Waldorf schools). The last three years she had only one teacher. Next week she will have to get used to her new teacher for the following 3 years. Often some problems occur with changes in L's system, so I'm extra awaken.
Her former teacher left her class with a little baby inside her. I made this little baby gift. Look for more great doudou's at the blog of our doudou queen. She made like 30 pieces. This one is my very first :). But a piece of cake, so do follow me!
My friend K. give me this totally great piece of fabric for present, just out of the blue. Her talented youngest daughter Neeltje gets all credits for the mermaid drawings. And K. gave us all on her blog this lovely idea. Hard to resist to try!
Two pouches, one for L's friend Grietje, who's having her birthday and inviting all her friends to the zoo. And because L loved it, one for herself. A surprise when she comes home from school. With content that is.
