Tiers for No Fears

Heather selected this pattern at le Wal Marche yesterday. She liked the hair tie and View C, the yellow dress.


I found the turquoise Maya fabric that was nearly forgotten. I thought this fabric coupled with the tiered style would look cute.


Look at that ruffled bottom which certainly has something in common with:
Marc M by J Carcley Dot Dress



Updated 9/23:




It seemed like an "easy" dress to make. I was "easily" fooled by the envelope pictures! When I saw the layout there were more pattern pieces than I had originally expected (the front, back, front ruffle (2), the upper ruffle (2), the middle ruffle (2), and the lower ruffle (2), the armhole binding (2), the back binding (left, right, and the front binding, and the shoulder straps (2). It was somewhat tedious to gather the ruffles and and not to mention hemming the tiers!

If the dress had front and back self-facings, it would have appeared more polished at the upper edges, especially where the shoulder straps are attached. I hand sewed the straps to the front after learning seeing the results from machine stitching the straps to the back (the stitching was too visible)!

Heather just woke up from her late noon nap and immediately she asked for.....the dress! She was adamant about me removing her Peanuts' "valentine's" dress and wearing her new dress. It was worth making the dress...for that excited and appreciative reception (a better one than store-purchased presents) when wearing something new that Mommy made especially for her! Now she's busily piecing together (again and again....) her Care Bears puzzle and ready to eat her mac and cheese late snack.

I omitted the 7" zipper and used 2 groovy floral buttons. The dress did not really need any back opening/closure because Heather was able to slip on the dress without any problems, with the buttons closed!



She liked the flounces and then asked to make another dress from the same pattern! It will have to wait!

From yesterday, a very happy Heather after getting what she wanted, a Dora pillow!

A Little More-Made

 (Sept. 23)


After long deliberations, Heather decided she wanted to be a mermaid! (She had selected this pattern a few months ago. She also wavered between being a fairy and the Little Mermaid. I corrected her "Oriole" to "Ariel". I asked her if she wanted to be a bird since she wanted to be "Oriole" (Ariel).

Here was another project that took more time than originally anticipated. It took even more time than Heather's 32 piece penguin blazer!

Pattern Description
"Misses', Children's, and Girls' mermaid and princess costumes: Long dress has semi-fitted bodice contrast, peplum with or without button trim; slightly flared or contrast straight skirt and back zipper closing; costume A has contrast sleeves with elasticized wrist and attached contrast shoulder drape with large button trim; costume B has contrast bodice overlay, armhole ruffles and fish tail; crown has elastic casing, with or without button trim.

I sewed view B, the mermaid costume.

Sizing
Kids (3-8). I sewed 5/6.

Fabrics Used
Firm costume-type satin for the bolero/shrug/overlay, skirt, and fins and interlock knit for the bodice from my local Yardage Town. Did I read satin or equivalent recommended for the bodice underneath the shrug? My daughter would be uncomfortable from the stiff fabric while moving around quite a bit and would not sustain wearing two layers of satin while indoors.

Directions
* They were adequate with illustrations.
* Error in step #53 in stitching the darts for the SKIRT BACK (left and right)and SKIRT FRONT. It referred to the incorrect pattern numbers (6 and 7, instead of 15 and 16, respectively).
* Bodice is self-lined.
* The bolero/shrug (referred to as "overlay) is attached to the bodice (lavender on the envelope) which is attached to the skirt.
* Pattern pieces
- Front of bodice (darted at bust)
- Back of bodice
- Bodice overlay (bolero/shrug)
- Overlay Sleeve
- Peplum
- Front of skirt
- Back of skirt
- Fin (whoa, each was a huge semi-circle!)
- Crown
- Elastic guide for the crown
* Hand-stitching the bodice lining to the skirt and the edges of the back zipper
* Be prepared for making some narrow hems! I found myself at the ironing board more than usual to press the hems for the bottom edges of the sleeves, the peplum, and by my choice, the fins (I chose to skip the lining) before stitching.


Likes
* The overall style
* The bolero/shrug gathered at the front over the bodice instead of the bandeau, bikini top style
* The ruffled peplum (attached below the bodice)

Dislikes
* There is a lot of gathering (at the front of the shrug/overlay, and the upper edges of the overlay sleeves, peplum, and especially the fins)!
* I discovered I took more time to check if the gathering was distributed evenly or evenly as possible at the seams. Fortunately, I machine-basted the gathered edges to the other piece (i.e. the upper edges of the fins to the arches of the skirt )before the actual stitching. I got quite a bit of mileage from my seam ripper!
* The skirt is very long! My husband thought the skirt was for me instead of our daughter! I plan to shorten the skirt by 4" so that my daughter can walk without tripping over the fins. But then I could have cut one size smaller.

 


Modifications
* Under the store lighting the fabric for the shrug/overlay seemed purplish. However, at home, the fabric was really royal blue! My eyes deceived me!
* Due to a fabric deficit, I decreased the width of each fin by 2". However there was a lot of gathering so that a fin could ease below one of the skirt sides! When I thought I gathered more than enough, the fin still did not fit. The fins came billowed out more than pictured on the model.
* I ended up matching the color of the fins to the shrug/overlay instead of the skirt! (Fabric shortage)
* I omitted the lining for each fin ( I did not feel like cutting two more large half circles!)
* I shortened the back zipper (originally 14") to just past the shrug/overlay. Because I used a knit for the bodice, my daughter easily got in and out of the costume.
*Instead of a recommended oval button for the gathered front of the shrug/overlay, I attached a cushioned heart with aquamarine-colored sequins. I sewed a star on it for the mermaid theme. The sequined heart has a special meaning for me. It came from a ribboned choker given to me seven years ago from a jewel of a middle school student. I remember she stood out in a class of very difficult students and she was my rock when the going got really tough! I told her then (at the time I did not yet have children), if I ever have a daughter, I hope she would have a big heart as she did. My prayers were answered three years later. By coincidence her birthstone is the aquamarine stone.

Conclusion
Costumes are fun to make and a nice diversion from making regular outfits. I expected this pattern to be simple to make. However, I found it more involved than Heather's Snow While costume last year.

It would have been easier to create the entire costume by keeping the pieces separate. My daughter could have worn a RTW leotard beneath the shrug and a skirt with an elastic casing at the waist, a basic ruffle at the top (instead of the peplum attached to the bodice) and another ruffle at the bottom instead of these billowing fins! Besides the amount of time to for a quick and easy child's costume, I would not recommend this. If you do have the time and patience, give it a try!




(Sept 23, 2007)

Penguinos Felices!

After much persuasion from you know who, I finally made this for my Hillary Duff fan!


Yesterday, we visited the nearest Joann's. Heather was excited to look for the pattern in the drawers as usual. What a wonderful way to learn numbers by looking for the pattern numbers of the outfits she wanted! She found a penguin themed fabric from the clearance section. Yes, the fabric reminded her of "Happy Feet"! She insisted that we buy it and I gave in. Once she got what she wanted, she was ready for checkout, even if I wanted to continue shopping!

Front:









Back:






Remember those classic Marlo, Brooke (McCall's), Christy (Simplicity) and Marie O. (Butterick) clothing patterns? Imagine what better way to capture the signature look of a favorite celebrity by sewing their exclusive designs! This time, McCall's hired a popular teen tv/movie/singing star to design a line of hip and trendy clothing for girls. Hillary Duff's familiar face on the pattern covers sure caught the eye of my daughter! McCall's succeeded in targeting the very young with their clever marketing tactic!



Pattern Description
"GIRLS’ JACKET, TOP, SHORTS AND CAPRI PANTS: Unlined jacket has princess seams in upper front and back, cap sleeves and waistband with hook and eye closures, purchased piping, appliques and decorative pin; pullover top has front and back gathered into yoke and purchased ribbon which extends to bow; shorts or capri pants have side slant pockets, fly front zipper closing and belt carriers; shorts have front and back pleated into cuff; capri pants have side vents with button trim; package includes style tips and guide for Hilary’s personal bumble bee design to be embroidered." I sewed the jacket/blazer.


Size
Girls' size 7-8-9-10. I sewed a size "7".


Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, but in printed fabric.


Pattern Layout
Geez! There were 13 pattern pieces for the jacket.
There were the
1. front (cut 2)
2. side front (cut 2)
3. back (cut 1)
4. side back (cut 2)
5. front facing (cut 1 and another 1 for the fusible interfacing)
6. back facing (cut 1 and 1 for the fusible interfacing)
7. collar (cut 2 and 1 for the fusible interfacing)
8. sleeve (cut 2).

For the waist band:
9. back (cut 2, facing incl)
10. front side (cut 4, facing incl)

For the peplum below the waist band:
11. lower front (cut 2, facing incl)
12. lower side (cut 4, facing incl)
13. the lower back of the jacket (cut 2, facing incl)

The number of fabric pieces needed for the jacket: 27, wow!


Instructions
I was overwhelmed by the jacket's cutting layout that I did not sew it immediately after I purchased the pattern (much to the dismay of my dd). Now, I am up for the challenge!

There were 7 pages of instructions for the entire outfit! The instructions for the jacket consisted of 51 steps that occupied 1 1/3 pages. This little girl's jacket was more time extensive than any one of the women's jackets/blazers I had sewn! At least for the blazer (I have yet to try the top and capris), the directions overall flowed well and the illustrations helped me more than the brief verbal explanations.

Attaching and easing the basted collar edge onto the neck edge was tricky while pivoting at the clipped circles and aligning the markings of the two edges. Later when attaching the entire facing of the jacket to the collar and front sides, I had to pay extra close to preventing some bunching and little gaps at the lapel area, especially where the clipped notches of the front facing meet the collar edges.

Fabric Used
Penguin themed cotton purchased the afternoon before labor day from our neigborhood Joann's.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the overall trendy style with the princess seaming, gathered short shirt sleeves, the waistband and peplum.

I had few, if no problems deciphering the directions. I occasionally double checked the illustrations to make sure that I was sewing the correct pieces together!

The only things to dislike was that the jacket actually took more time to put together than I expected for a child's outfit. The addition of facing pieces seemed to double the work for sewing the jacket and that it was easy to mix up the smaller pattern pieces if I did not have a system to keep things in order. I found it helpful to have a mental and visual sketch of the the finished jacket with references to the pattern pieces.

I spent a Sunday night and the wee hours of labor day morning (I could not believe it. I looked at the clock and it was 3:45 a.m.! Once I start a project, I cannot stop for fear that I will leave it aside and "forget" about completing it!). Then I slept for 5 1/2 hours and completed Heather's jacket just before noon. This jacket took me nearly 11 hours to complete. Then moments later, there was a power outage in our neighborhood that lasted 50 minutes. I noticed on-line that an earlier CA power outage made headlines.


Modifications

I omitted the piping.

I did not use the given method to "bind" the armscye with bias tape. I simply finished edges of the armscye seams by sandwiching then in between the folded bias tape and stitching in place.

I slightly changed the order of construction by sewing the seams of the facings (inside of the jacket)immediatly after sewing the seams of their corresponding visible sections (i.e. waistband, peplum). It was easy to create two of the same thing, one after the other.

The actual instructions for assembling the facings were given just before sewing the entire facing to the front sides and bottom of the jacket right sides together. The facing of the entire jacket can easily become intertwined with itself due to the twists and turns of the individual facing pieces (the back facing was attached to the front facings which were also attached to the bottom facings of the waistband which were attached to the facings of the peplum - similar to this bone connected to this bone, which is connected to this bone...). I took my time and made sure that I was sewing an untwisted facing to the edges of the jacket!


Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I am interested in sewing the capri pants and blouse soon, but I would not sew the jacket again in the near future. I spent more time than usual double-checking that the correct fabric pieces were pinned together correctly (i.e. aligning the correct edges) before sewing them together.

I intentionally sewed a size 7 (one-two sizes larger than my dd's RTW size) so that my daughter could wear it now (a little large for her, but still wearable)and for another year or two. I would probably sew another when she is well past kindergarten.

Yes, I would recommend the pattern to due to being well-drafted and having for the most part helpful illustrations that accompany the many steps (I am not sure about the capris and the top), with the condition that the blazer is not a quick and easy project due to the number of pieces, seams, and other steps involved such as topstitching, creating little pleats on the peplum, staystitching the neck edges, and collar construction. Beginners might find this project challenging and frustrating, but rewarding after the final product.

Duff's designs are hip and trendy for little girls and preteens, and yet would seem very likely to receive a large nod of approval from grandma! The jacket/blazer has a nice silhouette and is easily adaptable for casual and dressy occasions.

Conclusion
My nickname for this jacket/blazer: The Multi-Pieced, Multi-Seamed and Multi-Hour Jacket! I am not sure if replacing the facings with a lining would be one of the answers to reduce sewing time. I think the fabric facing of the peplum creates a nice polished look from the outside of the jacket. I wonder if the jacket's crisp silhouette would change after adding a lining.

My daughter likes the style and enjoys wearing it around the house with pride! (So all the time and effort invested in making the jacket was absolutely worth it!)

The jacket is worth well the time and effort to create for any wonderful little girl, especially if she is becoming more fashion conscious!