My Sewpbox

I had the most fantastic time making these dresses for my niece, Lily!  Both of them were made as gifts for her Christening.  At this point, they are both a little on the large side (I wanted them to fit her once summer rolls around), but you can hopefully see how cute they are in the pictures.  The green dress is New Look pattern 6796, and the purple is 6578.

6976 is made with two different fabrics (I used Tutti Frutti fabrics from JoAnn’s for both dresses).  The main body of the dress is the pink, and then there is a green border at both the top and the bottom, and two green pockets.  The dress ties on above both shoulders.  Unfortunately you can’t really see the layout of the dress (Lily is such a little peanut!  I’ll try to get another picture when she is a little bit bigger and you can see better).

6578 is made using only one fabric and is just a plain, simple dress with an adorable matching head scarf.  6578 calls for a button on each shoulder strap, but I replaced the buttons with snaps to make the dress easier to put on and take off for my sister.

I can not recommend these two patterns enough.  Both were quick and easy (I think it took me longer to trace and cut the patterns than it did to sew them.. definitely for 6578) and fun!  The instructions were clear and easy and the dresses are just too cute!

I’m planning to make a matching dress for my own daughter from pattern 6796.

Well, today was a Christmas sewing day. I had previously made a blanket for my niece, Lilliana, out of brown silky fleece and pink flannel-backed satin. My mother liked it quite a bit and was using it while visiting Jamie. I figured that I would make her one of her own for Christmas. For my mother I used red silky fleece and gold flannel-backed satin. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of color choices available at JoAnn’s and I didn’t have enough time to order better colors. I’m very unhappy with how the blanket binding went on. This was the first time that I’ve worked with it and, honestly, I think it looks like complete crap. The one side (silky fleece side) is fine, but the back side is definitely not even.

My Janome CoverPro 900 came in today and I am beyond excited about that! I think I’ll order a binding foot and redo the edge of the blanket for my mom after it gets here. That’ll be after Christmas, of course, but I suppose it will have to do.

On a less irritated with my sewing skills note: I finished my younger sister’s Christmas present today as well. Katie will be receiving a Patriots themed purse.  She is a Patriots fanatic (especially, predictably, Tom Brady) and has Patriots clothing for just about every body part that you can imagine, but she doesn’t have a purse!  Well, now she does, but anyway.

I also ordered a ridiculously cute pattern for slippers from Favorite Things with a gift certificate that my Aunt Deborah sent me for fabric.com that I am looking forward to messing with. I think I have enough of the red Patriots fabric left over to make a pair for my sister to match the bag. If they turn out cute, I’ll make a pair for Anya! Probably a pair (or two, or three, or four..) for myself, too.

My second tackled project (and my first garment) was Simplicity pattern 2825.  My daughter and I found a lovely Christmas mice (we think they’re rats, but the description says mice) cotton.  Anya absolutely adored it and begged me to make a dress out of it for her, so I picked up another Simplicity Sew Easy pattern and set to work. This pattern was even easier, I would say, than the bag pattern.  It only took me a few hours to put together.  

Unfortunately, Anya was not home with me when I made the dress (she was in New Jersey visiting with my sister) so I couldn’t try it on her as I went.  I find that the hem is a little bit crooked and the waist is a bit baggy.  I would really like to add a nice red ribbon around the waist to give it a little definition but Anya is vehemently opposed to the idea.  The zipper also went in crooked, but that was completely my fault and had nothing to do with the pattern.  After a bit of trial and error I have now figured out how to correctly install a zipper.

As to my dislikes with the pattern — because it is so simple, the dress has no liner and I find it extremely thin for a long-sleeved dress.  If I make a dress in this pattern again I will either add a liner on my own or make it out of some heavier fabric (such as corduroy). Really, though, I think that this dress is an excellent starting piece for a new seamstress.

My review for this pattern can be found here.

The first pattern that I decided to tackle on my sewing journey was Simplicity 2625.  It is out of their “Sew Easy” line and the pattern is for two different styles of bags.  The bag being modeled in the picture to the left by my daughter, Anya, is view A.  I haven’t made any out of view B yet, although I may in the future.  This particular bag was made as a Christmas present for my sister, Jamie.  The picture to the right shows a close-up of some “yo-yo” flowers that I made and attached to the bag.  I absolutely adore the buttons that I found for it!

All in all, I would say that this was a very simple and easy pattern to follow.  I have pictures of two more in the gallery (my “test model” and a country-themed one that I made for my mother-in-law).  I still need to make a New England Patriots themed one for my sister Katie before Christmas rolls around.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up making more of these, as well.  They are very quick, easy, and fun. 

A little tip for this pattern:  You can buy a bundle of five fat quarters (or just pick five that you like) and it works out to be just about the perfect amount of fabric!

My review for this pattern can be found here.