Annie’s Reversible Dress

For my quasi godchild Annie’s third birthday, I had this idea of making a simple kind of reversible pinafore dress with two complementing fabrics. I found these at a local shop, for once; I would have preferred to use two slightly more different designs, but well…

I did not actually use a pattern here, but adapted the bodice part from one (in order to make sure the armscyes were all right, mostly), adding the button tape in the centre back. As simple as the idea was, the actual sewing took quite some time, since both sides had to be executed with equal accuracy, and gathering both skirts at the same time gave me plenty of reason to cuss, too. Still, I am very happy with the result.

In the pictures you see the dress from both sides as well as close-ups of the back. I put small mother-of-pearl buttons on both sides, so that closing the dress is possible with one buttonhole tape.

The other pictures show how I finished the hem with cross-stitches done alternatingly in pink and blue thread, and the arm holes using bias tape and hand-stitching, as well.

Lingerie Case “Planes”…

… I call it, referring to the sewing pattern’s original name, though I’m not sure I own anything that would classify as “lingerie” proper.

Still, I made this one for the same trip that required Washbag Dotty, and I am quite happy how this turned out, although I would change one little thing the next time I work after this pattern. I’m sorry about the picture quality – I see now that something has nibbled on my jpgs, though I have no idea how that happened. I think the relevant features are still discernible, though, but I’ll try and see if I have undamaged versions of the pictures somewhere.

The inner and outer fabric pieces

The pieces for both pockets

Preapring the big pocket

Prepared small pocket

Close up of the smaller inner pocket

The smaller inner pocket before stitching

This is pretty straightforward, as you can see above. Just two rectangles and two pockets. For the big pocket you only need to process the upper edge, since it’s running across the entire width of the case. The small pocket needs to be prepared all the way round, then is stitched onto the lining (last picture).

Some nice buttons to hold hair ties, earrings, or other such things

The big pocket sewn onto the lining, edges remain rough

A view of the finished case interior

Add some buttons next to the small pocket. Stitch the big pocket onto the lining. Make sure the pocket openings face away from each other, and that the bottom of the big pocket is at roughly the middle of the entire piece.

After adding the outer fabric and the magnetic clasp

Close-up of the clasp

The finished case

Closed

With something in it

Folded

Before you add the outer fabric now (right sides together) to the interior, place the two parts of the magnetic clasp, then stitch all around, leaving only a small opening for turning. Close the small gap with invisible stitches. Iron. And that’s it.

Only suggestion for improval would be including two different positions for the one part of the clasp, so that you can close more or less tightly. Possibly it would be even better to just sew on two nice buttons and close this with a tie, really…

Anyway, the Lingerie Case worked fine, and I love the Kokka plane fabric I finally got to use here.

Washbag ‘Dotty’

Aside from the fact that this goes to show how bad I am at naming things, I quite like my first little washbag. It was just a quick something I sewed because I actually needed it for travelling, and fast. So I sat down with Pattydoo’s Vicky pattern (to be found here, also with a – German – video tutorial if needed!) and finished this within an hour or maybe one and a half.

In case you wonder why my bag looks a bit… disproportionate, that’s because I got too little of the wax cloth and decided I’d rather have a too short bag than assembling the full-size pieces and get seams where none should be…

Top view

Zipper and loop

Zipper detail

Opened bag

So far, the bag holds all my bathroom necessities nicely, though it IS just that bit too small to store them without an effort 😉

Quilted Sony PRS Birdie Case

Just a little something I made for a friend, for her birthday. The sparrow fabric is left-over scraps from my living room cushions (Joel Dewberry, I checked it), the rest upholstery canvas and some IKEA cotton. I was quite happy with the result, apart from the fact that I managed to iron the flap too hot, so the batting lost some of its fluffiness there.

Patenkind Dress

I’ve just found pictures of this dress that I made about two months ago, for the little daughter of a very good friend of mine. I used a Burda kids pattern, changing it quite a bit as I went along, though.

I used a red linen fabric with white pinstripes, and the back closes with three press buttons sewn in, visibly, by hand. I left out the complicated smock around the waist that the original pattern included.

My new ‘Sherlock’ pencil case

And in case you wonder why I tagged this “Sherlock” and some other weird things… you have not found the hidden message of this (pencil) case yet. Alas: There’s an error in it – I noticed only today…

It’s machine pieced and quilted. Still, it was quite a bit of work to put the tiny parts together. I stenciled the seahorses using simple cardboard and textile paint for dark fabrics.