Bluebird Original

Over last couple years I've made so many cute baby and kids clothes. I didn't post about them at the time and I can't remember all the details for each item. But here are some pictures and any details I can remember.  This little pinafore was made for a new-born niece as a size 000. The pink fabric was quite heavy so I made it with minimal gathers to keep the bulk to a minimum. The back fastens with pearly press studs and the tiny white lace adds such a sweet detail. I was pretty happy with how it turned out! These cute mustard rompers were made for a friend's baby. The pattern I used (Kwik Sew K214) has some issues as I've mentioned in a previous post, but overall gives a good result. If I were to make this little romper again, I would insert elastic into the legs to gather them in. They are rather too full as they are. These twin dresses were made for two of my nieces for Christmas. They were sisters aged 2.5 and 6 months. The little dresses have sweet inverted bo

School dress up day came again this last week. My son's class has been learning about the American pilgrims and decided to have a Thanksgiving feast and dress up day to celebrate. The costume requirement was simply American themed dress-up. With only a week or two to come up with something we decided on an American Cowboy.  Most of a Cowboy's clothes are ordinary things that are easy to find. We already had the red bandana in the kid's dress-up box, and some beige fabric in my stash for the waistcoat. The jeans, shirt, hat and belt I found in the op-shop for $9.  The shirt I found was a men's size medium, obviously too big for a 9 year old. Using a shirt that fit my son, I cut a new shirt out of the body of the men's shirt, keeping the collar and buttons intact. I then shortened the sleeves at the shoulder and reinserted them into the new shirt, keeping the cuffs intact. I also took in the jeans at the waist to fit better. To make the waistcoat I used a t-shirt to d

There is something special about a little boy in overalls. Overalls are so cute and sturdy-looking and make a little boy seem ready for any adventure. A couple weeks ago I was in the mood to sew overalls so I pulled out a beautiful piece of maroon corduroy fabric that I've had stored up for a couple years. I love the texture of corduroy and I love this rich colour. I'd been waiting for my toddler to get big enough to wear such a heavy fabric without it overwhelming him. As winter is approaching fast, I knew this was the time to use it! I loosely based the overalls off of New Look 6970. This pattern has rather full legs due to some gathering around the waist. So I removed the fullness from the waist and slimmed the legs down. I also extended the legs so they reach down to the ankle. The shoulder straps were lengthened too to make the front bib section sit a bit lower and give a more traditional overall look. I removed the snaps that give nappy access in the pattern. This change

At the end of last year I was feeling in need of some fresh sewing projects, so I decided to sew dresses for all of my nieces for Christmas! A friend at church had given me several large pieces of fabric some time earlier and though the colours were ones that I loved, I wasn't sure how to use them. This was the perfect opportunity! I decided to design up a simple pinafore with a waistband that was elastic at the back. To prevent the shoulder straps from slipping off the sides, I included a tie in the back of each pinafore to hold them together. The skirts were A-line in shape with little pockets on the front. A couple of the girls were similar in size, so I ended up drawing 3 separate patterns. For the blond girls, I decided not to use the black fabric, but put in a white print with little pink flowers instead. The 5 dresses all turned out quite nicely, but I was very tired of sewing the same dress by the time I finished them! Sadly I don't have any photos of them on the girls.

When I was in my late teens, costumes were my most common sewing projects. I made various historical garments from different time periods, some of which were even made from original patterns from the time period. Most of them were rather elaborate and made from exciting fabrics with rich trims. As my time and budget for purely creative sewing has diminished drastically over the years, my sewing has become focused on making clothes that are useful and cost effective. It would be a conservative guess to say that I haven't made a costume for myself in over ten years.  That all changed at the end of last year when I came up with the idea of having a costume party for my birthday. I think I was inspired by finding a sari length in my fabric stash and imagining what fun things I could make from it. After watching Aladdin a few times and falling in love with Princess Jasmine's costumes, I chose to recreate her purple dress. It features the iconic, huge harem pants and a little jacket