handmade skirts

I felt like a domestic goddess last friday. I baked a cake in the morning, while that was cooking I made a skirt for H - the mauve one from some old fabric I had leftover. We went out, when we came back I "whipped up" another skirt for her (the yellow patchwork one, which was actually a pillowcase). I say "whipped up" like it doesn't involve any swearing at the sewing machine or dropping needles all over the floor... or me shouting "KEEP STILL", which of course it always does. She loves skirts and dresses at the moment though, is she actually becoming a girl?! Apparently they are perfect for bouncing on the sofa in. Sorry about the pics - blurryness down to bouncing, not poor photography skills. honest.

* This is a vintage & handmade child's bureau that we have painted, heavily distressed and waxed. Will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon (eventually)! 

african skirt and spotty top for Hesper

I bought a fat quarter of African fabric for Hesper a few months ago, at the same time that I bought some South African fabric to make a doll for one of her friends. I have never been sure what to do with it as it is only a fat quarter, but the recent sunny(ish) weather led me to make her a quick and easy elasticated skirt. I used the complete fat quarter and the cotton was lovely to sew. It is a traditional African wax print from Ghana (her Grandfather's birth place) and is available from the African Fabric online shop.

I also made her another smock top with this organic cotton bamboo fabric. It is in a multi-coloured spot print and I bought it from Organic Cotton. I had meant to screen print my cow parsley design on it, but ended up adding two large yellow covered buttons. It's a bit "flouncier" than the last one I made, but she  gets away with it!

handmade vintage dress for hesper

Like most things, I'm blogging about one month after the event...but anyway. The last thing I made for Hesper was a dress for a wedding that we went to, yep, last month.  Having never attempted anything so complicated (complicated to me, that is), I thought I would just give it a go... besides, there's always Next when it ends up looking like a mutilated sleeping bag. But, surprisingly it turned out alright, it wasn't too tricky and I even enjoyed making it. I did start it well in advance, so I could do a bit each evening without getting too panicky. Best part is it hardly cost a thing, second best part is Hesper actually enjoyed wearing it... enjoyed, not just tolerated!

It could have cost me nothing, as I used fabric that I already had, my only real expense was a reel of grosgrain ribbon from John Lewis for a waistband, some new thread, netting and some press studs, totalling about £12. But, I didn't use all this stuff and I could have made it by using supplies that I already had, but I chose to go with press studs as I didn't fancy messing up the button holes at the last hurdle. I also wanted to add a trim of gathered net at the bottom to look like an underskirt.

The fabric is a vintage blue and yellow rose print that I bought from a charity shop years ago and have never got round to using - proper Granny curtain material. The dress also has a dark blue shiny lining, again fabric that I've had stored away for years. I made a flower hair clip with some of the ribbon and teamed it with a gorgeous yellow cardy from John Lewis.

 

The pattern came from a book that I bought a while ago called Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy. This is only the second thing I have made from it so far, but the patterns and instructions are clear and easy to follow and are clothes that you would actually want your child to wear. I adapted the party dress pattern to use cotton print instead of plain satin and added a ribbon waistband and a gathered net trim at the bottom. Incidentally, the smock top that I made for Hesper here also came from this book (forgot to credit at the time ... oops).


// Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy is available to buy here //