Autumn Sewing

Down here in Perth Western Australia it seems that the weather has finally turned and it is starting to cool down.  I am afraid that I am not a summer person; maybe I would be if our winter was cold and snowy, but as it stands here I LOVE autumn and winter!

Miss Loofie has grown since last winter and she will need new trousers, leggings, T-shirts and hoodies, especially since she almost flat out refuses to wear store bought trousers.  I will probably make her a dress or six and she has requested more skirts.

I have already made a start to this ever growing sewing list, a special occasion suit and shirt for Miss Loofie to wear to the Ballet.

Miss Loofie and I went to see the W.A Ballet perform Giselle on the weekend, it was Miss Loofie's first time to see a Ballet and she was enthralled by it. As those friends and family who are reading know Miss Loofie LOVES to dance and seeing her little face light up when the curtain went up was wonderful.

To make the jacket and skirt I used the very lovely Sunday Brunch Jacket and Skirt by Oliver+S. I was very happy with the pattern and I will probably make the jacket again. I made both the Jacket and skirt from a beautiful teal cotton velveteen; I thought this would be a good chance to practise sewing with this type of fabric as I am using the same fabric in a lovely deep burgundy colour for the Princess Elizabeth Dress.  I didn't find the velveteen too difficult to sew, it did fray terribly and put little bits of teal fluff everywhere. I used a walking foot to sew all the seams and this helped with the tendency that pile fabric has to creep and shift.

I really wanted a cute shirt to go with the suit, complete with a peter pan collar so I had a look through my Ottobre magazine collection and found just what I was looking for in issue 6/2007 "Amanda blouse (15)"

I made a few changes to the pattern, I decided to make it with short sleeves as Miss Loofie doesn't feel the cold but will whinge if she is too hot. I also added little cuffs to the sleeves

I used some lovely purple polka-dot poplin (try saying that 3 times fast) from the depths of the stash and some gorgeous vintage flower buttons from a thrift store: vintage buttons make me happy, vintage buttons make Loofie happy so we were both happy with this look.

 

I tried to copy a hair style from Disney's Frozen, it was very tricky to accomplish because Miss Loofie has baby fine hair (ugh) and not enough of it to get a really nice big braid. In the end I did the best I could and I was very happy with the way it turned out.

I am glad that I went to the effort of making a very special outfit for Miss Loofie, she really loves it and it made the day just a little more special and grown up.

I hope all of you have enjoyed a little peek into my sewing room.