sewpony vintage

BLOG TOUR: STRAIGHTGRAIN + KAATJENAAISELS

November 25, 2016


Today is the last day of the tic tac toe dress blog tour!  Until tomorrow, you can receive 10% off the price of the tic tac toe dress (and all sewpony vintage patterns) with the code TICTACTOE10. Apply it at checkout in the sewpony vintage shop HERE.  Today An from StraightGrain and Katrien from KaatjeNaaisels are sharing their creations from Belgium! Unfortunately, Sara from Made by Sara has had to postpone due to newborn baby and a cold, but I am sure her dress will be beautiful when it is finished and shared soon! 


Dresses

A new dress design

April 30, 2016


After I published Miss Polly I sewed up a prototype of a new design I had been planning in my head for a while. You may have seen a couple of sneak peeks on instagram. I finished this dress a few weeks ago and Juliette has already had lots of wear it out of it. I am really pleased with how the first version turned out. 

Dresses

Dear Prudence blog tour - Day 1

July 06, 2015


Today begins six days (over two weeks) of enjoying lovely Dear Prudence dresses made by eighteen talented sewing bloggers from around the world. Throughout the tour (which runs Monday, Tuesday and Friday this week and next), you can receive 15% off my latest pattern with code: PRUDENCE15 (apply at checkout).  You can buy Dear Prudence here.

dear prudence

PATTERN RELEASE: Dear Prudence!!!

June 17, 2015

I wasn't going to publish this 'til 10pm, but I'm ready now so....I am very excited to release my latest vintage inspired dress pattern today - Dear Prudence.  I made my first version of this dress around eight months ago and today it is all finished and ready to share!! 

Dresses

Pattern progress - Part II

May 29, 2015


Hi there! I am back with another version of my new pattern (which I have named but am just making sure it is right before I share!!).  This is actually the same style as the first one I shared last year here. You can see my last post with the three quarter sleeve version here. I had re-drafted the collar and needed to photograph the steps for enclosing the bodice, so another extended cap sleeve dress was in order.

Dresses

New pattern progress

May 25, 2015


Do you remember this dress I made Emily last year? At that point, I had the pattern half drafted then let it be for months thinking I wasn't sure I loved it. I also had the dress I am sharing today half made and was hesitant to finish it worrying it wouldn't look right on Issie - well guess what? It does! It has renewed my faith in the design and I am pushing on with finishing the pattern (with a few changes)...

Debbie's birthday dress

FRIDAY FIVER: Debbie's birthday dress

October 17, 2014


I pinned the woollen dress above months ago as it reminded me of my pattern - Debbie's birthday dress. Today, Crafterhours have the discount code for you to receive the pattern for only $5 for the next 24 hours. Perfect timing for Kids Clothes Week beginning on Monday.  I have another DBD planned for next week inspired by one of Emily's favourite book characters. 


Today I whipped up a Dolce & Gabbana inspired DBD for Emily.



Debbie's birthday dress is a classic A-line dress with two views.  As many of you know it was inspired by one of my favourite childhood story books - Debbie's birthday party, illustrated by the great Marcel Marlier. It is a great beginner pattern (no zips or buttonholes!) and you can really make it your own with cute trims and adding bows, buttons, etc.  Have a look at the sewpony vintage flickr pool for some other lovely Debbie's!  


The fabrics I used are: vintage grey wool (given to me by a friend), green wool felt, brown velvet and some quilting cotton for the lining.  The buttons on the pockets are vintage too.  My dress cost about $5, while the D&G one is $413.33!!!
You can create the A-line without the centre seam of view 2 by simply omitting the central seam allowance and cutting your dress front on the fold. I added a chocolate brown bow to mine and two pockets instead of one.  My pocket size on this dress is smaller as had only just enough green woollen felt! Looking at the D&G version again, I might move the bow up a little to make it look a little more balanced.

To follow the link to the discount code, head over to Crafterhours! Thank you for the invitation Adrianna:)


Emily likes her new dress, but mostly, she just wants to be a puppy...

Pattern drafting

A 'wintery' Sunday best dress and CALL FOR PATTERN TESTERS (CLOSED)

September 13, 2014


Here is the third Sunday best dress I have made - this time with no buttons, and with three quarter length sleeves.  You can see the summery version I made here, and the original dress here.


I am really pleased with how this one turned out.  I had been on the lookout for a cool butterfly (specimen style) print for a while and was really excited to find this one at Spotlight a couple of weeks ago.  I paired it with some watermelon cotton collar and piping. I love how wintery this dress can look with tights and the longer sleeves (there is also a full length sleeve option in the pattern). 

 
I wasn't sure Juliette would co-operate for photos today. As I finished up the dress I showed it to her and she said,"I don't like that dress".  I bribed her with extra pocket money and some chocolate and she decided I could twist her arm to try it on.  Then she checked herself out in the mirror and decided the dress was "beautiful". Phew.



Juliette insisted on using flowers as props so I just had to go with that.


Can you spot Juliette in this photo? If is was not for the red shoes, she could be mistaken for leaf mulch!



I must say that putting this pattern together has been an altogether more calm and enjoyable experience than making my cosi pattern.  I put myself under pressure with dates with cosi which was unnecessary.  This pattern has also come along so much more quickly and methodically with the great help of Lauren Dahl's pattern workshop course.  I love it!

My pattern will be ready for testing by the end of the weekend and I would love to know if you would like to test my new pattern? Testing will run for one week (from Monday 15 - Monday 22 September) and will take place via a facebook group.  I will notify testers by the end of the weekend via email and then testers will be invited to the tester group where they will find the test pattern and can ask questions, share photos and give feedback. Please only apply if you can fulfil these requirements and also if your child fits closely into one of the age/size bracket listed below.

If you would like to test, please fill out the application form HERE.  


Thank you!!



Dresses

A vintage floral Sunday best dress

August 31, 2014


Here is the sleeveless, no collar but nice piping, version of my new pattern - Sunday best dress. You can see the first version in my previous post here.


This one is made from a vintage floral sheet that I have been holding on to for a while.  I paired it with baby pink piping for a very 'spring' dress (spring starts tomorrow in Australia - yay!!!).


This dress was made for one of Juliette's little friends who celebrated her fourth birthday today. Poppy graciously gave us back the dress so that I could photograph it today as I ran out of time before her birthday. Thank you Poppy! And I hope you like your dress!!


I am having heaps of fun creating this pattern and it is a really rewarding dress to put together.


I have the 'winter' version cut out and ready to sew this week - three quarter sleeve in a brown butterfly print with watermelon pink collar and piping. The only downfall is I have to keep popping out to the shops to pick up more invisible zips! 


The pattern is almost completely drafted and then it is on to constructing the photo tutorial.


Do you like the lighter spring version?  I will see you in a few days...I will be joining in with Mie's 'sewing for kindergarten' (I call it school), series with something I made for Isabella.

Dresses

Sunday best dress

August 20, 2014


I am SO excited about this dress.....it is the latest design I am working on and it has morphed from my original idea into something I love even more.  I am calling it the "Sunday best" dress. I will be adding it to my sewpony vintage shop (which will switch from etsy to my blog shortly)!!


I first drew up this design a couple of months ago but it looked a little different. You may have seen the original version here.  I was planning on offering to lengths of bodice and a gathered skirt with or without collar and with/without two lengths of sleeves.  However, I really wanted to use this beautiful fabric - wooden houses (not currently available in the pink colourway but the green version is just as gorgeous) that I purchased recently from fellow Aussie, Frances from Miss Matatabi (I am her latest fan...), but I only had one metre.  I decided to eliminate the gathered skirt option and instead drafted a simple A-line skirt. 


The dress needed something else to tie in the chartreuse colour of the collar (which was intended to pick up the hint of chartreuse in the houses fabric - the little trees).  So I added little curved pockets to the skirt with a piped edge. And also three covered buttons for a bit of pop! The collar fabric is from my local fabric shop and seems to be like a shot silk of some variety... please don't look too closely at my hand stitching along the diagonal bodice line - I was doing it late last night under dim light and should have chosen a different colour thread!!




Our garden is looking beautiful at the moment, and we have one tree in full blossom as you can see! We are not sure what fruit it will produce yet, but it is a stunning backdrop I think!



The bodice is lined and closes with an invisible zip.... no hand sewing the lining into the zip on the inside...I figured out how to sew it in with the machine really simply.


You can see the back detail here - the half collar is sewn into the shoulder seam.


I have been bursting with ideas lately with two other dress designs swimming around in my head.  This is thanks a lot to the incredibly skilled and talented blogger, Lauren Dahl.  Her pattern workshop course is sooooo helpful and although I am only a little of the way through it so far, it has really taken a lot of the headache out of pattern drafting and compiling a PDF pattern.  I know as I learn more through creating this pattern, the ones that follow will become even easier! Thank you Lauren!


           
 

I am hoping this pattern will be ready for testing in around 3 weeks.  It will offer collar or no collar and instead a piped neckline, A-line skirt with piped pockets, buttons for front detail, sleeveless, elbow length sleeves (see here) and three quarter length sleeves. It will be sized 12 months - 10 years.


So what do you think? Will you be making a Sunday best dress this September??