I Love London Skirt

How cute is this little skirt?  I absolutely love this fabric and want to buy it all up!  Actually, I have this problem a LOT.  I find fabric that I love and want to buy it all and hoard it and put it in my closet and look at it but never actually use it.

Such a happy little model.

Some days, this is as good as it gets for photography.

I love this skirt with the blouse tucked in.

This is a very simple gathered waist skirt with a contrast panel on the bottom.  So easy to put together and easy to wear for little people learning to dress themselves.  No front.  No back.  Just pull it on and go!

I love how tidy a contrasting panel makes a hem look.  I might start using this for everything.  Watching out!

The top is the same pattern as the pink shirt I made with the 40's suit, but I stood the collar up this time instead of sewing it down.  Gosh, I love this pattern.

One of these days, I'll manage to remove all of my gathering threads before I post photos to the internet.  Until that time...

I might make a long sleeved version next.  I think it would be very cute that way.  One of these days I might make it with the short sleeve it came with too!

Why I've been absent and more bubble shorts

I haven't been posting much and for that I apologize.  I've been sewing up a storm, though!  I recently launched an etsy shop to help with my sewing addiction.  You see, I love to sew so much that I can't stop even though my daughter's closet is packed full.  It's an addiction and not a cheap one!

I've been spending a great deal of my free time figuring out branding, packaging and product for the shop.  There's not a whole lot in it right, now, but I'm feeling pretty good about what I've done so far :)





Here is a sweet ensemble I made using a self drafted pattern for the top.  It's a basic peasant top but it's gathered into a circle yoke and held together with a button in the back.  It ended up being a size bigger than I expected.  I'm not sure why.  I suspect someone forgot to take into account the extra length that would be added by the yoke.  I have no respect for sloppy pattern making...





The shorts are Elegance and Elephance Bubble Pocket Shorts but without the pockets.  I love their structure and fit.  These 3T/4T fit much better than the blue 18/2T that I made.  I might even make a size bigger next time.  I love how forgiving making your own elastic waist bottoms is.  You can make the elastic any size you want!  I don't know why I was afraid of sewing bottoms for so long!  To help differentiate the front from the back, I sewed a little twill tape tag to the back.





To accentuate the nice lines on these shorts, I added contrasting top stitching on every seam.  I love how they turned out!  Although, my stretch twill was kind of a pain.  Sometimes, it would stretch a bit and then my topstitching would look uneven or puckered.  I've been struggling with the tension on my machine and I think that might be why or maybe I'm just incompetent.  Either way, I still love them.