Oliver + S Birthday dresses

One set of patterns that I quite like are the Oliver + S childrens pattern (see http://oliverands.com/patterns/) which tend to be classic sewing patterns for children.  One of the patterns I have bought was the Birthday Party Dress pattern.  I was fortunate to win a some gorgeous pink floral twill fabric earlier in the year and I thought it would be perfect as a feature panel in the O+S dress.

Left : approx 20cm x 20cm section of fabric ; Right : a close-up of the print

The plan was to use 21-pinwale (lightweight) corduroy for the main body of the dress and the floral fabric for the feature panel.  I selected a bright yellow corduroy for Samantha's dress and a dark emerald green corduroy for Asha's dress (bought from Spotlight). 

Now, I have to say, I started these dresses months ago but they were left unfinished for a couple of months.  The delay was partly because I made Samantha's dress first and I was a little unimpressed by the instructions.  It took me a little while to figured out how I wanted to do it for Asha's dress.  And then once both dresses were almost done, I delayed because I had 10 buttonholes to do (seriously, I have an aversion to buttonholes).  Anyway, I finally finished them - here they are!

Asha's dress on the left, Samantha's dress on the right

Front and back of Samantha's dress

Asha's dress

Pleat detail on the front

Button detail on the back

a happy camper!  :)

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  I have to mark up the pattern with the changes I have made so that I remember them for next time. 

Toy ironing board cover

One day, a couple of months ago, Pete made the girls a toy ironing board.  The girls loved it.  I promised the girls I would make a cover for it.  I finally did it over the weekend. 

I simply traced around the ironing board to get the correct shape.  To give the cover a bit of cushioning, I also cut up an old scrap of a woollen blanket and an old flat terry nappy.  I stitched these together around the edges to hold them together.  Then I attached a 2 inch rectangular band around the edge - this was finished off with bias binding.  A thin piece of elastic was threaded through the binding and viola!  It was finished, one hour later. 

Do you recognise the fabric?  Yep, still a favourite of mine.  :)

The girls love it and the ironing board is getting carried all over the house - bedrooms, rumpus room, lounge room and bathroom (don't ask about that one!).  Big success, and so simple to make.

Petal pin holder

I saw this petal pin holder at one of my sewing classes (local community college).  I started making it ages ago for a friend and it was nearly finished after a few hours, all it needed was the buttonhole and button. Unfortunately it stayed that way for a couple of months. Don't ask me why, I can't think of why I didn't just finish it off.  I think I still have a historical aversion to buttonholes, but it's getting better.  With my machine, buttonholes are easy-peasy!

I loved the fabric I used for this - it's a gorgeous paisley cotton. 

When I get some time, I might write up the instructions and include the 'pattern'.  Super easy!