She Who Sews

Well, what can I say? Only that Twig and Tale has done it again. They have made the grown-up Trailblazer pattern and shrunk it down to child size. And not only that, they have done it superbly!



Here are my lovely family sporting their Trailblazers in the woods, on a sunny autumn day. Each of them unique and using a slightly different pattern option each time. The men's one features a collar, and exposed zip. My boy has an exposed zip and no collar, whilst my girl has a collar, and full wind flap. Each member of my family chose their own options, and I'm pleasantly surprised that they could showcase the pattern so well.



When I signed up to receive fabric from Michael Miller Fabrics, I cheekily put in a request for all three of these vests. I never thought it would be agreed, and was so stoked to receive my box of loveliness. I imagined that having their dad in the photos would help them look natural, so that I could get some wonderful family photos, to showcase the options of the pattern, and the fabulous fabric prints.



What I got, was my husband leading the kids astray to do catalogue poses in the woods!



I especially like this one. The faces are very comical. But I guess they are #makingitfun



My daughter was especially pleased to wear this body warmer. She loves the soft sherpa lining. I quilted the outer Pink Starship fabric from the Sassy Cats Collection, to quilt batting. In hindsight, I should have quilted it to two layers to get a more puffy effect. But the end result is a layer of cotton, cotton/wool quilt batting, then thick cotton sherpa. Actually it's more than warm enough for Cornwall, UK.



It's hard to tell with this white fabric, but I went freehand with the quilting. I wanted to create random geometric patterns with the quilt lines. I tried to avoid the bigger stars, and ended up with large, slightly random zig-zags.



I made the windflap in the same way as the main body warmer. The outer cotton was quilted to batting, then lined in sherpa. I never considered that this would create a huge thick seam to sew, essentially doubling up all the fabrics together. It physically won't fit under my machine foot to sew it down with top-stitching. I might have to get out an embroidery needle and thread, and make a feature of some hand top-stitching in the future. You can also see that the windflap doesn't quite line up properly at the bottom. This is entirely down to user error. It doesn't look straight at all in the picture, which is accentuated by slightly misaligning the bottom snap :(



You can see the gorgeous snuggly and soft sherpa lining here. It is seriously the softest stuff I've ever sewn. I want a permanent supply of it to sew up all the trailblazer's for everyone!





It wouldn't be an autumn photoshoot without the obligatory leaf throwing shot. I need a bit more work on this, or models that jump at the same time!



The collarless version is perfect to wear with a hooded jumper underneath. My boy's version is also made with blue Starship fabric from the Sassy Cats Collection by Michael Miller Fabrics. The slight dropped curve back adds extra bottom coverage, and also can add an extra year of wear out of the body warmer.



With this boy's version, I used a bit of the Atomic Web fabric in blue for the contrast back yoke and shoulder detail. This works so well for showing off two fabrics from a collection. It adds another dimension to the pattern itself, to separate off sections with different fabrics or patterns.



Like with many Twig and Tale patterns, this is truly unisex, and you can put as much boy/girl spin on it as you want. Despite my best efforts, my two are almost total gender stereotypes. They are pink and blue all the way, but it is totally their choice, and not something pushed on them.



My kids, husband and I would like to thank Lisa at Twig and Tale for the opportunity to sew up this gorgeous new pattern. And of course, a big thank you to Michael Miller Fabrics for supplying the fabrics to make them all up. I would never have experienced the cotton sherpa without this opportunity, and now I have a great big desire to import some more in from the United States.... eek!



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*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

There are loads of indie pattern designers around, and I am discovering more and more of them as each week passes. I discovered Sew Straight & Gather last summer at the release of their Cafe Romper, which I fell in love with the looks of, and bought as soon as it was released. I was super excited to sew the pattern up, and printed the whole thing off and got my daughter measured straight away.

Then for a number of reasons I simply didn't get it sewn. The pattern is still sitting now in my pattern files, nearly 9 months later. And it's such a waste, as I'll have to re-print it now to several bigger sizes to fit Layla!

So when a few sneak peek pictures of the new Avenue Collection popped up in my newsfeed from the Sew Straight and Gather pattern group, I was intrigued and wanted to have a go at sewing them up. Especially as my pink, girly, dress loving daughter had recently started to want to wear trousers and t-shirts!



I was chosen as a tester mostly due to giving my Sewing Portfolios link in the tester application. If you haven't registered, it's a brilliant little website for people who sew. You get to build an online portfolio of your work (for free), showcasing your best sewing, whether that's clothing, or accessories or dolls. I have been building my profile since the site was launched earlier this year. Once a designer registers too, they can then see my profile from my link, and voila, all my work is in one spot, ready and easy for them to see if I would be a good match for them!



I chose to test the Flares and the Top. I really wanted to give the Duster cardigan a go too, but felt that testing 3 items was going to be a big stretch in a short space of time for me. I think I made the right decision really as this test actually started before two others (that had run over) were finished.



The patterns came together easily, everything matched, although admittedly I was only printing off one size for my Little Miss. There were a few teething issues with the fit of the bands on the back of the top, which were ironed out in testing (that's what it is for right?!) and also with the fit of the waist on the fitted version of the flares (who knew that generally children have a big sway back from the way that they stand!). Because of these few bits that needing ironing out, the testing actually took a couple of weeks longer than originally planned. This was absolutely fine by me. I often find that testing is rushed and that 5 or 7 days isn't enough to test out a pattern and get nice modelled shots edited.



Once these few pattern issues were fixed, the top and trousers were a lovely little fit. I added length to both the legs of the flares, and the arms of the top as I had to use chest & waist measurement for width fit for Layla, but she was too tall for those smaller sizes.



The fitted flares feature two functional (but small) welt pockets to the rear.



And a side zip to close them at the waistband. It's such a grown-up and smart look!



We sneakily used a trip to see my Mum for Mother's Day to take photos! It turned out to be a gloriously sunny day, and the walk next to the trainline along the beach was a perfect setting for photos. I wish I lived closer as it would be a regular spot for photoshoots!



My little Miss has already got a lot of use out of these two items. In fact, she has pretty much ruined the trousers by playing hard in them (a testament to their fit and ease of wear perhaps) and covering them in mud and grime from adventure playgrounds on several occasions.



I wonder if I should have made the flares in dark denim? What would you make them in?

When I first laid eyes on this dress on instagram I was immediately struck by it. The sneak peek of the diagonal lines of buttons down the back was striking and I couldn't wait to see the whole thing.


Steph's version that she entered into the #rijksstudio International Awards 2017 was absolutely stunning using bespoke printed fabric. You can see her pictures here. I had the perfect fabric in mind for my own version. Same pattern, but with a very different look using a different fabric.


I didn't ask the question, someone else did, but the answer made me happy, that the pattern would soon go into testing to be released. After asking my picky daughter if she liked the dress, I thought I'd try my luck and applied to test. She assured me that she loved it, and even loved Steph's version in her darker fabrics. This was a bit of a turn up for the books from my pink loving daughter. I even showed her my intended fabric, a deep, bright blue and she agreed to that too!


Layla is not the best proportions for a pattern test. She is very skinny, and seems to be getting skinnier the taller she gets. She also does a lot of hours of gymnastics every week - as an aside, she loves it and is getting pretty good - but all the gymnastics is leaving her looking quite triangular. She has very strong shoulders and a tiny waist. How I wished I had her figure 😏. I know that a fair few pattern designers will only pick children who fall very closely into size categories, and as I hadn't tested for The Eli Monster before, I didn't know what her criteria would be for testers. But again, lo and behold, in the morning was an email waiting for me, inviting me to the testing group.


I was assigned an age 5 due to height, with age 4 for chest width. I jumped on the invitation, and had printed off the first version of the pattern before breakfast that day. This is the first test that I have been nervous about the pattern fitting. The Latona Dress has a very slim fitting bodice and I knew that Layla fell into a much smaller waist size, 18 months-2 years in fact, but she is 5. So, for the first time ever for a dress for her, I made up the bodice in some calico fabric to check the size.

 

I'm glad I did, because not only did the pattern need tweaking slightly, but it totally highlighted a fitting issue with Layla that I didn't overly know about beforehand. The first version bodice had gaping shoulders and the back pieces were coming up a little narrow whilst there was an excess of fabric at her waist. I knew the waist would be big, but the gaping shoulders and slight tightness across her chest surprised me.



Version 2 had wider back pieces, which took away the strain across the top of her chest, but I still had the issue of gaping back shoulders and a big waist. So I took the waist in to a size 2 at the back only, maintaining an age 4 at the top. This turned out to be a touch too much of a narrowing, and I ended up taking this out a bit on the final version.



Version 3 had lower front armscyes to alleviate a slight tightness that was noted by quite a few of the testers and myself. Steph kindly pointed me towards an online article in fixing bodice shoulders problems, one of which was gaping back shoulders. It turns out that Layla has slightly rounded shoulders, and consequently very prominent shoulder blades. I don't know if this is the way she stands, or because of the gymnastics, or both? Anyway, using the article, I managed to take in the pattern, and alter it accordingly to remove the shoulder gape. This final version 3 also had a relaxing of the waist for the smaller sizes to take into account that cute sticky out baby belly!



So I finally took the plunge after making up 3 test versions in calico, and cut into my lovely fabric. I bought this 18 months ago with the intention of making something for myself. It has sat folded in it's postal envelope on my fabric shelves ever since. Making clothing for me is a daunting task as I know I have many fitting issues that need addressing every single time, which really puts me off. It is this stunning Timeless Treasures Tiffany fabric by Chong-a Hwang.


I made the bodice up one evening, and pressed it to perfection. I left off sewing the buttonholes because I wanted to be sure that the buttons I'd chosen were indeed going to be ok. Oh, and I was still nervous, and needed to make sure the bodice would actually fit after all my alterations to the paper pattern.



I shouldn't doubt myself, as the bodice fitted perfectly the next morning when I pinned it on to Layla. The shoulder adjustment worked wonderfully well. It now moulds to her rounded shoulders instead of gaping out.


Buttonholes don't worry me, I don't mind sewing them, however, the buttonholes on this dress needed to be exactly precise otherwise the diagonal lines on the back piece wouldn't look so good. I had to read the manual on my new machine, it's my first experience of a computerised sewing machine, and was rather happy to discover that it will automatically, at the push of a button, create as many identical buttonholes as I want. This certainly made life a lot easier, so all I had to concentrate on was lining up the buttonholes exactly straight and level with each other. This step actually took a lot of concentration and slow, steady stitching.



So, once my busy weekday schedule allowed, I got round to finishing off the dress. The skirt is a simple gathered, very long rectangle. This gives the dress it's fullness. Steph photographed her original Latona dress over a petticoat to give the skirt it's fabulous volume. My attempt to make a petticoat to go under this dress didn't go so well, so I slightly adapted a previous tutu that I'd made for Layla, by adding an extra length of dark blue netting to give it a slightly longer length. This was the finishing touch for the dress to give it the desired volume.



Layla was over the moon when she saw the dress fully finished the following morning. She wanted to try it on immediately, and only then did I realise that the skirt was a bit too long. So I quickly ran back out to the sewing room and turned the hem up again with a quick blind stitch. Now it is perfect!

 

She was delighted to find that not only has she got a pretty party dress, but the dress has pockets too. Yes, hidden inseam pockets. They are invisible in the photos, except for the one where she has found them and put her hands inside. But what little girl wouldn't be happy to be able to hide her treasured finds?!


To make this dress, you may need to have pattern grading skills if your daughter covers more than one size according to the measurements. This is simply because the bodice is designed to be slim fitting. Steph has included a section in the instructions on adjusting the bodice to make this easy for you. You'll need to be proficient at buttonholes, there are 16 in this age 5 dress. You don't need an overlocker, but it does make for quick seam finishing, the same effect could be done with a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine. The skirt is hemmed with a blind hem stitch. My machine has this stitch built in and is surprisingly simple to use with the correct machine foot. It gives the cleanest, neatest, most invisible hem ever. In fact, I may be converted to use the type of hem finish for all the dresses I make in the future.


I adore the lines of this dress, and I think the fabric works wonderfully for Layla, even if it isn't pink. Steph has done a brilliant job in designing and pattern drafting this dress and I look forwards to making up the patterns I've previously bought from her, and any patterns in the future!

You can get your own version of the pattern on offer until Friday for $7 Latona Dress Pattern.

What colour fabric would you chose for this dress? A deep blue like the one I made, or a custom print like the one Steph made, or even a bright pink with contrasting buttons? Let me know in the comments.

Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (same price for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!