Best (sewing) of 2010

I do love a good list, and New Year's Eve seems like the perfect excuse for a round-up of the year's creations.

In springtime I was nesting, waiting for baby to arrive. I discovered on-line patterns, and made endless tiny dresses and bloomers while my bump was growing bigger and bigger. Perhaps I should have paid more heed to the size of the bump, as some of the dresses were already small when runciblegirl was born. (No matter, I have a plan...)

In the summer, with babe in arms (literally), I flirted with bags, bunting and baby bootees - quick and simple projects which could be squeezed in between feeds.

The Taxi Tote: an Anne Marie Horner pattern made in a variety of Cath Kidston prints

 In the autumn I was searching for the Sugar City Village Frock, and was so delighted to find it that I had to start writing runcibledays in order to share the excitement! Autumn was also make-do-and-mend season, possibly because I had just discovered Oliver+S, whose reassuringly expensive patterns had to lead to cuts elsewhere in the sewing budget...

The Sugar City Village Smock in a Liberty print corduroy

Winter has been an oliver+s bonanza - working on the principle that those lovely patterns really can become economically viable on a cost-per-use basis - alternating with the ongoing search for the perfect bib.

Could this be it?

(Have there been any disasters? well yes, a few... let's agree never to speak again of the scratchy linen pyjama trousers, or the self-drafted jersey skirt with the disastrously wonky hemline).



Can I choose a single favourite item from 2010? Maybe not just one, but I can pick my top three.

In third place, representing all those little dresses (and with a nod to the o+s obsession) is the bubble dress, made for Christmas in beautifully soft patterned corduroy. And there's a matching bib - hooray!

Oliver+s bubble dress in a Valori Wells corduroy

In second place, a lovely upcycle. I wondered about the camper van set here, but settled on the vroom shorts - so simple to make, and so loved by their owner.

Vroom! - the upcycled cycle shorts

And in first place, my surprise favourite of the year: son#1's cub blanket - almost not a sewing project at all, it's a square of fleece with a hem around the edge and some cub badges sewn on. When I sat down to make it, I thought it would have an outing once a year at a cub sleepover and then languish in the bottom of a drawer. I was so wrong! He uses it every night, and it's a joy to see him snuggled up with blanket and book at bedtime. Once again: so simple, so loved...

Should there be a moral in there somewhere?

Happy New Year!

Bubbles and ice-cream

I've recently discovered Oliver+S patterns, and, like all new converts, I want to share them...

Do you know them already? I've been noticing them for a while, mostly in nice, boutique-y (read 'expensive') on-line fabric shops. They come in gorgeously retro packaging, with paper-doll cutouts of each pattern that speak to me of Bunty magazine (circa 1980) and must surely induce a similar generic-yet-personal response in every woman born in the twentieth century. They have a lovely typeface. They have wonderfully evocative names like 'tea party' and 'school photo', guaranteed to conjure up childhood memories. These are every little girl's dream party dresses, but also practical enough to be worn every day.

The patterns even come in a separate cardboard sleeve, so the little girl wearing the dresses could even cut the dolls out to play with (if she"s old enough to be trusted with scissors). Inspired!

And yet... despite all that it's taken me a long time to buy one. I'll whisper it: the paper-doll pictures, for all their good points, just don't quite do justice to the utter loveliness of these clothes. It was only when I saw them made up in real life that I was smitten. The oliver+s flickr group is very addictive, and every day there is something new and beautiful to inspire.

So, still early days for me.  Here's the bubble dress:

bubble dress front

bubble dress back - with poppers to close

Size 6-12m fits my six month old perfectly, with a little bit of wiggle-room. The pattern was a joy to follow. I'd never done a bubble hem before, but now I know the secret (clear elastic stitched to the seam allowance) I plan lots more.

And here's the Ice cream dress:

pocket detail

All the credit for this one goes to Christine at From an Igloo, who ran a sew-a-long last week.
I might have missed out on this pattern otherwise - it looks deceptively simple in the picture, but the beauty of this dress is all in the little details. I followed the sew-a-long almost to the letter, and only deviated very slightly in using my zipper foot to align the edge stitching instead of doing it by eye using a normal foot.

Oh - and I opted for the smock length option (again, a la village frock) so am thinking perhaps my baby will need some matching trousers? Maybe that's a project for another day...