Blog • Page 18 of 286 • Make It Perfect

.Hello JOEY! {A new girl’s dress pattern}.

Welcome back for the release of my second pattern! After designing Skippy I knew that this style of dress would be perfect for little girls too. I made a few trial versions for Lil and was so happy with them that I got to work on creating the girl’s version of this dress…

JOEY!

A mini version of the Make It Perfect women’s Skippy dress, Joey is a pretty, everyday dress for little girls made with your favourite stretchy knit fabric.

There’s plenty to smile about with its pretty gathered sleeves in a choice of three lengths, an optional cowl neck and a swingy skirt.

Joey has a great, everyday shape featuring handy kangaroo-style pouch pockets.

Make it in a solid colour or mix and match prints and patterns for endless different looks.

Easy to put on, comfortable to wear and perfect for play. Joey is a dress for all tree-climbing, puddle-jumping and bike-riding adventures!

Seriously…this dress on little girls is the cutest thing ever! My testers have made up some awesome dresses, each of them with unique fabric mixing and matching – I’ll share them soon! I love how Joey suits all ages too, from tiny 1 year olds all the way up to a size 10, it is such an adaptable pattern. And with three different sleeve lengths and an optional cowl neck, you can make a dress to suit any weather and any occasion!

When it came to naming both the Skippy and Joey dresses, I really struggled for awhile. My Mum and sisters were brainstorming with me one afternoon and I suggested that maybe the name should refer to the influence of the kangaroo-style pouch pocket and we (okay, Mum!) remembered watching Skippy the Bush Kangaroo on TV as a little girl and I was sold! I love the iconic Aussie reference, being an Aussie pattern designer and all.

I stole my cute niece Michaela one afternoon when she was visiting us from Sydney last month to be my model. (Much to Lil’s disgust…maybe she wont complain when I ask her for a photo now!) Michaela was a trooper – it was really cold and she kept smiling and playing in between her chattering teeth!

I can’t wait to show you more variations of the Joey dress, knit fabrics are becoming more and more popular and we are lucky to have a growing amount of great quality fabrics to choose from now. And for those of you scared of sewing with knits…I’m going to be posting some detailed information about sewing with knits using only your sewing machine very soon. You don’t need anything fancy and once you’ve got the hang of it, I promise there will be no stopping you!

Joey comes in two size ranges (0-5 and 6-10) and you can purchase a PDF copy here. For the next week, Joey will be on sale at a discounted introductory price of just $10! (Sale ends Thursday 14th July.)

Paper copies of Joey will be arriving in stores very soon. Check out my stockists to order if you prefer a paper pattern.

I’ve been sewing a mountain of Skippy and Joey dresses so will be sure to flood the blog with them over the next little while and show you lots and lots of different options!

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Joey pattern
Lillestoff organic cotton jersey in petrol

August 6, 2014

Make It Perfect, Skippy

.Introducing SKIPPY!

I’ve got lots of new patterns popping up on the blog this week. A freebie shorts pattern and TWO new pattern releases! I’m excited to share the first one with you today because this is my very favourite dress to wear – lets take a look at:

SKIPPY!

The Skippy dress is a fabulously flattering and extremely comfortable everyday dress designed to be made with your favourite stretchy knit fabric.

Pretty, gathered sleeves in a choice of three lengths, a strategically placed pouch pocket, optional cowl neck and a feminine, swingy skirt make it almost irresistable!

The waistband can be worn low on your hips or high on your waist, depending on how fitted you would like the top of your dress to be.

Make your Skippy dress in a solid colour for a classic look, or mix and match prints and patterns for a more modern feel.

When you want to feel fabulous with minimal effort, just reach for your Skippy Dress. Its so soft and comfortable, you’ll forget just how great you look!

I know I say this a lot, but this is my absolute favourite dress pattern. I’ve made myself quite a few (can’t wait to share them with you very soon) and they are are on high rotation in my wardrobe. I love how comfortable it is to wear a knit dress. Because we are in the middle of Winter, I’ve mostly been wearing mine with leggings and boots but am looking forward to wearing Skippy as an easy Summery dress too when the weather warms up.

Skippy is all about options…I’ve included in the pattern three different sleeve lengths, as well as an optional cowl neck. This pattern is so versatile, once you start playing around mixing and matching fabrics and sewing different options you are faced with unlimited possibilities! I don’t want to bombard you with photos of all of the options today but stay tuned, I’ll be sure to share them with you over the next week.

Can we just stop and talk about this stunning model of mine for a minute? Louise is my cousin’s wife and a good friend of mine and I was so excited when she agreed to model this dress for me. She is the mother of four little boys under 7 years of age, she is the most gorgeous person you could ever meet and her personality is just as beautiful as her flawless exterior 🙂

If you’re feeling adventurous, why not take the Skippy pattern and use it to make a stretchy top or skirt? I haven’t tried this myself yet, but a few of my pattern testers have so I’ll work on a tutorial for that very soon!

To purchase a copy of Skippy, head over to my shop. For the next week, Skippy will be avaliable at a discounted price of just $10! (Sale ends on Wednesday 13th August.) Or if you prefer paper patterns, visit one of my lovely stockists to order a copy.

I hope you love Skippy as much as I do! And come back tomorrow for the next pattern release!

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Skippy pattern
European organic cotton jersey in dark smoke blue

August 6, 2014

Home & Family, Make It Perfect, Wonderland

.When she turns 7 its all about roses.

Lil turned 7 on Sunday. It was a weekend of celebrations, with little girls over for a birthday party, crafts, games and lots and lots of cake!

For months Lil has been asking me to make her a dress that touches the ground. I thought a birthday dress would be the perfect opportunity to grant her wish and I let her loose in my fabric stash to choose any fabric she wanted. I wasn’t expecting it to be so classic and floral. Apparently when you turn 7 flowers are very important – particularly roses. I bought this fabric (Tilda by Norwegian designer Tone Finnanger) half price when my local fabric store recently closed down. It is beautiful, but not my usual style so I was surprised when Lil choose it and tried to sway her towards something else but she wouldn’t budge!

Then I spent an evening looking through my patterns and Ottobre magazines trying to find a maxi-length dress with no luck when it dawned on me that I could easily turn my Wonderland pattern into a maxi dress! I’m not sure why I haven’t made more of these dresses for Lil – the last one I made for her was when she was 4. I think I must have forgotten about it, but am planning on making a few more soon. It is such a sweet dress, a little bit fancy but not too over the top. Quite a quick sew too, the bodice is fully lined and the sleeve edges and hem of the dress are niftily hemmed using a ribbon or other trim. We choose this pink crocheted lace. Lace, too, is apparently important in the eyes of a 7 year old girl.

To turn the dress into maxi length: first, I made the bodice and tried it on Lil. Then I measured how long I wanted the skirt to be from the bottom of the bodice to the floor and added seam allowances. I decided to gather the top of the skirt instead of pleats and sewed the skirt onto the bottom of the bodice using the regular method of attaching a skirt with right sides together instead of attaching the skirt to the outside of the bodice as the pattern instructs.

After I had finished the dress, I thought it would look nice with a strip of lace around the bottom of the bodice too, so sewed that on. And to make things faster I opted for snaps down the back of the dress instead of buttons!

Lil is over the moon. And the dress actually looks a lot cuter than I thought it would to start with. A bit “Little House on the Prairie” but I’m happy that she looks like a little girl and prefers to wear clothes like this rather than styles that are meant for teenagers!

To kick things off there was a birthday party on the weekend with her school friends and a couple of cousins. We had 13 little girls here and they were so cute and lovely to have around. We decided on a “make your own jewellery” themed party and thought it would be fun for the girls to do some crafting together.

This free printable from Willowday was perfect to set the theme for the invitations.

I set up lots of beads, buttons and jewellery supplies on the table and after a game of pass-the-parcel the girls sat and made necklaces and rings. I also had a bowl of fruit loops with some twine to make an edible necklace – which was more popular than the beads! The girls didn’t spend as much time crafting as I thought but didn’t want to play any more games and were happy just playing together and snacking on party food for the rest of the time.

Lil wanted a strawberry cake so I made her a very pink cake (mixed a packet of strawberry jelly crystals into a butter cake) and swirled icing “roses” with a piping bag then Lil sprinkled hearts, pearls and coloured sugar over the top.

We always have a cake for Sunday night family dinner at Mum and Dad’s house and she wanted more strawberries so I went crazy with a quadrupole layered sponge filled with strawberries and cream to feed the troops. Yummo!

And that wraps up another birthday in the Coward family!

BIRTHDAY DRESS SUPPLIES:

Make It Perfect, Wonderland pattern

Tilda Rosalie in deep blue

Pink crochet lace trim

August 5, 2014

Free Pattern, Make It Perfect

.A FREE PATTERN:: 2-in-1 Shorts.

I’ve got a free download pattern to share with you today! This one is a favourite pattern from my book, 2-IN-1 SHORTS.

I’m the queen of “to-do” lists…in fact, I’ve got lists for all of the different areas of my life and my Make It Perfect to-do list is very long and full of great ideas that I will hopefully get to one of these days! Releasing this pattern for my 2-in-1 Shorts has been on the to-do list for a long time. It’s such a basic, beginner-friendly and achievable sew that I wanted to make it available for everyone to use.

We are in the middle of Winter, and it has recently started snowing on the mountains, so it does seem a very inappropriate time to release a shorts pattern (let alone send the kids outside in shorts and a tshirt to take photos!) so let me explain…if you haven’t already heard, the Shorts on the Line sewalong is in full swing at the moment and I was happy to be invited to participate as a guest blogger, it only seemed fitting for me to tick this project off my to-do list and release the pattern now! So, all you peeps in the Northern Hemisphere can enjoy some shorts wearing now, while we wait another couple of months for the weather to turn!

So, about the pattern…2-in-1 Shorts is a really basic shorts pattern with an easy to sew elastic waistband. The shorts are completely reversible, I’ve got to admit I’m a lover of reversible clothes for kids for a couple of reasons. Firstly, reversible means two layers of fabric which means double the strength!! My kids have worn holes through so many pairs of their single layer shorts (and not in the seams, but actually ripped the fabric!) but their reversible shorts don’t seem to wear out as quickly because they are extra sturdy. Secondly, you don’t have to worry about finishing any raw edges as they are all enclosed within the two layers of fabric, making the project so much faster to sew. And thirdly, you can mix and match two different fabrics to your hearts content! And they don’t actually have to match either, if you don’t roll up the hem of the shorts then you can’t see the opposite fabric anyway! Win!!

These shorts are all about comfort and practicality, but a great blank canvas for you to customise to your heart’s content…add extra pockets, some applique, colour blocking, fancy trims, what ever tickles your fancy!

The pattern includes instructions for back pockets, which look really cute, but they are optional.

The free download 2-in-1 Shorts pattern is avaliable here in sizes 0-5. Sewing shorts for kids is such a great stash-buster project, so go dig in the fabric stash, find some fabric you want to use up and get sewing! You’ll have these finished in less than an hour!

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, 2-in-1 Shorts free pattern
Andover chambray in denim blue
Monaluna, Happy Summer for Birch Organics
Lightweight star denim from Spotlight
Kaffe Fassett shot cotton

This post is part of the Shorts on the Line sewalong. Shorts on the Line 2014 is sponsored by: Britex Fabrics, Hawthorne Threads, miss matatabi, and Soak Wash. Hosted by imagine gnats, small + friendly, and Kollabora.

August 4, 2014

Make It Perfect, Shearwater Kaftan

.MIP Pattern Parade: BEHIND THE HEDGEROW.

Woohoo! We made it to the end of the month! It’s the last day of the Pattern Parade today and I’ve loved seeing all the beautiful creations from Make It Perfect patterns. Laura from Behind the Hedgerow joins us for the last day. Laura and her family have recently moved from Belgium to the English countryside. On Laura’s blog, she documents all of the many things she sews for herself and her children. Another inspiring blog to add to the reading list!

Laura has made a pretty Shearwater Kaftan for the Pattern Parade, in some dreamy, spotty double gauze. It really suits her and is such a versatile item of clothing. Visit Behind The Hedgerow to read and see more about Laura’s Kaftan!