A Forgotten Project Run & Play Season #17 Sew Along

Harper's Blue Birds of Happiness

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels, 

bending beneath her;

still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings"

Victor Hugo

Edited:  This post was written back in September 2018 but never posted.  

This sweet little dress was to be my entry for the Sew Along Challenge Contest for week #2:  "Flights of Fancy" but I didn't get it finished in time.  If only I had just two more hours in each day!  I decided to enter it into this week's Signature Style challenge as it fits some of the criteria for my style. (See this POST for an explanation of my two 'Signature Styles'.)

I really did love this challenge and sketched out several different designs that I would really like to make.  However, most were more time consuming than I have as a full time kindergarten teacher so I decided to use what was in the stash and go for a more simple (but I hope charming) design.

Patterns:  Ruby Jean's Closet for Simplicity #8565 (also known as D0911), size 4.

Ruby Jean's Closet PDF pattern (on Etsy) "Pretty Bird" (pockets)

Fabrics:  1748 Heartwood Songbird by The Henley Studio (Makower UK)

Unknown Stash Scraps for Pockets and neckline frill 

Changes to the pattern:

*Omitted the ruffle on the bottom, thereby shortening the dress to above the knee.

*Omitted the frills on the sleeves and the bodice/skirt seam line.

*Finished the bottom edge of the bodice lining and left it free, only tacking at the vertical seam lines and the center front.

*Switched out the bunny pockets for the "Pretty Bird" pockets.

 The pattern has lovely sleeves that have plenty of room to move about without constriction.  I love that the designer chose to have them lined.  (I would have done it anyway.  :) )  I also love the sweetheart neckline and shaped lower bodice with a corresponding shaped front skirt piece.  It would be easy to make this a high/low dress if one just made a straight rectangle for the front skirt.

The little recipient of this dress is my dear friend and co-worker Rachel's daughter, Harper.  Harper is a petite five year old with a thirst for learning.  She is already phonetically writing little stories with beginnings, middles, and endings!  

When I brought the dress to school to give to Harper she was wearing another dress I made this past summer.  She immediately hugged this one and shouted, "I love it!" and asked to change and wear it right then.  Warmed my heart!  

Harper really loved those Blue Bird Pockets!

What a cutie!!!

"Be like the bluebird who never is blue,

For he knows from his upbringing what singing can do."

Cole Porter

Project Run & Play Season #17 Sew Along: Inspired by Art

Inspired by 'A Girl With a Watering Can' 

by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The theme for week three of the 17th season of Project Run & Play is "Inspired by Art".  This theme tickled my creative fancies!  Among my most favorite artists are the French Impressionists, particularly Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  I love the brilliant colors and the way he plays with light making his paintings appear to glow and shimmer.  The romance of pretty garden scenes, innocent children, and lovely ladies in many of his works make me relax and smile.

There were so many of his paintings that inspired me that I sketched out about 12 different dresses/outfits.  I finally decided to narrow my design down to what I could make entirely from my stash of fabrics and trims and to make the dress for my 6 year old friend, Tatum.

Inspiration:  The blue dress, wide white lace, flowers in the garden, and pops of red in the painting

Pattern:  "Luna" by Violette Fields Threads, size 6

Fabric & Trims:  Mottled blue cotton (unknown origin), scraps of cotton for appliques, plastic rose buttons, wide white lace purchased at an estate sale several years ago, DMC floss, and red lace hem tape.

Changes made to pattern:

*Omitted pockets

*Inverted box pleat in center skirt to visually divide the lace like the lace is divided on the coat dress the little girl is wearing in the painting.

*Added a bias bound continuous placket in the center back to allow for easier dressing.

*Added a second set of ties at the back waistline.

*Added appliques on the bodice front and right back shoulder to bring in the flowers from the painting.

*Hand sewed the bodice lining down and used French seams for a smooth inside finish.

*Used red lace hem tape on the hem.

I do not have an embroidery machine so all my appliques are hand cut and zigzag satin stitched.  The leaves are three dimensional and the centers of the flowers have a touch of hand embroidery.  

  

The bound placket was sewn with a piece of red bias to add another little touch of red to the otherwise plain blue of the dress back. 

The dress is sewn perfectly straight.  My poor mannequin has a permanent little tilt.   

 To add a little interest to the back of the dress I appliqued another flower with a 3D leaf.

The red lace on the inside hem is just a little 'happy' for Tatum.  

I plan on adding a better final photo tomorrow when the sun is out again.  (I was racing against the clock again!) I hope you liked my Renoir inspired dress!

For more wonderful art inspired clothes for children, please check out the Project Run & Play site HERE and HERE.

Project Run & Play #17 Sew Along: Willy Wonka!

A Sugar Sweet Dress for Sweet Rory

Here I am being a "Last Minute Lucy" with my entry to Season #17 of Project Run & Play.  I have just about 35 minutes to get this posted to meet the deadline!  

School has started and I have 19 little five year olds in my kindergarten classroom.  It is the time of setting routines and procedures and getting to know one another.  It is one of the most exhausting times of the year!  I have been too tired to sew at night and only got this put together today.  Needless to say, I have no modeled photos of sweet three year old Rory wearing her new dress.  Perhaps next week!

The photos are not the best.  It has been raining since I completed the dress and the colors are just not right.  The closest to the green in the actual dress is in the photo of the caramel apple pocket.

Pattern:  Portabellopixie Petal Knot Dress, size 3 (1/4 inch added to bodice sides for ease)

Fabric:  Green embroidered polycotton (stash), white satin batiste, & old white sheet for skirt lining

Trims:  inherited vintage brown piping, stash scraps for appliques,

 white cotton lace edging (skirt lining)

Inspirations:  1971 version Oompa Loompas:  green hair, 

white & brown outfits, and candy, of course!

The lollypop, candied apple, and wrapped candy appliques are hand cut

 and zigzag satin stitched.  I do not have an embroidery machine. 

However, the caramel apple and the lollypop were copied from images

 on Pinterest of beautiful machine appliques from planetapplique.com. 

The wrapped candies were inspired by a gorgeous pieced quilt made by Greg Jones using "Sugar Candies" by Nadra Ridgeway.

Changes to the pattern:  

*Piped the bodice

*Piped the hem band

*Added pockets

*Added a skirt lining

*Added fullness to the skirt (72 inches around)

The dress pattern was chosen specifically for Rory because she loves a
Dr. Suess Petal Knot dress I made for her sister that she has inherited.  

She even wore that dress hiking in the mountains this summer!

Lining:  Dress on the right is inside-out.

Must link up now! :)

Please check out the other sew along entries as well as the official contestants for this fun challenge at Project Run & Play!  (HERE and HERE)

Project Run & Play Season 16: Signature Style Sew-Along Part 2

Tangerine For Chloe

This child!  This child has my heart!  This is nearly eight year old Chloe, the daughter of a dear friend and former teaching colleague, Kaye.  I have 'known' Chloe since she was just the proverbial "twinkle in her mama's eyes".  She is sweet, smart, kind, spicy, artistic, creative, loyal, and loving.  She has an imagination unrivaled by her peers.  She IS a mermaid.

I made Chloe another "Luna" dress because the style is just so her! Bohemian/artistic/imaginative!  The first one was made just a little over a year ago but the bodice is too tight to get on now.  The pattern has a simple skirt without a placket so once a child grows a bit in the chest/shoulders area, it becomes too small even though the bodice itself is roomy.  Read on to see how I conquered this problem!

This was Chloe's first "Luna" .  (Blogged HERE.)

Chloe loved going out to lunch and then having our photo shoot.  

The next day she told her mother that she just had so much fun

 and that she felt like a princess!  

Pattern:  Violette Fields Threads "Luna", size 7, (a tad large right now)

Fabric:  Cori Dantini Hello World floral,
"Depths" by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics, 

and a house green all from Hawthorne Threads.

Trims and Buttons:  my stash

The arrow in the bottom left photo is pointing to line drawing of a mermaid.
  Perfect for Chloe!

If you are familiar with the "Luna" pattern, you will notice that I have changed the back bodice up a bit in the above photo to solve the tightness issue.   I added a two and a half inch bias bound continuous placket to the back skirt and a second set of ties.  The bodice is actually quite roomy once it gets past the shoulders.  This version of the dress will fit Chloe much longer than her first one.

Mirrors are wonderful for showing both sides of a dress at once!

These photos show the placket and ties.

These poses are all her own!  She was cracking us up!

Well, this is the last hurrah for Season 16 of Project Run & Play.

 It was a lot of fun to sew along with the challenges.  

The best part, though, was seeing the outfits on the 

little girls for whom I made them

 and watching them enjoy the clothes.  

Please check out the Signature Styles for the primary contestants HERE 

and the sew-along contestants HERE.

Project Run & Play Season 16 Signature Style Sew-Along Part 1

Sweet Summer Sisters 

Oh my stars!  These girls!

These sweet little sisters are Harper (age 5) and Rory (age 3) and I have the delightful pleasure of not only working with their mommy, an amazing kindergarten teacher, but I have the pleasure of seeing the girls often.  They always seem very pleased with the little gifts I make them and enjoy wearing them.  When Rory was given another skirt recently she said, "For meeeee?", and hugged it!  

I think these two have me wrapped around their fingers almost as tight as Chloe does!

I originally thought that these would be posted for the "Sew Your Stash" sew-along challenge on Project Run & Play.  I had them sewn and we photographed them at the children's museum on the same day as the three entries I got blogged in time for that contest.  I just couldn't get this set blogged quickly enough.  There are enough details in the outfits to qualify for what I consider My Signature Style so I decided to save them for this week.  

Harper's outfit consists of two pieces using Oliver + S patterns.  The top is a free pattern for a ruffled halter top and the skirt is a favorite pattern, the  "Swingset Skirt".  I have lost track of how many times I have made it and in how many ways.  Maybe I'll make a post someday on just that skirt pattern!

Patterns:  "Swingset Skirt" by Oliver + S, size 4

Ruffled Halter Top by Oliver + S (free:  found HERE), size 5/6

Blouse Fabrics:  Leftover eyelets from previous projects and Venice lace

Skirt Fabrics:  Floral mystery fabric that has "mellowed" in the stash for years and leftover white satin batiste for the lining.

The only changes made to the skirt were to add a button on the front waistband to denote the front for a five year old and to use just one 3/4 inch wide elastic in the waist casing.  Changes to the blouse:   I cut the fabrics on the bias but just couldn't leave them raw.  I narrow rolled hems using a hem rolling foot on my machine and added lace to each ruffle and under the drawstring casing at the neck.  

The bandaids are badges of courage.  Harper had her five year old
shots for kindergarten that morning.

 Rory's sun dress is made with the same floral print with added ribbon, buttons, and Swiss edging and insertion from my stash.  This is a free pattern from The Cottage Mama.  I particularly like that the bodice front and back is lined to the underarm section making the the underarms finished without a bias binding.

 Pattern:  "Summer Picnic Dress" by the Cottage Mama 

(Free:  found HERE), size 3

The biggest change I made to this dress was to increase the width of the skirts by three inches and to increase the width of the ruffles.  Adding the trims to the little bodice and the bottom of the skirt was the "icing on the cake"!

They are really as sweet 'in real life' as they are in these photographs!

 Harper is so intelligent and has such a tender heart!  She is such a good big sister!

Rory is fun and funny as well as so loving!

Sisters & Best Friends

I enjoyed making these outfits for these cuties and the photo shoot was my "icing on the cake"!

Please check the fabulous contestant entries HERE 

and the Sew-Along entries HERE at Project Run & Play.

  So inspiring!