moments of clarity

I've snatched some time in the sewing room lately. Clearing off the work table, discovering some unfinished objects, some much adored fabric, and rekindling my desire to make some sweet duds from my Japanese sewing book pile/collection. But first, in order to provide myself some clarity and future guilt-free sewing jaunts, I finished up a few hangers on...First up, this Birthday Party Dress from Oliver + S. The whole aesthetic of the Oliver + S line of sewing patterns speaks to my vintage-loving-girl-at-heart side; the illustrations (paperdolls!), the silhouettes, the hairstyles on the paperdolls, their shoes! And even though my Girly does not necessarily share my love of all things ol' fashioned, she does love blue and the prospect of a mama-made dress! If I remember correctly, the fabrics are both Lecien, but I cannot recall where I ordered from... sorry. There are many sweet details in this pattern that made it a challenge, but also make for a special mama-made; the box-pleated front, the button tab, the back button placket, and one detail that you cannot see is the faced hem (no pic, whoops). I enjoyed the whole project from start to finish, even though I started in the fall... ;)

Next up, as I was sorting through some old clothes which I hope to repurpose, I came across a shirt that was in the wrong pile (yes, there are more than one pile). This shirt belonged in the "gotta' girly this up if I ever expect Hana to wear it" pile (I'm not kidding)! This was a basic oxford, probably manufactured as a boy's style, but I think the color of the oxford cloth is special enough to warrant the effort of a re-do. So, in order to up the girly factor I visited another little, teeny-tiny pile that exists in my sewing room, the Liberty of London Tana Lawn scrap pile. I think it was my mother who first introduced me to all that is to love about Liberty of London Tana Lawn. I know there are many fellow worshipers, I am in good company! The scrap pile of love is the result of a bit of a splurge at Scarlett Rose (say it with me, like Eloise, "Oh, how I loooooove Etsy!") At Scarlett Rose, there are up for offer many, many Liberty prints in small, but usable scraps. I could pick a whole bunch and not have to decide on just a precious few! Like a kid in a candy shop! Awesome.So, I snipped off the collar first. Then the cuffs. Better already! The sleeves had plackets, so once the cuff was gone, the opening was flappy and simply hemming it would not have tidied it up much, so enter a couple of elastic casings from some pretty teal floral Liberty, et voila! I was careful to keep the elastic on the loose side, because a lot of sleeve length was lost with the cuff removal, so the sleeves are more like a 3/4 length. Now I could have called that done, but then I felt like a bit of applique was in order. A heart of course! While I was at it, a skirt was made also using some of the precious Liberty scrap pile, but it definitely needs to be modelled....

So, I had a good weekend clearing up some real & mental clutter. I hope you had a good one too!

xo