Cherry Print Dress
Background
It all started when i received a sewing machine as my birthday present last year. I have been thinking of making some clothes and other stuff for ‘H’ but never pursued it seriously.
A few months back i went visiting some of my cousins along with ‘H’ when they mentioned a new shop with fabric and trims (unfortunately neither my cousins nor the shop are in Chennai)… we went shopping and came back with several cotton fabric pieces (0.5 meter per print). My MIL said that half a meter might not be enough if i want to make a dress for ‘H’ (see i am so much of a beginner when comes to sewing that i can’t even decently estimate the fabric needed). So i took a challenge with myself “Half Yard Dress Challenge” 
that will make wearable clothes out of those half yards and some other bits and bobs from my stash for ‘H’. I made a couple of dresses for ‘H’ and some more are in various stages.
Thats for the background and now…Introducing the CHERRY PRINT DRESS.
Supplies: Printed Poplin with eyelet embroidery all over (best i can explain)
Plain Red Poplin (stash, remember the blouse pieces from marriages and other functions)
White Ric-Rac (stash)
Wooden Buttons (stash)
Pattern: Snappy Dress from Prudent baby, There is an excellent tutorial following the Free Pattern Download to make sewing a breeze.
The Dress hits ‘H’, just at the knee.. I can extend its wear by adding leggings later.
Did some crooked embroidery with half white floss and added some ric-rac to the hem. You can also see my uneven sewing in the close-up. My first buttonholes… done almost perfectly. It’s a bit tight near her armhole else its perfect.
Next time… I will re-draft the pattern to make it a bit roomy near the armhole. (Is this novice sewing gal saying Re-Draft!!!!!!! )
Back from Break
It is not a planned break, but 6 months is a quite long time to be away from the blog.
Baby ‘H’ learned walk before she turned 10 months, that means i have to be behind her all the time. Apart from that
we went visiting relatives…
Some close kin came to visit us..
There were 4 B’day parties including that of ‘H’…
Renovation of the house…
Moving to a new place…
Above all this I now have to plan for a trip overseas…with ‘H’ in a couple of weeks.
within this mayhem… crafting(mostly sewing with a couple of knitting stuff thrown in) was only thing that calmed me.
I will be bombarding you with all the things i made for the next couple of days.
I have to say that i am happy to be back blogging.
B for Bloomers
Bloomy Bloomers
Continuing with my “B” Theme …
My first Bloomers for baby H.
The pattern is drafted from an existing pair of shorts, since it has to be bloomers there is lot of tweaking. More tweaking has to done as there is too much fabric in the front; the raise has to be increased to accomodate the cloth diaper bum of baby H – right now its a wee little bit squeeze in the back. The best part is there is only one pattern peice, making it easy to cut and sew.
Pattern: Drafted by me from a pair of shorts
Size:i will put it as 9-12 mo (lasts longer if not for the diaper)
Fabric: I will no more write about the fabric (i promise you will see more of it as i have a lot left)
The ruffle idea i got from peasant blouse on inditutes. It makes the bloomers extra cute.
I have this one blurry photo of baby H wearing the entire ensemble
The Monk Dress
Monk Dress
Not that this is what monks wear but ‘A’ said that she looks like a monk when she first wore the dress; and it kind of stuck… he still refers to the dress as monk dress
Officially this the first dress i made for baby H. A pair of baby pants is the first thing i made for her, sewing wise.
Pattern: Wrap dress by Tiny Happy.
Fabric: Handwoven cotton, recycled from an old Chudidhar top/ Handprinted cotton, recycled from a scarf
Size: 6-12mo when you consider it can be worn as a dress, tunic, top.
The original pattern is a 2T-3T size, I used an existing dress of H and made a pattern to her size. Rightnow its less of a dress and more of a tunic. The bias tape is made from Dupatta/scarf (the same one you have seen for the booties).
I cut the fabric such that the hem of the old dress matches the new one. All raw edges inside are zigzagged.
More dresses to come…. (I made this dress a month and a half back but got the time now to take some photos and blog)
B for Booties
I am falling for booties… I collected so many sewing patterns (Ravelry makes it easy for knit n Crochet) that i am now confused of, what to make first By the time i decide by bub will go past the booties stage.
Purple Saartje Booties
We got baby H couple of booties from the store days after she was born and they are tooo big for her; at 9 months they still tend to slip off her legs though they are newborn size. She wore socks most of the time.
These were started before she was born and by the time they are finished she is 3 months old Fortunately they were made in 3-6 month size.
Unfortunately i only have one blurry pic of baby H wearing them.
Pattern: Saartjes bootees from Saartje knits Its a free pattern that can be found on the righthand side.
Yarn: unknown wool blend (Recycled)
Size: 3-6mo
Reversible Corduroy Booties
I love these…They are completely reversible, made when she outgrew the knit ones, which was around 7 months. One side is brown corduroy and the otherside is 100% block printed cotton fabric, aka an old scarf/dupatta You will be seeing this fabric a lot as i experiment more with sewing as i have a decent amount of it.
I used an universal needle to sew and it pretty much struggled through when there were around 6 layers of fabric. I should get some heavy duty needles soon.
Right now they are her goto booties and i am planning to make another pair soon albeit a different style.
Pattern: Reversible Baby
Fabric: Brown Coudrouy from Thakurdas Choithram, Chennai (400Rs/m). Printed Cotton from an old scarf/dupatta.
Size: 6-9mo.
I have couple of photos of her sporting these booties but i cannot find them anywhere now (Thats the problem when you try to oversecure the data with multiple storage devices).
If you have any favourite fabric haunts in Chennai, I love to know about them. Some stores from blogland are mentioned in my Fibres and more page.
I am always looking out for fabrics by meter or what is called as running material in Blockprinted cottons, Printed Flannel (The plains in Bombay dyeing are good but not the printeds), Printed voiles.
Are knits available in chennai even plain (pure cotton pls)????
B for Ball
Wondering myself “Where did i go????”
Pentagon Ball:
I love this ball and Baby H loves it more. I love and hate doing the same thing again and again, i kind of enjoyed making the ball but hated making the pentagons…. should have choosen different motifs but too lazy to do it.
I didn’t stuff it too much making it easy to grab and put it in mouth The ball was a great motivator for her to scoot and crawl a few months back, right now she enjoys seeing the colors. The biggest plus is, i can throw it in the wash and it comes out clean.
The ball was made when ‘H’ is around 4 months old; there is a small plastic bottle with tur dal inside, placed during stuffing to function as a rattle.
Yarn: local acrylic in a couple of colors
Pattern: The pentagons are pentagon version of the african flower motif, which is basically a hexagon. [Isn't her crochet ball amazing]. There are tonnes of tutorials/instructions/patterns in every kind of craft(crochet/knit/sew) to make a pentagon ball.
Mat and Dishcloths
Why are the days going so fast…. i really need them to slow down so that i can catch up:-)
Baby H is rolling all over the place now and last few days we were busy making the place a bit more friendly for her… We replaced the usual bed with a floor bed and removed most of the furniture from the room.
Regarding crafting I made these for my mum back in April, before baby H was born.
Sari to Mat
Yarn: Sari Yarn
Hook: 9mm
Size: around 25″x 15″
Pattern: followed a generic ellipse pattern
Making Mats with old cotton sarees and sheets is a great recycling project.
Somebody on Ravelry were asking about sari yarn and my hands started to itch…hehehhe. Luckly my mom had an old cotton sari for me to play… I ripped such that i will get one long continous strip of fabric; winding it into a ball as i go. Ripping is a great stressbuster (not that i was stressed at that time) its also a great timepass in front of the TV (stops you from munching crunchies infront of TV)
I think i finished it in week… my hands used to get tired after a few minutes of using the large hook even though i was using knife-hold instead of pencil-hold. This was all before baby H.. with her it would have taken me a month.
Best Dishcloths
The dishcloths are made from cotton yarn from this swap . Its cotton and its bulky. I found it difficult to crochet and also it wasnt looking pretty. As for knit… I found the purls going too slow for my liking so Garter stitch it is. They are 6″ squares (almost). They are great for wiping tables and counters especially after a spill as they hold a lot of liquid.
My mom uses one to wipe the mirrors as the waterstains vanish after one wipe.
Its a day project.
(I said ‘Best’ coz they work better than the other ones i have made)
