Spring is in the Air!

My goal this year is to sew up as much of the Princess’s spring/summer wardrobe as possible. Last year, as a small baby, she wore mainly footie pajamas, and those are pretty boring to make  (at least in the quantity she needed- due to baby spit up, poo-splosions, etc.) and I wasn’t feeling very inspired.

However, this year I’m loving the variety of patterns and outfits she can wear, so I’m really looking forward to populating her wardrobe with cute, practical classics- and that means KNIT DRESSES!

As I was mulling this over, Sharyn from K’s Custom Fabrics put out a request for strike off seamstresses, and I jumped for joy at the variety of adorable, spring and summer prints she was offering. These would be PERFECT for my girl’s spring/summer clothing needs, and I decided that even if she didn’t pick me, I’d certainly be placing an order.

I felt very honored however, when she did add me to her talented group of seamstresses, and sent me two pieces of fabric to play with: Mae Flowers and Purple Dandelions. So many ideas swirled through my mind about what patterns I could use, but I finally settled on the Peekaboo Patterns Violet Dress, the Made for Mermaids Bonny leggings (used before here), and the Peekaboo Patterns Little Miss Sunshine Dress. All three of these patterns have a tried and true fit on my girl, and would show off the featured fabrics while being practical additions to her closet.

As soon as I received the strike-offs I was impressed- they were thick (260 GSM!) and had the perfect amount of stretch and recovery. They also washed up very well, with no color bleeding- a necessity for children’s clothes that get washed frequently. Of course, it’s always a good idea to use a color catcher when washing new custom prints, but I’m lazy, and don’t usually remember, so it’s nice when the fabric doesn’t bleed from the start.

The first set I sewed up was the Peekaboo Patterns Violet dress and the Made for Mermaids Bonny leggings. I just love the cute side pockets on the Violet dress, and as soon as she discovered them, Princess was trying to fill them with flowers and treasures from our meadow photo shoot.

  

I decided that the leggings would look best with some ruffles, so I used the ruffle hack on the M4M blog here to add them. This was a quick and easy way to use up some scraps and make a coordinating outfit, and I’ll definitely do it again.

The Violet dress went together seamlessly, as I have come to expect from Peekaboo, and was a much quicker sew than I expected (which was good, since I was trying to sew these up quickly).

  

There are so many gorgeous colors in this print, that it was hard to choose a coordinate for the sides of the dress- which is great because it means you’re sure to find something in your stash to match!

  

The second dress I made was also from Peekaboo- the Little Miss Sunshine Dress– a dolman style bodice with a pieced skirt. I chose this style because I didn’t have a lot of the purple dandelions to work with, and wanted to maximize the look while still creating a dress that will last all spring and summer (and maybe next year too, if she wears it as a top!).

Again, this went together much quicker than I expected, save for a pattern tracing error on my part that Amy of Peekaboo was very prompt in helping me correct (thanks Amy!). I’ll definitely be using this pattern again. I chose coordinating fabrics for the rest of the skirt- purple sparkles from Pink Zeppelin left over from Princess’s Halloween outfit (no longer available), and some cotton/lycra solids in lavender and gold. There are many possibilities for coordinates with this print (white, blue, black, navy, or pink would also look pretty), but I liked how these looked together and they had the added bonus of being already in my stash. I finished the dress with a lettuce-edge hem, another new-to-me technique, using my serger. I LOVE the result- it’s so simple once you’ve gotten the settings worked out, and adds a girly touch.

      

During our photoshoot, she kept trying to twirl, and was simply the cutest!

In addition to thick, luscious cotton-lycra, K’s Closet Custom Fabrics also offers their prints on 220 gsm brushed poly- much thicker than the usual 180 GSM you see in retail shops. I didn’t get to try it out, but I’m sure it’s amazing. The pre-order closes on 4/14 for this round, and she only runs them quarterly, so hurry over to their Facebook group before it closes!

Sharyn also owns a retail store in Hillsborough, NC, and her local business making and selling clothing is what inspired her to offer her fabrics on a broader scale, so she really knows her fabrics. You’ll also want to check out what the other seamstresses have made here. I love the bicycle print and the “Honu wisdom“- I’m going to need some of that for our upcoming trip to Hawaii!

I can’t wait to work with her again and see what others make from these fabrics!

 

 

 

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3 Comments

  1. […] finish up the outfit, I made a Peekaboo Little Miss Sunshine top (pattern used before here as a dress), because it was quick and easy and displayed the adorable mermaid panel […]

  2. […] I made Princess a Peekaboo Little Miss Sunshine dress (used before here), using several of the printed fabrics and alternating them with some stretch knit denim and rayon […]

  3. There Be Dragons Here… – Sewing with Sarah on September 13, 2017 at 10:31 pm

    […] to use every last scrap, I sewed Princess a simplified Violet Tunic (made before here) using the main larger scale print for the front and back and blue sparkles for the side panels. […]

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