A Bubble by any Other Name Would Look as Sweet!

Awhile back, we had taken the Oliver + S Bubble Dress pattern, and revamped it to make some bubble sacques for "Baby Girl." Being pleased with the results, we decided to make a bubble dress for her...this time, however, following the pattern directions from beginning to end. Well, with one minor addition: piping (surprise, surprise!)

Thinking back, there isn't much to say about this sewing venture except we loved it....and were in such a happy place that we forgot to put a label in it as we sewed along! We used Kaffe Fausset's ice blue shot cotton that was ooh-laa-laa to the touch.

Perks to the Oliver + S Bubble Dress:

1. It wasn't a time-consuming project AT ALL! In fact, the longest part of the process was tracing the scallop top-stitching line to follow (because we're not good enough to tackle it blindly).

2. The placket was absolutely heavenly! Plackets generally make us cringe, but these directions were detailed and thorough, guiding us through the entire process flawlessly. This was MAJOR! It was our first placket we've actually been pleased with its turnout. If only all plackets were made like this...

If you still need more guidance on sewing the placket or the bubble dress in general, there are some excellent tutorials about it here on the Oliver + S site.

We had to include some "Brady Bunch" poses of the niece while shooting on the 'burst setting' on our camera. The 'burst setting' is PERFECT for newborn pictures....and one we were made aware of when the "Big Sister" was younger!

Now...enough of these pictures....It's naptime for someone! Sleep tight, sweet baby!

 

We Interrupt This Program.....

We interrupt this program for a very important announcement! It's that time of the year again....PROJECT RUN AND PLAY!! Can we get a WHOOP, WHOOP?!?! Please?? With Season 5 only a few weeks away, we are gearing up for the sew-along challenges, while looking back at last season - ie: the first time we 'sewed along' (from the 'comfort' of the flickr sew-along group).

If you've never participated in the Project Run and Play Flickr Sew-Along, we'd love to take the opportunity to strongly encourage you to do so!! Last spring, it pushed us to try sewing techniques we would not typically have attempted. The creativity and ideas generated by others is absolutely fantastic, and the kind feedback from the sewing community is priceless...

Rewind 4.5 months ago. We were soooo young, we were soooo green, and we were soooo excited! After deliberation, debate, and hours of discussion, we opted to participate in FIVE of the SIX challenges. Yep....crazy stuff...especially after initially thinking we might only do a couple of them! We got a bit obsessive as the weeks progressed, and had a mixture of regret and relief during the one week we chose to 'take off.'

Our Season 4 entries included:

Week 1: Dana's Circle Skirt Remixed

Week 2: Sportswear

Week 3: Upcycle

Week 4: OFF WEEK ("Color Week" for everyone else)

Week 5: Let's Go to the Movies

Week 6: Signature Style

Now, technically, we're still soooo young, soooo green, and soooo excited!! Season 5 challenges have been announced, and they include:
Week 1: Pattern Remix - Katy's (No Big Dill) Very Biased Skirt
Week 2: Fashion Icon Challenge
Week 3: White Sheet Challenge
Week 4: Boys Week
Week 5: Holiday Wear
Week 6: Signature Style

Deliberation, debate and discussion have ensued....and mums the word on the weeks we're planning on participating. Okay, okay, so we're still mulling it over. But, time will tell...and we hope you come back for a visit from time to time in the next few months to check out our creations.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program...

Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This...

Initially, this post was going to be named "The Case of Sweatipalmitis," but after the traumas of this outfit, the title "Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This" was MUCH MORE APPROPRIATE. Never fear, 'sweatipalmitis' is sure to be defined in a future post...based on our track record with heirloom sewing!

Before going any further....we must post a spoiler alert: THIS IS A MAJOR WHINE WARNING!  If posts like this - one with all sorts of problems, traumas, etc. - validate your sewing prowess....well then, by all means, read on about our woes! Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying!!

As our sister's due date loomed, we decided our newest niece needed a new daygown. She had some hand-me-downs from our baby days, as well as from her older sister's time. In fact, she wore her mom's daygown home from the hospital. How special is that?? Still, there's just something about a new heirloom dress for a baby....

MISTAKE 1: We bought some drool over, fabulous pale pink swiss lawn on our fabric sewing adventure....for a mere $21 a yard. Pure craziness!! That was at 1/2 price too.....who were we kidding?!?! We break out in a cold sweat buying $15-$16 price range fabrics.

MISTAKE 2: We used the book, Baby Daygowns Book II by Mildred Gould, as our reference / starting point. That might be 'harsh' to quantify this a mistake, BUT in order to sew from this book, one must read the book cover to cover several times to minimize forthcoming mistakes. And, yes...we had a plethora!

MISTAKE 3: We cut the fabric in accordance with the pattern piece (isn't that the reason for pattern pieces??), and did not allow room for tucks. MAJOR OOOPS! 

WORK AROUND 1: We had enough fabric to BLOCK the front pieces for tuck placement, allowing what we thought would be ample room for all the tucks we needed...but not the back piece.

MISTAKE 4: Ummm, when we re-did those front pieces, we didn't allow for double facing for the front placket. There went the sweet, white tatting that was going to accent the daygown.  No work-around for this mistake....just "bye-bye, tatting!" Except for the sleeves...

MISTAKE 5: All that room we allotted for tucks on our 2nd cutting {based on measuring and careful calculation}....yeah, it wasn't enough! Instead, we had enough for 11 tiny tucks on both sides of the front placket - front and center. They were supposed to go from the placket through the width of the shoulder seam, and we were far from it!

At this time, Emily {suzanne} called for a purging of this project....i.e. $21 in the trash.  Baby niece was so kind to pose for Emily's frustrations....note the hands in the air, surrendering, giving up, etc. look. Obviously, Emily {suzanne} didn't win that discussion, and we forged on trying to get something 'wearable' from it all.

WORK-AROUND 2: I added some hand-embroidered stitching on the shoulder / neck line, just past the tucks...trying to fill in the gaping void.

It is now officially done, and looks nothing like what we envisioned for our niece.  But, it is wearable...and new...and out of our sewing area!!  There were lots of valuable lessons learned in this project.  Ones that hopefully won't be repeated on future projects.  Heirloom sewing is an entirely different monster....one we'd love to better ourselves in doing, but with less headache, heartache, and stress!

Questions or comments? Ready to advise, empathize, or laugh with us? Take it away! Oh, and if you are curious about our niece's question (see above photo), it was: "Will I ever get another heirloom daygown from my two favorite aunts??"  The verdict is out on that one, baby, but it isn't looking too promising!

Let's Play the "Glad Game!"

"Let's Go to the Movies!" was one of the challenges of Project Run and Play, Season 4. Our initial thoughts: a BIG belly laugh followed by a 'x' on our to-do list. You see, we're not big movie-goers. Not because we don't like movies, but because we just don't make time to go to them! 

Then, we started thinking....and the emails/texts started flying back and forth. Emily {suzanne} mentioned, "What about Pollyanna? Sailor-style, drop-waist outfits are making a comeback!" Unbeknownst to her, Ashley {frances} was doing a little research of her own, on you guessed it, Pollyanna. She had downloaded various web images of Pollyanna's sailor styles throughout the movie, and was in the process of sending them. Sometimes it's scary how much we think alike!!

Pollyanna was a childhood favorite of ours! Our mom even called Emily {suzanne} her little "Pollyanna" during her younger years... Check out these timeless Pollyanna sailor styles that we discovered on our walk down memory lane:

We began with the vintage pattern, Butterick 2760, found on etsy, and a grainy Pollyanna image (more on that fiasco later). Vintage patterns have always been intriguing to us...and what better time to try one than during Project Run and Play, right??

Modifications were needed. These included:

1. Make the outfit one-piece, instead of two separate ones.

2. Add a drop-waist sash with unique button tabs. While the button tabs on Pollyanna's original outfit sold us on making this outfit, we felt as if the vertical button sash tabs would dwarf our niece in comparison to her body and build. So, we made the sash tab buttons horizontal instead.

3. Lengthen the sleeves and add a faux cuff.

4. Double the ribbon trim around the collar area.

We've heard that vintage pattern directions are different, and not for the faint of heart. After reading and re-reading the dickey instructions, we realized there was LOTS of truth to that adage. In fact, we almost didn't complete the project because of that stinking dickey! The unfinished project laid untouched for at least 48 hours. And for those of you that sew-along with Project Run and Play, you know you don't have 48 hours to waste!!

Then, there was this little problem....playing our 25+ year old VHS version of the movie and pausing it for a picture. An unraveling tape, awful picture quality, and a pending deadline were not exactly how we envisioned an outfit based on "positive thoughts!" We have since bought a DVD, and had to include a VHS "flashback" for your viewing pleasure.

At the end of the week's competition, we were still able to play the "Glad Game"...something we tend to make a habit of in our sewing projects! It lightens the struggles we often face in our sewing process.

So, what exactly were we glad about in this round of the Project Run and Play sew-along?

* We were glad we were able to pick out our fabric, notions, etc. in approximately 25 minutes one evening before Joann's closed (a RECORD for us in any fabric store!)

* We finished by the deadline (and had an attached dickey in the outfit)

* We sewed from a vintage pattern with little hair loss and/or graying in the process

* The VHS tape was not permanently stuck in the VHS player

* We were wrong about our predicted sew-along winner for the week (another 'game' we play)

* Because...we walked away with $25 to spend on fabric at the end of the day!!

Due Date + Procrastination = a Naked Baby?!?!

It was down to the wire. It was our sister's due date, and the only things we had made for "baby girl" were two 12 month outfits that we had inadvertently cut the wrong size for her big sister. So, we got busy, quickly.

Baby bubble sacque online tutorials are plentiful, but I chose what I'd like to call "the road less traveled." It all began with an existing pattern. Yes, I confess, I'm not that good. Patterns are my crutch. I can't trace, snip, and fly by the seat of my pants and have a perfect garment like so many of the bloggers I follow. One can dream though. Maybe one day.

Recently, Emily {suzanne} and I had purchased the Oliver + S bubble dress pattern in hopes of sewing it for "baby girl." Which is in the works by the way. . .but I'm getting ahead of myself. To make our sacque, we used the skirt portion of the pattern {view b} without the side seam scallops, unlined, and lengthened it by 3".

Rather than cutting two back pieces, we positioned the back piece 1/2" past the fold to adjust for the seam allowance and cut it as one piece.

The actual skirt when lengthened was 17", so you can cut one sacque on 1/2 yard. Perfect for large scraps! We also cut 1" wide bias strips to make piping that would separate the bodice and skirt portion. To say we love piping probably doesn't do it justice; I really think we are a tad obsessed.

We had really wanted colored onesies, but never found any 'just right' and reasonably priced. Maybe one day we will get brave enough to use dye. We ended up purchasing a 3-pack of plain white Gerber onesies. We measured 1" underneath each armpit and cut the bottom of the onesie off.

Next, I opened the seam under one armpit approximately 5/8 inch to attach the piping to the onesie. After attaching the piping, I stitched the seam under the armpit closed.

I did say piping obsession. So no one would feel left out, all three sacques got their fair share of piping.

The skirt portion still needed its sides' stitched up and seams finished. After that had been completed and gathering threads on the skirt were stitched in place, Emily {suzanne} gathered the skirt and attached it to the piped Gerber bodice.

Disclaimer: One can never have too many pins. If they weren't reusable, we might consider buying stock in them.

At this point, if I had just hemmed the sacque, it would have made a sweet dress, but we are bubble addicts, so I continued on. A quarter inch was pressed up at the bottom of the skirt, then an additional 5/8" was folded and pressed. I stitched both sides to make the casing and left about 2" open to insert the 1/4" elastic.

Of course, you can adjust and use wider elastic if that's what you prefer. Emily {suzanne} measured 17" of elastic and fed it through the casing.

These were so easy to sew up {and would make perfect baby shower gifts}, that instead of sewing just one, we sewed three! We decided to embellish two of them. On one of them, Emily {suzanne} made a sweet little mini ric rac flower, burning the ends of the ric rac to prevent fraying. She learned several valuable lessons during the ric rac flower making process, with the first and foremost being mini-ric rac is difficult to handle and weave as the online tutorials forewarned.

For another sacque, I stitched a small piece of the original fabric on the bodice.

We made it just under the wire, and took the third, unembellished sacque to the hospital to meet "baby girl." Whew. . .no naked baby, at least for today.

*Post Disclaimer: "Baby Girl" has since outgrown the bubble sacques...yes, at 4 weeks old.  The piping is preventing adequate stretching for head and arm insertion.  So, lesson learned.  We must forego the piping (that hurts to type that phrase), OR work a placket of some sort into the outfit. We like the latter option...