Return of the Geranium Dress

Back in the winter, I decided to bust some of my fabric stash to make a couple of summer dresses for Dolores. It was fun to dream of warmer weather during chilly greyness, and because this is a TNT pattern and I felt confident in the sizing, I knew that I was making garments that would get lots of wear when it eventually got warm enough. 

Pattern:

Both this white dress, and the orange African wax fabric version pictured at the bottom of the post, have been made using the Geranium dress pattern by Made by Rae. If you have a child in your life who likes to wear dresses, I kind of feel that you owe it to yourself to get this pattern. It has a number of neckline, armhole, skirt style, skirt length and pocket variations included which can help you create a multitude of different looking garments and gets you your money's worth. And Rae's released an expansion pack that gives you even more design options, totalling an insane number of mix and match options. 

These dresses represent at least the 8th and 9th times I've sewn this pattern. I've previously made four for Dolores (this, this, this and this), as well as at least two for window displays at the Village Haberdashery, and one as a birthday present for Dolores's friend, Naomi. Plus I've taught a couple of Geranium dress classes at VH in the past, so I feel I know this pattern pretty well now!

Dolores is now 4.5 years old, so I made the size 5 (the biggest size in the smaller pattern size range), hypothesising that they'd see two summer's worth of use. For the white dress, I used the sleeveless armhole option with notched neckline and gathered skirt. For the orange one, I chose the faux cap sleeve option with simple scoop neckline and, again, the gathered skirt. I like the pleated skirt option too, however the gathered skirt option has the perfect amount of fullness, IMO. Enough to satisfy a child with 'girly' clothing preferences, but not so much as to make it unsuitable for everyday wear. 

After cutting out the white version, I realised that I had enough fabric left over for a matching bucket hat. So out came my fave: the Oliver + S free bucket hat pattern. The hat is looking a little battered in these pictures because it's already seen MASSES of wear this year, by both Dolores and Frankie. 

Fabric:

Part of the popularity of the Geranium pattern is down to the fact that it works well in quilting cotton, and fabrics with that type of weight and handle. In fact, when I tried making this pattern in a drapier fabric (by accident), it definitely didn't hold its shape as well and looked tatty after fewer wears than the stiffer stuff. Quilting cotton can come in such amazing, beautiful and fun prints, and it's so often crying out to be made into children's wear.

The white-background fabric above has a beautiful circus acrobats print in lovely subtle colours that I found in the spring of 2017 at the Ditto fabrics closing-down-their-warehouse-space sale. Initially, I felt the dress looked a bit plain, and I planned to add some pompom trim or something to it somehow. However, I struggled to find anything in a suitable scale and it started to get worn, so it's remained plain. It's a firm favourite with Dolores, and even though these photos were only taken a couple of weeks ago, it's now sadly (but inevitably) stained with pasta sauce and lord knows what else.

The insane eyeball print African wax fabric found its way into my stash via a fabric swap I hosted in Brighton a trillion years ago. She's modelling it here, appropriately, in the African section of the anthropology museum in Madrid when we visited in April. It's the same fabric I used to make her this Geranium dress three years ago. I loved her wearing the initial version, and it's made me really happy to see her wearing this reboot!

Thoughts:

This pattern has been the very definition of a TNT pattern for me. I've relied upon it to make fantastic, well fitting and perfectly proportioned dresses in the type of fabric (quilting cotton and similar) that often doesn't lend itself well to garment sewing. Now that Dolores is at the top of range of sizes of the pattern I own, I have to debate whether or not to buy the size 6-12 range pattern. Perhaps it's time to hang up my Geranium making hat and venture into the unknown with some of the other amazing kids patterns that are out there.  

Leopard Geranium Dress

Yep. I can't lie, it's another Geranium dress. Even though I've already made about seven of these already, and have even taught other people to make them in a sewing class, this project still had some lessons to teach me. 

(image source: Made by Rae)

Pattern:

I've waxed lyrical about this pattern a number of times before, but I'll say it again: I really love all the different design options included. It makes the planning stage of your project even more fun than usual. For this version, I decided to try the faux-cap sleeve option for the first time, along with the U-shaped neckline cut out and the pleated skirt (minus the side seam pockets). I also added some black shop-bought piping in the bodice seam to add some interest, and to match the back buttons (you'll have to trust me on that because I forgot to photograph the back). This dress pattern isn't the quickest make ever, but it is super satisfying and you're left with such a classic, well-proportioned garment. 

As you can see, the seasonal suitability of this dress pattern can be extended when worn with a long-sleeved t-shirt and tights underneath. Since I made this dress Rae has released a Geranium expansion pack which includes long-sleeved options. Bring on the Autumn sewing plans....

Fabric:

When I was pregnant last year (was that really only a year ago?!) we chose to find out the gender at the 20 week scan, which I duly announced to the world. The incredibly lovely Josie from Fabric Godmother then sent me a bundle of fabric and a sewing pattern for making into boy clothes (a lot of the fabric became this little selection). Because she is so thoughtful, Josie also included a metre of this coral-y/orange leopard print twill (sadly no longer available) to make something for Dolores so she wouldn't be jealous!

When I received it, it had a crispy handle which softened a bit after a pre-wash. I must have chosen the design elements based on my initial assessment of the fabric, thinking the stiffness would hold the U-shape and pleats nicely. Subsequent washes has softened the fabric further still, and revealed that it is actually very drape-y, and I've subsequently regretted those choices. Sad face. 

Thoughts:

This dress has been worn approx. three hundred times since these pictures were taken. Dolores probably chooses so often because the fabric's weight and drape make it pleasing for twirling around in! Sadly, the U-shape at the neckline has stretched out a lot (despite the interfacing used around that area) and the pleats are even less defined. I regret choosing to include any kind of cut out, and for not making the gathered skirt instead. So my takeaway here is: choose what you're going to make from a piece fabric based on what it's like AFTER it's been washed, not BEFORE. My other lesson, that I think I probably already knew, is this: no matter how much faff piping is, including it is always the right decision.

Refashion Friday: Topshop Dress to Geranium Dress

When Annie from The Village Haberdashery asked me if I'd be up for teaching the Geranium dress pattern by Made By Rae as a class again (on Saturday 25th June, there's still a couple of places left BTW!), it reminded me just how awesome this sewing pattern is. Seeing as Dolores has recently developed a very specific girly dress sense, I thought I'd make her another Geranium to try and create something she would be happy to wear, whilst boning up on the construction method before I teach the class. 

Pattern:

This sewing pattern is seriously good value because of all the different style options it includes. With three different necklines, three different shoulder/sleeve versions, two skirt styles, two length variations AND optional pockets, you could make this heaps of times using different combinations and you'd feel like you'd made a selection of unique garments. For this version, I opted for the plain neckline, flutter sleeves, gathered skirt, dress length WITH pockets. Phew. 

Size-wise, I went for the size 2 (Dolores is currently 2 years 8 months) but added 4cm to the length of the hem. I felt pretty confident that it would work out ok, because she can still just about fit into her previous two versions (#1 and #2), both of which were made using the 18-24 month size. She's a fairly slender child, and as you can see from these pics, she can comfortably wear a T-shirt underneath the size 2 at the moment, so I'm hoping this dress will last for next summer too. 

Fabric:

Do a google image search for Geranium dress and you'll find a real variety of overall looks, spanning from traditional to contemporary, which seems largely dependent on the fabric choice. As you know, I was firmly aiming for GIRLY with this version so had a rummage in Le Stash to see what I had to hand. I've had this Topshop dress in there for about five years, with the intention of turning it into a summer top for myself. I got it from my former employment, the textile recycling charity TRAID, to whom it had been donated with a lot of other Topshop seconds because its zip was busted. My job was to work on a clothing range made from donated textiles that couldn't be sold in their current form, and when we came across something that we liked that we wouldn't be using for the range, we'd make a donation to the charity and take it home. This dress was made from a beautifully fine cotton with a vintage-y floral print that always felt quite 30's/40's tea dress-esque to me. 

I knew I wanted to include both the flutter sleeves as well as the pockets, and I really wanted to play around with the linear print, so cutting out the pattern pieces was a little challenging. I cut the front bodice in two pieces on the bias and seamed it to get a chevron effect. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough fabric for me to also cut the back pieces on the bias, so I opted for vertical stripes to contrast with the horizontal stripes of the skirt. I also cut the patch pockets with the stripes running vertically in the hope that that they wouldn't get too lost in the busy print.     

Thoughts:

She likes it!!! I kept taking it off her at various points today (during meal times and at her messy play sensory class) in an attempt to prevent it getting wrecked, and each time she reminded me that she wanted it back on. I doubt she'll hold it with the same regard that she holds the ratty synthetic sparkly princess dress with peeling off sequins, but at least it's an outfit option that hopefully we won't fight over! 

As for me, I'm super happy with it. I'm so pleased to have finally used the fabric from this dress as I've loved it for years but never quite felt it was 'me'. I also took my time with the construction, using french seams for the skirt for example. And although there are a couple of small flaws with this dress that aren't worth pointing out here, I'm very happy with the finish and I think she looks so sweet in it.

Cost:

Pattern: £0 (I got to use it for free as prep for the class, but it can be bought for $10 as a PDF from here and £13 as a paper pattern from here)

Outer fabric: approx. £2 donation for the dress

Bodice lining fabric: £0 from stash that I got for free 

Buttons: £0 sent to me with some fabric from Sewbox.co.uk

Total: £2

African Wax Print Geranium Dress: Plus, I'm Tapping Out

Here it is peops, my second and final garment for this summer's 'Traveling' themed KCW. And I give up. But let's talk about the garment first. Oh, and if you don't like pictures of cute toddlers, or the colour orange, or eyes, then you may want to skip this post entirely. 

Pattern:

This is my second go using the Made By Rae's Geranium pattern for Dolores, and my forth go at it in total. I wrote pretty thoroughly about it in the Liberty print version blog post if you want to know my thoughts on it. But you can probably guess how I feel about it simply by the fact that I've made it four times now. 

This time round I used the plain armholes like the Liberty print one, but opted for the V-notch neckline and gathered skirt options. I'm not sure why, but I feel a bold print (and let's face it, you don't get much bolder than this one!) suits the gathered skirt style, and plain or very subtle/small prints look better with the pleated style. I think the formulae of crazy fabric + traditional style OR traditional/subtle fabric + more interesting design works well for children's wear.

Fabric and Notions:

If you've been following my blog for a couple of years, this fabric may look familiar; it once took the form of a big fat horrendous FAIL of a maternity garment. Once I had finally stopped laughing about that dress, I put it away with the intention of reusing the fabric, even though I still have metres and metres of it left uncut. I just couldn't waste the fabric, like I'd wasted my time and energy.

If you've made it this far into the post, it's probably already seared your retinas, however let me tell you a bit more about it. It's a medium weight African wax cotton fabric printed with an insane design of eyes and abstract Aztec-y diamonds. It feels and behaves like quilting cotton, and kind of makes the skirt stick out a little bit. I worked hard to achieve a linear pattern match at the seams, but through absolutely no effort on my part, I seem to have nailed an almost exact pattern match on the skirt's back seam and one of the side seams. Like, the eyes are complete. I don't think I couldn't have done that if I'd tried. 

The bodice is lined in a scrap of cream silk habotai from my stash, and despite intense amounts of clipping into the bodice seam allowances before turning it through and very careful pressing, you get slight glimpses of it peeking out. I'm not about to attempt to source bright orange lining fabric and then try to buy only 15 cms of it though, so I'll have to get over it. 

To extend the African theme further still, I used these little zebra buttons for the back closure. They were a gift from the lovely Maggie from Textile Garden (my sponsors, FYI). You can find the zebra ones, plus many many more amazing novelty buttons here. My initial button choice was some giraffes (also given to me by Maggie), but they required vertical button holes which really wouldn't have worked for this dress. No matter, African savannah theme remains intact. (Please don't leave a comment if you happen to know that African wax fabric is from an entirely different part of Africa than where zebras live or something!)

Thoughts on the Dress:

Aside from nearly making my eyes bleed when I look at it, I think this is a pretty awesome garment. The only thing I'd criticise, aside from the aforementioned comment on the lining peeking out, it that the scale of the V-notch is a little small for my liking. If I use this pattern again (which I probably will) and use the V-notch option (which I probably will), I'll make it bigger so it stands out more, even if I'm using more subtle fabric.

The only other thing that could have improved the final look is if I'd found the time and energy to make a matching sun hat. However, I really don't think this dress will get that much wear that it warrants its own special hat! 

Thoughts on This Season's KCW:

So that's me done. I've only completed two garments this time, and I probably didn't sew for a total of seven hours (although I've definitely stopped trying to complete the required seven hours within the specified week). The truth is, I've been ill all week and struggling to entertain Dolores at the same time. She's been sick too and neither of us have had much sleep for agessssss. I was hoping to complete the two projects that I had had brewing anyway, and then bust out something fresh (to me) inspired by the Traveling theme. But it wasn't meant to be.

And, not that anyone should notice this, but I've been blogging way more frequently for the last couple of months than has been my usual routine. I've still got a bit of a backlog of projects to share and topics to discuss in blog post form, but I need to slow up a bit again because I'm heaping pressure and stress onto myself for no good reason. Hmm, starting to realise why I might be ill at the moment! I'm going house-sitting tomorrow for a five days, so that's drawn a line under the challenge, as well as running out of steam. Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a pity party, I just wanted to explain why I'm sadly tapping out of this awesome sewing challenge early. On the plus side, I have to say that sewing (and children's wear sewing in particular) is a regular activity for me at the moment, so if one of the motivations behind the KCW challenges is to kick start someone's flagging sewjo, then I'm pleased to say that I don't feel I need to gain that from it. If you are taking part, I really hope you are having a super fun week!

Liberty Print Geranium Dress

A couple of Saturday's ago I taught a class at the Village Haberdashery on how to make the Geranium dress pattern by Made By Rae. Getting to and from the VH from where I live usually takes at least 3.5 hours door to door, so when I finally got home I was exhausted. When I arrived home, I got changed and poured myself a glass of wine, but instead of watching some TV or some other equally relaxing/brain-numbing activity, I got some fabric out and started making this dress. We have been invited to a baptism party the following day (not my family's usual habitat), and I realised Dolores didn't have anything suitably pretty to wear. Super-tired? Check. Imminent deadline? Check. Not ideal circumstances for a sewing project!  However I couldn't be more happy with the outcome.

Pattern:

I've waxed lyrical about the Geranium dress pattern before, and now that I have made it a few times I can confirm that it really is a very well drafted pattern with many awesome design options. You could make a squillion variations from the same pattern, the results of which would all look like very different garments. For this dress I used the U-shaped cut out neckline, plain armholes, pleated skirt and dress length options (phew!). I did, however, avoid the in-seam pockets which are part of the pleated skirt option. I don't think Dolores would know what to do with in-seam pockets just yet, plus I can imagine that her running around with her hands in some pockets would result in lots more falling over than happens already!

Having taught how to sew the pattern earlier that day, the construction method was firmly imprinted in my brain so I didn't need to spend time referring back to the instructions. Therefore, I managed to cut out and make this dress in about two hours total (I left the buttonholes to do in the daylight the following day before the party!). I used the 18-24 months pieces, Dolores is 20 months now and the fit is spot on. 

Fabric:

I've admitted to this before, but I keep most of my fabric stash in Dolores's bedroom! It's all folded neatly and a set of shelves, and personally I think it looks quite pretty. Whilst I'm rocking her before putting her down to sleep, the fabric is in my sightline and I'm reminded of what I have stashed away. I was so pleased to finally use this beautiful fabric that had been on those shelves for a couple of years! It was a gift from the very lovely Susan who runs Sewbox.co.uk who sent me this and another Liberty print cotton whilst I was pregnant. At the time I obviously didn't know that Dolores would end up with such bright blue eyes, and I LOVE dressing her in blue garments because they accentuate that feature. This Liberty cotton is from the Bloomsbury collection, the print design called is Charles. Sewbox no longer seems to have this exact print, but there are three other colour-ways you can find here.  

This Liberty cotton has a bit more body than the other Liberty Bloomsbury fabric she sent, which is great because it helped to make the pleats and U-shaped cutout detail really nice and crisp. I used the same fabric to line the bodice, and in total the pattern used under a metre. If I get round to it, I'll going to see if I can squeeze a pair of shorts for Dolores out of what is left over. 

Thoughts:

I can't tell you how much I love this little dress. Dolores rarely seems to acknowledge the clothes that she's wearing, but when we first put this dress on her she, too, seemed pretty pleased with herself! I'm so happy with the pairing of fabric and pattern, and the fit is really good. I want to make the most of having traced the pattern pieces, so I plan to make another for this summer, although I'm very aware that woven garments have a much shorter lifespan in terms of fit than all the knit garments that I usually make for her have.  

What about you? What pattern have you been thoroughly impressed by recently? What fabric and pattern combo have you used that turned out to be spot on?

Happy Me-Made-May'15!: Village Haberdashery Giveaway

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS EVERYONE WHO ENTERED. THE WINNER HAS BEEN CONTACTED**

Happy Me-Made-May'15!!!!! I hope you stepped out of the door this morning in your fabulous handmade garment/s feeling super proud of yourself! Like last year, round these parts I'm going to be celebrating this year's Me-Made-May with weekly giveaways for participants of the challenge to enter. There's a nice range of sewing/garment-creating related gear up for grabs, and this first week's is a real corker.  

North London based shop-of-dreams, The Village Haberdashery, are offering up a £50 voucher for one lucky participant (to be chosen at random) to spend on their online shop. The Village Haberdashery post internationally, so this giveaway is open to ALL Me-Made-Mayers. 

The Village Haberdashery are sponsors of this blog, plus I also teach sewing classes there from time to time. Therefore I am lucky enough to have spent a lot of time in the presence of their seriously impressive inventory. I can tell you that they stock a frightening quantity of the most awesome quilting cottons known to (wo)man, and have a rapidly growing range of gorgeous garment fabrics, both woven and knit. They also stock stunning yarns (check me out not calling it 'wool'!), a great selection of notions and every freaking independent printed sewing pattern ever released (don't quote me on that last bit, but it certainly seems that way when you're standing in front of them all).  

So let me further whet your whistle with what you could spend the fiddy-quid on. Well, as I say there a squillion amazing quilting cotton designs like the two Cotton + Steel options pictured above. The lime green above is called Mochi and is currently available in sky blue here. The blue floral fabric on the right is a lovely border print called Mustang which you can see better here. Both these dresses are made using the fabulous Made by Rae Geranium dress pattern which you can also buy from The Village Haberdashery, AND make with me in a class in London on 6th June. 

Or, if you're more into wearing knit garments, you could use the spends on some luscious organic interlock. I can personally vouch that this stuff is seriously soft and cosy. The pattern used for the garment pictured above is the Christine Haynes Marianne dress pattern (would you be surprised to learn that you can also buy that pattern from VH?!) AND you can make one with me in a class on 20th June. 

Here's one more suggestion on what you could spend the voucher on. Some epically awesome printed organic needle corduroy designed by that multi-talented Made By Rae for Cloud9 Fabrics. Both the fabric collection and this specific print design are called Small World. See all the designs the VH stock in this collection here. I'm a lucky lady as I have 1 metre in my sticky mitts that the VH kindly gave me which I'll hopefully turn into something great that will be blogged about soon.  

So, the giveaway. You are not required to do anything in order to be in the running to win this £50 voucher, but I would very much recommend signing up to their newsletter. Also, I have started following their beautiful feed on Instagram (@vhaberdashery) and suggest you do too if you like be visually teased by beautiful fabric and projects on a regular basis!

Please remember that the giveaway is open to participants of Me-Made-may only. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post which includes your email address, unless I can access your email address within two clicks of my mouse. No email address, no way to get the voucher to you. If you aren't positive that it can be accessed within two clicks, then leave it in the comment itself. Your email address will not be used for any purpose other than contacting you if you are the winner. Leave your comment by midnight GMT Friday 8th May 2015. I will pick a winner by random number generator the following day. 

Happy May lovelies!!!