Sunday style: T-Shirt dresses

One of the stalls I was most excited about visiting at the Handmade Fair was Girl Charlee fabric. I've read lots of sewing blogs about their beautiful jersey fabric and I had a few projects in mind. One was the Shannon t-shirt dress from the latest issue of Love Sewing magazine. The simplicity of this pattern really appealed - both in terms of the style and ease of sewing!

I wasn't disappointed when I visited the stall - I bought more fabric than I needed and could have bought more than that. The fabric I chose for this project was a black and grey chevron jersey. Although a t-shirt dress could be quite Summery, the darker colours work well with tights and boots for this time of year. 

There are only two main pattern pieces plus bands for the neck and armholes. I used the overlocker for most of the seams. I finished the neck and armholes with a narrow zig zag stitch. This was an optional step, but I found from the Agnes pattern by Tilly and the buttons that it helps the neck band sit better. The best thing about this project was how quick it was - only just over an hour, including the cutting out. 

I had quite a bit of fabric left so decided to make a matching dress for Polly. I looked for a baby t-shirt dress pattern but couldn't find what I wanted anywhere, so ended up drafting my own using one of her tops as a basis for the top and basing the design and shape on the Shannon dress. Apart from the time spent looking for a pattern and then drafting one, this was even quicker than my dress. I used exactly the same techniques to attach the bands at the neck and armholes. 

I'm really pleased with these, especially drafting my own pattern for Polly's. I love using jersey for kids clothing as it's so comfortable and moves well with them, which is great as she's not far off starting to walk. My dress is super comfortable - perfect for going out for Sunday lunch!

Here we are together:

 

And here's my dress:

I've got lots more jersey so will definitely be sewing up several of these!

Holiday sewing part 3 - Playsuits!

The holiday sewing continues at pace. This week I decided to try out the short version of the Poppy playsuit which is the newest pattern from Sew Over It. When the pattern was released, my sister sent me a message within minutes asking if I was planning to get it. Silly question really... I got some half price cotton lawn from John Lewis a couple of weeks ago especially for this project and also decided to make the drawstring romper for Polly in matching fabric from the One Little Minute blog. I saw this tutorial on Facebook a while ago and saved the link as I loved it. 

The Poppy playsuit is yet another pdf pattern (sort of getting used to them now).  Strangely, the sizing was different to other Sew Over It patterns and I fell between the 8-10 and 10-12 sizes so went for the larger one, which was probably a mistake in retrospect. I am planning to make the long version for nights out in the Autumn and will go for the smaller size as I think the larger one is unflattering. It is very comfy though and will be perfect for holiday.  

The playsuit was an easy sew, with elasticated waist and hook and eye fastening at the back. It took a bit longer than an evening as suggested, but not much. 

Polly's romper suit was more fiddly, although all quite straightforward.  It was the first time I have made rouleau straps and it will be the last until I buy some kind of tool to help turn them out. As it was, I used a chopstick and a lot of patience (and mad Gareth take over when I got too frustrated).  It was all worth it when I saw Polly wearing it - chubby baby cuteness overload!!

Here we are in our matching Playsuits:

And one of those chubby baby legs: