Twirl to Me Dress

Months ago now, Debbie of Lily Sage & Co put out the call for volunteers to test out a girl's dress pattern, the Twirl to Me dress (this one).  She'd already made several for her daughters - this one, and this one, and this early hint - and they all looked rather special, so I very quickly put my hand up, assuming the dress would be right up my daughter's alley.

At the time I sewed this my daughter was a very tall 7 year old (135cm tall or 4'5"), so I chose to sew the dress in a size 8.  The pattern didn't include a height chart, but the chest measurement for a size 8 looked to fit my daughter's measurements and Debbie's daughters are tall so I assumed the dress would be drafted for tall girls.

The dress is a trapeze shape with a high-low hem and a clever shoulder straps that culminate in a bow on the front.

The armhole melds in with the half crescent on the front of the dress to make a lovely shape...

... and the dress is fantastic for twirling and dancing!

These photos were taken several months ago at the start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and the dress was already verging on too tight and too short.  The chest width would have been perfect if I'd done everything right, but I cut the dress out late at night and mistakenly cut the front with a centre seam. To try to make the curved bodice fit the shape of the underarm curve neatly as it's supposed to (the pieces do line up exactly if you cut out and sew accurately!) I sewed a narrow centre front seam and slightly narrowed the side seams only on the front dress pieces, but I think I still lost about 1.5cm in the total circumference.

I know the dress doesn't look too short in these photos, but I guess we all have different lengths we're prepared to wear, and this just felt too short to my daughter...

Sadly my daughter only wore the dress for these photos, and it's now well and truly too small.  I don't have a younger daughter or niece to pass this dress onto either, so it's now free to a good home :).

My sewing on this dress isn't immaculate, but it's not terrible either. The fabric is 100% cotton, apart from a little bit of cotton-poly bias binding under the arms and there are two sweet pink buttons on the back. The white patch on the inside of the dress at centre front is interfacing - this stabilises the hole where the bow comes through at the front of the dress:

The chest circumference is 64cm / 25" (with my extra centre front seam!!), and the dress measures 60cm / 25" at the front from the top of the half crescent to the hemline (and obviously longer in the back).

Let me know in the comments if you have a little girl a bit smaller than mine who'd like this dress - I'm happy to mail worldwide.


See you soon


- Gabrielle xx

World Traveller Wanted...

This is a long shot... but is anyone travelling from Sydney to Europe soon?

Ms Lin3arossa in Germany won some fabric in my recent giveaway, but the cost of sending 1.4kg of fabric to her by mail from Australia is exorbitant... If you think you'd be able to help me get the fabric to Europe and then post it from within Europe (at my cost, of course), can you please let me know in the comments section below?

Thank you :)

See you soon


-Gabrielle x

Winners (Fabric Giveaway)

Yay, time to announce the fabric giveaway winner! Hey, I'm feeling generous - let's make that winners 1, 2 and 3! 

Winner #1: Entrant number 2 ...

"Congratulations on finding your interest through sewing. You have a great eye for colour and shape and I've really enjoyed meeting you too. 
I like those flowers or swirls. I follow you on my blog roll and through bloglovin, as well as when we catch up.
You are generous to everyone. Thanks again."

Maria, congratulations! I'll be in touch shortly to get a postal address for three of those florals and swirls :)

 

 

Winner #2: Entrant #8 ...

"Well done on 3 great years of your blog! I'm so glad I ran across you and your blog during me made may! Who'd have thought that you actually used to live with my sis! Anyway, I follow with bloglovin and I love the spotty fabrics and the light blue denim.. You are seriously generous! xx"

Kirsty: congratulations to you too! I'll be in touch to send you the spots and denim.

Winner #3: Entrant #9 ...

"I follow you in Feedly. I love 15, 22 and 26. Great giveaway and stash busting action!"

Lin3arossa: congratulations to you too! I'll be in touch to send you the ponte, corduroy and cotton.

 

Thank you!

- Gabrielle x

Three Years, Thank You Very Much (yes, it's a giveaway)

Approximately 3 years and 200 posts ago, this little blog was born.  I'd started sewing again after a break of half a lifetime, and sewing was soothing my brain from work stresses and small children busyness.  Searching for sewing help online I'd stumbled across an amazing world of blogger sewists that I desperately wanted to be a part of.  I'm so glad I jumped in.

To thank you for inspiring me, reading, commenting, replying, encouraging - just generally being fantastic - I'd like give you a little something from my stash.  My stash is big, but not big enough to share with everyone, so instead there'll be 3 somethings for one of you.  I hope that sounds good :).


So - do you fancy stripes, or dots - or plaid?

1, 2, 3:
 

   4, 5, 6:

    

Flowers or swirls?

   7, 8, 9:

 
   10, 11:



Pinks or blacks?

    12, 13, 14:

 
   15, 16, 17:



Greens or blues?

   18, 19, 20:

 
   21:


Mix'n'match?


    22, 23, 24:



    
   25, 26, 27:





Pick up to 3 fabrics you'd like, and I'll send them to you anywhere in the world, for up to $30AU in postage. If you live very far away, check this guide to international postage from Australia - and maybe pick light fabrics :). The heaviest of the fabrics above are 1, 4, 12 and 15.

Entry is open to all followers of this blog.

To enter leave a comment, telling me:

• how you follow this blog
• which three pieces of fabric you'd like
• your email address

Entries close at 11.59pm Sydney time, Sunday 20 October 2013


Thank you again and good luck!

- Gabrielle x

PS If you've already got too much fabric, look out for my separate books / patterns giveaway.