Monday, October 28, 2013

A finish for KCWC-the Sadie Grace nightgown!

Remember my plans for KCWC (or Kids Clothes Week Challenge for the uninitiated)? Well, they were a little ambitious, especially seeing as this was my first time participating! Aim high, right? I had plans to make the Junebug dress, baby boy romper, Sadie Grace nightgown and possibly the Charles pants. Needless to say it didn't all get done, BUT I'm so excited to show you one finish! It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it :)
The Sadie Grace nightgown!
"I'm so happy to be cleaning" is what it looks like Cordelia is saying, and I wint discourage that sentiment. And no, I did not coerce Cordelia to multitask and do chores during our little photoshoot- she spontaneously picked up the broom and tracked down the dustpan all by herself like a good girl (I have it on good authority that a grandparent has gotten her a child sized cleaning and broom set for Christmas- shhh, don't tell the bambino!).
This pattern is supposed to have a keyhole with the bias tape (colorful binding in this pic) hanging down- I messed up and bound the whole neckline, but with a 1.5 year old it's probably a good idea not have loose strings. I sewed up the 1-2 year old size, and when my skinny Minnie tried it on, it was off the shoulder! You can see my original neckline below.
I really wanted Cordelia to wear it to bed tonight, and to finish our little photoshoot, so I did a quick fix by pinching together some if the fabric and sewing on a bit of 1/4" elastic.
Then I secured the bottom of the pinch with a few stiches- very technical sewing terms, huh?
I think the result is sort of a kimono style hack, and I like it! I can easily undo it when Cordie grows older.
The bias tape is 1/4" bias tape I made from cotton lawn for a future project for moi. I love th color. I didn't follow the directions in the pattern of sandwiching the bias tape around the neckline. I think I learned this from my first quilt (to be posted at a later date!), but you can open up the double fold bias tape and sew it in one side and then the other- for visual leathers, that won't help, I will work on a tutorial for the future, as it took me a long time and reading many different sources over the past few months to figure it out.

The chaos that us my kitchen sewing table at the moment. There's my handy dandy bias maker tool and the purple bias tape (turquoise bias tape on the left is store bought). There's my nicely packaged pattern, a picture of calm within the craziness!
But I know you want more pics of my cute model with the nightgown in action.

Sweetly reading a goodnight story to herself. She loves turning the pages! You may also notice some matching prints- yes I made this nightgown from some old flannel sheets- the fitted sheet of what you see in our bed was past it's primed but still had some salvageable fabric. Very Sound of Musicesque....
Great view of the kimono style- really it's just a hack, and not a true Kimono style, though a "true" kimono style top is in my "want to make" list.
Sweetly reading a bedtime story (Red is Best, from our dear Canadian friends!) with DaDa, ready to go night night.
By way of quick update, thank you to my sis Katie/Poopykins and Melissa of A Happy Stitch for the encouragement about my almost complete baby boy romper. I thought all was lost and I'd have to wait til I saw my sis for Veterans Day weekend to sew the buttons, but I found my buttonhole foot late last night! Who am I kidding, I will probably wait til she can assist me, she is an engineer after all (thanks, Poopykins, love ya!).
Thanks for following along for my first KCWC! Thanks especially to my Mom for indulging me in my new fabric obsession (G Street fabric, anyone?)

Linked to:
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt StoryYou Flew! @ Feather's FlightsCreative Tuesday @ creadienstag.de, & October Kids Clothes linky @ Kiddikram, Make it Wear it @ The Train to Crazy, Friday Feature @ Blissful & Domestic, Wow Me Wednesdays @ Gingersnap Craftsand We Did it Wednesday at Sew Much Ado

3 comments:

  1. It's so cute! I love the fabric print you used, and the "kimono" detail is genius!

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  2. Hi Julie,

    I saw the picture of your absolutely darling little girl on the creadienstag previews and knew I just had to take a sneak look at the nightgown you created. I love the look of the kimono hack - to be honest, I only noticed the 'hack' part after reading your post and not just admiring the pretty pictures ;-) I even took a look at the pattern and was really impressed with your interpretation of the neckline - I still am, it's a great way to let the kids grow into clothes without them looking completely lost in them! Lovely nightgown for a lovely little girl!


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Thanks for all your sweet comments! We're happy to answer any questions as well :)