Mermaid costume for Barbie

Every Barbie doll wants to dress up like a mermaid at least once.

I used a green embossed double knit with just a little stretch, a row of sequins at her waist and both the skirt and top have snap closures.

Embroidered bracelet DMC mini kit

I used to embroider regularly so this was like going back in time.

The kit contained pre-printed ribbon, thread and instructions. It took an evening while watching TV.

New Look 6356 easy 2 hour tops

Both tops are made with cotton fabric from my stash. Both pieces were too short to cut the back from one length so there is a join at the back waist.

The pattern says to insert a back zipper which I did for the bird fabric, but after trying it on I decided I didn't need a zip for the fox fabric version.

I tried using bias binding instead of facings in the first version but didn't get it to sit quite right. So the fox fabric version has a neckline facing as per pattern instructions.

My first cutwork embroidery

I have two cutwork embroidery cards for the Janome memory craft 5700.

Memory card no. 107 cutwork designs
Memory card no. 29 cutwork series

Today I tried a small design from card 29.
The sample used a lightweight cotton fabric with one layer of water soluble film.  The bobin thread was ordinary sewing thread and the needle thread was ordinary machine embroidery rayon.

Pin-up Sweater from the Gertie Sews Vintage Casual book

The Pin-up Sweater from Gertie Sews Vintage Casual is an easy to sew body hugging t-shirt. I cut size 8 and widened it from waist to hip by about 1.5 cm each side.

The neck binding caused me some page flicking to get the instructions correct. However it all made sense and sewed up fine after reading page 83 inconjunction with the sweater instructions on page 177.

The fabric is a textured 100% cotton knit from my stash.

So I am happy I made a wearable muslin. And yes the book is available free postage at Book Depository.

Shift dress from Gertie sews vintage casual

I traced the shift dress pattern from Gerties sew vintage casual book today. I ended up doing it twice because I didn't properly look at which pattern line I was supposed to cut. There are two dashed lines, one set for size 8 and a shorter set for size 12. My mistake, anyway it is a quick and easy pattern to trace once you follow the correct line for your size.

I used a polyester cotton for the collar and a 100% cotton for the dress.

Stripey t-shirt Butterick 6475

I made the V neck t-shirt and added a ruffled band to increase the length.