Project Run and Play: Signature style

I made it! I sewed along for  Project run and play all four weeks! It was very fun to do and I recommend everybody (who is not doing it yet) to do it next time. Looking at what others came up with is even more fun if you have tried yourself as well.

Well week four, signature style. I do not feel I have a sewing style, I also do not have a clothing style in general. I therefore decided on sewing my son a coat. That way all my kids would have received an outfit over the course of these four weeks. The coat would have come from Ottobre (which is my go to sewing magazine) and the coat would have been lined jersey (my go to fabric).


But then I saw this pin. I saw that it was a sleeve (of course) but I immediately thought neckline. I am a huge fan of children cloths that my kids can put on and close themselves. Besides saving time in the morning before school my kids prefer to be able to put on their cloths alone after gym as well. This is also why I loved the front of the dress from Big dill that inspired last weeks dress. I bought (and sewed) the Lilly Fawn dress because I was intrigued by the promise (and delivery) of a zipper/button free woven dress. Back to the pin of a sleeve that screamed neckline to me. I realized that a reversed tulip sleeve kind of neckline on a woven fabric dress should make it possible (for my eldest who has a totally square torso) to put on the dress without extra opening.

I started to draw something myself but quickly returned to my computer to restart pattern search. I searched on shawl collar and enter the Bimaa sweater. Many versions had passed me by and I already gotten the impression that this pattern should be something special but until that moment I hadn't seen it. For those few people that like me until a week ago have not given the Bimaa a close look, the Bimaa is a jersey pattern supporting three different collars. One of those collars is a shawl collar that perfectly fitted my plan.

I used the six year old collar version and made it slightly higher (a fix part of "my style" would have to be adjusting the pattern at least slightly). I took a general bodice I had lying around and paired it with a Lotta skirt. The Lotta pattern had been on my do to pile too long already, I love the pockets! I opted for a sleeveless version to make the likelihood higher that my daughter can put in on herself (in the past I had learned that small zipper and sleeveless dress pair well, small zipper and sleeves do not). Trying something new is something I love (can that me part of a style as well?) and I decided to go for pipping.

After last weeks success with making my own bias I assumed that making own pipping would be just as easy. Unfortunately, I had not realized that the seams in home made pipping (which did not bother me with bias sewing) complicate the sewing process of pipping significantly. I used my blind zipper feet which went okay in general (I made my own pipping thread by turning some thin yarn into a heavier thread, and I should have put more effort to make it a clear edged thread) but the blind zipper feet lost its way a bit when he met some seams. I probably should have also read up more on pipping before I started sewing this week (and not just relying on my memory of what I had read in the past). Long story short, the pipping is not as it should be, but lets label it "my style", I am not great in the small details.

The brown fabric is from Birch and both the facing and the fabric I used for the pipping are from Robert Kaufman. I bought a fat quarter pack a while ago and had not used it yet. The fat quarter contains all kind of gold fabrics that my daughter loves.

This long story has a happy ending, the dress fitted fine and (although she might have to practise a bit) it is possible to put the whole thing on by an almost 7 year old alone. To sum up my style: last minute change of plans, pattern mash up, not perfect finished, to me a new technique, un-ironed, zipper/buttonless, twirling dress with pockets.