Still making a mess, but just a little bit less =)

I've been a bit absent from the whole blogging world for a while.  There's something about moving house that seems to sap away all notions of wanting to start a new project.  We're all settled in now, having moved a month ago.  We were stuck for a week in an Internet black hole (what on earth did we do before the Internet???!!!!!), went on holiday for a couple of weeks to the south of France (I wasn't very well going to spend my time in an Internet cafe when there's sun-bathing to be done now am I?), then I used last week to sew some rather uncreative curtains and blinds (I love my sewing machine but I really do find curtain making terribly tedious).

So, I'm back to my usual sewing thing of using up random bits of old fabric.  As much as I love collecting fabric from the kids' old clothes for my craft projects (they so love seeing their old clothes being given a new life), every so often something made from a rather unattractive utility fabric breaks and I put the fabric aside for when it might come in handy.  When my husband's big black umbrella broke in the wind, I cut out the fabric.  I didn't imagine I'd actually need it, but hubby has this unique skill of dreaming up seemingly pointless items that he wants me to sew.  He wondered in after work one day and said 'My butt is soaked: can you make me a waterproof bicycle seat cover so I can keep my seat dry when I leave it outside in the rain'.  Of course I scoffed, thinking him a mite dramatic, but I went ahead and dug out my umbrella material all the same and made him one.  I wasn't laughing a few days later however when I left my bike outside the gym....  I returned from my gruelling workout (it probably just felt that way because I am so unfit) to find it had been raining.  I cycled home with a rather wet bottom, cursing myself for not having made myself a waterproof sodding seat cover.... That teaches me for laughing at him!

I've got a great big massive scrunched up bundle of red waterproof fabric sitting about in the garage from when both of our pop-up gazebos decided to fly over the fence into the neighbour's garden....  You'd think that planning a barbeque for July would be a safe bet wouldn't you?  No.  Not in England!  Not long ago I was asked to make holder to stop hubby's bike lock (he has a rather dodgy looking chain one that looks like a pair of handcuffs!) from rattling as he's cycling.  He dragged a waterproof tent bag out from nowhere (I don't know where he has all this stuff hiding).  I made it and put the rest aside.... Until yesterday....

The kids were feeling rather bored and neglected while I was updating my CV (indeed, the time has come to get back to work, pay some taxes and get left with pretty much not much else after childcare costs) and decided upon themselves to get the paint out.  The girl found herself a nice floral artwork apron (I think my niece grew out of it and left it to her) so of course the boy got jealous.  That's when I remembered the random waterproof fabric I'd stashed away:

Not very glamorous is it?  Good job it's for the boy!  With him measuring 24cm across the shoulders, the scrap was just the right size for me to cut two rectangles and add neckline scoops, a lower one for the front.  I then placed the pieces right sides facing and sewed the shoulder seams.

With my fabric being so boring and green, I couldn't resist binding the edges with some of my gorgeous check bias binding that I picked up a while back, without a plan for it, but hey it came in handy =)  I bought myself a binding foot but just can't get used to using it and prefer to do it using the tried-and-trusted method that I've always used.  It can take a bit of practice, but I've found that by putting my needle in its left-most position, I can align the right-hand-side of the presser foot with the raw edge of the work and the needle with the crease in the binding.  Start by sewing the binding to the wrong side of the work.  I like to fold down a piece at the start for a neater look:

Attach the binding all the way to the end, remembering to fold the end up for a neat finish:

Turn the work over so the right side is facing and finish top-stitching the binding in place, making sure to cover the stitches from attaching the binding to the wrong side:

 

I like to start the top-stitching by stitching around the corner before proceeding to stitch along the length, but that's just a matter of preference:

 

I finished the apron off by adding bias binding to the neck-line and adding two straps complete with some poppers attached using my beloved Prym Vario Plier:

He looks pretty smart in it, and it might even keep him clean and dry (who am I kidding?) while he's doing artwork.  In fact, he's just emerged from washing his paint brushes and is actually quite dry.  My toilet room floor didn't survive, but a two year old and a three year old wandered into there, filled the basin and washed their brushes by themselves and I've not had to clean/redress either of them so I can't complain =)

A reversible dress.... Because even toddlers like a bit of choice ;-)

I've always approached knitted and crochet garments with an 'all or nothing' approach but having a whole box of single balls of unlabelled yarn and not being brave enough to give Fair Isle a go, I decided to sew a dress and add a crochet yoke.  It was a process of trial and error at first, getting a strip with the correct degree of curvature, but I got there in the end.  And, because crochet worked in rows doesn't really have a right or wrong side, I gave the yoke a lip because I thought a reversible dress would be a great idea (because girls love choice, and you never know when turning it 'inside-out' might have to be an option!).

After I finished crocheting the yoke, I carried the yoke around for ages hoping I might happen upon a sewing shop at some point.  I gave up in the end and went to The Cotton Patch.  I figured that a shop specialising in quilting would have a huge collection of complementing prints.  They have a beautiful array of fabrics and I could have browsed forever but I opted for a couple of Amy Butler fabrics because they both contained olive accents.

I've never been one to follow sewing patterns; I just grab my tape measure, wrap it around my subject and hope for the best.  If you've got a 2-3 year old, you can just follow my pattern directly.  If not, hopefully my 'pattern' will help you.

If I do say so myself, it has turned out really nicely and I am quite excited about making a few more in different colour combinations....  In fact, I'm tempted to make myself a matching top =)

I have worked hard creating my original patterns and am happy for them to be used for free.  Please do not sell the patterns.  If you do sell the end products please state clearly that they were made using my design, and that the pattern came from www.craftymamasanchez.blogspot.com.  Thanks, and enjoy!

What you will need:

The amount yarn, fabric and buttons will vary depending on the size of child and hence garment.  I made mine to fit a child of height 86cm/34" and chest circumference 50cm/20" and found that 50g of yarn, and 0.5m x 1m of each fabric was ample.

• 50-100g yarn that knits to a 5mm needle
• 5mm crochet hook 
• complementing fabrics
• sewing machine
• threads in coordinating colours
• buttons and/or poppers.  Buy twice the number of buttons that you have button holes (don't forget the 'one on the yoke'!!)
• tape measure
• scissors or rotary cutter and cutting mat
• hand sewing needle
• yarn needle

Taking measurements

Below is a simple sketch of the measurements I took and how I translated them to the sizing of the garment.  Because of the style of the dress, the only important measurements are the chest circumference and length.  Although I prefer metric, my sewing machine guides are all imperial so I have decided to not fight it and just take all my measurements in inches. Finding that my daughter has a chest circumference of 20", I halved it for the flat measurement of the front of the dress then added 2" to allow for room.  As the size at the hem is not too important, I simply doubled the flat chest measurement to give 24".

Crochet yoke:

I worked the yoke in trebles (US doubles) because they are of a sufficient height that there is no need to work buttonholes.  On the last row, I worked trebles across using the front loops only then flipped the piece and worked trebles to the end using the unworked loops that are, after flipping the work, front loops. It feels rather awkward working the first few stitches after the flipping the work because you will be working from the bottom of the loop up (you'll see what I mean when you get there).  This gave me a lip at the bottom in which I could sew in the fabric in order to hide loose ends.

A lot of people work a turning chain of 3 when working trebles, then work their first treble of the next row into the second treble of the previous row, and their last treble into the 3rd chain of the turning chain from the previous row.  I find this method messy and only use a turning chain of 2 and work into the top of every stitch.

Take your 3/4 of your chest circumference measurement and work a chain that is a multiple of 4, plus 5.  For example working to a chest measurement of 20", I worked a chain of 73 which was approximately 15" long.  After working the first row, your work should have stretched a bit.

Row 1:  Treble in the 3rd chain from hook, treble to end.  Chain 2 and turn

Row 2:  Work 4 trebles. Then work 2 trebles in the next stitch then 1 treble in the next 3 stitches until 4 stitches remain.  Work 2 trebles in the next stitch then 1 treble in each stitch to end.  Chain 2 and turn.  (I ended up with 89 stitches)

Rows 3 & 4: Work straight with a turning chain of 2

Row 5:  Work 4 trebles. Then work 2 trebles in the next stitch then 1 treble in the next 4 stitches until 5 stitches remain. Work 2 trebles in the next stitch then 1 treble in each stitch to end. Chain 2 and turn.  (I ended up with 105 stitches)

Row 6:  Treble to end working in front loops only.  Turn work and treble to end working in back loops only.

These six rows make a yoke roughly 2.5" thick.  If you are making a dress for a larger girl, you may wish to add a few extra rows for a thicker yoke.  The yoke will have an open lip at the longer side of its curve.  I allowed 6" of the stitches from the middle of the yoke for the front neck and 3" from either side for the back neck pieces (29 stitches and 14 stitches respectively).  I then sewed along the remaining stitches with tail yarn to seal the lips across the arm holes.


Cutting the fabric

The cutting of fabric for this project does not need to be precise because it is a very floaty roomy dress.  If the length of your fabric is greater than 3x the measurement you have allowed for the chest, you will be able to cut your fabric as below.   I cut my pieces from a 20" wide piece of fabric so that the front piece was 12" wide at the neck and 24" wide at the hem.

Lay your two fabrics, one on top of the other.   Add your neck and hem measurements together and divide by two.  I calculated (12" + 24")/ 2 = 18".  Fold your fabrics, making sure they are still together, allowing at least this measurement.  The fold is the middle fold of the front.

Mark 12" from the fold on one end of the fabric, and 6" from the fold on the other.  

I don't have a ruler long enough, so just stretched my tape measure from one pin to the other as a guide, and cut a diagonal line.  I cut a perpendicular line to trim.

After trimming any excess fabric from where the shop cut them slightly differently, I layed all the pieces in a stack and trimmed a curve from the diagonal.

With minimal cutting, I had cut all the pieces I needed for my project =)

Referring back to my chart, I allowed 4.25" on the diagonal from the neck for the arm holes.

Grouping the fabrics, I placed them right-side to right-side and sewed along the diagonal, leaving the 4.25" armhole allowance.  I then sewed the two pieces together along the perpendicular edges, then along the curved hem.

After turning the work right-side out, I sewed the most fiddly part of the arm holes.  I didn't do any special shaping - the armholes split into a 'V' when the dress is put on.

I don't have a gathering foot for my sewing machine, so simply sewed a straight line across each of the three pieces of the the neck using the longest stitch setting.  Using the lip openings on the yoke as a guide, I pulled on the top thread to gather the fabric and ruffled and adjusted it until the piece fit into the corresponding lip.  I then 'set' the gathering by sewing over it with a zigzag stitch.

I hand stitched the gathered neck pieces into their corresponding yoke 'lips' remembering to be very neat because both sides will be seen!! I bought my buttons for this project before I had the idea of making it reversible and only bought 5.  Had I thought it out, I'd have bought 10 and sewn a button on each side of the fabric so as to have button holes on both sides of the dress.  To impatient to wait until I could buy more buttons, I used some poppers I found.  I then sewed a button on each side of the top corner of the yoke.

Being a typical girl that likes pink, I thought my daughter would hate the fabrics I picked out, but she loves her dress calling the side with blue flowers her 'Tinker Bell' side and the other her 'Princess Fiona' [from Shrek] side.  Now I just need to make sure she eats really messily when she's wearing it in public so I get an excuse to show of both sides....

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