From an English country garden

Today was an event I really look forward to each year - the day the owner of this beautiful house opens its gardens to the public.

For a few hours we got the opportunity to explore the formal gardens and beautiful woodland walk, enjoying the flowers and trees in their full glory.

  

I decided last year that I wanted to sew dresses for the girls for this year's open day, and although I left it to the last minute, I just got a couple of simple little frocks done in time.

For El I made this sundress from Carefree Clothes for Girls, my first attempt at clothes from this book. I really enjoyed making it. I was worried, based on the photo in the book, that it might be cut a little low and loose at the front, so I changed the front to a round neckline rather than square.

I used a tie at the back instead of a button, to allow for a little adjustment and avoid hair getting caught up.

For Kiki, I used this ruffle shirt pattern by Heidi and Finn and added a couple of inches to make it into a dress.

This is the only photo I have of her wearing it - a rare moment of stillness between bouts of running around as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Contrary to the impression the photos above might give, the weather was very changeable today, with showers, lots of cloud and a very strong wind that shimmered through the meadow grass quite beautifully. Not the easiest thing to photograph!

Happy Spring!

I've been meaning to make blouses/tunics for the girls in quilting fabric ever since last summer, and finally got around to it this past week. I used the Leila & Ben Sweet Little Dress pattern, cut a little shorter. Ki's dress has sleeves made from recycled t-shirt fabric for comfort, since the elastication of the neck and sleeves seems to roughen even the softest woven cotton. I added elastic at the front of each bodice to give a bit of an empire waist and a nice flair to the skirt.

The bottom part of El's blouse is pale blue linen, and I particularly like that colour combined with those of the Amy Butler print - they're the colours of dawn on the sunny spring days that we've been experiencing, and delighting in.




(With the obligatory accompanying creases, tangled hair and saggy leggings! Mini Boden we are not.)

A few more firsts from 2010...

My first ever messenger bag using a fantastic tutorial at mmmcrafts. The lovely colourful fabric is Frederika from Ikea. We added a few cute buttons El chose from Purlesque in Liverpool.
I also made my first ever dress for Kiki using the Sweet Little Dress pattern by Leila & Ben, and added a dinosaur applique.


And I made a couple of prototype dolls based on patterns I drew up myself. Angelica (who still needs a proper blouse, since my attention span didn't last quite long enough):

And Anna Rose, who is sweet despite being literally two-faced (her hair is a little felt pocket that flips over):