Felicity Costume, M6139 & En Forreau' Gown from Thimbles and Acorns

This is Felicity's month at Literature Club.  So, we went colonial style.  My daughter's dress is McCall's M6139.  Rebecca (substituting for Felicity) is wearing 1770's En Forreau' Gown by, Thimbles and Acorn.

McCall's called for almost 6 yards of fabric, so I thought I might empty some of my stash.  I found the floral striped embroidery print in the stash, but had to do some shopping to find a print or solid to match the 1980's rose color in the embroidered fabric.  My daughter found the cream print at Joann's, but it only had 2 yards on the bolt.  I had 2 yards of each, not enough to dominate and not enough to use well.  So, the moral of this story is don't use all the skirt width that is called for in the pattern.  

I feel that McCall's M6139 runs very large.  I could have gone down in size, but instead just took out about 4 inches in the bodice as I was constructing the dress.

Let me indulge myself with these cute photos.  I couldn't pick just one!  My little colonial girl was very happy with this dress!

I have to mention the Thimbles and Acorn pattern.  This pattern is a 5 1/2 star pattern on a 5 star scale!  I have purchased a few things from Shari Fuller's Etsy shop and was very excited to start on this dress.  

The details are stunning and beautiful.  I was AMAZED at how well the jigsaw puzzle jacket pattern went together.  It was a jigsaw puzzle to me, since most of the pieces don't resemble our current fashion pieces.  It was a perfect fit and flawless in construction drafting.

I am a fairly experienced seamstress, but elbow pleats and the pleats in the back were a new one for me.  

I have a few more of Thimbles and Acorn's patterns and can't wait to get to the next time period to test them out.

Next month belongs to Josefina. 

Fall Knit Pears and OOP New Look 6747

I love knit fabric from Chez Ami!  This is a pear print that is still available.  It sewed up like a dream and has been through the laundry a few times and still looks great.

The pattern is New Look 6747, which is OOP.  The dress runs a little large, but goes together quickly and easily.  I used fold over elastic on the neck.  I didn't lettuce trim the edges of the dress, but used my coverstitch machine and finished the edges.

My daughter loves this dress and pairs it with leggings.  A great knit dress for the fall!!!

Missoni Lace Dress, McCall's M6612

I have been waiting for a break in those 90 degree days to wear my new dress.  A cold front brought us "cool" temps in the 70s today.

McCall's M6612

Those Missoni knits have been on my mind, but at $90/yd they were off my fabric budget.  I found this interesting fabric at High Fashion Fabrics.  It was labeled as a Missoni Lace and was much less then $90/yd.  I have seen it on-line as a novelty knit.  It is a little lacy and was a little sheer, so I lined the dress with a light-weight knit.  

McCall's M6612 is a straight forward knit pattern.  I only added the lining and stabilized all the neck and shoulder seams with the interfacing from SewKeysE.  Connie Crawford stated that your cutting will be much more accurate if you add a layer of paper under the fabric.  This fabric is so wiggly that is saved my mind by pinning the fabric to the paper and then pinning the pattern on top.  My only complaint about the fabric is that it is SO easy to snag it.  You can see a snag at the bottom of the dress from the back after wearing it with boots that had a buckle.

I had a scrap of fabric left, so Lanie got a matching dress!  I used Heritage Doll Fashions, Ruffled T-shirt Dress.  I lengthened the sleeves and added a collar.

Missoni Lace dress.  Pattern Ruffled T-shirt dress from Liberty Jane Patterns.

I got the best compliment on this dress today.  A younger lady told me she loved it and wanted to know where I bought it, because she wanted one.  I had to snicker as her eyes got big when I said that I had just made it.

Kaya Costume

Kaya Costume from CC Lillian and NL6668.

My daughter is reading the American Girl historical books and doing a literature club with girls her age.  The first book is Kaya, so we had to dress up like Kaya.

Fabric details:

I found the brown suede at Joann's.  It came with a border trim, that I used for the bottom of both dresses.  Joann's fabric buyer should try to sew on this suede.  It dulled my needle so quickly, I almost didn't think I was going to finish the dress.  It made me switch from putting a zipper in the costume to velcro.  The tan ribbon was from my stash.  Kaya's ribbon detail is a solid ribbon that I triple stitched with blue to copy the larger ribbon in the girl's dress.

The metal decorations are from Tandy Leather Factory.  Joann's sold the leather string, pony beads, and trim to finish the cape.

Pattern details:

The girl's dress pattern is from Children's Corner Lillian and the cape is from New Look 6668.  I redrafted the neck of the cape to match Lillian's neckline.  The cape is also shortened to elbow length. 

Kaya's dress is from Heritage Doll Fashions "Ruffled T-shirt Dress."  The cape is from McCall's M6526.  I also redrafted the doll cape to match the dress and shorted it.

Next month is Felicity..........