Isn’t it ironic?

Ironically, I was invited on the Heartland Back to School Blog Tour. I say ironically hopefully not in an Alanis Morissette way, I mean ‘rain on your wedding day’ is simply unfortunate, it’s not ironic.

So is it irony when you are invited on a ‘Back to School Blog Tour’ and your kids wear uniform to school? And quite frankly you don’t want to say ‘no’ to gorgeous Art Gallery Fabrics for a minor detail like that, especially if it’s the first fabric tour that your’ve been invited on. Is that irony? Discuss.

Needless to say I accepted the invitation because after checking out the Heartland Collection by Pat Bravo, I just could not resist. Then I attempted to make my images look like they were taken at school. Sort of. Ish.

On my sewing to-do list I had a size 4 vintage Simplicity pattern (printed in 1969). My daughter will be turning 5 soon, so I was in a bit of a hurry to use it.

It’s really hard to get an idea of what a pattern might look like when all you have is a stylised illustration to go by, but I was being fearless so I just went for it.

It turned out more of a shirt than a dress, but beautiful all the same. It’s difficult to see all the features that attracted me to the pattern, the front zipper closing, the stand up collar, the long raglan sleeves and the A-line silhouette. I’ll try it in a solid colour next time, but for this version we can just admire the beauty of the fabric.

And embracing the idea of a shirt rather than a dress, I added cuffs to the ends of the sleeves (which of course had nothing to do with the sleeves ending up too short, ut hum!).

I also regrettably chose an invisible zipper, rather than a regular one. Which was silly because I actually really liked the feature and now you can’t see it (though the unmatched fabric either side is a dead giveaway). Moving swiftly on.

As a dress, it’s cute, but a tad too short I think. I had lengthened it by 1 inch, but clearly that 1 inch should have been 4. Luckily there’s room in the bodice, so it will still fit for at least a year I imagine (as a shirt).

Though I feel I haven’t captured the essence of the pattern, I do still love the dress/shirt. How could I not when the fabric is so gorgeous?

And if Scout didn’t wear uniform to school, this is how she might look on her way to school. Ahhh! Adorable.

And there’s more…

Don’t go just yet, I have another dress to show you. Those of you who sew for girls and have immersed yourself into the world PDF patterns, will more than likely know what pattern this is, just by the cute flutter sleeve.

That’s right, you guessed it, it’s the Hanami dress by Straightgrain. Darcy has been asking for another ever since this one became too small. I let her choose the fabric. Well, I actually don’t have much choice in the matter, unless she’s involved in the creative process, I run the risk of her never wearing the clothes I make.

I was pleased with her choice, in fact I probably would have chosen the same fabric. Yellow is a happy colour, and though I have a tendency to lean towards monochrome, yellow is my favourite bright, cheery, colourful colour. And I really love the subtle, irregular confetti print.

Thank you Karly, I take it as a compliment to be invited on a blog tour. And thank you to Art Gallery Fabrics for the opportunity to work with such beautiful fabric.

It’s the last day of the tour today, but you can still be led into temptation by checking out what everyone else made …

 Paisley Roots / Coffee & Thread

Made For Mermaids / Sweeter Than Cupcakes

Made By Melli / Hello Holli

Little Lizard King / Sew Sophie Lynn

 Sew A Straight Line