A Crochet Dress, Sweater, and Blanket

Thank you so much for all your kind comments on Saturday’s post! I so appreciate your sweet well-wishes. I don’t know what it is about having ONE boy that makes me think I am only capable of producing boys, but it was quite a surprise to hear the doctor say there was a little girl brewing in there. And of course, a girl must mean girly projects!

I’ve worked on 2.5 projects for the little Miss so far, and they have been so fun to put together. First up, a little dress I crocheted . . . before we knew she was a girl. It was a bit of a gamble, but I couldn’t resist. (Pardon the cell phone pictures—these are all from my Instagram, and I’m too lazy to retake ‘real’ photos.)

I’ve had my eye on this pattern for a while—it’s called the Angel Wings Pinafore, and you can find it free HERE. I used worsted weight yarn, which really is too heavy for this dress, but it was a last-minute naptime project so I had to just work with what I had on hand. It came out very cute anyway.

I also worked up this little sweater recently:

And I love how it came out. The pattern is called Picot and Lace Sweater Set, and you can find it HERE.  I struggled a bit with this pattern—it’s definitely not the most crystal-clear, well-written pattern I’ve ever encountered, but if you’re fairly confident that you can piece together the things it leaves out or doesn’t spell out very clearly, it does make a cute little sweater with only a few swear words uttered in the process. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn in Pistachio for this one—overall, Simply Soft is far from being my favorite yarn, but the weight and feel of it are perfect for a baby item. It came out so sweet, and since it was another naptime project and I have NO patience for leaving a project unfinished when it’s thiiiis close to being done, I used a ribbon woven through the stitches to tie it shut instead of waiting to buy buttons for it. I think it’s kind of a cute touch.

My final project only counts halfway as being made for the girly-poo, because I didn’t start it with the intention of keeping it, and I’m still not 100% sure whether I’ll keep it for her or sell it.

I used the Bold Stripe Blanket pattern (another free one!) from Baby Love Brand to make this, and I love the gradient purples mixed with that silvery gray. The colors are a bit distorted in these pictures, but I used a very light lavender, a pinky-‘orchid’ purple, and a deep jewel-tone purple along with the gray. It was a fairly quick blanket to make, and works up so fast thanks to using two strands of yarn at a time, making for a super-thick, super-chunky, super-warm finished blanket with a lot of great texture in the stitches.

I made it more of a throw size than a typical baby blanket, inspired by my buddy Kim of Newly Woodwards’ baby blanket . . . when I worked on her little Henry’s blanket (which you can see in this post), she requested it be big enough for mom and baby to cuddle in at the same time, and I don’t know why I’ve never thought before that it would sure be nice to BOTH be warm while cuddling under a baby blankie, not to mention that it can eventually be upgraded to a toddler blanket or a throw blanket when baby outgrows it. So a big’un it is. 

Make sure to stop by again on Wednesday—I’ve got a great giveaway that you’re going to love!

5 Berries Dresses (and pattern giveaway)

It’s official: I’m going to need a daughter someday. You got that, Universe? Message received? I sure love my little fellow, but I can’t deny that sewing for little ladies is just a lot more fun than sewing for misters.

My little niece up there thinks so, too.

Tanya from 5 Berries Sewing Patterns offered me a pattern to sew up and review, as well as over $70 in patterns to give away to you guys . . . yowza!

 

I chose the Eloise Dress pattern—I loved the classic shape and the playful, feminine ruffle around the keyhole . . . adorable!

It was so much fun to sew, and I love the finished dresses on my pretty nieces! I think they like their new dresses, too . . . their mom reports that they refused to take them off for the rest of the day, even after a rough-and-tumble playground session in them (during an afternoon that was probably a tad chilly for sleeveless outfits). I’ll consider that a success.

All right, let me tell you a little about the pattern and my thoughts on sewing with it. All of the patterns from 5 Berries are instant downloads, which is awesome—that means no waiting for the pattern to be emailed or snail-mailed to you. When I buy patterns, I’m excited to start them now, so it’s awesome to be able to get going right away without a wait!

The pattern itself was extremely detailed and well-written. I always get a little nervous sewing clothing—I love to sew, but clothing is not my forte and I don’t have tons of experience sewing clothing from start to finish. But even though the pattern I chose is rated an intermediate level, I didn’t have any major issues while working on it—the instructions were well-written and detailed, and there was a photo to help explain every step along the way. The only question I had while sewing might be obvious in the picture above—the skirt isn’t as full and gathered on the black/white dress as the pink version of the dress, because I misinterpreted the instructions and only cut the skirt half as wide as I should have—whoops! It still came out adorably cute and is plenty wide for playing in, and Tanya even changed the directions in the pattern to make it clearer so no one else will make my silly mistake again. It’s pretty near foolproof now!

My favorite feature of the pattern was the plentiful photos throughout—I find that so helpful when I’m sewing! The directions themselves were clear, but there were photos for every step, making it almost impossible to mess anything up or misinterpret instructions. I loved having the photos to refer to as I sewed . . . they really helped me create a more professional-looking product and avoid unnecessary mistakes.

I even learned an important sewing skill that I’ve been terrified to try until now: buttonholes! I love the look of the buttons on this dress . . . it almost reminds me of a wedding dress with buttons from the neck to the hemline. And of course I had to go with purple buttons and a purple sash for this little princess’s dress. I’ll give you three guesses on her favorite color. (Answer: “poh-pole.”)

(And if the dresses look a little short on the girls, that’s my fault . . . I didn’t measure them for sizing [naturally] and didn’t take into account how tall they both are for their age! They’re definitely above average in the height department, so I should have cut the skirts a tad longer. Next time.)

And despite the dressier style, these dresses also make great outfits for playtime. They have plenty of room for little ones to climb, and run, and slide, and swing.

Ahem. What? I had to try it on someone before giving it away! Jeff was horrified that I would put our son in a dress, but found comfort in the fact that he was clearly not enjoying himself.  Unlike a certain photo I have of Jeff himself as a toddler in a dress and hairbow, where he’s beaming and laughing in his getup. I’ll resist posting that picture. But I can’t help but notice that Forrest looks rather darling in that dress, wouldn’t you agree?

Okay, now for the giveaway!

5 Berries is offering two prizes today—a first place winner will receive $50 in patterns of their choice, and a second place winner will receive $22 in patterns of their choice!

To enter to win:

1) Visit 5 Berries Sewing Patterns, then come back here and leave a comment telling me your favorite pattern from the shop.

2) Give this giveaway a shout-out on facebook (something like: “I’m entering to win $50 worth of children’s clothing patterns from 5 Berries on Maybe Matilda!” with a link to this giveaway page), then leave a comment telling me you did so (as well as a link, please!).

There you have it! Please leave separate comments for each entry, and make sure I have a way to reach you, either by including your email address in your comment or by enabling email on your Google account (follow the instructions here).

One last thing!  Whether you win the giveaway or not, posting a link to this giveaway on your facebook page will earn you a 30% discount to use at 5 Berries on any amount of patterns! (I forgot to discuss with Tanya how to get/use your coupon code, so I’ve sent her an email and I’ll post with details later about how to redeem your coupon! Check back soon!)  

Violette Field Threads :: A pattern review, two cute girls in two cute dresses, and a giveaway!

*Giveaway closed! Thanks to all who entered, and congrats to Marcy, the lucky winner!*

I was contacted a few weeks ago by Ericka and Jessica, the masterminds behind Violette Field Threads on etsy, to do a pattern review and a giveaway. 

And after taking a peek at the beautiful patterns in their shop, I couldn't type "YES!" back fast enough! Their shop is filled with absolutely beautiful sewing patterns for your little princess . . . from boutique-style dresses like the Stella One-Shoulder Dress:

. . . to fun and quirky tops like the Olive Bustle Shirt:

. . . to delicious accessories, like the Delilah Statement Necklace:

After drooling over all the lovely patterns in their shop, I decided that my two sweet nieces shouldn't go another day without wearing the darling Viola Sweetheart Dress . . . 

How cute is that? I just love the ladylike scalloped overskirt, and the sweetheart neckline is so fun. I'll admit--I was a little nervous to get started on it . . . if you've been around this ol' bloggy for a bit, you know that while I love to sew, making clothing from scratch is not my forte. But for a pattern that adorable, I was more than willing to give it a shot.

Success! Look how dang freaking cute my little nieces are in their Viola dresses! (By the way, little M on the right has a bright future in cosmetology--she gave herself and her sister haircuts the night before their family pictures were taken a week ago. The timing couldn't be more perfect, right?) 

I bought the fabric for the dresses before I had even received the pattern from Ericka and Jessica (I was that excited to get started)--it was one of the 50% off the red tag clearance fabric sales at Joann's, and you know I can't resist a deal like that, so I grabbed a couple yards and, if I had to guess, probably spent about $5 on fabric between the two dresses. 

(Fun fact: they were both still smiling while they modeled the backs of their dresses for me. Talk about cooperation!)

My main goal in sewing these dresses was to not sew any pieces on wrong--I have a real knack for sewing pieces on backwards, or with the wrong side out--and you're never going to believe it, but I (yes, I, Little Miss Seam Ripper) actually made it through two dresses without once having to tear anything apart and do it over. I'm giving all the credit to the excellent pattern . . . it was so incredibly thorough, with pictures every step of the way and detailed instructions that left me no room to sew bodices inside out or attach skirts upside down.

(Look at big A on the left! Do you want to give her kisses or what?! I totally do.)

These dresses honestly might be the most well-made things I've ever sewn, with every raw edge finished, top stitching galore, and nice straight seams. I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but . . . toot toot. These dresses rock, almost entirely because of a really, really great pattern that was smarter than I am and didn't let me make any stupid mistakes. And for how advanced the dresses came out looking, they really were not difficult to sew . . . at all.

So here's the fun part . . . do you have darling nieces or daughters or neighbors or friends or little-strangers-on-the-street that you want to prettify with the help of Violette Field Threads? Because one of you lucky ducks is going to win 3 patterns of your choice from their shop!

Here's how you can win:

(leave a separate comment for each entry, and make sure I have a way to contact you!)

1) Head over to Violette Field Threads on etsy and tell me which pattern you can't wait to get your paws on! 
2) Become a fan of Violette Field Threads on facebook! (leave a comment saying so)
3) Become (or already be) a follower of Maybe Matilda! (leave a comment saying so)

***EDITED! If you just can't wait to see if you're the winner, you can save 15% on your purchase from Violette Field Threads by entering coupon code MATILDA at checkout!

This giveaway will close a week from today--Monday, July 18th--so get cracking!