I'm back!

More than eight years since my last post! How life has changed. Ross and I are now married and live on a small farm outside of Christchurch. I have 2 grandchildren back in the US and I was at both of their births - what an awesome experience - all of the joy with none of the pain!

These days I'm into sewing, singing and playing tennis. No tennis today though as the hail is hammering down and it's 6C out. What happened to spring? We even have the fire lit.

I'm going to use this blog to document my sewing so those of you who are keen on all things New Zealand - sorry!

We were recently in Hawaii with my kids and grandkids. Quilting is big in Hawaii so there are lots of fabric shops. My granddaughter (Juniper, age 4 1/2), my daughter (Auntie Amy) and I went to Dragon Mama in Hilo and bought some Batiq cotton for a dress for Juniper and a matching one for her doll. Juniper loved every fabric in the shop so it was fun choosing and I was guaranteed she would love the final choice. She carried the package the rest of the day. When we got up the next morning at the hotel, she wanted to know if I had finished it yet! Well, I have now but it will have to wait for her 5th birthday so it will fit and the weather will be warm again in the US.

I used McCalls 7233.

I followed the pattern other than a few changes. I didn't make a contrasting collar as I couldn't find anything that looked good. I made a self-fabric bias strip for finishing the collar rather than bias tape. 

 I also used a seam overcast stitch rather than a straight stitch for the second seam attching the sleeves and the ruffles.

 By the time I thought of it, it was too late to make a tab buttonhole out of fabric so I just made the thread loop one suggested.

I used a 3-thread serge to finish the side seam edges, shoulders and sleeve side seam before sewing any pieces together.  It was a pretty easy pattern to make although a little time consuming doing all the ruffles and gathered sleeve seams. I can hardly wait to see it on her! I think the dress is too big for her doll (it's for an 18-inch doll) so I might have to get her a new doll as well.