Autumn A-line

Autumn A-line Archives

Introduction
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Clarification
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Final
Naming

wide leg pants/yoke top

This outfit:

Consists of these:

Plus this:

Breezy wide-leg pants and a yoke top to go with them. (If it has eggs on it can we call it a yolk top?) Rumply linen always makes me feel like I'm in a Rudyard Kipling story, trying to keep cool in the steamy afternoon heat of far-away India...(and, of course, wearing linen to do it).

These pants are made the same way as the leggings, (leave the ease in) the only difference being that instead of reducing the inseams down toward the side seam to make peggy little pants, you draw the inseam straight down from the crotch, like so:

No secret to the yoke top, either. Just draw the yoke seam right at the underarm, cut a little V-notch at the center front, and add a skirt with one pleat in the center front and back. Plain sleeve with a ruffle on the bottom.

I think I hear my Ayah calling...

~Erin~

leggings

Tell me you haven't had this happen...

You're down at the public library for storytime. You've made your little girl the cutest twirl skirt and she's dressed up in it, and twirling, and generally beyond adorable. You're standing there talking to the other parents when you hear everyone start to gasp and laugh. With that oh-no-is-it-my-child feeling of dread, you turn around to see your daughter, behind the storytime lady, standing on her head. And yes, she did wear the electric blue panties today.

As far as I can tell, there are a couple of solutions here. You can see if you can find a finishing school that will take an early admission, or you can whip up some leggings to go under the skirt. What's great about these leggings is that they don't have a side seam, they're made from knit so you don't have to worry about finishing the seams (unless you want to), and they're easy enough to be an afterthought. Which they will be once you see those electric blue panties in public.

Here's the process for sewing them once you've got the pattern designed and the fabric cut out:

1) Hem each leg.

2) Add any embellishment you want near the hem. I've used 1" strips of the jersey fabric I used for the leggings, gathered down the middle and applied to each leg.

3) Sew each inseam.

4) Turn one leg inside out, and put the right-side-out leg down inside it, so that you end up with the whole crotch seam right sides together, matching the center fronts, center backs, and inseams. Sew the crotch seam.

5) Turn the waistline casing to the inside and sew it down. With knits, you don't even have to turn the bottom of the casing to the inside. (Unless you want to.) Leave a couple of inches open for the elastic.

6) Insert elastic into casing, overlap ends, stitch them together. Sew the opening you left closed. Sew down the middle of the elastic, around the waistband, stretching the fabric just enough to straighten the wrinkles.

That's it! It couldn't be simpler to add a touch of modesty to your visits to the library. (Do let me know if you find that finishing school, though...)

Click on the picture to download the free instructions.

Enjoy!

~Erin

empire dress two ways

Every time I start to design and sew a dress for my daughter, I hear this: "Is that a Sunday dress?" By which she means, of course, "Can I have that dress to play fairies in, climb trees in, and wear every day for a week straight, or is that the kind of dress that has to hang in my closet and I can't touch it?"

What can I say to that? She's five.

So I took this pattern and simply made two dresses out of it. One is definitely the hang-in-the-closet type:

and the other, simpler one, is just right for my sylvan princess:

Here's what the back of the white one looks like, unbustled and bustled:

So. These dresses are basically a short yoke on an A-line skirt with a puffed sleeve. If that's enough for you...go get busy!

If not, I completely understand, and I've made up a design lesson for you. There are a few sewing tips at the end, but mostly this lesson just walks you through the design process.

$4.95

Enjoy!

~Erin~

apron dress

 

 Click on the picture above to download the free .pdf file.