twirl

I came home this afternoon to a phone message from my sister requesting a super-twirl skirt. It is a credit to my sister's fun-loving and fancy free nature that I first started computing in my head to see if I had enough fabric to make her a super twirly skirt.

Then I realized it was for Calliope. I've had fun over the years making her clothes that are sometimes practical and sometimes more like dress-up. It seems that lately she has been preferring the items that have the best twirl. I know exactly what she means. When Gabe and I were young we used to do the same thing. Put on a skirt, whirl around, and then judge it on movement. There was one pleated skirt (or was it a dress?) that did this crazy thing where it belled out horizontally and then fell straight down. While you turned around fast you looked like you were wearing a tall wedding cake.

Calliope twirling in the petticoat of a red riding hood costume I made her last year

Sewing experience tells me that the more volume the better. I headed downstairs and pulled out a big piece of lilac calico that I hadn't known what to do with and some plain white. I figured I would intersperse some straight panels with some triangular pieces. Sort of a bastardization of a dirndl skirt and a flamenco style. Along the way I kissed my serger for providing me with a three-thread rolled stitch which meant that I could connect the fabric decoratively and have no seams to worry about having to hide. It also made for a weightless hem, important when you are looking for swishy volume.

twirly back

twirly front

I piled a lot of fabric onto the waistband and gave it two ties. Since it's more dress-up than super functional, I'm assuming that it will likely be worn over pants or tights. No fussy zippers or buttons here. And just in case the twirl isn't enough I threw together two gypsy wristbands with bells. A girl should have her own musical accompaniment (and Gabe, I promise the bells are not too annoying!).


This will go in the mail tomorrow....and I demand pictures of it in action! I'm kind of breaking my rules by showing pictures before it's been received, but since it was specifically requested I'm not ruining a total surprise.

---------------
Eggs laid in the coop today: 5
Eggs laid this year: 123

Calliope Clothing roundup

I've made some outfits for Calliope over the last few months, but usually wait to write about them because 1) surprise mail is the best kind and 2) action shots always look cuter than still photos of clothes draped over chairs.

Birthday suit: Modeled on my often-used smock style dress pattern, an explosion of tulle. Every dancer needs to have an outfit that moves with them.

Jacket: I started a jacket many months ago and made the grave error of deciding that I would just use the pattern as a guide (a one-layer, lightweight summer jacket in a tunisian style) and instead do a fully lined wool winter coat with long sleeves. Not so smart. I finally found someone who makes jacket patterns for kids (they are so hard to find!) and I made their "reversible jacket." Except that I couldn't find any 12-inch reversible zippers so oh well. I had to fiddle a bit to get the zipper to work and used some of the lining in two bias strips framing the front, so at least you get a flavor of the inside. Best of all I had just enough bright blue wool left over from my failed project to use on it. (note to mom and Gabe: no wonder I like Birch Street. They own Folkwear patterns!)

paparazzi style, jacket-wearing captured in action!

Dragons and Patchwork

The latest batch of Calliope clothing included a romper and a slip-over dress.

I've had so much fun messing around with the McCall's 2213 pattern for an infant dress. This incarnation sprung from a pile of leftover scrap fabric from another project. I pieced them into a patchwork yard or so of solid material and then cut out the dress pattern from that. Adding a white linen lining helped with all of the raw edges on the wrong side of the fabric.


Next was my first "big girl" romper, which means no snaps along the inside of the legs. Oh how I love the Burda patterns especially since they've started adding in the seam allowance. No more fiddling with adding 5/8" all around the edges of things and fretting about whether or not the allowance is even. Burda 9652 is an awesome sleeveless romper which most importantly can be adapted to a pedal-pusher length. After watching Isaac try to walk with his pants pooled around his ankles I have been trying to find an attractive way to get pants to the proper length. For a girl-style the capri works. For boys I need to experiment with having a buttonholed tab and a row of a few buttons to adjust height. My favorite part of this outfit: the thick white cotton tassels along the leg bottoms. They were taken from two hand towels found at a thrift store. The dragon part? Well, the fabric reminds me of a Chinese New Year dragon.

front:

back:



in action:

-----------------

Number of eggs laid in the coop today: 2
Number of eggs laid in the woods today: 0