The Story of Four - Tadah! Tea Party Dress

Sometime last year I managed to find some Review Australia fabric at Lincraft.  I just had to have it.  As I got closer to finishing my make from it I knew I was going to end up with some leftovers, not a large amount but around a metre or so.  Thankfully I knew what the perfect thing to make would be.  One of my friends loves Review clothing as much as I do and has a daughter who I would have more than enough fabric to make a dress for.

As I don't get to sew for little girls on a regular basis I asked some of my friends what pattern I should use and the overwhelming response was for the Tadah Tea Party Dress.  This pattern is fantastic!  Four neckline options, four back options, three sleeve options (not to mention more available in an add on pack) as well as two skirts.

For all these dresses, there ended up being four in total we decided on a sleeveless, boat neck, classic back with gathered skirt.  While these all use the same pattern I think they ended up looking different depending on the fabric choice.  I also used a few different fabric types and think this impacts on the look.  The Review floral is a sateen and while the pattern doesn't recommend fabrics with stretch the lining solves that problem.  I think the sateen also gives it a more formal look.

The second dress was using a flamingo voile from Spotlight.  This is one of my favourite fabrics that they had in stock over summer.  This dress was again using scraps I had leftover from something I made myself, which I've worn frequently but haven't actually blogged yet.

I think the voile makes the dress more casual than the sateen, but is still super cute.

The next dress I made was using a Laura Blythman I picked up at Spotlight.  As it was coming up to Easter I thought this bunny print would make an adorable Easter Dress.

I was not wrong, it is totally adorable.  The other brilliant thing about this pattern is how little fabric is takes up, I manged to squeeze this one out of 70cm using a different fabric for the lining.  I also used french seams on the skirt seams, I had grey thread in my overlocker and I really didn't want to change it to white for one skirt. French seams are way easier than rethreading my overlocker!

The last dress I made was using a Lotta Jansdotter quilting cotton I bought a few years ago.  I stumbled across a blog with a black and white striped Tea Party Dress and really liked it. I was starting fabric stash the other day and found this grey and white stripe that I thought would work quite well.  Needless to say I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out

I finished all the dresses with snaps, which are my new favourite way of adding closures, especially too kids clothes.  Not only are they super easy to add, they are also easy to close which I think comes in handy when dressing small children.  The range of colours available means there is always something that works and the price is great (they work out at about 4 cents a set - much better than buttons!)

And a few extra photos, just because...

Pattern - Tadah! Patterns Tea Party Dress

Fabrics 

-Review Australia Designer End from Lincraft

-Flamingo Voile from Spotlight

-Laura Blythman Bunnies (Last Season) from Spotlight

-Lotta Jansdotter (Bella Stripe) from East Coast Fabrics

Sewing for Boys - Tadah Troop Shirt

If you're like me and don't have kids of your own, or sew for kids on a regular basis you might not have heard of Tadah Patterns.  Tadah are an Australian pattern company who focus on baby, kids and teens patterns. They're a popular pattern company and for good reason.  Their patterns are well drafted, with clear instructions and illustrations, and result in some adorable finished garments.

I have a number of friends who raved about the Tadah Troop Shirt (which comes in baby, kids and teens sizing). I was a little intimidated to start with, smaller pieces and a collar.  I've only made one collared item before and it was a number of years ago.  Thankfully it was way easier than I had anticipated and now I'm addicted.

I've made three Troop Shirts in the past few days and needless to say I see many more in my future. For something that ends up with lovely finishes, including an enclosed back yoke and shoulder seams, it comes together really quickly. I cut two out just before Christmas and when I got around to sewing them both it only took a couple of hours, they'll only get quicker the more that I make.

I made two out of the caravan fabric (which is poplin I picked up for $3/m at Spotlight years ago).  When I can I like making matching things for my nephews whenever possible so no one feels left out.  I'm sure this will stop in another couple of years but at 5 and 7 you can still get away with it.

I caught up with a sewing friend yesterday who very kindly gave me some snaps to finish them off.  You can really tell I don't sew for kids by my lack of snaps.  Needless to say some snap pliers and snaps are on their way to me now.  Thank goodness for eBay!

Another benefit to sewing for kids is the ability to use up some leftovers, I got around to cutting myself out some shorts out of this fern linen/cotton blend from Spotlight and had enough left over to get out another Troop Shirt.  Needless to say given my current addiction to Troop Shirts the shirt is finished (just missing the snaps) and the shorts haven't even been started.

I recently purchased some custom woven labels to add to all my handmade garments.  I'm really happy with the quality of them but the service wasn't fantastic.  I may order from the again in the future but I'll see how long it takes me to go through the ones I've got.   I'm also making my own size tags using some ribbon along with some heat transfer vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  The Silhouette is adding lots of to my creative outlets lately, so I'm sure you'll see more of it in the future.

Anyway, I really need to start an assignment, but I'd love to see what you've been making lately!