I saw this dress quite a few times on Instagram (and so did you if you’re as addicted as me) before being able to sew it: the famous swing dress with a V-ruffle! It had to be mine!!! After hesitating for months on which pattern to hack, I eventually made up my mind and saw two dresses in one go – how typical…

I first came accross this dress on the Instagram account of @madeinestel, whom I  admire immensly for her perfect dress sense and her amazing ability to transcribe her  ideas into self-drafted clothes. As an extra quality, Estelle loves sharing, so thanks to her I discovered @ma-minimoi’s version of this dress – and the indication she had used the Delphine&Morrissette La Brune blouse pattern as the basis for her dress. A Godsend! – I had the pattern in my stock, all ready to go as already used to make a blouse. No picture of this one though, as despite my efforts to sew separate, I can’t help wearing mostly dresses…

I therefore went back to my La Brune pattern and made the following changes:

• I lenghtened the blouse into a trapeze shape, to achieve an above-the-knee lenght;
•  I added a V cut to insert my ruffles at the front, following the existing shoulder inserts of the initial pattern;
• I lenghtened the ruffles for them to follow the V-shape, with a ruffling ratio of about 1.5x.

And here is the first dress, in a reasonably thick black scuba fabric from Bennytex. This was supposed to be my muslin but it is fully wearable in my view – hurrah!

The big downside of this dress is its back – far too much fabric there! I tried to fix it without having to unstitch the all thing but I’m not very happy with what I did. Let’s say that I can’t see the back when I wear it…

After this rather promising first attempt (except for the back that is!), I decided to use my latest purchase, a beautiful powder pink crepe, bought very recently from my favourite fabric shop in London, Fabrics Galore. Did I not tell you then thousand times – I LOVE powder pink, I am so physically attracted to it that it’s borderline psychotic…I reduced the width at the back of my pattern before cutting,to have less volume; and then all went well!

Still not perfect at the back (and pictures with my face but without sunglasses are definitely a no no now!) but much better – and the great lesson is that I should have used a swing dress pattern as a base!

In summary:

• Pattern: La Brune blouse by Delphine & Morissette, with all the canged detailed above
•  Fabric: thick black scuba from Bennytex; light poweder pink crepe from Fabrics Galore

After a very long article about Miss Migonne #2’s wedding guest outfit (here),  it seems only fair to devote another blog post to her sister’s. I promise it will be much shorter as the pattern  – Pernette by Citronille – and the changes I made are the same. Only the fabrics differ.

Outfit negotiations lasted much longer with Miss Mignonne #1 than with Miss Mignonne #2. The choice of fabrics was very quick…

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P&M patterns are dear to my heart, as they were the first I ever bought and used when I started sewing clothes (instead of solely curtains) a few years ago. And Babydoll is definitely the dearest of all, as it is the first dress I ever saw for my girls – for a dress-fanatic like me, it really means something! I also believe that the perfect design and explanations helped a lot build my confidence as a beginner seamstress. So a big thanks to Mrs P&M!

I made many variations of this pattern, but I have to admit that my favourite is the simplest: in an extensible fabric (which allows to remove the back zipper); and with only one skirt instead of three ruffles. When my girls became older, it’s also the variation they preferred because it is super comfortable and it does not look too dressed-up. So they always had a few every winter in their wardrobes.

And this winter too! When I realised that Miss Mignonne #2 had nothing left to wear after growing so much over the summer, I ran to my sewing machine (any excuse is good I know…). First version in a pink cotton jersey with pandas from Fabrics Galore, my favourite fabric shop in London.

Clearly no issue with being able to move around; also good for gardening apparently…

I also made a scuba version, a horrible fabric when it’s very hot or very cold as it does not breath at all, but in my view perfect for mid-season. From E-Bay, my reference when I have a precise fabric fixation (here: scuba fabric with laser-pinted patterns).

And the small details:

Even if my girls weear less of them, my favourite versions of the Babydoll dress remain the ones with ruffles – probably because I am such a girly girl!!  This beautiful dress from Dolce&Gabbana…

… put me in the mood for yet another Babydoll, this time with ruffles, and in a navy scuba with red dots. I put a red biais around the ruffles and at the sleeves to replicate the D&G idea. The fabric is from E-Bay too, but quite poor quality I have to admit – never mind, it does look great!

I think now we’ve fully exhausted my new makes for Miss Mignonne #2; it’s time to  work on her sister’s wardrobe.

As those who follow me on Instagram will have probably guessed, we have an important wedding coming up. And sewing part of the family’s wedding outifts – in particular the girls’ – has been top on my priority list.

Long gone are the times when I could just chose whichever pattern (Citronille mostly), fabric (Liberty for sure) and accessories (pink bows most likely) I liked without much consultation – here is a picture of this blessed era…

Now, I know that my girls will still accept willingly to wear a dress – the results of many years of them having not a single pair of trousers in their wardrobe, like their mummy! But I also know that they will have to be deeply involved in pattern and fabric choice – yetr another excuse to expand my fabric stash…Here is what I suggested they could choose from:

Appart from the embroided blue fabric, which I brought back from Thailand, all these beauties come from a trip to Paris last year with my best sewing friend and partner in crime Laure.  I introduced her to Bennytex and she was as carried away as me, not sure it is a good excuse…

So at the beginning of September, I and the girls chose the fabrics and here are the results – I am so proud of my girls, as bling as their mummy in their fabric choice!! 

This is Miss Mignonne 2’s choice:

… eand Miss Mignonne 1’s:

With such… well, high visibility fabrics, I though (or rather Mister Mignon strongly suggested) that we should go for a sober pattern. Within my (ever expanding) pattern library, Pernette by Citronille seemed to fit the bill. It is a very simple shift dress, slightly triangular, with a colar which can easily be removed and with sleeves – always useful at the end of October!

Miss Mignonne #1 wasn’t convinced by the dress shape but Miss Mignonne #2 was thrilled, I therefore started working on her outfit. Given the quantity of party fabric I had bought, I thought I could completely afford to make a wearable muslin in a nice fabric. I therefore use the pink and gold brocart which looked so similar to the red and gold she had chosen.

I made quite a few adjusmtents to the original pattern:

– I removed the collar and made the neckline deeper at the front and at the back;

– I got rid off the zip, as the dress now could be put on without;

– I lenghtened the skirt by about 15cm, as Miss Mignonne has long legs and we both prefer longer dresses anyway;

– I shortened the sleeves by 17cm, so that they would be 3/4 rather than full-lenght;

– I struggled but managed to create more room around the armpit, as I had completely forgotten this was a key problem of this pattern;

– I lined the entire dress, as metallic fabrics are so unpleasant to wear and this one was definitely very itchy unlined;

And here it the test dress, completely wearable:

After this, I immediately started the final version of the dress and obvisouly it was so much easier the second time round!I inserted gold piping at the neckline and at the sleeves but otherwise no more changes. I am thrilled by the result and so is my sweet daughter.

As I did not want this dress to be hidden under a big winter coat, I had in mind to sew a cape. And here too Miss Mignonne #2 fully validated the project. I toyed with the idea of self-drafting a pattern but quickly came accross Vanessa Pouzet’s children cape pattern, so reasonably priced and so easily sewn – in less than two hours job done (this include purchasing the pattern and assembling all sheets, on top of the actual sewing). I used a fully man-made fabric from Coupons Saint Pierre. I would have preferred wool but for one day of wear I think it will be OK…

Now working on her sister’s outfit, where more intense negotations are needed… I’ll keep you posted!