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!

The summer has been lingering on, bliss. On the one hand it slightly killed in the egg my enthusiasm for autumn sewing… so you’ll have to wait a bit longer for completed projects here. But the big positive is that I’ve been able to wear again the dresses I saw in the spring, using the great book  “Sew many dresses, sew little time” by Tanya Whelan. This book is an absolute gold mine for whoever is after the perfect fit for hand-made dresses: FBA, SBA, shoulder adjustments, lenght adjustments and much more – everything is covered!

I stumbled upon it while I was looking for something else on Amazon – how very typical – and it has been an absolute sewing reveletation!

I am a fan of vintage dresses with a fitted bodice and a floating skirt and this book offers multiple possible combinations: with 12 bodice, 9 neckline, 9 skirt and 5 sleeve options, you would need an entire life to sew them all – or at least a full year! As I tend to wear self-drafted pleated or circle skirts, the bodices are of most interest to me. Here are my favourites, directly from the book.

Not only does Tanya give you patterns for all the bodices you could ever want; but even more importantly she explains in details all the adjustments you need to make to reach a perfect fit. I always hated started on a new top pattern, as I knew it would take me hours to do the FBA, without any guarantee of results – but not any more!! A few points which I found particularly interesting and which I was getting definitely wrong:

– the bust and waist darts’ ends should not sit on the nipple but 1 inch/ 2.5cm away from it – that’s why this bit was always at a funny angle!

– most patterns are drafted on a B-cup bra size, you need to add 1/2 inch or 1.3cm for each extra cup… I definitely thought far less…

In conclusion, once I had read the book, cut and re-cut the pattern in all directions, made three mulsins, I ended-up with a nearly perfect fit, so pleasing!! In pictures, my beloved banana dress:

I am over the moon with the bodice fit: the lenght is perfect, the waist fit is perfect, there is just a little bit to much fabric around the bust but hardly visible to the uninformed eye.

For the skirt, I made clever calculations to get a decent number of pleats on the 130cm width of fabric I had, without the pleats being too narrow either. A 150cm-wide fabric would have given more volume but I quite like it like that, especially with a midi lenght.

For the back, I put a (very very) visible zipper, because those bananas were really shouting for It! As a bonus I did not have to bother about banana pattern-matching when I cut the fabric.

Next time, I have to show you Banana Dress sister, the Little Swimmers’ dress!