Sewing again

Crepes for supper and sewing all day! I managed to flip a few of the crepes, too, all the while singing Christina Rosetti's "Pancake" poem (sung to Judy Collin's melody from Baby's Morningtime). My poor husband had to be away from the supper table, so he missed out. I've saved him two crepes, but it won't be the same. Hey, it wasn't the same without him, anyway.

Today I finished up the blouse I was sewing for Emma. The pattern comes from Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa. These are beautiful outfits made from unbleached cotton or linen, thrifted lace and mismatched buttons. A lot of the edges are left unhemmed, in order to naturally unravel a little. I wish I could make more from this book, but the largest size is 7 and the clothes simply wouldn't look as cute on larger kids.

I still need to make a button loop on this blouse, but I'll do that after the kids are in bed. Oh, and I played around with the sizing again, this time in the pattern stage. I made size 5 width, size 7 length. It worked perfectly. The cotton came from a second-hand bedskirt and the doily was found at Salvation Army.

Here's a close-up of the detailing around the collar. This was the first time I made my own bias-binding for the neck and arm-holes. The neck edge is embroidered with tiny gold stitches. I should have made them further apart, like in the book, and thus saved my arthritic thumb!

 And here are Emma and Ben with their dolls and makeshift baby-carriers. Rowan was wearing one, too, with a polar bear toy inside, but it didn't photograph well. I'll have to make him a doll very soon.