March Sewing Contest and Thrift Shop Remixes

The theme for this month's LHCF sewing contest is the color green. Another idea that came up for a future contest was to sew an item made from things found in a second-hand shop. I decided to do a little bit of both for this project. My granddaughter's first birthday is coming up soon, so that inspired me to sew something with her in mind. Whether or not I'll give it to her and/or enter it in the contest depends on the outcome, of course.

My jaunt over to the 'goody shop' resulted in these finds, a 100% Indian cotton madras wrap, and a 3x sized 100% Chinese silk top. I paid $6 total.



I am using both these fabrics to make a jumper from Burda Style's free pattern downloads. This one is called the Vivienne Jumper, and I think it's an excellent pattern for the beginner. Why silk for a baby's dress? It was the only thing I found that matched the madras colors that could work as a lining. If I do end up sending this dress, I'll advise that they handwash and line dry.



Vivienne Jumper from Burda Style

I have downloaded several free patterns from Burda Style, but this is the first one I have printed out. After printing, I had to tile the pieces together, trim away the overlapping edges, tape them together, then cut the pieces out.




That was easy. The challenge was resizing the pattern, which is a size 2T that fits toddlers 18-24 months. My granddaughter is just turning 12 months, and if she does get this jumper, I'd like for her to be able to wear it this year.

The pattern instructions call for sewing the shell and lining separately, then putting them together. I decided to forgo buttons--potential choking hazard--and use snaps for the closures.

I thought I was done with the shell, but the hemming is a mess. Gotta break out my trusty seam reaper, dangit. I catch all kinds of hell with hems and it drives me nuts. I have a sewing class a little later on today, so I hope to get some tips for better hemming then. In the meantime, rip, rip, rip!