SYTYC Audition Piece – I’m Through! (And yes I did do a boogie in the middle of the supermarket when I recieved the confirmation email!)

Yahoo, Huzzah, Hooray! The ‘So You Think You’re Crafty’ audition results are through and yay I’m into the competition! I am so excited about that. The pressure is now on. I’m dreaming up lots of crafty projects so keep in touch.

Here’s a little more detail about my audition piece:

I decided to showcase my love of sewing whilst including the little crafter side-kick in my life. So what better way than to make a dress embroidered with my daughter’s own drawing. She willingly obliged and drew herself. I love how she has captured her brown hair which she did as a dot-to-dot!:

I used the 4927 Simplicity shift dress pattern. It was a simple design so I knew it would allow me to make some personal alterations. After perusing rolls of fabric I decided on a sombre grey suit material. I loved the juxtaposition of the serious fabric embroidered with the fun and carefree drawing.

I wanted to add a little extra pazzazz so decided to line the dress instead of just a top interfacing. I hunted through my fabric stash for a light stripey pink pattern. Reflecting a hint of suit pinstripes with a happy punch.

I have fallen in love with collared dresses this season so I knew I wanted to add a tiny peter pan collar to the pattern (the fist collar I have ever made!). Firstly I altered the neckline to sit a little higher:

I cut out a pattern for the collar size. Practice makes perfect!:

The collar was also lined with the pink stripe which will peek out as she runs and jumps. I added interfacing to give it a little stiffness so it sits nice and crisp on the dress:

The hem and sleeves are trimmed with a floral print which accentuate the colours used in the embroidered drawing:

Here’s my littlie’s self-portrait next to the embroidered version:

Instead of a button and loop fastening at the back I wanted a zip closure so I adapted the dress pattern so I could add it to the dress. Instead of hiding the zip I chose a pale pink one to stand out as a fun detail on the back.

Finally, the dress in full:

The dress has already been worn several times and I can see it becoming a firm favourite. The Artist already has made a request for another ‘drawing dress’ and has frequently disappeared to her colouring table, each time producing too many drawing for me to keep up!

I am so excited about my project for the 1st SYTYC challenge. I’ll post my piece in full after the results are announced so check back in if you want to see how it was created. Or just check in to say hi because that’s always lovely.

Happy end of May

naomi x