Little Joey - Apples

Some time ago, Toni from Make It Perfect emailed me and asked if I would like to test her new pattern, Little Joey. The dress looked so cute, I said "YES," and immediately ordered fabric from Crafty Mamas to put it together with. Crafty Mamas is my go-to shop for high quality stretch fabrics, and this Snow White themed apple fabric came in a Creative Pack with some coordinating dark grey and red fabric, some ribbon and a cute little bird iron on. I had my eye on that fabric pack already, and I knew that the Little Joey pattern was the perfect excuse for me to buy it.


Little Joey is a cute little jersey dress with a waistband and kangaroo pockets. This particular pattern is for little girls from six months to five years. There is also a Big Joey pattern for your Little Joey's big sister, aged up to about 10, and a Skippy pattern, perfect for mums on the go. I made the size four pattern and chose to make it with the short sleeves.


The fabric pack I had purchased only had 50cm of the apple fabric, and I was determined to make the pattern fit, despite the recommendation being for 110cm of main fabric. I think my piece was actually about 55cm or so, and I did make the skirt shorter to get it to fit. Something I did find odd about the pattern was that the bottom corners of the skirt come to a point, instead of being a neat curve. I trimmed these bits off before hemming. I did mention this to Toni in my pattern testing notes, but the final pattern was not changed.


Whilst I would say that the fabric requirements are generous, I do recommend that you have a bit more than I did and it will be a less stressful exercise, especially if you wish to make a larger size, or long sleeves. Alternately, I could have had a grey bodice and ironed on the bird, but I am glad I persevered with making the apple fabric fit. I used some of the red coordinating fabric from the Creative Pack for the neck and sleeve and waist bands.


I think Amélie's favourite feature is the kangaroo pockets, where she can store matchbox cars and all sorts of other treasures. I just can't go past those cute little puffy sleeves. The sleeves were a little bit tricky because there were no notches to match between the sleeves and the armholes, so there was a bit of guesswork involved there. Whilst I still think the Make It Perfect patterns could use a little polish, the pattern was easy to put together and the end result is a cute little dress, perfect for playing in and easy to care for - no ironing!

10 Kids Clothes Week Day 3

Karen over at And So, I Sew is hosting the Great Pattern Destash. This is not about getting rid of patterns, it is about freeing them from the packet, and using them for their intended purposes! If you've got patterns, stashed away, never seen the light of day, then you might want to pull some out and dust them off and get sewing. I'm going to commit to using three patterns from my stash this month. What about you? Pop over and let Karen know that you're going to join in.



I've started with this "Snappy Tie" Creative Card by Make It Perfect. My making this was actually a compromise. Noah and Amélie were both having afternoon naps and Liam wanted me to play Mario Cart with him. I wanted to sew. I was sew not interested in playing video games. So I suggested we make him a tie. It was a quick enough project that I was able to hold his attention for long enough to make it.



And of course, because I made one, I must make a second (and potentially a third, we'll see how we go). Noah and I made this one this one this morning, whilst Liam was at Kinder and Amélie was napping.

A Happy Accident

Back in July, I did a little pattern testing for Toni Coward of Make it Perfect. The pattern I tested was called Serendipity. Serendipity means "a happy accident". I think those beautiful big buttons being such a good match for my fabric was a happy accident.



If you are a fan of Toni's other patterns, you won't be disappointed. It has all the features you have come to expect from Make It Perfect.



This warm winter coat is double breasted with pleat details in the front and back and a lovely Peter Pan style collar. There are little pockets in the side seams to keep those hands nice and warm and the coat is fully lined and padded with wadding to help keep your little one nice and toasty on cold, wintery days. I really like the turned up cuffs.



Toni has a neat technique for turning the coat out the right way, with only a small amount of hand stitching where it will never be seen.



The pattern size I tested was for a size two. It is a little large on Amélie, but fairly snug in the sleeves. If you like to pile lots of clothes on under the coat, you should probably make it up a size bigger.