Make Nine – The Shelbys – Seams Like Vicky

I first saw the Shelby (not the Peaky Blinders) in December. I enthusiastically let my friend Irmak know how cute it was. She then surprised me by buying it for me for Christmas(!). I really loved the shape and selected the dress over the romper (functional toilet needs).

What with it being semi fitted I decided to toile first. So I went to Asda and got some constellation dinosaur bedsheets. A wearable toile that would be admired by my nephew was on the cards. I’d also had my eye on these for AGES and picked them up when they were heading in to the sale. My nephew has since called it beautiful and I’ve made him a matching shirt!

I made the toile in a straight size 4. As I was making this at sewing club I got useful fit advice and bought the bodice in to a size 2 for the real deal. This is why we toile! I’d bought some vintage buttons for another project, they were bigger than expected so I didn’t put them on the original project. They are perfect for the toile, although on my old Toyota I didn’t have the luxury of a 4-step buttonhole so some of them are a tad large.

The photos above feature my blue lipstick, which I do not wear anywhere near as much as I want to.

I wanted to make another blue one (I’m starting to know my colour palette) and selected the French Navy Double Gauze from Fabric Godmother. I enjoy how it’s a slightly unusual colour. I graded the pattern to a 2 at the top and a 4 at the bottom. Sewing this up for a second time was great fun. The pattern is really nice to construct and the instructions make it really fun to sew up. The buttons are hand embroidered daisies which I then used the covered button service from Sarah at Likesewamazing (it’s super satisfying to watch). I also very much decided that this needed a headband as if I was a fairy princess, so I got the gluegun out and made one.