Tunic Length Wrap dress and Leggings!

One of the testers made a Wrap Dress in a tunic length!  I will be including instructions on the pattern for this length too!  It makes a really cute top to wear over leggings.  Clara is showing it off beautifully.

 





































 


And speaking of Leggings, that's the next pattern from Lilli & Fleur Couture!

Here are the girls modeling the samples from the new pattern.

 
The pattern will be out to the testers soon and I can't wait to see how they do with it.  Some of them have little to no experience sewing with knit fabric, so hopefully they will be able to follow my instructions and get great results too!

Also, my son has joined Lilli & Fleur in a techinical role.  He is digitalizing all my patterns for me so they will be of professional quality right from the start!   Thank you son!  He has completed the pattern for the Leggings and I am incredibly happy with the result.  I've asked him to work on my next pattern as  a priority, and since I already have a great sample of it, the tutorial shouldn't take too long to write up once I have the digital pattern.  It's needed it for photos of the pattern layout.

Wrap Dress update

Four of the five wonderful Lilli & Fleur testers have made my Wrap Dress so far, and I am thrilled to share  their excellent results here!  Each one of them turned out so well and so different too!

Some of them made changes like the dress above.  She left off all but one button and added the pretty bow which worked perfectly with the cute fabric she chose.  In this case, buttons would have been lost in the print but the bow is perfect!  Vroni is the gorgeous model.

 

Kitty is wearing another really lovely dress with a double breasted button detail!  I hadn't thought of that at all and think it works really well.  The colour is perfect for her!

 

Katie is in a really pretty green floral print that looks amazing with her red hair.   I love the three button layout used on this dress!  I think it looks balanced and is perfect as well!  

Here is Leila in a delicate pink stripe fabric!  It is perfectly matched across the front and back and looks gorgeous.  This dress works really well with the cropped French Back to School Cardigan a free pattern from Ravelry.  

Once again, a huge thank you to all of the people who are testing my patterns for me.  You are amazing! 

I hope to have a few more photos, including a tunic length variarion available to show soon.  

Next up is a pattern for leggings!  I plan to have something put together for testing within a few days.

Poppy has arrived!

The last of the three cousins has arrived in Canada to live, work and play together.  Poppy arrived from Scotland today, joining Lilli from Germany and Fleur from France.  Their mothers were very adventurous and ended up in quite different places, but the three cousins have always had a really close friendship.  Now they are carrying on the family tradition of travel and adventure and have all decided to make their home together in Canada .

What fun these three girls will have!  They are modeling the first three Lilli & Fleur Couture dresses, the Basic Dress on Lilli, the Wrap Dress on Poppy and the Summer Sun Dress on Fleur.


 



Poppy is a fiery red head with beautiful blue eyes and she can't wait to be part of the Lilli & Fleur Couture design team!  We are thrilled to have her here with us!

Pattern #2!

I've been working on the second pattern and tutorial for Gotz Happy Kidz dolls and I just completed the tester dress made using my pattern.  I'm pleased to show you, from Lilli & Fleur Couture, Pattern #2, The Wrap Dress!

 It is a wrap dress with sleeves that end at the bottom of the lined bodice giving a nice visual line across her chest,  falls to just below the knee and has fun button detail.  There are two front and two back pleats for walking ease.  The buttons are non functional.  The dress is closed using 3 small metal snaps. 

It was a fun process and the first time I've attempted to do a sleeve pattern.  Actually , I had to create a sloper for the sleeves first and then draft the sleeve pattern!  They have just the fullness I wanted and don't add bulk to a slimmer fitting cardigan.

I started with a sketch and then using my sloper I drew up the pattern pieces.  I cut the patterns out of muslin, sewed them together and then started tweaking it to get the fit and shape I wanted.  It went very well as I only needed to make 2 versions to get the final pattern the way I wanted it.

 
 Fleur was kind enough to be a fit model for me.  The fabric we used to make the dress is some I've been saving for Poppy.  I think it will look really great with her blue eyes and red hair!  I can't wait for her to arrive to try it on.

 There is a pleat on each side of the back.  They aren't huge pleats but are big enough to make walking free and easy.




















 

Here is Fleur showing how even a slim fitting caridigan can be worn over the dress with no bulges or big wrinkles from the sleeves.






















Now I need to get the tutorial written and pass it and the pattern on to my wonderful group of testers.  I can't wait to see what they make with it and to hear any comments and suggestions they might have for me.

I have at least eight more sketches to work from and hope to get a couple more done right away.  Then I can see about getting my patterns published and available for sale.

First Happy Kidz Dress Pattern!

I've just completed my first dress  designed for Gotz Happy Kidz dolls and here are photos from the first Lilli & Fleur Couture Pattern.  I still have a few things to work out in the final version, but I coudn't wait to share these photos!

 Modeled by Lilli, my first Gotz Happy Kidz doll who is a My Doll Best Friend 
limited edition doll called Kitty, this is a basic dress with a gathered skirt.  There are virtualy no sewing patterns  available for this line of dolls, so being tired of the poor fit of patterns designed for other brands, I decided to make my own.

A wonderful group of five women that I met online agreed to be my testers and I am thrilled with the dresses they made using my pattern.  I wouldn't be starting this blog and planning future patterns if it hadn't been for the encouragement, support and excellent suggestions that they gave.  Peggy, Pam, Pat, Sheri and Heather, you are amazing!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ♥ 

Here is a sampling of the wonderful dresses they made testing my pattern and tutorial for me:

I'm all set to start the next dress.  I think I have something really fun and summery in mind!