a bear-y cute geranium dress

Two blog posts in one day?? What's going on around here?!? Well, I had intended to space them out a bit but I was just too excited to show you c's new geranium dress which I just finished last night.

Crazy cute, isn't it? I just love this pattern by Rae and wanted to sew one up right away. But life got in the way and now I feel like I'm late to the party. So I won't go into too much detail about the actual pattern and sewing process because there are literally a gazillion adorable Geranium Dresses and reviews out there for you to admire and read about. 

To make it short, this is a fabulous pattern and it was super easy to sew up. I chose the simple scoop neckline, with the pleated skirt and side seam pockets. I made the dress in a size 4 but lengthened it to a size 5 for my super tall almost-4-year-old. I think the fit is perfect! The only change I made with to top-stitch the bodice to the skirt since my top-stitching was much tidier looking than my 'stitch in the ditch' which was recommended in the instructions.

The fabric (which c picked out herself) is a lovely organic cotton from the Camp Modern collection of Birch Fabrics. I first saw this bear print used in a dress over here and thought it was adorable (actually the dress is pretty fabulous too and is high up on my to-make list). So maybe I subconsciously directed c to this fabric at our local fabric shop.. or perhaps it's just because she loves polar bears (she has about 4 polar bear stuffies). But regardless, I'm glad she picked this fabric because I think it's perfect for this dress. The lining is Joel Dewberry's Woodgrain that was in my stash. A touch of pink to offset the cooler grays and blues.

The dress is nice and roomy without being balloony and closes in the back with 3 buttons. I was excited to dig into my vintage button stash to pick out these sweet white buttons. LOVE!

And that pink toque? C picked it out at a shop yesterday and pretty much hasn't taken it off her head except to change clothes and at bedtime, although she was convinced she wanted to wear it to sleep as well. I think she looks like Strawberry Shortcake when she wears it and it makes me smile :)

melissa x

dropcloth lucy dress

I just finished sewing up a few more 'flutter sleeve' Lucy Dresses and I have to say, I am sooo in love with this fabric! It's Jay McCarroll's Drop Cloth print from the Habitat collection. I've been hoarding this fabric for a while and I'm not sure if it's even available anymore. But seriously, isn't this the best print for an adventurous little girl?!? A modern, funky print that camouflages any spills or stains that might occur in a busy day's work :) 

I also made a couple more chevron print Lucy Dresses with the 'puff sleeves'. 

These dresses are on their way to Beansprouts, a very fun and fabulous kids' clothing shop on Main Street in Vancouver. I probably should mention that I recently started selling my dresses and skirts there, which is why my etsy shop is looking a little bare right now.. So if you're local and are in need of a sweet little dress to take your mind off this rather gloomy weather, head on over! (By the way, these layer really well over leggings or jeans and long sleeves.) And if you're not local and would like a dress, shoot me an email and we can work something out. 

melissa x

getting ready for market

Wow, mid-November already? These last couple months seem to have just whizzed by! Well, I thought I'd pop by here to share what I've been busy with these last few weeks. I've been getting ready for the Dunbar Holiday Craft Fair coming up on November 24th. Here are just a few of the things I've been working on:

Fold up Eco-Totes

Lucy Dresses

Drawstring Project & Gift Bags

Large Stripey Tote

I've been shopping at this market for years and it's really quite incredible. I think pretty much every room in the building is filled with wonderful local crafty wares for sale (over 140 vendors!) and it's just buzzing with cheerful holiday spirit! This is my first time as a vendor here so I'm super excited to be a part of it all. If you're in the Vancouver Area on November 24th, come on by the Dunbar Holiday Market from 10-5 and please stop by my booth (in room 212, table 37) to say hi! Hope to see you there! Ok, back to the sewing machine now..

another sweet little dress

We are currently going on day 5 of being housebound with a summer virus, and we are all starting to go a little stir-CRAZY. While the kids have been getting crafty with paints (finger painting, painting wood pieces for a birdhouse, painting themselves in the process...), I've been working away at more sweet dresses. Here is my latest one.

I am so in love with the fabrics in this dress. They are both from a Japanese fabric line called Sevenberry. I had seen fabrics from this line on a blog a while ago, but never really heard of or seen much of it since. Then a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a few prints it at my local Fabricana and I have to say, the feel of this cotton is amazing. It feels like a cross between a fine, lightweight quilting cotton and a shirting. And after pre-washing the fabric, there were barely any wrinkles! So awesome! Anyways, I scooped up the remaining 3 meters of the striped fabric and some of the coordinating black floral and whipped up this dress. I absolutely love the delicate pastel flowers mixed in with the bolder black and white stripes. Folksy classic with a bit of an modern edge.

Lil C was definitely not in the mood for pictures today so this was the only semi-decent shot I got. This is a size 4 with a few modifications (slightly larger width and length of dress and a longer neck elastic). I'm also thinking of adding a pocket or two.. 

And since it seems I'm a little obsessed with making these sweet dresses (6 so far and counting..), I've actually signed on to become a licensed maker of this dress and will be listing a handful of these in my shop very soon. 

x melissa

sweet little dresses

Last week I made a sweet little dress for a sweet little girl who just turned one year old.

The pattern is from Leila & Ben and it really is a darling little dress. I had seen it around on other blogs and Flickr for a while and it seems to be a staple pattern in every KCWC. I had some of this hot pink chevron in my stash and I think the bold pattern works well with the simplicity of the dress. With only two pattern pieces, this dress was super quick to sew and the instructions were clear and offered some great tips on making this simple dress even easier to sew. Love that.

I also recently got my hands on some of Martha Negley's Farmington Feathers in pink (I LOVE this print and this colourway) so I thought I'd sew up a sweet little dress for lil C.

I made the size 3T to test out the sizing and I'm thinking these dresses are scaled a bit on the bigger side, or at least are designed to be nice and roomy. Lil C is generally wearing at least a size 4 now and this fits pretty well overall. I did add some length to the elastic around the neck and arms, but I think next time, I will add a wee bit more (maybe 2" total on the neck and 1" on the sleeve cuffs) so it's a little more relaxed.

 

Overall, I think this is a pretty darn awesome pattern and will definitely be making more. I'm already picturing all the different fabrics and combos I want to try making it in.

And lil C seems to like it. Bandaged knees and all :)

x melissa

a cozy dress

I think I bought this pattern about a year and a half ago but sort of 'tucked' it away and forgot about it, until last week. As with most everyone else on the west coast, we finally got hit with our winter snow and below 0 temperatures. So I finally dug up this pattern along with some turquoise fleece from my stash.

This was such an easy dress to whip up and oh so comfy and warm. I haven't totally finished the dress yet as I wanted C to try it on to make sure it fit. It's missing the cowl neck and the sleeves and hem are unfinished, but once C got it on, she didn't want to take it off. And she actually wanted to pose for some photos so I didn't object.

Who wouldn't want to snuggle up in a fuzzy, warm fleece dress? And now I'm eyeing this pattern for myself..

hooray for GIVEAWAY DAY!!

Well hello friends! and a special fuzzy warm welcome to everyone visiting from Sew, Mama, Sew! It's giveaway day again and this time, I thought I'd do something a little different. For this giveaway, I'm offering the winner two options to choose from. And here they are..

OPTION #1

Upcycled Shirt Dress - Size 4-5T

($38 value)

This dress is 100% cotton (a former Calvin Klein button shirt) and features sweet ruffle cap sleeves and the original button placket in the back to make dressing easier. To complement the light blue and sage green striped pattern, I appliqued a large coral/pink flower and added a little hand embroidered detail (applique will fray a bit after a few washes for a cool, deconstructed look). *the colour in the photos is showing the dress to be a bit on the pinkish side, but it is actually off-white, light blue and sage. The inside of the dress is finished with French seams and a sweet little 'boutique' label. The size is 4-5T but it would very likely fit a 6 year old comfortably as a tunic top. The measurements are approximately 14 1/2" across the chest (underarms) and 25" from top of shoulder to hem. This dress is one-of-a-kind and handmade by me :)

OPTION #2

A $25 Gift Certificate for Oh Hello Rabbit which can be used for anything 'ready to ship' in my shop, including sale items (cannot be used toward 'made to order' items). What would you choose?

So, are you in? To enter, simply leave a comment below letting me know what you would choose if you won. And please make sure I have a way of contacting you if you do win :) One entry per person (with the exception of the 'hoop-jumping' below..) This giveaway will run until Friday, December 16th at 5pm PST and I'll be using good old RANDOM.ORG to pick the winner who will be announced on this blog the following day. This is open to anyone, anywhere in the world (with a legit mailing address of course). As a reminder, the gift certificate in OPTION #2 is only good for READY TO SHIP items (cannot be used toward 'made-to-order' items) and you must select your item(s) by Dec 19, 2011 so that I can have your goodies wrapped up and in the mail to you by Dec 24th).

And now for the 'hoop-jumping'..

For up to 3 more entries you can:

-follow my blog

-follow me on twitter and tweet about this post tagging @ohhellorabbit (easiest to just click the 'twitter share' button at the bottom of this post)

-follow me on facebook (I'd be super happy if you shared this post but it's not necessary for the extra entry)

For each additional entry, please leave an extra comment below so it gets counted.

Phew! And there you go. Good luck everyone and be sure to check out all the other amazing giveaways on Sew, Mama, Sew!

lil c's new dress

Lil c was eyeing some dresses before I took them to the market last weekend. She placed dibs on the turquoise teacup pinafore (similar to this dress) with Jay McCarroll's purple dropcloth print on the reverse side. I promised her that she could pick one dress from whatever was left over from the market and luckily, the one that I had left happened to be in her size :) She held me to my word. 

market dresses and some distractions..

A couple new dresses for the Urban Artisans Craft Market coming up in just a few weeks at the Roundhouse Centre in Yaletown. I have to admit, it's been a little slow going with the 'market sewing' lately. Aside from just wanting to curl up with a cup of hot tea (and halloween chocolate) every night after the kids are in bed, I've been distracted by all the lovely things everyone else is making and showing off in blogland. Like this dress (I actually have and love this book but have yet to make anything from it), and this coat (I've seen so many gorgeous variations of this coat like this and just found out that the pattern is now out of print - gotta get my hands on it NOW), and this freak'n amazing quilt! (Ok, I'm not even going to attempt this one, but it's definitely making me want to dive into the *beginner* quilt I just started a few weeks ago.) Aaaand, back to my regularly scheduled sewing..