The Give Piece a Chance dress tutorial

Do you ever come across a pattern and think, 'oh, if only it was slightly different' or 'if only it wasn't two pieces and was a dress instead'? Well, I saw the Give Piece a Chance pattern and thought just that. The two piece ensemble is beautiful, and it certainly has its place in a …

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Get the Look: Vintage Style Pinafore with Every Which Way

Pinafores come in all manner of styles from simple utilitarian smock types to fancy (as in not meant to ever get dirty) pinny's with lace, tucks, ruffles and flutters.  Over the decades pattern companies have churned out 100's of variations. The pinafore is just as popular today and often the featured piece of an outfit.  Duchess and Hare has the Pretty Pinnie pattern …

Adjusting a Pattern: Using Every Which Way to Add Sleeves to Runaround

There have been many inquiries about adding sleeves to Duchess and Hare's popular vintage style Runaround Romper and Dress pattern. The Runaround has a vintage fit through the shoulders and plenty of ease to facilitate dressing and attaching to the waist which is elasticized (no placket needed). It is possible to add sleeves to the …

Adjusting a Pattern: Changing a Back Closure to a Front Closure

UPDATED Why change a dress bodice or a top into one that buttons up in front instead of the back? A few reasons come to mind such as ease of dressing for independent toddler/child, show off some awesome buttons, avoid hair getting tangled around buttons (my reason to use zippers for back closures!) and my …

Adjusting a Pattern: Adding Sleeve Length and Fullness

This was originally posted over at The Sewing Rabbit last month but I'm sharing it here now.  It's a tutorial for how to adjust a sleeve pattern.  It's really very simple, I promise! How to Adjust a Sleeve Pattern:  Adding Length and Fullness   Have you ever pulled out a pattern and decided not to …