A spring treat for this holiday week.

Even with Passover and Easter upon us, you would think Mother Nature would be sending some daffodils and balmy breezes to lift our spirits. But not here in northern Ohio, where the temperature remains steady at the freezing point and there is still snow on the ground. Nevertheless, I’ve been sewing for my girls again.

The girls still have not grown out of their constant desire to be twins, so here are their requested matching dresses.

Luckily I had just enough gorgeous purpley poppy matte brocade fabric sourced in NYC a few years ago to use for the bodices. The skirts are created from a fine wale corduroy courtesy of our favorite in town fabric-retailer, while the chartreuse faux belt was carried all the way back from Thailand by my brother!  Thanks, Seth!

You may notice that the gorgeous little bow hand-tacked to the belt at the waistline of the dress. I created it using a Flourish Shoe Clip bow (part of a new accessory kit line we will be launching via Etsy soon–take a sneak peak at the bow tie kits already in the shop).

The bodice pattern pieces are from our Olivine Dress (using the Bodice Lining piece for the main fabric) but the cap sleeves shown are a variation of the Olivine original. Here’s how I changed the original sleeve to make a cap sleeve.

After cutting out the cap sleeve (cut along the dashed line shown above), you baste and insert the sleeve in a manner similar to a full sleeve.

Happy spring holidays to all!

~Carla

Recently on the runway scene there have been a slew of wonderful pieces that incorporate a flounce.  I thought they provided great inspiration for working with our unique Starling Dress flounce pattern piece.  Here are some ideas to use both on the Starling Dress and other patterns you may have in your collection.

Wouldn’t it be great to apply the Starling Flounce pattern piece to the armhole of a basic shift dress and let it drape down? (from Gucci)

I adore how this flounce application wraps gracefully around the shoulders (from Gucci):

And again, accenting the shoulders (from Gucci):

How about some asymmetry from Chloe Spring 2013 Ready to Wear?

Or this wide flounce from a center placket, not dissimilar from our original Starling Dress design (also from Chloe, Fall 2013 Ready to Wear.)

Does this get you inspired to rework your Starling Flounce?  We’d love to see your frothy concoctions posted to our flickr group!

Last week we showed you the first of two Valentine’s looks — here are some of the details of our second outfit. 

This Starling Dress is made of a cream-colored fine wale corduroy with a ruffle in a quilter’s cotton coordinating with the prints our first V-Day look.

Finally, I added this hand embroidered and lace embellishment to really drive home the message–

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

 Happy Sewing!

~Erin

In tribute to Valentines Day next week, Carla and I created not 1 but 2 warm and cozy looks for wintery V-Day. First up is this one:

In this ensemble, we’ve paired our complete Raven look (hoodie + front pintucked pants) with our Chickadee Blouse.

The hoodie is soft and scrumptious in this faux rabbit fur, aptly lined in a delicate white + red dotted Swiss. You remember when we used the same fur for the lovely little cape featured here?

The tie on the hoodie is a simple wide grosgrain ribbon sewn into the seam (rather than on the outside of the fabric), and a small purple glass button closes the collar on the blouse.

Normally, we do not use quilters cotton for our kids clothes but here we made an exception for the perfect mix of Valentines colors of this pattern.

Finally, the Raven Pants are a fine wale corduroy (yes, they really are that red).  We added some coordinating fabric on the back pockets to tie it in with the blouse.

Happy sewing!

~Erin

I just wanted to share with you our newest Olivine Dress look that is hot off the (home) assembly line.  Made with a gorgeous silk gingham and accented with Liberty of London’s Susanna print below, we hope this look will inspire our followers to start thinking SPRING!  Doesn’t this print evoke images of your  little one romping through the tulips gathering Easter eggs?

With the holidays behind us, Cleveland is looking rather dreary these days, and we just can’t help ourselves from sewing for spring.  It’s never too early for positive thinking!

Reminder: there is one more weekend left of our SALE! 20% off all orders with code “welcome2013″.  Take advantage of a purchase now, especially since shipping costs to those beyond our U.S. borders will drastically increase on Jan 27th (due to the US Post Office, not us here at Clever Charlotte!).

Happy Sewing!

~Carla

As a continuation of my post last week, I wanted to show you what else I’ve been sewing this holiday season–specifically, matching Christmas outfits for my girls! I created these dresses from the Olivine dress pattern, using the only the lining pieces (Lining Front Bodice, Back Bodice, Lining Front, Skirt Back) instead of the outer pleated pattern pieces. Omitting the pleats and the sleeves from the Olivine sped up my sewing and, gratefully, freed up more time for Christmas shopping and eggnog sipping.

As you surely know by now, the green collars are separate pieces created from our Peridot look. The patch pockets at not part of the original Olivine pattern but were added because my girls have a pocket obsession and I thought the dress itself needed more of that lovely green velvet. Styling the dresses over a simple white long-sleeved t-shirt gives it all a seamless look.

The dress fabric was the find of the century… one gem in a sea of aging polyester from a little old lady’s house Erin and I raided a few years back.  It is a cotton pique embroidered with green starbursts.  I scored about 5 yards, and had just enough left over from other projects to create these two dresses.  The green works perfectly with the velvet and the season.

In addition to the dresses, I had a few moments to put together a new Kestrel Coat, featuring the same wonderful velvet.

The only modification I made was turning the two-piece sleeve into a one-piece, again in the interest of time.  The coat has been worn nonstop since it came off the assembly line and every time my daughter wears it I think I really need to make an adult-sized version of this coat.  Maybe in the new year….

Happy holidays to all and happy sewing!

~Carla