Portabellopixie Claire- Sewing Pattern Review - Round Apron Dress

Fun to Sew! Fun to Twirl !

Designer Sandi Henderson surely must rank among the Best children's pattern designers! Claire was my first experience using Portabellopixie patterns , but will not be my last!

Here is what it says on the back cover of the pattern:

This pattern includes 5 options in sizes 6 months - girls 8. Claire is an excellent pattern for beginners to intermediate sewers. Beginners will find the Peasant Top and Dress easy projects to understand and start out with. When you progress or are and adventurous beginner, try the Apron and Petal knot dresses. There are two aprons to play with, so have fun!



Fun indeed! Fun to sew and fun to twirl!!!! On a scale of 1 to 10 this dress has twirl power rating of an 8.00 ! Only dresses which are cut on the bias and twirl straight out make the perfect twirl score of 10! If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you'll be able to compare the dress which Zoey is modeling to the picture on the pattern cover. The only change I made was adding length to the sleeves. I like the original, but was experimenting with a longer sleeve for the fun of it.

The Portabellopixie Round Apron dress which Zoey is wearing was cut from the size 5 T. Due to the elasticized neckline and sleeve it is fairly forgiving of size and could probably work for a child slightly smaller than Zoey.

I was a apprehensive about sewing the attached apron band at the bodice seam. I was afraid it would end up looking puckered. Truthfully..... frustration was anticipated! I took the designer's instructional advice to heart and used plenty of pins. I had no trouble and zero puckers!

The tulip applique was my own free hand design, but I would have welcomed a few applique shapes to be included with this pattern. Instead, the directions give ideas and some photos of finished dresses for inspiration.

Keep the applique light and flexible. If the applique is large and near the top 1/3 of the apron, it will not hang in loose gathers as an apron should. This tip is not mentioned in the pattern instructions........probably because it is assumed that most people would have common sense on this matter. I'll admit to a " practice" apron panel......and move onto another subject. (grin)


The pattern pieces are printed on extra heavy grade tissue paper, therefore it is easy to trace out the size you need without tearing the tissue! (thumbs up) I love the heavy weight tissue!

Because of 4 variations included, I color coded each variation making it easier to sort though. I marked the Petal Knot dress variation pattern pieces with a red dot, the Peasant dress pattern pieces are marked with a green dot and so forth.

Zoey helped with the color coding and enjoyed learning about pattern pieces. :-)

I enjoyed the instruction booklet and Sandi Henderson's way of illustrating the directions. She includes a drawing with arrows to illustrate which seams are being sewn, making the steps extremely clear at a glance.


There is a mistake on the yardage of the Knot Dress . It calls for 1/2 yard for the skirt and it should be 1 yard. I've only made the sizes 5 and 6 and have not compared the yardage for the other sizes.

Would I make the Round Apron dress again?
YES, but AFTER I make the OTHER variations included in this Portabellopixie Pattern!

Would I recommend the Claire pattern to a beginner?

I would say a person with basic sewing skills could handle any of the variations. The Petal knot dress requires making 2 button holes, top stitching and gathering skills.

The Round Apron version requires gathering, applying bias binding (on the apron) and running elastic through a self casing at the neck and sleeves.
If you understand those skills........you'll have no trouble.

The Peasant dress and Peasant Top require gathering to attach a bottom ruffle and shirring with elastic thread.
To sew with elastic thread:
Hand wind the bobbin with the elastic thread and thread the needle with regular sewing thread. Sew as you normally would and let the elastic thread do the work!
For my shirring tutorial, click here.

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My first Amy Butler Field bag turned out nice!

Would I sew this pattern again? YES

I finally found a block of time to sew myself a Field Bag and want to share my experience of it.
Let's start off by saying what you probably already know: It is a huge bag.

Finished size is 18 1/4 inch at the top of the bag and is 27 1/4 inches at the widest point. The Field bag is 15 1/2 inches tall (not counting the handles) x 5 1/2 inches deep.

It is named Field Bag for a reason! You'd love it for multi tasking as a shopping bag, diaper bag, beach bag, carry on and etc. Ideas are swimming around in my head to sew a matching garment bag from the Seams to Me book by Anna Maria Horner.

Wanting to use this as a carry-all type bag, I decided to go all the way and make the zipper top BAG.
This sewing pattern has two versions from which to choose. The Field BAG has a zipper and the TOTE has an open top without a closure. Both choices are the same size with the exception of the top zipper area.

This picture shows how the zipper is installed. I wish I could have found a better color match because the sport zipper has wide exposed tape. White is OK, but try to find a closer match when you make your bag.
Amy Butler's zipper instructions make this easy. This is what the top zipper panel looks like when it is ready to attach to the yoke of the bag. This photo shows another little trick of mine.

Somehow I ended up with a pair of hemostats. I don't remember when they became part of my sewing notions, but I use them rather often. (no, they do not have dried blood on them!) In this case, my cord had slipped down into the tube and I needed to fish it back out. (yes, I know hemostats are typically used to clamp the cord of a newborn) :-)

Hemostats make a great sewing notion!


The directions for making the piping are good. You won't have any trouble doing it even if you've never made piping before.



If you look real close, you can see the bump caused by the piping cord. If you have pinned accurately, this step is easy peasy! I hold my finger next to the bump to keep it tight to the side of the zipper foot.

When done, turn the fabric & check to see if you need to do any touch up.Looking at the bag at this stage shows the simplicity of this pattern design.

Another tip while it is fresh on my mind: Reinforce the seam which attaches the handles to the bag even though that step is not in Amy Butler's instructions. I like to play on the safe side when it comes to straps. It only takes a smidgen more thread and time to reinforce those handles!


I found the instructions to be well written for this step and the pattern pieces were accurate. The bottom panel fit nicely!

OOPS!
Here is what my first try looked like when sewing the front of the bag to the back of the bag (my sides seams did not line up.Remove stitches and do it again....................Mistake corrected.......I can live with this. On to the next steps of making the lining etc.

This bag moved along quickly for me until attaching the top zipper panel to the bag yoke. It isn't hard, but it took some patience because of working a a tight area.
I would advise beginners to make the Field Tote option,which is the same as the BAG, but without a zipper.
As you can see from my zipper photo, making the top zipper panel was very quick and easy. A beginner could do it. I'm not a Master Seamstress . I did it and you can too.

If you'd rather not spend time on the zipper, simply sew the Tote. :-)
Would I sew this pattern again? YES