So, here is Stella in her three versions of the Modkid Shelby pattern!  Firstly, I sewed her a cropped, short-sleeved top.

This is sewn from cotton/spandex – fairly typical t-shirt fabric. For Stella I sewed size 10, with the length of size 12.

This size combination appears to work fairly well for Stella. She’s grown so much taller over the past year – actually, despite the two girls being four and a half years apart in age, they’re now only around one clothing size apart, and are very similar shapes.

Hems were finished with a simple small zig-zag throughout. The finished length is just above the belly button, which she seems to like. This top has had a bit of wear since I made it, as has the next version that I sewed.

This time I sewed the long-sleeved version with tie front overlay. The stretch jacquard knit is from Super Cheap Fabrics.

I had attended an overlocking class shortly before I sewed this top, and took the opportunity to practice my rolled hemming skills on the edges of the front overlay pieces that tie together. This actually made for a nicer tie than the conventional turn and stitch, as the rolled hem resulted in minimal bulk.

This fabric was softer yet with more recovery than the blue knit that I used for Stella’s first top, and I think it gives a very pleasing result. She’s worn this one quite a bit over winter.

Finally, I sewed her a dress! This is in lightweight scuba that came into my stash from a friend, possibly originally from Spotlight. Once again I sewed size 12 length with size 10 width.

By this stage I’d sewn this pattern quite a few times, and I can now zoom up one of these garments very quickly. I used a straight stitch to secure hems, and due the fabric thickness I narrow hemmed the front overlay tie edges rather than trying a rolled hem.

Lightweight scuba type fabric can be quite satisfying to sew. No ravelling, very little shifting, some soft structure. Yes, they’re polyester central, but they definitely have a place. They also tend to be very smooth to touch, so Stella quite likes the way that they feel.

It’s often challenging to sew for Stella because she is very particular about what she does and doesn’t like. She was consulted at every step of the process when I sewed these garments, and fortunately it’s worked out well, as they’ve all had quite a bit of wear. We’re currently in the process of deciding what she’d like as her grade 6 graduation dress. We’ve finally identified a couple of patterns, and I’m going to give them a go in some stash fabric to see if she’s happy with the finished product. I never know until the final fitting! Fortunately, this dress was a winner over winter.

Once again, these three garments are good examples of how different fabric types affect the sewing techniques that you use and the finished effect.  For more details on the Shelby pattern and to see the three versions I sewed for Clare, see my earlier blog post.