Sewing with Courtney - another year, another 4-H garment

*UPDATE: See end of post.

Another year has flown by and it's nearly County Fair time again! Granddaughter Courtney wanted to sew another garment, so a little searching came up with this pattern, and she loved it immediately.

Since we got off to a much later start than last year, there was no time to waste, and she got busy and cut it all out in one session.

I kinda like that "flamingo pose", don't you?

The next time she was here, she began sewing it together.

It's chilly in my basement sewing room, so a sweatshirt was usually required. I don't think the hood was 'necessary', but... ;)

She kept her iPod nearby, just in case she got a friend alert or something. Or if they tried to call her, just to "start a conversation". LOL

Here is her romper, half done, and a better look at the fabric she chose. I admit I cringed a little bit when I saw it was a plaid, but there wasn't a terrible lot of matching to do, so we conquered it okay.

She got to learn something new this time - how to sew with a serger. She used it to finish the seams. She's not really sewing with it in the photo below, but faking it because I forgot to take a pic while she was actually doing it.

She carefully did the ironing herself, including measuring and pressing up the hems. Below she's working on the shorts hems, but she also did all the way around the top and bottom edges of that ruffle! She got lots of practice!

Speaking of that ruffle, I learned a new tip a while back for making narrow hems easier, especially on curved items. You serge the edge first, before pressing, so then you have that ¼" of serging stitches to go by when folding. It works like a charm, and it helps to draw in the excess fabric in the curves so that you don't get a bunch of little pleats.

More sewing below, plus folding and pinning the tiny narrow tie for the waist bow.

I did allow her a break occasionally, which she spent with a snack, and....

Ta Da! The finished romper! It fit just right and we were both so pleased with how it turned out!

Here's a little closer look below. On examining this photo myself, I finally realized how lucky we were in how the plaid matched up vertically! I really couldn't plan for that very well when we laid it out because of the gathering and the seamed shorts, but somehow it worked out just right! I love when that happens!!

We had a fluffy little photo assistant (well, several of them actually), so how could we not include her in one of the shots?

The 4-H Fashion Revue was held last Tuesday evening. Here she is, modeling her constructed project.

This is her purchased outfit.

Finally, here's her recycled outfit.

At the end, they did a little "parade" of all the fashions. There was quite a variety, and it was fun to see all the garments.

We don't know exactly how she did as far as scoring. We'll find out next week when all of her projects are put on display at the fair with their respective ribbons. She's been working on many projects besides this sewing one. I'm sure she'll do well and that her dream of going to the State Fair with one or more will come true! She does an excellent job on everything, and I am so very proud of her!

*UPDATE:  Courtney was happy to report she got a Reserve Champion and a purple ribbon for her romper. Way to sew, Miss C! She also received 5 Grand Champions and various other awards for her many other projects, and she's earned herself a trip to the State Fair, which I know she is looking forward to a lot.