Twinsies

I didn't exactly plan to be all matchy with my 3.5 year old, but it turned out that we do kind of match.

My dress is made with one of my grandmother's vintage sheets!  It's super soft and light.  I used the Angie dress pattern from SisBoom Patterns.  Rowan's dress is made with vintage pillowcases.  For hers, I used a FREE pattern from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom (I just love her blog name!). For a free pattern, the pattern and her tutorial are awesome!  Plus it goes from 12 months to 8 years!

Tomorrow is surgery day.  Probably won't be too much sewing or crafting for a little while.  I hope I'm only "down" for a few days.  Good news is that I found a couple of cookbooks at the library on Saturday that I can look through and copy down recipes.  I also happened across Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz.  I loved the tv show, but since it got cancelled - BUMMER - I thought I'd just read the book!  I've also stocked up on yogurt, chicken noodle soup, and some nice veggie stew.  I don't want to piss off my stomach too early on.  One of my besties (who is a SAINT!) has volunteered to make us a few freezer casseroles and me some potato soup for the next week.  I pink puffy heart her.

So here goes nothing y'all!

WIP Wednesday {May 6th}

I finished up a third dress for Ro this morning.  I haven't taken any photos of it yet though.  Today I started on something new.  A dress for myself.  The pattern is called the Angie Dress and you can find it here.

I also tried my hand at making my own bias tape.  I used this awesome (and FREE!) printable single fold bias tape maker from Scientific Seamstress.  There is a 1" version and a 0.5" version.  The pattern calls for half-inch wide single fold so I used that one.  I made way more than I needed because it was so easy!

I managed to finish the bodice in between visitors, lunch, snacks, and before the older kids got off the bus.  I did realize that I made the wrong calculations for the skirt length though and I hope that I will be able to  add a little length before I get started on adding the skirt to the bodice.

WIP = Work in Progress

Spring Fling

My Mom recently gave me some vintage sheets and pillowcases.  Ok, so maybe I asked her if she had any hiding in a box in the closet.  She had these pretty flower pillowcases that I thought would make the cutest dress for Ro.  Especially with that ruffle edge.  I love these simple peasant dresses!

I added a tie/belt to the flower dress because, to be honest, it looked like a nightgown without it.  The Hello Kitty dress is a little short, but it's easy to just put on some leggings under it.  Bonus that as it gets too short as a dress, she can just wear it as tunic shirt.

Currently, I'm plotting the best yard sale locations for vintage sheets or really... just cute sheets. Because ...  seriously look at that pose.  She's a natural.

Blue Bow Tie Baby

Saturday evening Neil comes in the living room.

Neil:  "Mom, I need black dress pants, a white button up shirt, and a tie."

Me:  "Err, ok.  When do you need these by?"

Neil:  "Tueday."

Gee, son.  Thanks so much for the short notice.  You're swell.

Sunday, my husband takes him when he goes to buy a few groceries.  Comes home with a nice pair of black dress pants that they found at St. Vincent de Paul for only $3 (!!!) and a nice, white button up shirt with ugly brown tortoise shell buttons. No tie.  Husband says that the ties were just too expensive.  Seriously?!?  Blarg.

I did the only thing I could think of to do.  I made one instead.

I used the pattern and instructions found here, pulled out some satin-y, silky, royal blue fabric, and started sewing!

I was really surprised how easy it was to make one after I got into it.

Just cut out the pattern pieces (fabric and interfacing).

Sew them together and cut off the excess fabric around the edges so they are all nice and pretty.

Turn those suckers inside out with a nifty little knitting needle!  Press 'em flat.

Fold the ends inside 1/4 of an inch and place one inside the other.  Sew the seam.  Mine was a little wonky, but no one is going to see it so SHHHH!  Don't tell.

Press it nice and flat.  Behold the awesomeness that is your first bow tie.  Patiently wait for your son to get home from school.  

*insert Jeopardy music*

Get bored and decide to remove the ghastly brown buttons and replace them with white ones.  Smile.  Realize you have no idea how to tie a bow tie.  Panic.  Watch this video by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Laugh and learn how to tie a bow tie!

BAM!  Bow tie!!

Then...  I'm told it's supposed to be black.  *facepalm*  Well it's blue damn it so deal with it.

Do-Dads and Cars and Crayons! Oh my!

That's right y'all!  The Etsy shop is now open!

After I made Rowan her cute little purse so she could carry all her little do-dads, I knew I had to make more and share the love.

They are the perfect size for a few crayons, a My Little Pony or two, a couple of Hot Wheels, and various other weird things that only toddlers and small children can find.

There is a button closure without a buttonhole so little hands will be able to close and open.  I picked out lining fabrics that match up nicely with the exterior fabric!

The best part is that even though I made them with toddler age children in mind, they could easily be used by little girls, teen girls, or even we ladies who only need room for our phone, wallet, and keys!

So many idea are floating around in my head right now!  Future bags are floating around waiting to be made! Stop by the shop (or click the "Shop" tab in the menu) and use the code 5OFFJULY31 to get $5 off your order until the end of the month!

Halfway There

Today is June 30th.  The last day of June.  This is RIDONKULOUS.  How are we already halfway through the year?!  This is simply not possible.  I clearly must have dozed off from February through May.  I mean, that's the only explanation, right?

You know what I did with my all too quick weekend?  A whole lotta nada.  We did all the usual stuff like mow the yard, do a good straightening up of the house.  The Husband and Son cleaned out the back of our garage.  Which our garage is more of a huge storage building.  Stores everything, but the car.  Neil was less than amused to have to be out of bed before noon and actually doing physical labor.  He kept trying to escape with excuses like, "I need to grab something to drink."  Then I would come inside and find him holed up on his bed with his computer in his lap playing games and I'd have to drag him, kicking and screaming, back outside.  Not literally though because he's bigger than me.  At his basketball physical last week, he was 5' 9" and 122 lbs.  He bests me in height by 8 inches and he still has a couple of years of growing left in him.  Crazy.

I did a bit more sewing this weekend.  I made the youngest a cute little purse.

It sewed up so quickly!  I could easily make two or three a day.  Definitely going on my list of items that I could potentially sell.  Except I'm out of interfacing and seriously don't want to drive 35 miles to buy some.  Pencil this in on the calendar as just another thing I need to do!

Bubble Butt

I haven't done much sewing since last year.  I didn't realize just how much the youngest has grown in that year until she tried to wear a little dress I'd made that was no longer a dress, but long shirt instead.  I had finished my last knitting project and after spending hours (yes, really... hours) trying to decide on a new project, nothing jumped out at me.  The sewing machine was calling instead.

I was a little worried before I began this pattern, Bubble Shorts from PeekABoo Pattern Shop.  According to her measurements, I should have made the 12 month size, but I just couldn't make myself do that.  I know she is skinny, but she's almost three!  I'm glad that I went with the 3T size.  The elastic waistband in the back was easy enough to adjust.  As well as the cuffs on the legs.  And these are the reasons why making your child's clothing is awesome! Adjust-ability.

She does not like any undies or pants to touch her belly button.  She will fuss and fuss until she's moved it just below it.

I made these shorts from cutting the fabric to finished product in only one day.  Which is good timing for me given all the breaks in the day I took for toddler snacks, potty times, reading times, general toddler break downs over things like pants touching belly buttons....

They are really cute and sew up quickly so I foresee more bubble shorts in our future.

It's Not Sew Hard

Over the weekend,  I decided to start working on a couple of patterns that I recently purchased from Blank Slate Patterns.

If you follow me through Instagram then you already know that I had a few issues with the School Day Skirt pattern.  First, I accidentally sewed the top onto the bottom upside down.  I did this using my machine's overlock stitch, which is like a serger.  It would be an understate to say that removing that seam was a pain in the ass.  When I got it done, I realized that I couldn't really use the top half anymore so I cut new pieces.  I made sure that I pinned the top half on correctly and proceeded to attach the two halves.

Then I realized I'd sewn the bottom half on wrong side out.  D'OH!!!

I put the material down, turned off the sewing machine, put away my notions, and WALKED AWAY.  The pattern and instructions themselves are easy to follow and it has photos.  It's just that I wasn't paying attention and was distracted by everything going on.  Store that pattern away for another day.

Tuesday morning I was feeling a tad on the crafty side.  The sting from the weekend's debacle was subsiding.  I decided to try out the Little Bow Pleat dress.  How cute is that name?  For real.

I thought to myself that I was probably testing fate because this dress has a zipper.  I've never before sewn a zipper into an article of clothing.


After getting the zipper all squared away, it wasn't as hard as I thought!  I guess I shouldn't get too confident though.  It was a pretty straight forward insertion.
Front of completed dress

Back of completed dress (with invisible zipper) BOOYA!

Look at the cute bow in the front!


It's Rowan approved!
From start to finish, this dress took me about 8 hours.  I did have to pause frequently to monitor what the baby was doing, read her a book, fix her a snack, lunch, another snack, diaper changes, and then I had to eat too.  Without interruption, I could probably get it done in six hours.
I look forward to giving that skirt pattern another chance now!