St. Paddy's Day fun

I am usually pretty practical with the sewing projects I take on.

But, this year, when my daughter came to me with the idea of making green outfits for

St. Patrick's Day......I must have had a sudden brain lapse.  She had it all planned out

in her head and even found some shamrock fabric that I bought a couple of years ago.  

So, I thought it would be a fun project to do since it was her idea

and I knew she would be excited about it.

I used a Sandi Henderson pattern for the ruffle pants (which I highly recommend).  

I have several of her patterns and find them to be very well put together with

easy-to-understand explanations and good illustrations.  Plus, one pattern

covers a wide range of sizes, from infant to 8 years old.

My younger daughter wanted a skirt and I didn't feel like using a pattern so I came up with this 

based on simple Gymboree skirt I saw last fall.  I just kept the fabric folded in half like it 

comes from the store and cut the length I wanted for her.  Then I cut along the fold so I had

two rectangles, each around 22 inches wide.  I sewed the sides together, 

then just rounded off the bottom edges, 

gathered a strip that was twice the width of the skirt, and sewed it onto the bottom edge.  

For the waist, I folded over the top, pressed, and sewed a basic casing for elastic,

and voila!  Easy skirt in around 30 minutes.  (Good thing when using shamrock fabric!)

For their shirts, they wanted something fancy appliqued but I knew they wouldn't wear

them again so I just made some simple fabric flower pins from a tutorial

on katiedid.  For their hair, I had run out of fabric and had lots of

felt leftover from the playhouse I did a couple of months ago. 

I cut out two shamrocks for each girl and sewed each pair together

with wide stitches of embroidery thread and then glued an

alligator clip to the bottom.  Easy and different than their usual

hair ribbons.  

I had fun with this project and it seems my girls will be

celebrating this holiday all year long!

A Special Dress

At the beginning of the year, I began my search

for the perfect baptism dress for my daughter. After

scrolling through pages and pages of frilly, over the

top dresses online, and having no luck at the mall, I

finally stumbled upon the Crewcuts site and found

quite a few dresses that were a bit more age appropriate

and less "wedding-dress from the 80's" looking. The only

problem was that I wasn't about to fork out the $150+ it would

cost to get one of their dresses for my 8 year old.

This is the one I was drooling over. The simple design, paired with

the dainty, slightly imperfect ruffles had me at hello.

I was feeling adventurous, even though I have very little experience

working with "fancy" fabric. I stopped at the fabric store and

walked out with a yard and a half of white douponi silk for $15 and not

a clue what I was going to do.

I used one of my go-to vintage patterns for the main shaping, the sleeves, and

sizing. After cutting out the front bodice, I eyeballed a line a couple of

inches below the armholes and cut straight across. This piece now became

my template for the placing of the ruffles. I cut five strips of varying sizes and

just started gathering. (FYI, douponi silk gathers on the grain, so your strips

must be cut lengthwise along the selvedge) I found this out the hard way.

Other than a few stressful moments with the zipper and more than a

few problems with the lining....also a first.....I was happy

with the results. When it was complete, I took it to my

dry cleaner and he steamed it for me for a few dollars. I

didn't even want to mess with trying to press it and he

really gave it the finished look that I wanted.

So, here it is. A genuine Crewcuts knock-off dress.

Possibly the first of many......

And, of course we had to accessorize!

..:wedding attire:..

Last week, my brother-in-law tied the knot with his beautiful bride

at their lovely wedding in Phoenix. As the youngest of five, he has

the good fortune of being the "cool" uncle to 11.5 adoring

nieces and nephews.

I am not quite sure why I volunteered to take on the

daunting project of outfitting these wonderful

children. I think it had to do something with

the fact that black/white/periwinkle are nearly extinct hues

for youngsters during the winter months. Also, it

is quite difficult to find coordinating dress-wear

for the age range of 9 months up to 10 years old.

And, maybe I kind of wanted to take on the challenge.

I blame it on my independent, oldest child, Idahoan

nature that makes me do such things to myself.

Here is the whole motley crew, in what can only

be called a miracle shot, being that they are all

together and happy. Even if they are all looking

at different cameras.......

My niece, Abigail, was happy to strike a pose. She is

a natural in front of the camera, I found.

Here are the girls (minus one very hungry baby).

Please disregard my daughter's navy flower, I have some

color issues. Also, I thought it would be fun to mix

things up with two in skirts and the others in

dresses but after seeing them all together,

I think all dresses would have been the way to go.

I used a simple vintage A-line dress pattern, added a slight

mock-neck collar and some puffy sleeves, and some bias trim

for a contrasting hem.

And, the boys. I made their ties using this tutorial. It was my first time with ties

so they weren't perfect but I found the instructions easy

to follow and I will definitely try it again. My little

guy got a bow tie which was surprisingly easy, a good thing

since it was a 1 a.m.-night-before-leaving-project.

Now, I think I am going to send my beloved Bernina on a little

vacation. At least for a few months because I really

thought she was ready to blow at some point in

mid-December.....

cupcake apron

I made this fun apron for a teacher at my kids' school.

Ric-rac just has the ability to make things a whole

lot better.

My New Years Resolution:

Use More Ric Rac.

....as the (sewing) world turns....

Whew! It has been a while. Not for lack of projects, rather, for lack of any time to blog about them. It seems like once October starts, I need to strap myself down tightly in preparation for the wild ride of self-imposed creative stress that comes with the holidays falling right on top of each other until this moment. Now, as the new year begins, I am able to look back and wonder what all the fuss was about and dream of somehow getting an early start next time around.

Back at the beginning of October, a friend invited me to be a part of a local craft show. It sounded innocent enough at the time so I enthusiastically agreed. Fast forward to a couple of days before the show in December, and I was in an absolute panic. Where had all my time gone? I don't know, but there were a lot of aprons and girly head decor whipped up in a matter of hours.

The funny thing is, that after all the stress of wanting everything to be just right, the craft show was not well attended and only a few of my things actually went home with new owners. I was disappointed mostly in the hours I had wasted and the sleep that I missed out on. Luckily within a week, everything I had prepared was sold via word-of-mouth or given away as holiday gifts. I didn't even get a photo of everything but here is a smattering of apron-fun......

last minute Christmas wish fulfilled!

My daughter only had one item

on her Christmas list this year:

Her very own "workshop" 

I wasn't sure what she had in mind,

but I was determined not to add any more 

store-bought mammoth contraptions 

into our house.  I just managed to

get rid of my girls' beauty shop

and baby care center, and the kids

kitchen will be the next to go.  

I saw this card table playhouse idea

a couple of weeks before the big day,

and then skedaddled to get myself

some felt!

After being heavily inspired by this cute etsy shop, 

I sketched out my four walls and started cutting.

After reading through a bunch of tutorials, I think the best

advice was to finish each of the four walls separately

and then sew them all together at the end.

My goal was to make it fun and cute but

not so feminine that the little brother

couldn't hang out as well.

In the end, my daughter was so

excited and proceeded to drag

all of her other gifts inside to

open at her leisure.  

She spent most of the day in her

little "workshop" and even

dragged her blankets inside

for a campout that night.  I

put little tap lights under the table

which really boosted the fun factor.

Not bad for a gift under $30.  Luckily, 

felt (and 5 year olds) are very forgiving so the 

stress/time were pretty minimal.  

.:new dresses:.

I have been saving this Amy Butler fabric for a couple of years, waiting for the right

project to inspire me to cut into it.

I used a vintage pattern from the 60's for the first dress and then made one to coordinate for my younger daughter in a more simple style.

I wish I had more time and creativity to do this more often. I know that they won't

be excited to wear my projects for much longer=)