Sally Dress

This dress goes back to the summer.  I was super fortunate to be chosen by Shannon of luvinthemommyhood to test the adorable Sally Dress.  I love the look of this dress.  I'm a sucker for vintage/modern looks; and this fit perfectly into that category.  I know we've seen lots of this dress recently but thought it was about time I shared mine.  

I think my reason for being a bad blogger, and not posting this dress earlier is that Peyton is not into this dress. :(  She absolutely will not wear it!  She wore it for pictures and now is unwilling to even entertain the notion of wearing it!  I'm unsure why; but it is a beautiful dress just hanging in her closet.  I don't think I am the only sewing mama this happens to, but it is a bummer. 

Here are the details of my dress.  I sewed up a size 7 and it fit nicely for the most part, a little snug in the bodice/sleeve area, but I think that is my fault.  I didn't do the best job attaching the lining to the sleeves. 

I want to try this dress again, I think I'll make a sleeveless version and see if she likes that more.  Also I should let her pick the fabric too.  We are entering the age where she really wants more of a say in her wardrobe.  (Knit clothing seems to be winning right now.)

It is fun to look back at summer she was only missing one tooth, now all 4 are gone in the front!  Hope you have a great Friday and are planning some fun fall activities for the weekend.

Another Anywhere Dress

I really do like this dress, it just looks super cute and modern and is SO easy to sew up!  Andrea the creator of Go To Patterns even has the pattern on sale right now.  So go get it, if you don't already have it in your collection!

I blogged about my stripy version of this dress here, which was back in April. It is fun to see the change in our yard from the beginning to the end of the growing season.

 I was able to use the same size (7) this time around so no need to trace out a new size. And I didn't even change the sleeve length, I must really like elbow length! :)

The fabric came from Girl Charlee quite awhile ago, I really like the metallic hearts; they make the fabric have some movement.

The headband I added just because they're cute. I don't think she ever leaves a headband in all day at school, they always come home in her backpack, but they make me smile.  I used this tutorial for it.

She likes to help with her poses these days and thought hiding in our evergreen was a great idea. You can't see much of the dress, but it is kinda cute!

 Love the pop of color with the red salvia.  Hope you are having a great Wednesday!  Thanks for visiting!

Back to School Dress

This year I let Peyton chose a pattern and fabric from my stash for her back to school dress.  She started Kindergarten this fall and I wanted to continue my tradition of making her a dress for her first day.  I made this dress during my week of peaches I talked about here,  it was a stretch to get it done but luckily she chose a pattern I've made a few times!

She picked this Simplicity pattern and wanted it with the 3 tiers as shown.  I only had a yard of the fabric she picked but also lucky for me it was from my local fabric shop so it was easy to go grab another half yard!

I only got 1 good picture of her where the whole dress is visible.  It was an easy sew and looked quite cute for her first day!  The fabric is Robert Kaufman 'Spot On' and I made a size 7.

Here is a close up of the sign she held up, where exactly I first saw it I can't remember, but was just what I was wanting!  Here is the link if it trips your trigger too, she has all grades! :)

 She is loving school and happy to get on the bus every morning!

A Geranium Inspired Dress

So I've had a major crush on Rae's Geranium dress ever since she released it but I haven't bought it since Peyton is past size 5 which is as high as her pattern goes.  Each time someone in blog land makes one I get a bit more sad about not being able to make one.  So I decided to make my own version.  I found this Simplicity pattern #5226 and thought with some pattern tweaks I could re-create the essence of what I liked about the dress.  (One other thought, if big pattern makers would just work on the pictures and fabric used on the front of their packages, they'd sell lots more patterns I think. This one is not good at all but I could see past the "lovey" print and look at the construction.  I didn't used to be able to do that!!)

Out of all the Geranium dress versions I've seen my favorite is by Jess.  I loved the print she used and conveniently enough my local quilt shop had this lovely fabric by Lotta Jansdotter!  

Here are my adjustments to the pattern to make it Geranium-esque.  First I mainly used the slip dress pattern.  But I wanted the button closure so I used the front button bodice piece and blended it with the back bodice piece of the slip dress.  I used the sleeves on the slip dress too and eliminated the ruffle at the bottom.  I made my own bias tape with a coordinate from the same line.

I am very happy with how it turned out, my biggest mistake was making it a size too big.  I measured her and she fit the 6 but I sometimes have trouble with her out-growing the tops of her dresses if they are too fitted so I made the 7.  I should have stuck with the 6, but we'll get a lot of wear out of this dress since it is quite roomy! :)

I am happy with my attempt for a geranium knock-off but I will definitely buy the pattern if she puts it out in bigger sizes!! Hint Hint Rae, if you ever read this!

Carter jumped into this picture, he wants to pose with Peyton whenever I am taking pics for the blog.  I guess I should sew more for him! We've had a very springy week here which has been amazing!  I am getting ready for a major garage sale (like over 13 bins of kids clothes to sort and price) so I don't see a huge amount of sewing for a couple of weeks but I can't wait to unload some stuff!  

 Hope everyone enjoy's a wonderful Mother's Day weekend with lots of hugs from your kiddos!

The Anywhere Dress

Oh do I love this new pattern by Andrea of The Train to Crazy!  Is it the latest addition in her Go To Patterns called The Anywhere Dress.  I adore her Go to Dress and have made it many times see here and here.  This new dress is just as great. The highest compliment that you can hear when you sew clothing is "you MADE that!" and I heard that today when I picked Peyton up at preschool.  Another Mom commented on her dress and I said "yeah I made it"! Getting to say that never gets old and totally makes it worth staying up until midnight to finish my vision last night.

I took advantage of Andrea's $1 off coupon on her new pattern (it goes though today, so go get it!) and picked up the pattern over the weekend.  After looking at it I knew it would be an easy sew and I really wanted to make it right away.  I looked though my knit stash and was bummed to not find any 1.5 yard cuts to use which is her fabric requirement for the size 7 I made.  But I do love to use every last inch of fabric so I thought I'd see if a yard would work.  It did!  I folded just enough on the sides to cut the front and back I also squeezed the cuff on there too.  Then re-folded the remaining middle fabric to cut the two sleeves and facings.  YEAH! 

I thought I'd have to add length since I usually do on dresses for Peyton and Andrea mentioned it might need to be longer depending on your preferences but it was just fine and I didn't have to mess with that!  She wore it with leggings to school this morning but we are finally having a bit of spring here and it will be around 70 degrees this afternoon so I had her give me a bare leg look too! :)

I did spend quite a bit of time getting all the stripes to match up but it was worth it!  Stripes bring out my perfectionist tendencies and I just pin like crazy! :)  The fabric was also on the thinner side which isn't what is recommended but I made it work.  Actually I didn't mind the fabric at all.  It was a good way to use it since there is a facing; it helped to "bulk up" the necking and armholes.

Boy am I looking forward to spring, the grass is turning green and we can finally play in the yard again!  I think everyone looks forward to spring, but living in the Midwest where there is more winter than I like makes me so thankful for warm air and sunshine.

 I hope where ever you roam there is some sunshine today, thanks for stopping by! :)

Bubble Dress

Hello Friends, Happy Belated Easter!  We had a nice weekend, but alas I took no pictures!  I forgot to take it when we went to our churches egg hunt and I didn't snap any pictures on Sunday either! Oh well!  :)

I have been busy finishing a quilt I started last May but never finished, which is highly unusual for me as I like to complete things and move on.  I also sewed up a Oliver and S Badminton skort which I'll share later this week.

Today though I want to show you a new pattern that I was fortunate to test!  An of Straight Grain has released a pattern of her fantastic bubble dress.  It is a cute pattern and an easy sew.  My daughter is on the top end of the size for the pattern.  I sewed the size 6.  It is a bit short for her but she is very tall.  In fact recently I've been asked it she's 7!! Peyton just turned 5 in February.  I checked with An and she did add about an inch to the size 6 pattern.  I will probably add another inch to that when I sew another one.  The bodice fit very nicely.  I layered it with a shirt for her to wear last week, a bit more snug but still fine.

The fabric was from my stash a print by Joel Dewberry called Aviary. I've been waiting for the right dress to use it on.  I did have a "moment" when cutting this dress and cut the skirt panels upside down!  After a few tears and major irritation I ordered more and luckily it came quickly and I still got it done with in the necessary time frame!  I love to cut fabric, but you have to be paying attention, that rotary cutter can do major damage.

The back is an easy button closure.  Hopefully I won't hear too much about her hair getting tangled around it.

I really liked this pattern and want to make another one soon!  Make sure you check it out over at Straight Grain and when your there check out her fun series Belgian Style!

One last picture, where do they get their poses sometimes?  Happy Monday!

 

Calling All Kids!

Have you heard about Calling All Kids going on over at Alida Makes this month?  It is a great series with awesome big time bloggers and even a couple of little ones including myself!!  Alida is trying to get everyone to think beyond what our normal everyday view of children's clothes is.  I've had to think about this quite a bit as my daughter is a girly girl and Carter seems to be a typical boy, at least in the 19 months I've been getting to know him.  :)

As I've thought about this idea I figured out what I'll be making for my little guy and I'll be sharing that with you as a part of the series on the 19th.  Today though I wanted to show you what I created for Peyton.  I picked out this fabric awhile back because she loves dogs.  She has pretended to be a puppy since around one and hasn't grown out of it yet.  It isn't her normal colors of choice, but she really loves this dress!  She likes the dogs but I think why it keeps being worn is the fun shoulder ruffles.  The pattern here is no surprise if you've followed me at all.  I love the Go to Dress, it so so simple and she always likes them.

I hope to keep pushing her beyond pink and purple and over the top girly, but not too hard.  I've been told that the dress phase tends to disappear once they are in elementary school and dress are my favorite to make.  I'm going to try and keep expanding her colors and help her see that girly can mean much more than pink.

I never though I'd raise a jewelry, princess, and dress loving girl, but I am!  Thanks for visiting!

 

Mary Engelbreit Peasant Dress

Most of the time I buy fabric because I like it.  I mean don't we all.  But in the case of this particular corduroy fabric, after receiving it in the mail, I wasn't so sure I liked it up close.  ( Isn't getting fabric in the mail the absolute best??!! )

It seemed kinda awkward or something, I do LOVE bright colors but...then I realized that the flower are very reminiscent of Mary Engelbreit's.  Who I adored as a teenager. I know who was into Mary Engelbreit as a teen?  Anyway, I am going to chalk up this choice to some deep inward love of bright and happy flowers. 

I do feel my daughter is very bright and happy so maybe that weighed into the fabric too.  Thus I've coined this dress "the Mary Engelbreit dress".  I made this dress the same way I did this one.  My only change was to do three quarter sleeves.  To do this I looked at my flashback skinny tee to decide how long they should roughly be and then lengthened the short sleeve peasant dress pattern piece.  

She wore this to church last Sunday with some light pink tights.  The dress must be a hit because as soon as it was clean again she was wearing it.  This dress definitely had to grow on me!  I am sure to some this dress is a bit crazy, but for this Mama and her 4 year old we think it is pretty FUN!

Last Sunday was a fun clothing day as I realized that 3 out of 4 family members were wearing things I'd sewn.  Carter is wearing an outfit from this fall's KCWC and I'm wearing my first washi tunic which I still need to blog about.  Why is it SO hard to get decent pictures of yourself??!!  

It is days like this that keep me sewing.  How fun to sew for your kids!  Thanks for visiting!

Purple Peasant Dress

For some reason I've been wanting to sew Petyon a peasant dress.  Not sure why, just really needed too! :) I found some fabric (corduroy from JoAnn's) that I thought she might like which had be laying around for awhile.   I always like to use fabric that was originally bought for those projects that never happen! She has been on a purple and pink kick hard core again, so I thought this would be right up her alley. 

 I didn't have a peasant dress pattern in her size, but I did have this Simplicity pattern which I've used before and have liked.  However I wanted a really basic dress that was all one piece in the body.  So I decided to semi-draft a pattern.  This is always really scary for me,  I am about 50/50 on successes with this!

This time it work though!  I decided to take my  beloved Signature Dress Pattern and use that to help me extend the bodice from the simplicity pattern.  I tried to mainly line up the arms and make sure the neckline was similar and went from there.  The fabric in the pictures is for my first Washi dress which I am currently working on!  YEAH!!

Success!  I love when everything goes exactly as planned! The only small issue was I'd wanted it to be long sleeved since it is pretty cold here now, but only had a yard of this fabric.  Also I wasn't sure about that butterfly print, but I really love it.  From a distance you loose the butterflies a bit.  Peyton does like it, but wishes it was all purple.  I just can't win with her these days!

I love when you stretch yourself a bit and it pays off!  I'm quite happy with this one! :)

KCWC day one....Hopscotch Dress

I am so excited to be participating in Kid's Clothing Week Challenge, as I mostly sew for my kids!  I got most of my fabric cut this weekend, and today during nap time I got this dress done! This was a new dress pattern for me and I think it turned out well. I have sewn O+S patterns before and love them, this was no exception.  Easy directions to follow, and a nice looking garment when completed.  

I am not quite as crazy about the fabric once I sewed it up, but Peyton loves it so that is really all that matters.  If you are interest the fabric is by Patty Young from the Sanctuary collection. The tights she has on are from Target, they were just bought a week ago.  They have purple-pink ones too!

Here is a closer look at the top.  Sorry for using the hook my wreath goes on. but it is getting cooler around here and I didn't make it up to the fence I like to use.  :)

Fall is in full swing around here, she LOVES leaves, and has a large leaf collection going again this fall.  

 But I can't blame her, this is a gorgeous time of year around here.  Now back to my sewing machine!  I'm going to work on some Flashback skinny tees. Thanks for visiting!