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!

T-shirts and the Tinny pattern winner!!

**The winner of the Tinny pattern is Nicole!  Congratulations!  I'll pass your e-mail address onto An.

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I'm guessing your kids wear a lot of t-shirts.  Mine do, anyway.  And while I buy many of them I am finding that making them gives me warm fuzzy feelings! :)  You see I've figured out that I sew mainly as an expression of love.  I love my kids and seeing them in handmade clothes makes my heart happy.  Also t-shirts are a quick sew and that is also a big plus.  I use Rae's skinny tee as the base for most of my tee's.  My only big change is that I always make the neck binding bigger, because for me when cut as per the pattern the neck opening is too tight (at least for my kids heads), but otherwise it is perfect.

 I recently tried another pattern for tees and was really happy with the result!  I bought the book Growing Up Sew Liberated mainly for the envelope tee pattern mainly which I wrote about here.  And actually that t-shirt fits this summer, so when questioning sizing in that book, make the smaller one! :)

 The Crossover tee is another great pattern from the book!  I omitted the bottom band to make it more daytime wear and less pajama like.  The fabric is from Girl Charlee and part of their exclusive Vintage Revival collection, and it's just lovely!  Girl Charlee is a great place to hunt for knit fabric and at great prices too! This bird print just looks like summer to me!

The crossover tee only goes to size 5 but it is a generous pattern.  Peyton doesn't wear a 5 in commercial clothing anymore but I just added a little over an inch in length and it fits great. Here is a little action shot, badminton, her newly discovered sport! :)

Carter also got a new tee recently.  My Grandma has turned over some of her kids fabric stash to me and this cute print matched perfectly with a pair of green pants that needed a top! I used the Skinny tee pattern for the shirt and it fits my skinny boy perfectly.  He's really into vehicles and likes to points out the red trucks on the tee, so he's a fan!

Sewing for my kids is really such a joy and seeing them play in handmade clothes is the best feeling!  Have a happy Tuesday!

Yeah...I'm a slacker!

You may or may not have noticed that I totally missed sewing this past week during KCW!  Did you participate in KCW?  :(  Well let me clarify that, I sewed a lot just not for my kids.  I agreed to participating in a craft fair last Saturday and I knew when I signed up that it would probably fall around KCW but I figured I'd just get my craft fair stuff sewn ahead of time.  Yeah right!!  I spent last week making doll, tooth fairy pillows, cute headbands and big hair bows and some crinkle baby toys.  And to really rub some salt in the wound about not sewing for KCW the sale was not particularly successful! Bummer, but how do you know?  I think people are thinking about being outside at this time of the year instead of attending a craft fair, maybe??

However I did frequent the flickr pool to try and keep up with all the amazing things in there! There were so many great clothes made this past week!  I just had to pick a few of my favorite to share!

First is this amazing fox peasant dress by Jess of Craftiness is not Optional. I almost want to make the exact same dress. Is that okay? :)
Next is an amazing lace tee from Homemade by Jill.  So simple, and those ever popular bubble pocket shorts that I didn't even know I wanted till KCW!
Finally is this amazing geranium top and bubble pocket shorts by LGB studio.  I love that print, I've been eyeing some of those great Notting Hill fabrics even before seeing this!

In this group first are some great Parsley pants, I love the tuxedo stripe!  Then some lovely Parsley shorts also from Homemade by Jill.  Next how awesome is this lovey owl shirt I love the snaps?!  Rounding my favorites is a fun self drafted dress, I love the piping at the waist!

I am hoping to spend some quality time with my machines very soon! I have a long list but I'll mention the big items I want to whip up.  First a dress based on the Geranium Dress, I can't use Rae's pattern since it only goes to size 5 and Peyton needs a 7. I have a Simplicity pattern that I want to play with.  If anyone has other suggests PLEASE let me know!  I also want to make some Parsley Pants, well probably shorts since someday it will stay warm here!  Also some raglan tee's for both kids, I haven't decided on a pattern for those yet.  And now that I've seen all the amazing bubble pocket shorts I might need to try them too!  So many pattern to sew and fabric to buy and yet so little time it seems! :)  

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! :)

Floral O+S Badminton Skort

I've had this Oliver + S Badminton Skort  pattern for over a year and just hadn't gotten around to trying it out.  I bought it because it looked cute and I love that it's a skort.  Shorts under skirts are quite nice in my book!  However, then I got kinda nervous about the scalloped edge and thus it was pushed to the back of the pile!  Then a week ago or so I saw these cute scallop shorts on pinterest and thought of this pattern.  So out it came and it really wasn't hard at all!  Since this skirt turned out so well I'd like to use the scallop edge pattern piece to create some shorts.  I'll let you know how that goes.  Now, back to the skort!

The fabic is Lovely by Sandy Gervais.  Last summer or maybe two summers ago I bought a bunch of pretty 1 yard cuts to have on hand to make dresses for Peyton.  Well there are still quite a few cuts left and it now take more than a yard to make a dress for her.  So I guess they'll be skirts now.  It was nice to have enough to make the shorts underneath match.  It used up that yard of fabric nicely! :)  

Below are a couple of pictures of just the skort.  You can kind of see the shorts underneath in the first picture.  I am glad it is warm enough to use my fence again for pictures.  I love how things look on that fence! :)

I made a size 7 because I wanted it to be a bit longer.  It fits very nicely and I hope it will fit for a year at least.  Skirts are just so fun to make and this one is no different!  O+ S patterns always sew up nicely and I always learn things too!  I guess photo shoots are a good time to try out your ballet positions! :)  Thanks for visiting!

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!

 

Ottobre pattern: Rabbit Jump Tunic and Groovy skirt

I had never heard of Ottobre before I started reading sewing blogs.  The patterns I'd see always looked so fun and modern.  I finally bought the Autumn 2012 issue back in the late summer.  I know, a long time ago!  I originally planned to sew something from it for KCWC but I burned out before I got there.  Fast forward to last week and I decided it was time!  I made the Rabbit Tunic and Groovy skirt.  I really liked the fun bubble tunic and thought Peyton would like it too.

 I had a pretty easy time with the patterns.  By far the most challenging part is converting from centimeters to inches.  I need to print a table to keep with the magazine.  Also with both of these patterns they have you use elastic tape for gathering.  I'd never done that before, but it worked pretty well. It is quicker than doing a basting stitch but maybe doesn't give you quite as even gather?  If anyone has some expertise in this area I'd love to hear from you!

The fabric I used for both the top and skirt is from Joann's.  The undershirt and leggings are from Old Navy. I could have made them, but I had them on hand and they matched! I'd rather sew the unique stuff than brown leggings.

I liked the pintucks on the front of the tunic and really liked the binding on the arms and neck.  I've never finished a garment exactly like that before.  What I love about sewing is learning something new.  I always want to perfect a new skill so I might be looking to use some elastic tape and do some pintucks again soon.

Since your can't see much of the skirt under the bubble tunic I convinced her to change clothes so you can see the skirt.

I did make one small change on the skirt.  It looked like it might be too short for my liking so I added some to the length.  I made the 122cm everywhere but in length, then I used the 140cm length in case your really interested.  This was totally necessary and it would be really short without that adjustment.  I did include the tie on the front which was Peyton's favorite thing.  She said it made it like a ballet skirt.

I have now overcome any intimidation with Ottobre patterns so you'll probably see more! :)