crossover dress and knit pants

One of my three nieces had a birthday this month, and this was her special outfit.  The pants were originally going to be capris, but I am never a good judge of length for her and didn't have a chance to measure her - so they ended up being more like pedal pushers.  They are made out of a green ribbed knit.  The dress is made with coordinating fabrics from Hobby Lobby (which has matching ribbon too - bonus!).  The green ric rac I had in my stash.  To be honest, if I do this pattern again I will be really tempted to rethink the straps.  They are not finished nicely in my opinion - you are supposed to serge or zigzag the edge and put the ric rac over the top.  I don't see why you couldn't have made it a tube instead for a more finished edge, but didn't realize it until it was too late to change.



The back of the top has green heart buttons to hold the straps on and yellow buttons to open up the back.

wordle for boys

Have you ever heard of Wordle?  It's such a fun way to play with words.  When I taught, I used it a couple of times with kids.  I love how you can change fonts, colors, and the shape/design of the word layout.  Most importantly, you can change how big the words are according to how many times you use the words in the text.

The boys are going to share a bedroom, and I've been trying to incorporate a few touches for both of them, rather than just 7 year old boy stuff.  I wanted some wall art above the crib, so I decided to make my own Wordle.  I played around a little on the actual website, and then decided to just go for it myself with vinyl.  It's a little hard to tell, but I used light blue, dark blue, bright green, olive green and red.  The red is for "big" and "little" because I wanted them to stand out a little.  I asked Conner for a couple of words that meant boy and brother to him, and added some words that made me think of the boys too.  After giving my (sporty) brother a preview, I realized I forgot to cut one of my Silhouette files - so I'll be adding "sports" "baseball" and "soccer" another day.

I also added a little border above the yardstick chair rail on the crib side.  A few tools for the baby to dream of using when he gets older.  My Silhouette has been getting a workout!

I think the boy's room is officially done now - only seven more weeks until the due date.  Just in the nick of time!

oversized turquoise and bows

I love this dress.  So does my daughter.  Unfortunately, I can't measure.  The bodice was way too wide and she was unable to wear it for Easter.

The turquoise fabric itself is a little thicker weight than the typical cottons I usually use when I sew.  I don't remember what it's called, but I wish I could find more fabric in this weight.  It was a job to work with!  The straps and midriff contrast panel are a solid pink cotton.  The hairbows were made from a matching turquoise ribbon and some wavy edged bright pink ribbon...love Hobby Lobby's ribbons.

This dress has a zipper on the back.  I don't feel quite as comfortable with how it turned out.  The pink actually matched up pretty well but it took a lot of re-working.  The fabric below the pink doesn't really seem to lay as smoothly as it should either.  I still have a lot to learn about zipper insertion!

still love it...a few months later

This was Abby's Valentine's Day dress.  I picked out the fabric first just because I loved the buttons and wanted to make her a swirly corduroy dress.  She loved the hearts and named it her Valentine's dress.

Her cousins each got a matching style dress (made in different fabrics) for Christmas.  Unfortunately, no pictures of those.

I am still never sure how my zippers are going to turn out.  I was pretty happy with this one, but definitely wish I could get some consistency in my workmanship.

full

This is blog post #500 according to the count on blogger. and I am full.

-I am full of more ideas to hopefully make it another 500!
-I am full of projects I want (and need) to work on.  There are never enough hours in the day!
-I am full (and getting fuller) of baby boy in my belly!
-I am full of chores I have to do and just don't want to.  There are so many more fun things to do.
-I am full (in the garage) of stuff to get rid of at our first garage sale.
-I am full of love for my family and thankfulness for our relative health and happiness.
-I am full of lists.  I am totally one of those people who loves crossing things off her list!
-I am full of music-humming, singing, and listening to sounds all around me all day long.



This is one project I (finally) finished for my mother...her fall purse.  I wonder what she will fill it up with?
What are you full of?

spinning and twirling

My little girly girl loves to spin and twirl and dance.  When I saw this Daisy Kingdom pattern, I knew I had to give it a try with her.

The fabrics are by Heidi Grace.  Floral and pink and perfect for spring.  The two skirt pieces are basically squares with holes cut out of the middle, so they make for some great points that really flare out when she twirls.

Because of my growing ability to understand and adapt a commercial pattern, I was able to make sure it fit in the bodice before I sewed the skirt on. It wasn't just a matter of getting the elastic right, but changing the way the triangles overlapped in front. The halter tie didn't seem to bug her either, so I declare this dress a success.

knit upcycle + serger love

Like I said - my new serger has been getting a workout.  Here are a few Lil Blue Boo Sienna Dresses that I've cranked out recently.


The blue and green striped fabric is an old tshirt, the dots are left over from another project I did a couple of years ago for her.  Because of how I cut the sleeves, I didn't even have to hem them.  Woohoo!


The dragonfly fabric was a tank that never quite fit right in the armholes for me, and the pink floral fabric is Patty Young's design. I did a lettuce edging on my serger to finish off the short sleeves.


The calla lily fabric was also an old tank of mine - bought before I got married! It has held up relatively well, but was getting a little small for me. The green and white fabrics are just plain tees I had sitting around waiting for a new life.

The blue and white solids are just random knit scraps - the upcycled tee here was used in the skirt

I've also been using some of the knit scraps to make little shorts for under her dresses.  I LOVE my serger and being able to give my old t-shirts new life in my daughter's wardrobe!