Sunday, July 7

dr seuss for sisters

One of my nieces is celebrating her first birthday.  Her sisters and she will be decked out in style!  The two older sisters have matching skirts.
Dr. Seuss ruffle skirt


This is the birthday girl's dress.  It's basically a pillowcase dress with fabric band at the top tied in a bow, and a ruffle along the bottom.  The diaper cover matches the blue bow.
Dr. Seuss pillowcase dress and diaper cover


The fabric was chosen by her mom.
A close-up of the neckline.

The older sisters' skirts are a mathematical feat.  I used a red and white chevron for the underskirt, added three layers of ruffles, and a layer of red tulle.  The top layer has a red ribbon on top.  Each of the three fabric ruffle layers were pieced together from a variety of Dr. Seuss fabrics.
The bottoms of each ruffle layer were serged with a narrow rolled hem on the bottom and just a regular 4-thread stitch at the top.
The lines were marked on the skirt after the tube was made, and before I put the elastic in the top.  That made it easy to attach the gathered tulle and fabric ruffle layers.
I started at the bottom and added layers as I went up.  Because all the edges were serged, I didn't have to worry about a lot of loose threads or frayed edges.

Happy Birthday, E!

Saturday, June 29

very lonely firefly party

For the birthday party, I wanted the Very Lonely Firefly to be the bug getting most of the attention.  However, there are 6 girls cousins and only my two boys - so the Very Hungry Caterpillar and butterfly had to make an appearance too!

The goody bags were from the Target dollar section... a long time ago.

Each kid got parts to make a mobile.  The circles had each of the bugs from Eric Carle's books, as well as the star from "Draw Me a Star".  I used my Silhouette to layout the pictures and cut them.

The treats were runts and gummy worms...
in a Target dollar section container.

Some other goodies in their bags - fork and spoon (Target dollar section), glow sticks, sparklers, bug jar, bug rings for the girls, and bug finger puppets.

The finger puppets, jar, and rings were from Oriental Trading Company.

The three babies got socks.

Here is what the finished mobile looked like.



We also made fireflies, using Mountain Dew bottles, glow sticks, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and foam wings.
I used glue dots for the eyes and double stick tape to hold the wings on.
The pipe cleaner just got twisted around the top.

Since we planned on a picnic, I used some of my stickers on rocks to be decoration for outside as well as napkin holders if it was breezy.

The invites were simple.  Green dotted washi tape (Target), a picture of the birthday boy in the grass, and some star and bug stickers.
The insides were made with washi tape, stickers, and a computer printout.

The weather was rainy, so the picnic food was served inside.  The cake was a five layer yellow cake with dark blue frosting.  It was covered in gold stars, and a yellow star candle, and a little yellow paper bunting spelling out Braden's name.

The birthday boy, his siblings, and cousins had a blast playing together anyway, and the grandparents, aunts and uncle enjoyed time with the kids.  That's what really matters!

Friday, June 28

my firefly is one!

My firefly is one!  For his birthday outfit I used Patty Young's Natalie&Nate pattern, the boy version.  The fabric is from Eric Carle's Very Lonely Firefly collection.  The lining fabric is Brown Bear or Very Hungry Caterpillar - I forgot which one.
Very Lonely Firefly Romper

I also embellished a romper for him with a firefly star.  We now have five people in our family - so a star seems just right as our family symbol.  His older brother requested a matching tshirt, so he got an orange one with the star appliqued in the middle as well.
Firefly romper

Thursday, June 27

very hungry caterpillar

My daughter's latest dress is made from Patty Young's Frida pattern.
Very Hungry Caterpillar dress


I finally cut into my Eric Carle stash.  The headscarf and bodice are from the Brown Bear collection.  The skirt, pockets, ruffle, and sleeves are from the Very Hungry Caterpillar collection.

She loves retelling the story and pointing at the foods on the skirt.

She wore it proudly for her brother's Eric Carle birthday party, and will hopefully wear it for the first day of Kindergarten.


Monday, June 24

pink hearts and purple stars

One of my nieces requested a dress with pink hearts and purple stars.  I did my best to fulfill her wish.
Pink hearts and purple stars




I used Patty Young's Addison pattern for the big girl.  (Her sister was the one who got the purple version in March).

Her doll got the Mini-Addison version, with slightly different buttons.

Happy birthday, G!

Friday, May 24

pouches pouches pouches

I've gone a little crazy with the Noodlehead tutorial.
I had so much fun with them I went ahead and bought the pattern so I can add a few more details and learn some of her tricks.
I tried different techniques of my own, adding piping or double layering the band across the front.


I love this ruffled ribbon!


I tried to mix it up a little too by sometimes including a divider or pockets on each side.
I quilted the top band.
It was a lot of fun mixing and matching patterns and trims and zippers.  I had to stop because I ran out of interfacing!