more knit dresses

I love Spoonflower.  It's a great concept, and although I've only used it once - I plan to use it again for another special project.  I bought this rainbow fabric in the organic knit and used Patty Young's Morgan pattern.

I used an old tshirt for the yellow, and some scrap knits for the green and the turquoise.  I cut the fabric carefully to get a nice zigzag effect at the shoulder and neckbands.

I love the pockets peeking out a bit of yellow!

This version was made for one of my nieces using Patty Young fabric and some other solids from my stash.

Here's another peek at the pocket.

The tuck at the neckline is a cute detail.

I've made many of Patty Young's Abigail dresses before.  This is my latest version.

It comes together so easily now, especially with my serger.  Easy breezy!

featured and FALL!

Quick note - check out my feature on Little Lizard King.  She featured my pink & purple pinafore amidst some of her other customer creations.  I am in the midst of some great company - there's some other really cute outfits there.  She has a lot of patterns that I'm excited to try out!

I told you I would get busy with some fall clothes - so here we go!
We did a little photo shoot outside because the weather was finally cooperating with fall clothing!!!  It's been so hot, humid and rainy that we haven't been able to get anything good outside!

This first one is an upcycled knit project using the Little Blue Boo Sienna Dress, long sleeved version.  I don't really love it like I thought I would, so I'm trying to figure out what to do.  I am pretty sure the big sleeves have to go - I like skinnier sleeves better.  The whole top just looks so bulky and the bottom so skinny.  I think I need to tighten up the top a little.  (Not every dress is a success!)  Maybe I'll try some freezer paper stencil pumpkin face on the orange and a ruffle on the bottom?

This is another "Annikka's Dress" by Olabelhe designs.  The first time I sewed this pattern it was (surprisingly) blue.  However, I am actually kind of enjoying the fall colors on this one!

I chose a dark brown with black swirls for the arms & underskirt, a printed orange on orange for the bodice & cuffs, and a leafy print for the overskirt.

She had been looking at the pumpkins in our garden/weed patch and was ready to go back inside!  It was windy this morning!

As she was walking up the steps I realized I'm going to have to teach her long dress on steps etiquette - she stepped on it a couple times!  I also realized I'm going to have to find her some more tights that fit!!!

Another dress I finished up this week was a long-sleeved version of Patty Young's "Abigail" dress.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on the short-sleeved version, and wanted her to have one for fall/winter too.

Her knits are a little pricey (worth it, but still pricey) so for this long-sleeved dress I used her dots & a black floral knit from Joann's.  I'm really happy with how they went together.

Abby's getting quite good at posing by the tree in the front yard.  Today she was a less somber model - she happily spun around numerous times and grinned her cheesy little had off.

Hope you all have a relaxing Labor Day weekend!  I've got a couple not-as-exciting things to finish up, but hopefully will have a little time for fun sewing too in the midst of family time!  What are you doing with your weekend?

vogue knit put to good use

I've been trying to get more practice with knits, so I got Dana's Warhol dress pattern and got busy.  You could easily use an adult tshirt, I wanted to use some more of my new knit fabric.

Once again, it was a new pattern and I just dug in rather than measuring my darling model.  So, lesson learned (for now at least).  Dana's pattern has a size 3/4 and a size 6-12 months, neither of which would fit Abby.  So I tried to just aim for somewhere in the middle.  I'm happy with the length and sizing overall, I just wish I had tried it on her before I sewed the yoke into place.  It's a little looser & lower cut than I would have liked.

She may not get much wear out of it this summer, however, it will transition easily to fall/winter with a tee or turtleneck underneath and to next summer as a tunic.  It would be easy enough to just cut it shorter for a tunic or shirt length if I was to make another one.  (which I probably will because I have a green striped knit and some other stuff to work with!)
As I'm looking at these pictures, I realized I need to do a better shoulder bow... next time.

I've been wanting to try some fabric paint, and Dana includes tips on how to do that, so we'll see what I can come up with!  Since it's such a simple pattern it's also easy to do an applique or something on it.

my growing girl & her latest photo shoot

We took some more pictures of her in her dresses now that they're finally fitting her!
Here she is in her "Peyton's Pinafore" from Olabelhe Designs. It was the first pattern I tested for her about a year ago.

It's a size 3 and has a little wiggle room, but not much.  Time to get her into some more of Dawn's dresses!!!!

Here she is in her Rodeo dress - it was one of my first serging attempts.  I'm happy with how it turned out.

It's such a great playdress - comfy knits from Daddy's old tshirts, and I don't care how dirty it gets!!!

patty young knits

I splurged and bought some knits from Patty Young's latest collection.  I went for turquoises of course!  They are a nice sturdy knit in bright beautiful colors and designs.  And I got her Abigail dress/shirt pattern.
This is a 3T - a little big on Abby maybe, but I'm sure the dress will last into the fall & maybe even early next spring.

I love how easily it came together with my serger.  Because of the numerous gores, I had to be organized when I laid it out and put it together.  It lends itself to so many different looks too because it comes in short and long sleeve, and dress and shirt length.

The neckband and sleeve bands didn't lay totally flat but that's more of my serger issues and still figuring it out. 
I had fun rolling the bottom hem - the lettuce look makes it so twirly!  It was a pretty windy day, so the dress was doing its own twirling.  (I think she looks so serious in these pictures - kind of funny.  It was about 90 degrees and 80% humidity though, so the breeze made it barely bearable.  She's probably thinking - seriously mommy, can't I just go sit in the shade and drink my water and eat M&Ms???)

I did get some pinks too so I might be making her a long-sleeved shirt for fall.  We'll see.  Right now the pile of knits is sitting on the shelf looking pretty.

lil blue boo knit dress

I've got to get going on more serger stuff so I decided to buy myself a knit dress pattern.  It is the oh-so-popular Lil Blue Boo Recycled Tshirt Sienna Dress by Ashley of Lil Blue Boo.  It was easy to follow and had lots of good ideas for ways to change it up.  Her blog is chock full of other embellishments, stenciling and decorating tips.  I got my husband to clean out a couple of old tshirts from his closet and I got to work.  I did find the pattern a little short for my taste, but add a ruffle on the bottom and it was set to go!

One of the best parts is this dress was (basically) free!  The discussion continues in our house whether I should have done the seams on the outside or inside.  What's your vote?

On my next one I'll probably do them all on the inside and we'll see how it looks.  I have a tshirt with dolphins on it ready to become a dress!
School's out for summer now though - so we'll see how my crafting life holds up as we attempt to do a lot of the activities on our list too!!!!

set the table

Time to try something new on my serger - a rolled hem!  It took no time at all - setting it up and reading my booklet to make sure I had the settings right was the hardest part.

Each napkin is 18" square which made four from one yard of fabric.  I used two different kinds of lighthouse fabrics, so I made a total of eight napkins.  That left a few lighthouse scraps to use on a centerpiece for the table.  Don't you love the salt and pepper shakers?!

My parents also get two placemats to match out of a simple red broadcloth.  Enjoy, mom & dad!

happy birthday to me!!!

It was also my birthday this weekend.  I was spoiled rotten by my husband, parents, and in-laws... a dozen red roses, necklace, gift card to Joann Fabrics, delicious meals cooked by my hubby, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, an adapter for my iPod in my car, and a new sewing machine!!!!!

Yep - I am now the proud owner of a serger!  It's a Brother 1034D.  I've been having fun playing around with the settings and trying to figure it all out.  The next challenge - putting in new thread and moving away from the yellow-red-green-blue threads that came with the machine.  One of my first projects is napkins with the rolled edge.  What is your favorite project to do with your serger?