Category: Clothes

recent crafting.

The last time I posted was MONTHS ago. Not because I haven’t been doing anything- but because I have been doing too much to have time to post! I am still loving life as a SAHM, but we were so busy this summer…and fall…and now moving into the winter. I would like to say thing like- I promise- I will blog more. But I just can’t make these promises. So we will just focus on the here and now. I am blogging now. So let’s all enjoy that. :) Anyone who might be reading this anyway…

In these past couple of weeks I finished up 2 new shirts for Little Helper. (As I write this I am realized that I never shared pictures of my girls from my sister’s wedding with my girls in their bubble dresses!) Anyway- 2 new shirts. I made a Puppet Show tunic and a Class Picnic blouse.  And I am so pleased with them! I think that what I like the best about them is that I really took my time and they are my best work so far.

The Puppet Show Tunic (click on the link- I am having photo uploading issues…again) took me over a week to do. I did a little bit each night with some nights off because I was too tired. I did some seam ripping…several times. But in the end it was totally worth it!! I didn’t hand sew the hem, but my hem is still really straight and isn’t messy at all. I did French seams on the sides and I love the finishing of the bodice. I am so thrilled with it. Funny thing- this is the 3rd time that I have made this pattern- and this is BY FAR my best one. But I only just realized that there are supposed to be buttons on the sleeves. So I will add those to one of the ones that I made (I gave the other one away) and I will put them on this one too. :)

The Class Picnic Blouse is just perfect too. I LOVE it.  And so does Little Helper. And it is so cute on her. She has worn this one a couple of times (including today). The style of this blouse is just so perfect. I think that I am going to make one of these for Baby E in the grey colorway of this same print.  And I am going to make more for Little Helper. I love this pattern.

And the Bubble dresses from this summer are here and here.  (and another photo here.)

Edited to say that I just realized that this is the most boring blog post ever. Seriously. Sorry about that. :)

growing on me.

Ok, so Little Helper has worn her playdate dress a few times and it is totally growing on me. I kind of sort of really like it now. :)

 

 

 

I also realized that this outfit reminds me a lot of one that I had purchased for her when she was a little younger that was a favorite of mine. So…I take back my offer to trade patterns. I see more of these in the future of Little Helper and Baby E. :)

almost.

Just need elastic (waiting for a trip to Joann’s tomorrow) and hemming (waiting to do a little more sewing to re-thread my serger).

 

Next up:  Tea party dress for Baby E and playdate dress/tunic for Little Helper.  Both are cut and ready to sew tomorrow!

(I will get better pictures during the say on my little models when these are completely done!)

kids clothes week.

 

Kids Clothes week starts Monday.  I am trying to to prep so that I am ready to SEW for one hour per night  on kids clothes.  Now, I am certain that it is ok if I cut fabric or trace patterns- and I am sure that there will be some of that- but I would really like to make some progress through all of this fabric that I have on hand!  So here is what I have and what I plan on doing with it.

Starting at the top…

Lisette Chambray- (1.5 yds)- puppet show shorts for each girl, maybe a playdate dress (shortened to a tunic) for Little Helper. (I saw one in the flickr group a while ago and I am copying it. :)  ) Maybe a sailboat skirt.

Kitten knit fabric from Joann’s (7/8 yd)- Hopefully I have enough for a hopscotch nightgown for Little Helper.  She picked this one out.

Tinkerbell/Peter Pan Fabric – (1.5 yds)- I was thinking matching 2+2 blouses for Little Helper and Baby E.  But I think that those colors aren’t really going to work for Baby E.  I also still need to get another fabric for the ties.

Modern Workshop print- (1 Yd)- 2+2 for Baby E, I think. Maybe a bubble dress.  Maybe something else. We will see.

Pandas- (1 yd)- picked out by Little Helper. 2+2, maybe.

Frog knit from Joann’s (1 yd)- Knit pj’s from Spring issue of Stitch magazine for Baby E.

City Weekend pink knit- (1 yd)- I need to make new hopscotch tops for both girls.  I think I used the wrong stitch on my serger and the shirts are falling apart.  So yes, perhaps I could have repaired them.  But I think that I had too many issues and I just needed to start over. So I am starting over.  I got the fabric on sale, so I feel a bit better about it.  :)  Plus, since summer is coming (I am sure that it is on its way…) I will make them short sleeve.

Any bets on how many things I will complete??

moving soon!

We are getting ready to move.  Moving day is set- May 28!  So in the next few weeks, I will be starting to pack things up and figure out how I am going to organize things in the new place.  We are really quite excited to move.  Right now we are living just outside of what would be considered the suburbs of Minneapolis.  We are moving just outside of the city limits of Minneapolis- SO excited.  We are (sort of) city people.

The part that I am not thrilled about, is that we have decided to move to an apartment building.  There are a bunch of reasons that we have decided that this apartment is best for our family right now, but it is hard to imagine myself going back to apartment life.  I never thought of an apartment as a place where you live when you have kids.  I know, tons of people do it.  But I grew up in a house.  So I thought my kids would grow up in a house.  But we decided that now would be the time to live less expensively in order to push to try to get this brain of mine paid off.  It will be nice to own my brain again.  :) Another nice thing about an apartment in MN is the 2 heated underground parking spaces that it comes with.

I have been cleaning up my fabric and trying to organize it.  I found some that I am ready to part with.  I am setting some of that aside for the Sew Mama Sew May giveaway day.

I have also been sewing a lot of clothes for my 2 girls.  Little Helper is going to be well dressed in quite a bit of O+S this summer.  I am also working on a muslin for a Portfolio tunic.  I will try to remember to get my husband to take pictures tomorrow so I can share my process on that.  FYI- I have NO IDEA what I am doing.  :)

Here is my latest shirt for Little Helper.  I made a size 3 and lengthened it a couple of inches so it would last her longer.  She seems to grow up and not really out.  :)  This is what I get when I ask her to model for me.

The last time that Heather Ross did a studio sale I ordered some stuff.  It was really fun to say that I wanted to  buy fabric and kind of give an idea of what I wanted, but to have no idea what I was going to get.  I got some Flea Market Fancy, some Heather Ross goldfish, and a few other out of print Heather Ross fabrics (all in fat quarters) and a fat quarter of this fabric from the first Far Far Away line.

Little Helper saw this fabric in my fat quarters and told me several times that she liked it.  And she wanted me to make her something out of it.  But I didn’t quite have enough to really make her anything.  So I shopped and managed to find some- I was so excited to find some!

(She looks so old in this one.  She really does look like a little girl now.  No more baby here.  :( )

I thought it would be perfect as an Ice Cream top- and she loves it.  I now think that all clothes should be made out of double gauze or voile.

I think she likes it.  :)

ice cream dress…or tunic?

I made and ice cream dress this week.  The plan was for Baby E to have an Easter outfit to coordinate with Little Helper’s music class blouse and skirt.  Since Baby E is almost 8 mo old and on the smaller side I thought that the 6-12 mo size was appropriate.  Particularly since that is the smallest size that the pattern comes in.

 

Cute, right?

Since I finished it during her nap (except for the button, of course!) I had to put it on her as soon as she woke from her nap over the onesie that she was already wearing.

Not loving it.  It looks kind of like a potato sack on  her.  It just seems a little big.  And she has trouble crawling around in it.  So when Little Helper got up from her nap, I decided  to convince her to try it on.  I gave her about an hour warning and had a surprising amount of success getting her to put it on and stand still for a photo.

And I think I like it better as a tunic.  So there goes my coordinating Easter outfits.

I should have made a tea party dress.

 

productivity!

I have been amazingly productive these last few days!  First I made a backpack from Little Things to Sew.  It is the penguin backpack, but not making it look like a penguin, obviously.  :)

 

 

I put the pocket on the front and I am glad that I did, but I think that I would have preferred a different fabric.  I like that one for the lining, just not the pocket.  We are going on a crazy vacation in a few weeks and I plan to give Little Helper this backpack with goodies in it to entertain her for the various car, plane, and train rides that we will be taking.  Here is what we are doing- it is ridiculous:

My mom is picking me and the girls up and driving us back to her place in WI.  We will be there for a few days before we (me and my girls, my parents, and my younger brother) will all fly to NYC to visit my older brother in Brooklyn.  We will stay there for one night.  We will take the train to Providence, RI to my sister’s fiancee’s mom’s house, where we will have s clambake or something.  We will stay there one night.  Then we will take a train to Boston to visit my sister and her fiancee for a few days.  Then we take the train back to NYC for a few days.  My husband will fly out and meet us for most of this leg.  I will get to see college friends in NJ in this leg- so excited!!  Then he will fly home and me and my girls will fly back to WI with my parents and brother.  Then my mom will drive us home.  This is a total of about 2 weeks.  And yes- I am taking a 3 year old and 7 mo old (well- she will be a little older than that, I guess) on this trip.  What am I thinking???

Anyway, since I have several train, plane, and car rides, I wanted to put colored pencils, coloring stuff, maybe a viewmaster- things that she can quietly use to entertain herself for a few minutes here or there.  Any ideas on what I could put in there?  I am open to suggestions!  I plan to put at least one new activity in for her for each leg of the trip.

I also made a music class blouse and skirt.  I need to get some buttons and there is no elastic in the skirt in this picture (there is now).

more photography (and a little sewing).

I am still plugging away at my p52.  I had a couple of weeks there where I was just choosing a photo that I like from the week.  This week I was intentional.  I had seen some photos that other people had done that I thought looked like they were spying on their kids or family.  So this was my goal for the week- spy on my girls.  :)  Mostly this means that I didn’t want them paying attention to the camera and just doing whatever it is that they were doing.  Trying to capture the moment of what that feeling is when I am watching them.  Interestingly enough, this fit in very well with the MCP Actions p52 theme of the week- “the view from here”.  So I joined that p52 too.  :)

 

 

So this is one my favorite views- my girl playing.  I love watching her play independently.  I love having that little peek into her world when she doesn’t know that I am looking.  While she is preparing her food she does ask me if I want some and will occasionally bring me over something to eat or drink.  It is so sweet of her to share!

I finally figured out how to use my serger and I made a couple of Hopscotch tops!  And I do love this pattern.  It really does make working with knit a breeze and not intimidating at all!  And if you are going to work with knit- I HIGHLY recommend City Weekend knits- WOW do they feel great!  I had read that online and then when I touched mine and felt how soft it is- that is all I want to dress my baby in now!  But for now, once every couple of days will have to suffice.  Well, it seems like I do laundry almost daily, so I probably could dress her in her new shirt every day!

I need to shorten the sleeves a little on Baby E’s top and I think that the next one I made for Little Helper will be a 3- still lengthened to a 4 though.  She seems to have her mom’s slightly longer torso and shorter legs.

I am excited- I have fabric lined up for 2 more dresses (one pattern isn’t even out yet! ) and a blouse and a skirt- I had better get sewing!  I also plan on doing a bit of sewing for myself this year- check this out!

holiday sewing.

I am working on a variety of thing for the holidays- a couple of dress for my little girls, some pj’s, knitting some slippers, a Christmas quilt- a bunch of things that may or may not get done, depending on my time.  But today I finished a dress for Little Helper- and I LOVE it!! It may be my new favorite one that I made.  :)

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Notice the sparkely ribbon?  Little Helper picked it out.  It wasn’t my first choice, but I am so glad that I listened- I think that the sparkle is perfect for dressing it up and giving it a nice holiday feel.

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If you look closely at the back (please don’t!) you can see that I need to work on sewing button holes that are properly lined up.  I will be practicing that as soon as I have time.

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I do love how it turned out.  I can’t wait to see Little Helper in it on Thanksgiving.  :)

ice cream and other finishes!

Well, despite my insane list of things to do before my baby is born (due date= less than 3 weeks away!!), I decided that I wanted to participate in the Ice Cream Social hosted by Amy.  I meant to blog about it before I actually finished my Ice Cream dress and shirt, but it just didn’t happen.  Remember the insane list that I mentioned? :)  

So…my results of the ice cream social…

A dress…

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I had been debating the linen of a pink fabric for the top and bottom and in the end I decided on the linen and I love it!  This is going to look so great on Little Helper!  Well, whenever it fits.  I made a 3T and I am pretty sure it will be huge on her.  She won’t try it on yet though.  I haven’t put a button on it, so she refuses.  :)

I made her a shirt too- also in View C. And 3T.  And with no button yet, so she won’t try it on.  So particular! 

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(Sorry for sideways photos.  I was so surprised that they worked and I couldn’t easily figure out how to flip them after they were uploaded.  I didn’t want to push my luck!  I do have them rotated in my flickr stream.)

I also finished the baby sleep sack for my brother and sister in law and their little girl that is due a few weeks after my baby.  I LOVE how it turned out!  I did a horrible job of blogging the process, just after I promised.  But I just didn’t have time!!  Especially because I did have some frustrations along the way. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t like that the pattern didn’t involve a zipper and I couldn’t decide on a back fabric.  Well, as much as I wanted to do a zipper, I don’t quite think that I am an experienced enough sewer to start adding in zippers yet- well, at least not on this pattern.  I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it without having made it before.  So, I stuck with velcro.  And the back fabric- I chose this dark pink that I actually had originally purchased to be part of the ice cream dress that I made for Little Helper and then decided not to use.  I think that it works perfectly! 

Here is the finished product:

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I just LOVE how it turned out.  I really hope that my brother and sister in law do too!  I lined it with flannel as suggest in Anna Maria Horner’s pattern.  I didn’t find the instructions to be all that clear though.  I was a little disappointed in them.  I don’t know if I am just spoiled with O+S directions, or if these just really weren’t that great.  I am not turned off from the book though- I do really love the sleep sack!  And there are a few other things that I still want to make from it. 

I am also working on 3 quilts that I want done before the baby is born.  Well, I guess it is 4.  Hmmm…. :)   One (stripe quilt) of them just needed the binding to be re-done.  I did the machine sewing on that a few weeks ago and it has been waiting to be hand sewn to the back.   Another (block quilt) needed a back, quilted, and needed binding.  Oh- and yeah- those were both supposed to be gifts.  Haha.  Not anymore!  I also had a colorwheel quilt top done and another top made with some Tula Pink Plume charm packs.  Little Helper has claimed that one.  She insisted that I put and A on the back for her name.  :)   So here is where I am on these:

1.  Stirpe quilt- my mom is had sewing the back as I type.  :)   She is visiting this weekend and didn’t want to sit around and do nothing.  I suggest she work on quilt bindings.  Funny story- I asked her how she did this part on her quilts.  She said that she gave it to her mom to do.  So, I am learning quickly!

2. Block Quilt:  I basted it, quilted it, made the binding, sewed the binding on.  Now it is waiting for my mom to finish sewing the binding on the stripe quilt.  Just kidding- it could be waiting for me to get to it. 

3.  Colorwheel quilt:  basted and ready to quilt.  I am taking vacation on Wednesday and I plan on staying home from work all by myself.  I am thinking that I might quilt it on Wednesday. 

4.  Tula Pink Charm quilt- I am in the process of quilting it!  I have the binding picked out, I just need to get to that part!  I have decided to try some flowers from a tutorial from Oh Fransson.  So far it is going pretty well!  I am almost halfway done and I expect to be done with quilting it tomorrow. 

I just tried to upload this photo and it errored on me.  I guess my luck ran out!  I am showing you a picture that is of a pretty good flower.  They aren’t all this nice.  But, they look pretty good!  I am happy with them. 

Well, I think that I am going to go do a bit of knitting- I have a blanket that I need to finish before this baby is born!  I didn’t have Little Helper’s blanket finished until she was 1- I need this one to be done before he/she is born! 

Have a great night!