The September Tunic

Wait...I finished something?! Yep I did.  I know!  I'm surprised too! Ha.  

I've had this purple linen-y version of The September Tunic cut out for a while.  It was a quick sew that ended up being pretty fancy, by Abby's expression. 

It was the buttonholes that did me in.  More just my loathing of them, so it sat on my table for a month, at least, all sewn up, until I finally got up the nerve to do the buttonholes this morning. 

I used 7 buttons that Abby picked out and as you can clearly see, I still need all the practice I can get with buttonholes, but I'm happy with it, especially that it's done, being worn and enjoyed.

Abby loves it and immediately asked, "Does this make me a princess now?" So cute.  And of course I said yes.

I think I'll make a dress of this next.  The neckline was a little annoying, but it looks better on her than I imagined.  I was also worried that the pouf of the sleeves wouldn't be evened out by the bottom, but it looks great.  As usual, I worried about nothing.  This kid makes everything I make look extra incredible!


HAPPY WEEKEND!!!

Yay summer!!!

It's summer. We've been busy but with good things, and I inadvertently neglected this space.  Oops.  

So, I dropped the kids off at their summer school program this morning and was flabbergasted to have all this free time on my hands (2.5 hours a day, 3 days a week for the next 6 weeks!). What?! It's going to be good.  

Well, yesterday I made a couple t-shirts using the free plantain tee pattern from Deer and Doe.  It's excellent.     

The fabrics are from Wanderlust Fabrics, and they are excellent too.  

I'll be making a million more of these soon.  The neckline sits really well, I love it.  And the pattern is free!!! So great. 

Sew With Me Spring Week 1: The Everyday Skirt by Liesl + Co.

First of all, thanks for joining me! Sorry this is late.  Stuff ended up getting in the way and I didn't get the pictures I wanted, but oh well, next week should be better.  This weekend I sewed up The Every Day Skirt from Liesl + Co. Liesl is also the one who makes Oliver + S. patterns but you probably knew that already. 

I worry that things I make will look like a basement craft project executed by a skilled 8 year old.  But I thought this pattern would be a good place to start with making more structured clothes for myself, and indeed it was! 

I used a cotton quilting fabric from JoAnn's by Anna Maria Horner's talented daughter, Juliana Horner.  Next time I'll probably use something a little different, though this turned out fine, the pattern came off a little more Little House on The Prairie than wanted, but it's cool. I'll make it work.       

My measurements fell in a whole bunch of sizes so I went with the dropped waist size as recommended for this pattern, but I think it ended up a little large.  Next time I'm going down a size.  Never a bad thing. 

This pattern uses elastic in a really awesome way, so you don't need to worry about zippers or anything scary like that. I thought I would have to add length but it turned out just right.

I LOVE that this skirt has pockets.  I will definitely be making more of these and am curious to try a maxi length skirt since the shorter version is so awesome.

The only thing I would advise is that you seriously follow every single step she gives you and take your measurements.  It just won't turn out as well if you don't.   I'm probably going to have to tighten mine up around the waist just a little but the way you put in the elastic it'll be easy to fix.

Have you made this pattern before?  Do you think you'll try it?

Next week: The Ruby Top and Dress by Made by Rae. 

You can call me Matt

"Mom, just call me Matt"

Um....and just like that he's practically grown up.  He will be 5 years old soon and the attitude growth has just showed up in the last week and a half. 

No longer does he believe that 100% of whatever I say must be true because nothing beats what Mom says.  We're at about 89% which is still awesome, but I can see that he's starting to come into his own, and the sparks of becoming an independent person are there, just flickering behind his gorgeous eyes.

One of the girls he has preschool with told me that he looks really nice when he smiles (after he was out of earshot of course), and it made my mom heart grin because she's totally right. 

I don't seem to do as much sewing for this man child as I do for the girls and there's a reason for that.  If I make something he doesn't like, he won't wear it.  No fighting about it, it'll just get lost at the bottom of the drawer never to see the light of day again, until it's too late...and he's too big for it.

So I'm particular about what patterns I try for him since he is our only boy (so far).  He saw me making two Bimaa Sweaters for Abby, and requested one with a red hood. 

And so it was done.  Probably not as quickly as he wanted, but he is always so grateful and excited anyway.  I love making things for him.  

The Sunshine Dress

I wanted to make Christmas clothes for the Sunday before Christmas but never got around to it until Sunday morning.  I also wanted them to be a little matchy, but not in a barftastic way...

I have had The Sunshine Dress pattern for a while, and this was the first time I've used it. 

I omitted the drawstring on the bottom and just used the main fabric for the band at the bottom of the skirt instead of a contrasting fabric. 

You know what's super great?  This pattern has pockets, which always makes me and my kids happy.  I made polka dot pockets and you cant tell they're there unless Abby's hands are in them.

I love the box pleat detail in the front.  Yellow ric-rac wouldn't be my first choice to go with this, but we were in a use what you have situation, and I think it works.

From start to finish this dress took 2 hours to make.  I finished with 5 minutes to spare before church (even though it was safety pinned closed in the back). 

She wore a cardigan over it because winter sucks here and is really cold, and because I haven't messed with adding sleeves to things yet unless they're included already in the pattern options. 

I also made Matthew a bow-tie and but didn't get any good pictures of them together.  It's pretty cute though. 

I just finished the buttons before writing this, (I'm avoiding the inevitable chore of going to the post office today but alas, I will have to do that next...) and while there is none of this teal/aqua color anywhere else, I like it. 

Abby loved it, and approved it's excellent spin and poof factor.  This dress is an unexpected Christmas dress and (in my opinion) wound up looking pretty cool. 

Just like my little lady face.

clothes sewing

This weekend I did a bit of clothes sewing to break up the bee blocks I've been working on (don't worry, they'll all go out this week!) and it was really fun!

I sewed with jersey knit for the first time and made The Staple Dress Sunday morning and wore it to church! It is super comfy and I was impressed at how easily the pattern comes together, even though sewing with jersey will take some getting used to.  Shirring was also easier than I expected.  I only did one row of shirring and like how it gives the dress shape but doesn't feel awkward either. 

This pattern is totally worth the $12 and I'm absolutely going to be making more of these.  I love that purple.  Got the fabric at JoAnn's during their 25% off every purchase weekend.

Sadly I only took this super classy and awkward picture in the church bathroom before Matthew went to primary.

I added about 5 1/2 inches to the bottom of the dress so that it'd be long enough for my 5' 10" self and it was.  I didn't bother hemming the bottom or doing the facing on the sleeves (since I wore a cardigan and I'm lazy).  It was pretty tricky to get the facing on the collar but it's there. 

The little guy has been requesting "fancy bow-ties" to wear recently so I made this one for him Sunday after I finished my dress.  I used this tutorial and it was super easy to follow.  I hot glued the center to keep it in place.

I've got a stack of fabric he picked out ready to make more "fancy bow-ties" this week. 

The Geranium Dress pattern is cut and fabric is ready to make the little lady an Easter dress...

...and the Wiksten Tank pattern and fabric ready to make myself a tank and if that turns out well I'm going to use my bird knit to make a maxi dress for summer. 

AND THEN! I saw that the lovely people from Pink Castle Fabrics have a sale code today for 20% off in honor of spring...

so I got a few options to make some more tanks, and another dress for the little girl.  I'm pretty excited because I got all brave and chose a VOILE (the Anna Maria Horner print)!!

It's spring break over here but the Mr. is spending the week working so it's kindof like other weeks, minus the homework part for him.  I'm excited about my growing wardrobe!!  I've always been kindof a chicken when it comes to prints and clothes and have NEVER been excited about sewing my own (or anyone's) clothes, so this is pretty darn exciting.  I'll be back to share how things turn out soon!