Back

Ok, I am back and hopefully with more consistency than the last two months.  The beginning of the summer season is always hard because of the switch to being outside more and somehow an infinite amount of energy for my girls.  I have been doing a little sewing but mostly birthday gifts for little girls and babies to come.  Come back on Monday for a pattern review for a darling little pleated top that can also be a dress.

See you then!

Cheers,

Erin

Birthday Girl Pajamas

M’s 2^nd birthday was last night and of course I had big plans of several things to make for her.  Her birthday outfit was finished during KCWC so I was set for that but I could not decide on what else to make for her.  She has plenty of hand me downs from A but I still wanted to make her something special that she would also get some use from.  So, I decided to make her a pajama set for the summer. 

The blue and white striped flannel was something my Mom brought me during her last visit and was from her stash of fabric, and I picked up the butterfly flannel on sale from Joann Fabrics.  Both fabrics were washed and dried prior to cutting so hopefully most of the shrinking has already happened.  The only reason I mention this is because I once had a pair of flannel PJ shorts for A that seemed to shrink every time I washed them.  They went from being too big to too small in about a month’s time and it was not because she was growing.  I also learned my lesson about drying flannel in the dryer and after the initial was I plan on drying them on the line. 

So, back to the pajamas.  I used a pants pattern that I already had traced off and just shortened it.  I put the shorts together like normal except I left the bottom hem unfinished.  For the bottom ruffle I just cut a strip of the butterfly flannel 3” wide, folded it in half and then gathered it up.  Once it was gathered I sewed it on to the bottom of the shorts, serged the hem to clean it up and then just top stitched it.  For the top I knew that it had to be something sleeveless because of the hot weather here.  I wanted to do something similar to a pillowcase dress but did not want to worry about a tie coming undone.  I decided to do a twist on the pillowcase style top and put elastic in the casing of the body and just measured some straps for each side.  The ruffle on the top was put on the same way as the shorts except I used two pieces that were 3” wide and just sewed a rolled hem on the bottom edge for a longer ruffle.

These were so easy to whip up that I decided to sew a pair for A as well.  I made them both a little big so hopefully they will last for the whole summer!  **These pictures are of A modeling the new pjs.  M was wiped out after her birthday celebration and crashed after opening presents.

Cheers,

Erin

Blah, Blah, Blah

Ok, I know things have been pretty non existent here for the last couple of weeks.  The combination of KCWC sewing madness and speed sewing a couple of princess birthday dresses just put me over the edge.  I decided to step away from all of the girl clothes projects I had planned and wanted to work on something for myself that might take a little bit of time.  The Diplomat Dress by Lisette has been on my selfish sewing list for a while and I decided to just jump in.  After a few orders and some quick sewing projects I am back to sewing some princess dress up dresses for my little girls. 

I promise to be back in the loop and show you some of the projects that I worked on while I was gone from here as well as the new things I have going on.

Finished Items to Blog About

Diplomat Dress in Polka Dot Cotton

Colette Sorbetto Tank in Textured Pink Voile

Oliver + S Hopscotch Knit Dress – For A

Summer PJ Sets – For A & M

Working On

Blue Cotton Princess Dress – 3T – For M

Pink Cotton Princess Dress – 4T – For A

Purple Cotton Princess Dress – 3T – Birthday Present for A’s Friend

Felt Crowns – For A, M & Birthday Girl

Cotton Knit Shorts – 3T – For A – White Interlock, Denim Print Interlock

Animal Print Ice Cream Top – 3T – For A

Cheers,

Erin

KCWC Day 5, 6 & 7

Ok, so I dropped the ball a little bit at the end of KCWC but only in the blogging department.  During the weekend I worked on a couple different tops for the girls and at the end came out with several pieces for each girl and a good start on their summer wardrobe.  This is the first year that I have participated in KCWC and I loved it.  There was so much motivation from the flickr pool, Meg’s blog as well as all of the other bloggers that participated and posted about it.  I am still sorting through the flickr pool and looking for pictures that I want to save for future sewing ideas.

Since I didn’t do any blogging over the weekend I am going to do a quick wrap up of what I worked on for the last couple of days of KCWC.

Day 5

I worked on the second part of M’s birthday outfit.  I used the wonderful Oliver + S Swing set Tunic and cut the Children at Play parade fabric so it looks like they are parading around the hem of the tunic.  I am super excited about how this turned out and it looks perfect with the balloon shorts.  The only thing I am missing is the buttons for the back.  I picked up some small flower buttons last weekend but I am worried that they are too small so I might add some covered buttons instead. 

  

Day 6

On Saturday I looked at everything I had cut out and was not too excited about sewing anything in the pile.  I had an old shirt of mine that no longer fit and decided I would use the Toddler Swing Tank pattern from Kelli at True Bias.  Because I used a knit that would stretch I cut the back as one piece and because A is at least a 3T for length I added about 2” to the bottom.  I positioned the top just right so I could save the original neckline and used some of the scraps to make bais binding for the arm openings.  Because jersey does not fray I decided to leave the hem unfinished and help to preserve the length of the top.  This was a pretty quick project that I was able to finish in about 1.5 hours from start to finish.  This is something that A can wear to preschool and I don’t have to worry about her getting paint all over it.

Day 7

I had the Class Picnic tunic cut out for over a month and finally finished it this weekend.  The Lisette sateen is so soft and there was only a little bit of shredding while I was sewing it.  There are no exposed seams on the neck or bodice of this shirt which makes for no scratchy edges for my girls.  I added about 5” to the length of the top and my initial thought was it would be a tunic.  After I finished and tried it on A it ended up being more of a dress and I am still very happy about it.  She can wear it now as a dress and then when the fall hits she can pair it with leggings or jeans for a layered look.  With the way she is shooting up it might not fit as a dress long tough.  I have a couple of store bought play dresses in 3T and they are already becoming too short for her to wear without something underneath.

New Projects

We have a special joint birthday party that the girls and I will be attending this weekend for two little girls that live in our cul-de-sac.  They are sisters and one of them is the same age as M.

The theme of this party is going to be knights and princesses so I thought it would be fun to add to their dress up box. For my next project I am in the process of making them some princess dresses with cotton fabrics.  I picked up some white, light blue and purple cotton fabric over the weekend as well as some chiffon for an overskirt on each dress.  I am about half way through the first dress but will try and take some pictures while constructing the second dress so you can see how I did it.

Project List for the Week

Purple Princess Dress – 3T – For birthday girl S

Blue Princess Dress – 6 – For birthday girl K

Finish button holes and buttons on Swing set Tunic – For M 2T

Ice Cream Top – For A 3T – Animal Print

Cotton Knit Shorts – For A – Basic solid colors (white, black, navy) for under shorts

Cheers,

Erin

KCWC Day 4 - Balloon Bubble Shorts

My younger daughter M will be turning 2 in just under a month, sob.  My little baby is growing up so fast and I can’t believe it.  But, I am so excited for her birthday and knew that I wanted to make her something special to wear on her big day.  It has to be comfortable, cool and easy to play in because she will be at preschool that day. Going with the birthday theme I decided to use a couple of fabrics from the Children at Play line by Sara Jane Studios by Michael Miller. 

For the bottoms to M’s birthday outfit I picked the Oliver + S Puppet Show shorts which are some of my favorites.  They are super easy to sew up and look so cute.  A lived in these shorts last year and those were passed down to M for this summer.  I decided to use the balloon fabric from Sara’s fabric line and I think they will match the top that I have planned perfectly. 

These took me about and hour and a half to get done and I really wanted to start on the top as well but had to work on a few computer things for my husband.  There are a few little boo-boos (pocked binding was sewn on wrong and one of the leg bindings is sewn with the balloons going the wrong way) but I still think they turned out darling. 

Tonight is the Swingset Top in the Parade Print.  SO excited to see how this is going to turn out!!!

Cheers,

Erin

KCWC Day 3 – Clever Charlotte Flutter Blouse

Well, I finally tackled a project that has been cut out and ready for over a month. 

It all started when I won a giveaway on the Clever Charlotte web site for a copy of the Spring/Summer 2012 Stitch Magazine which included their Flutter sleeve blouse.  The blouse is perfect for Spring and Summer here because it is so light and loose on the body and I knew that I wanted to make one for A right away. 

I got to looking in the stash and found a yard of the blue with white and green dot Lisette Lawn that I had picked up from Joann last summer and knew it would be perfect with how light and soft it is.  It cut into it right away and then it sat in my To Do pile for over a month.  I looked at the pin tucks and got nervous, I looked at the facing and got nervous, and I looked at the keyhole back and got nervous.  But I wasn’t nervous because of those things I was nervous that I didn’t have the skills to do them and I would mess everything up. 

Luckily I jumped in after getting some encouragement from another blogger and it turned out great.  It took me about an hour and a half to get it all sewn up and that is with chasing A around trying to get her in bed.  I think the sleeves look a little off with the shirt on the hager but I am sure they will look much better on a little girl (or I might have sewn them on wrong, who knows). 

There are supposed to be three buttons on the front of the top and one to hold it closed on the back but I do not have the right buttons in the stash.  I can’t decide if I should go with white, green or maybe even some covered buttons.  Of course this means a trip to Joann this weekend to check out what they have!  I am so excited for this top and can’t wait for A to try it on.  I see many more of these for the summer for both the girls.

KCWC Day 2 - T Shirt Dress x2

I am not sure what came over me when I bought these shirts.  Now I remember, they were on the sale rack at Target.  The green is a pretty but an odd color and once I got home I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to match them up with something.  As luck may have it I bought some of the Tula Pink Price Charming fabric line not even thinking about these shirts and when I went digging through the stash I found that they matched up perfectly. 

Originally I had planned to make either a skirt or pair of shorts to match the top but A has been on a dress kick recently so I though I would make my girlies some matching dresses.  Oh, I have to fess up.  I also have one of these shirts in a size 5T so I will probably make some matching shorts for A when she grows into that size and has decided that she wants to wear shorts all the time. 

To cut the shirt I measured 4” down from the armpit and then cut it all off with my rotary cutter and ruler. 

To figure out the length of the skirt portion I just measured a dress that fit each girl from the chest to the bottom of the skirt and added 2 inches for hemming and attaching to the shirt. 

I used the full width of the fabric and positioned the seam in the back.  If you are making this in a bigger size or want the skirt to be a little fuller you can take 2 pieces of fabric and just have the 2 seams on the side matching your shirt.  Just and FYI: I usually use about 1.5 times the width of the shirt to find my measurement for my skirt fabric.

I serged and hemmed the bottom of the skirt and then gathered the top up to attach to the t-shirt.  I attached the skirt and top with a straight stitch on my regular sewing machine and then I used my serger to neaten up the edges. 

For the sash I just used white Kona cotton that I had from my stash and cut three 3.5” pieces the width of the fabric.  I took the first strip and cut it in half and sewed it together on the long sides.  I turned it right side out and pressed it flat.  This will be the main part of your sash that goes across the front of the dress.

The second two strips are going to be used for ties on each side of the shirt.  I cut each one of the straps in half, cut one end on an angle and then sewed them together leaving just the short flat end open.  Cut the seam down along the angled end and turn your straps right side out and press. 

This is the only place that gets a little bit tricky.  I measured the center sash to fit the front of the dress just covering the seam where the shirt and skirt match up.  I added about ½” to each side and then took each side sash and attached it to the center piece. 

I pressed the seam allowance towards the center strap and then pinned the center sash on the dress just covering the skirt seam.  I stitched along the perimeter of the sash on all 4 sides attaching the center sash to the skirt panel and to the shirt making sure to keep the seam ends tucked under towards the center. 

I finished both of the girl’s dresses last night and it probably took me about 45 minutes for the each dress. I will probably sew some white bike style shorts for A to put under her dress when she wears it to school and make a matching diaper cover for M.

Tonight I plan to start on the Clever Charlotte Flutter blouse.  I have been putting off sewing it because it seems like it might be a little above my head but I am jumping in with both feet and ready to start it up. 

KCWC Day 1

I had all of my fabric, thread and other notions ready for the start of KWCW yesterday.  I decided that I would start with a fairly easy project that I could zip through and have at least one thing done for the week!

I started with the peasant dress that I had planned for A in size 3T.  I used the Leila and Ben Sweet Little Dress pattern.  This pattern is so cute and can be used for so many different outfits.  I have made several types of tops and dresses from this one pattern because it is such a great base for a peasant style dress or top.  I got the idea for this dress from a kit that was being sold at a fabric store online.  They had a dress in tan patterned fabric with an inset of polka dot fabric along the front center panel.  I thought it looked so summery and beachy but wanted to jazz it up a little bit. 

For the main fabric I used a quilting cotton that is printed to look like linen.  It looked so cute but would also be comfy for A and have none of the scratchy issues that linen can sometimes have. 

For the ruffle I just cut 2 strips of fabric 42”x3.5” sewed them together and then turned it right side out.  I ruffled the fabric and then sewed to the center front of my dress. 

This was a pretty quick project to get the creative juices flowing and gave me some confidence for the week.  Because I had this cut out and all ready to go it only took be about an hour to get it all finished. 

Of course it is supposed to be rainy with cooler temps today so A decided to wear it with some leggings underneath.  I didn’t get a chance to take a picture but hopefully I can snag one tonight when she gets home.

My plan is to work on the Tula Pink t-shirt dresses tomorrow.  I really want to get these done and think that sewing them at the same time will help get it done a little quicker.  I’ll be back tomorrow with an update of how things are coming along.

Cheers,

Erin

Weekend Sewing & KCWC Prep

This weekend I got quite a bit of sewing and sewing related activities done. 

I finished up a special order for the shop and liked it so much that I am going to offer it in the store permanently.  It is a dress in the same style as the top from the ruffle outfit and a matching diaper cover with a Mickey appliqué on the bottom.  I love all the ideas that my customers come up with and can’t wait to get this new one in the shop. 

This weekend I also prepped for KCWC; pulling out all of the fabric that I want to use, cutting out patterns and putting directions and notions together so I can get as much sewing time in as possible.  If you don’t know about KCWC it is hosted by Meg at Elsie Marley and it is a commitment to sew 1 hour a day for 7 days for your kids.  I am so excited to be able to participate this year and have a lot planned.

Top Row (left to right)

Leila & Ben Peasant Dress - Linen look cotton with polka dot ruffle down the middle

Camo knit dress pink ruffle accents

T-shirt dresses with Tula Pink Prince Charming fabric

Ivory gauze fabric for an elastic shirred top

Oliver + S Swing Set Tunic – Children at Play Parade fabric

Bottom Row (left to right)

Oliver + S Puppet Show Shorts – Navy Twill fabric

Oliver + S Swing Set Tunic – Red, White & Blue fabric

Clever Charlotte Flutter Blouse – Lisette Lawn fabric

Oliver + S Class Picnic Tunic – Lisette Sateen fabric

Oliver + S Puppet Show Shorts – Children at Play Balloon fabric

I know that there is not possible way I could get this all done in a week but I wanted to have plenty of options if something went wrong or I get tired of working on one thing.  There are a few items for each girl and hopefully this will help kick start their summer wardrobe!

The items high on my priority list are:

Peasant Dress w/ Polka Dot Ruffle – 3T for A

Oliver + S Puppet Show Shorts & Swing Set Tunic in Children at Play fabric – 2T for M’s Birthday

Tula Pink T-Shirt Dresses – 2T for M, 3T for A

Clever Charlotte Flutter Blouse – 2T/3T for A

Oh, I finished a couple of tops for myself but those will have to wait until after KCWC is over.

Cheers,

Erin

Ice Cream & Weekend Sewing

Ok, so I know this is a day late but I do have some fun things to share.  The weather this weekend was so nice and we had a great time outside with the girls.  We washed cars as a family on Saturday and the girls had a blast helping us; mainly splashing around in the soapy water!

There was a little sewing going on this weekend but most of it was for orders from my shop.  I started a Sorbetto Top from the lovely Sari at Colette Pattern Company.  I am using a light pink texturized voile that I picked up from Fabric.com a while ago.  The fabric was not what I pictured when ordering but it is perfect for this little project.  I did make a few changes on the pattern but I will go into more detail when it is all finished and I have a chance to show it off.   

I have decided to participate in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley.  Meg hosts this awesome sew along twice a year to help motivate us all to sew more for our kids.  When you commit to being part of the sew along you are saying you will sew for your kids an hour a night for a whole week.  This year KCWC will be going on April 23^rd through the 30^th and I have committed to participate.  My plan is to have all my outfits cut out and ready to go so I can start sewing right away.  This will give me more time to finish outfits instead of worrying about prepping.  If you have any little ones you would like to sew for you should really participate.  It's so fun seeing what others are sewing and getting such great ideas for your next project.

In tune with KCWC I just picked up the Charlie Tunic and the Charlie Dress Add-On from Rae at Made By Rae.  I have been waiting for her to release the Dress Add-On for a while and I am so excited that it is here.  I have great visions of a short sleeve summer dresses and some fun fall dresses for both the girls from this pattern.  Now I just have to decide what fabric I am going to use for my first dress.

I started and finished two tops that were not on the to-do list but have been on my mind for a while.  I picked up the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress pattern about 6 months ago and was a little intimidated by it.  I was worried my take on it would not look as good as all of the other great dresses and tops out there.  I should have never doubted Liesl because both the dress and the top came together quickly and the directions were very easy to understand.  My Mother in Law gave me these cute coordinating green floral fabrics to go with a specific top pattern for one of my girls.  I liked the top that she originally had in mind but could not stop thinking about how great these would look as Ice Cream tops.  

I decided that I would make M an Ice Cream Top in size 2T with the main floral fabric.  The top for M took about 1.5 hours total to put together and it was all finished in just one evening.  The top turned out great and has been worn a couple of times already.  I used a flower shaped shell button for the closure in the back and it looks so cute matching the flowers on the fabric.  I was a little worried about the neck opening because some of the other ladies on the Oliver + S forums have mentioned that it was hard to get over their kiddos heads but this went over without any issues.  I would only change one little thing and that would have to be the length of the top.  M has a little round belly and this top is on the verge of being almost too short.  When I make it again I would probably add about 2" to the length of the top to help with this.  She is just starting to lose her baby fat so this might not be a problem for much longer. 

For A I wanted to make the Ice Cream in a tunic length top with the main floral fabric for the body of the top and the lighter green fabric for the shoulder/sleeve area and the bottom band.  This took me a little bit longer than the top but it I still finished it up over just two nights of sewing.  Right now A is so happy with anything that I sew for her.  She is always asking me about what I am working on and if it is for her so she was so excited when this was just for her.  I ran into a small snag when sewing up the bottom panel of the tunic  Somehow the band was much wider than the body portion that I was sewing it to.  I am not sure why this happened but I think it has something to do with the fact that I used the shirt size for the body of the fabric and then jumped to the band from the dress pattern.  Instead of taking the band apart and cutting it down to size (which I should have done because it is bugging me now) I just made a little tuck in the band fabric on each side.  It is almost unnoticeable and really blends into the tunic especially because of how the fabric flows.  I picked a plain button for the back so nothing too show off but the top as a whole looks so good. 

This pattern is so versatile and I can't wait to make more of these for the summer and for fall to layer with long sleeve tees.  I already have another top planned for A in some Valori Wells Karavan. 

Project List for the Week

Lil Blue Boo Perfect Shorts – For A 3T – Michael Miller Hot Pink Interlock Finished – Just need to take pictures

Sorbetto Top – For Me – Texturized Pink Voile – Just need to finish bias binding!

T-Shirt Dress – For A 3T & M 24m – Tula Pink Prince Charming – Cut out

Clever Charlotte Phoebe Flutter Blouse – for A 2/3T – Lisette Lawn Fabric – Cut out

Oliver + S Class Picnic Tunic - for A 3T - Lisette Sateen - Cut out

Cheers,
Erin

Dancing Princess

I bought the fabric for this outfit over a year ago and have been thinking about it ever since.  This pink princess fabric made its way into my stash when I was shopping with A at Wal-mart and she made it known that she could not live without it.  I bought just a yard because I was not sure what I was going to do with it.  I had visions of a peasant dress or just a simple peasant top but was not sold on either idea.  I knew wanted to make her something fun but also something she could wear to school so she could enjoy it any day of the week. 

I decided on the Swingset Skirt from Oliver + S after making one earlier and loving it.  It has just the right amount of swing to it and it is so easy to make.  I cut the main fabric like normal but decided to hold off on fully lining the skirt.  It gets very hot here in South Carolina during the summer and I wanted to make this skirt nice and light.  Because the lining for the skirt is also what makes the waistband I decided to cut the top 4 inches of the lining fabric in white batiste and sew it up like normal.  Instead of hemming the bottom of the lining I serged the bottom and sides before sewing it together and will just leave it as is.  The exposed ends are enclosed in the waistband so there is no reason to worry about fraying. 

The top is just a purchased tank top with a scrap of the princess fabric cut out in a bib shape.  I inserted some white ric rac around the outside of the bib for an extra little frill and just ran a satin stitch over the top. 

A was so excited when I finished this outfit and she made sure ask about wearing it to school the next day.  Well, A wore her outfit to school yesterday and it was a big hit.  The outfit came home in one piece but was well loved with dirt, grass and cookie stains.  I have to go and do some stain pre-treating but hopefully it will be as good as new and I can take some pictures of her actually wearing it!

Cheers,

Erin

Easter is Here!!!

We finally made it to Easter and as promised I took some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses.  I went with the grey ribbon so it would stand out a little more than the pink and instead of tacking the whole ribbon on I used the suggestion for making thread chains to hold the ribbon on the sides.  A big thank you to Liesl and the ladies from the Oliver + S forums for giving me such great suggestions and to help my dresses look the best.  The girls looked so cute and loved their new dresses.

My Easter Skirt/craft fail was not meant to be for this year.  I have it sitting on my sewing table and plan to get to it in the next week or so.  Hopefully I will have a great summer skirt to show off but I did not have enough time this past week to get it finished.  

I wanted to show some outfits that I made the girls pre-blog.  I picked up these shirts at Wal-Mart last year when they were marking down all of their long sleeve shirts to get ready for summer.  I made some ruffled capris for the girls out of a Easter printed fabric from Hobby Lobby and just embellished the shirt with a ruffle from the same fabric as the capris.  I think they turned out pretty good and they were perfect for Friday outfits to school.  The weather cooled down here a lot Friday and Saturday morning so I was happy to have something a little bit warmer for the girls to wear to their school Easter parties.  The capri pattern was from Violette Field Threads and was a quick sew.  This was the first time I have sewn with one of their patterns and I was very impressed. 

The project list has been staying the same for the past couple of weeks.  It seems like every time I think about getting one of the items done another sewing job or project pops up.  It is driving me crazy but hopefully I will get a couple of these done this week.  I will be participating in Elsie Marley's Sewing Clothes Kids Week starting on April 23^rd and have a plan to finalize some items for the girls summer wardrobe. 

Project List for the Week

Lil Blue Boo Perfect Shorts – For A 3T – Michael Miller Hot Pink Interlock

Sorbetto Top – For Me – Texturized Pink Voile

T-Shirt Dress – For A 3T & M 24m – Tula Pink Prince Charming

Clever Charlotte Phoebe Flutter Blouse – for A 2/3T – Lisette Lawn Fabric

Oliver + S Class Picnic Tunic – for A 3T – Lisette Sateen


Cheers,

Erin