Cruise Wear & Home Goods

Mid-Winter blues have me thinking about upcoming months and how I miss making little dresses and little bloomers for the little girl.

Pantalooooons


Frontside...


And the backside.


Heather Ross fabric + rick rack = pure joy.

Elasti-girl

We've been watching a lot of The Incredibles, so I've dubbed her Elastigirl in her new shirt. She really might be too, she always seems to reach things beyond her capabilities. (This Moda print reminds me of Pez, which, obviously, I love.) I originally bought this pattern off of Etsy in June, but it wasn't a good purchase. I just couldn't make sense of it! It wasn't until I bought Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy that I saw how simple this style is to make. Hardy's pattern is for a nightgown, so I adjusted it, and I've got a few variations in mind for follow-ups.

Little Booties

You may think the matching pants and shoes are a bit overwhelming, but I'm liking it. Anyway, the shoes never stay on too long. Maybe they taste better than they look. The fabric is decorator weight Amy Butler, from Quilting Adventuresin Richmond, VA, which is an amazing store because they actually appreciate that there are things you can do with fabric other than make a quilt. There is a serious shortage of cool fabric stores in St. Louis, and I might be just a little bitter. The pants are straight from Lotta Jansdotter's pattern in Simple Sewing for Baby. The booties are from Making Children's Clothes, and took 4 times as long to make the shoes as it did the pants- funny how that happens. And the shoes only stay on for about 4 seconds! (Sorry guys, for some reason I can't get my links to appear, but the books are both listed in the right column with links.)

Recycled T Scarf

I've mentioned how I love re-using old t-shirts. They're so soft, and free, and plentiful. Well, they used to be plentiful (sorry, Babe.) A month or two ago I was goofing around and cut a stencil, which I painted onto an old maternity t-shirt of mine. I picked it up a few weeks ago, and one thing led to another and before I knew it I was on a Natalie-Chanin-style roll. I layered three t-shirts, cut the shapes, pieced them together and hand stitched around the cuts. I also love the back of the scarf where it just looks like all hand stitching. This scarf is so soft and warm- ahhh... the touch... the feel of cotton....

Cords

Unstructured. Baggie. Cute. No?

New books, new projects!

Happy Monday! I've been having sooo much fun reading my new books by amazing designers. Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter, Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross and Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin. They are inspiring, have projects that are practical and not horribly time consuming, and I am learning some new techniques. I can't remember the last time I bought books with patterns and projects with such good instructions. I am so happy with them!
So far I have made one dress from Ross's book and a bib using a pattern from Jansdotter's book. Here's Margot's dress, the Smocked Sundress from a Heather Ross patter. (Thanks to Mom for buying this awesome fabric from G Street Fabrics in Bethesda! FLOWER POWER!) I've never done smocking before, and am amazed at how easy it was. This instructions said to measure an inch below the knee and hem it there, but as I was trying it on Margot for width I knew I wanted to keep it long and flowing for my little flower child. Started it yesterday, finished it today. Maybe only two hours or so to make!

And here is the design by Lotta Jansdotter for a bib. I wanted to do something a little different what she instructed, but I liked the shape she provided. She had one piece of fabric hemmed with a pocket. I like a poofier look so I used some fusible fleece between two pieces, and skipped the pocket. (Who wants to go fishing old food out of a pocket?)
This is also fabric Mom picked up for us at G Street! The reverse side of this bib coordinates and it really just as pretty as the front. Oh, also, I think it's a little huge. I think I'll trim the pattern down a little.

I am really in love with this house button.

I was also inspired by Lotta to do some printing this weekend. I used easycarve blocks and went to work Sunday morning. But Sunday afternoon this is what I had:
Ray likes it. That makes me happy.

Summer dresses

They just make me happy. And I keep finding little things to do to change to pattern or embellish them, so I'm still having fun.

Matchy matchy

Maybe a little over the top. But pretty darn adorable.

Love for the rick rick

Oh it's been so long since I've had time to work on any sewing projects! Was so happy to put the little one in her little dress and matching hairclips. I will not be a good etsy seller. I just want to keep everything I make for Margot!

What I've been up to

Nap times have gotten shorter in the past few weeks, so I'm just not getting as much time to play as I was. Booo. But here's a zig zag quilt I started based on Anna Maria Horner's design but with Amy Butler fabric. I love the blue and orangey-pink. And the Missoni-esque design.

I also made this super cute peachy pinnie. I am kind of obsessed with rick-rack. It's going on everything. As you can see on the rest of my wall of unfinished business.
And here's a little house project Ray and I put together. Fleur de lis makes me happy. But it's probably time to cool it! I love my house, but it's not old and I love the character of old houses. This makes me love our house a little more.

Let's Play!

I brought the best little treasure back from VA! It's a coverlet that my Grandma sewed for mom's crib blanky. I LOVE IT. Look at that fabric!

So of course I was sooo happy to run across something similar this week and snatched it up for a dress!

The fabric for the next dress (which I put together last night) does not look like something I would pick! I obviously love vintage/retro designs and also flowery, girly and modern geometric designs. You may want to avert your eyes if you are offended by childish, bright over-worked patterns! Still, there's something about it I really like...


There's ruffle on the back too... tah dah!

I think I'll be spending a lot of time in the accessory aisle pretty soon. I am newly obsessed with this ruffle. Mmmmm ruffles.
These are based on a McCall's pattern that I have no idea when I bought. I usually wait until they go on sale for $1 each and find one thing I like in the book, then run through the drawer and pick out 10 things that look like they might get used. As far as I'm concerned, patterns are good for ideas and nothing else. Anyway, I'm happy to do things my own way.
Next up, some denim bloomers to go under the play smocks.
And coming up before too long... a Sucre & Spice store on Etsy! (I'm giving in to the pressure.)

Crawfish

This weekend was our 4th annual crawfish boil, and I had lots of things to prepare for it. I was upset and delighted at the same time that I was unable to find any cool invitations to a crawfish boil online. What? So, of course, I made some. I do love to silkscreen.

Then there was Margot's outfit to consider. I thought a good Southern Girl (which she unquestionably is, though she was born in St. Louis) would wear her finest seersucker. So here's what Margot wore:


Then there were the bibs, since friends from Nashville said they would only come if they could wear matching lobster bibs. So not only did they have the matching bibs, they had matching monogrammed bibs.


What's next on my list? Hmmm I think I'll finish a few little projects. It's sew rewarding to sew the last two buttons or last seam on a project that's been sitting for weeks or longer! Sometimes I save those up so I can feel productive :)

Playing

I was waiting to sew anything until I got the new machine I've spent the last two months searching for, and then my mother in law was in town for a week, so I'm a little behind on my posts. But here are some projects I've been working on and me with my new Elna.
I'm trying to sew more with less patterns, so we'll see how that works out. Also, I've started cutting triangles to make Anna Maria Horner's Folk Dance quilt

I'm headed to Virginia tomorrow night (yipee!) so today will be packing up projects and getting ready to go!

Baby bloomers

I made these from the pattern in Amy Butler's book Little Stitches For Little Ones. They are so cute, but that's really not the point, since they don't fit AT ALL. (This is a great picture because you can't tell.) Ray cracked up laughing when he saw them and asked if they're baby low-riders. What did I do wrong?? I can't imagine that there's something wrong with the pattern, so I need to figure out what's wrong with me.

Mae doll and Margot

Marji bought this pattern off of Etsy www.bitofwhimsydolls.com for the Mae doll and shared it with me. Margot Mae, as Mae has been renamed, was born last night. Finished her off this afternoon. I can't decide if she'll have a face or not, I've always liked the faceless Amish dollies, so Margot Mae may remain faceless (not without personality though, don't be mistaken.) I lovw the Amy Butler print I used for Margot Mae's skirt, so I decided to make Margot a matching Pinnie.

I'm not sure if I've ever had more fun making something so quickly.

Three cheers for adorable clothes!

Am I into the Pinnies? Yes I AM! They're just so sweet! I've been sewing for a few years, have made countless blankies, quilts, aprons, burp cloths, etc. But I've only attempted clothing once, and I didn't like the way it turned out. So here I am! Ready to walk down the clothing road again. I altered the pattern I bought to decrease the width of the straps and the bodice, and I tried a few other things too. Here are pictures of my two favorites:




You'll notice that neither of these is reversible, even though the pattern I bought is made to reverse. I kept choosing coordinating fabrics and I decided I didn't want to hide one of them. So I was using muslin as a backing. But I'm about to go put together another one while the kids sleep and make it mixy matchy. So stay tuned!

Pinafore!

I have been obsessed with pinafores since I first saw them. Finally last night I ordered two patterns off Etsy and of course this afternoon I went ahead and made one while the little ones were asleep. It didn't take long, honest! Here's the link to the pattern: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5307201
Money well spent. Here are the results modeled by my favorite baby girl.





This pattern is for a baby 12-18 months and Margot is almost 4 months. It is big. But I think it'll work for this Summer without adjusting the size. But also, I don't think it would be that hard to trim some off of the pattern to size it for her.
I did one side patterened and the other plain pink. I should have used a thicker material for the plain fabric.
I am excited to get my other pattern too, I think it's coming in the mail. The nice thing about this one is that it's reversible and simple. The nice thing about the one that's coming is the cute buttons on the front straps. Can't wait!