Easter dress #2 and how i get things done...

Easter dress for little G is finally finished.  It went slower, teething baby plus spotty sleep for Mommy means that there are lots of stops and gos for a dress project.  Also at one point I thought I was all done with the dress, photographed it and looked at the picture scratching my head thinking "whats missing."  The next day realized that I'd forgotten to read all the sewing instructions and left out a pleat at the bottom of the dress.  I guess when you've been sewing long enough you just toss the instructions but when you combine that with sleep deprivations things might get left out.  So I will show you the dress before the pleat was added and after.
Before:

And after the pleat and some lace detail:

Looks better right? And here are some detail close-ups.

 

And this is how I got the dress done:

In the far background is where AJ played with littlest petshopsand my vintage She-ras ;) and Little G played with everything else. Notice the pillow set up as a barrier between the toys.  Little G is getting better and better at manuevering herself around to get what she wants.  At one point she was layed over the barrier pillow whining to get to the petshops.  Poor baby, its so hard to be a baby.

Easter dress #1

I completed one Easter dress today!  I love doing Easter dresses each year and try to always pick a pattern that has a sewing element I've never tried or that looks fiddly.  I get a little frustrated at times with fiddly dress patterns but see Easter as a special time to put forth more effort with the fiddly things.

Its hard to tell from this picture but the waist of this dress has three tucks.  They were indeed a test of patience trying to first trace them with worthless tracing paper and secondly trying to line them up!  But its all worth it for Easter!  AJ said she loved the dress and wants to wear it which is great!

Heres a close up of the bodice.  The pattern is a Butterick but I don't know the number off the bat.
And for the Grandmothers heres some kiddo goodness.

A much neglected doll finally getting some love.

 AJ playing in her corner by the window.  She likes to look out the window for "red robins."

And AJ midtwirl declaring last Sunday night as "the best night ever" because Aunt Mimi and Nana were visiting.  Happy sewing!

Clothing labels, getting ready for summer wardrobe

I've been getting inspired about sewing for this summer and now that I have two girls to sew for I feel like I need further out to plan. As I've been gathering fabrics and sewing patterns I've also been making clothing tags. Going through AJ's old clothes and trying to figure out the sizing has been a real guessing game when trying to dress baby G. So I thought I should start putting tags in the clothes. I used some screen printing paint, rubber stamps and unfinished biased tape.

The finished product turned out pretty good.

 AJ fits into some fives and some fours so next up are some four tags. I anticipate baby G being in 12 month clothes this summer. She's getting longer!
Also here's a link for giggles have a great day! Elmo Pizza Box dance Love that Sesame Street.

New curtains

I have been slowly working on the baby's room to make it look more circus themed and its a slow evolution but I'm pleased with some of the results. This week I finished her curtains. I even added some blackout backing to them to make her room darker for naps. The pictures turned out dark because of the blackout fabric. AJ told me the curtains remind her of a cake because of the ruffles. Also our other news is that AJ lost her first tooth this week. She was eating her "cheese between" breakfast sandwich and came to me and said "I think my tooth fell out!" She said that at first "I thought it was a hard piece of cheese and spit it out to ask you if it was my tooth." Much excitement! While one looses a tooth the other one is getting a new tooth. Good times.

Finished project for me and some works in progress

Here is the finished project that was solely for me. I love selfish sewing like this and this is the first piece of satisfying sewing I've done for myself since our little baby G was born.

Granted these pictures are terrible but you get the general idea of the peter pan collar. I would have used the timer on the camera but those pictures were even worse. And for good measure here is some baby goodness enjoying her time on the deck in the sunshine.

Her hair was blowing in the breeze and super adorable but I couldn't catch a good shot of it for the blog. Finally here are two works in progress that I hope turn out well. One is for the baby's circus themed room and the other is for a place in the house yet to be determined. I loved the shape of the lamp but it needs paint or polish, not sure which one. The carousel is cute but I think it needs to be painted white. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Handmade Christmas

As promised to my sister here are some of the handmade items I gave to my two sweet peas this Christmas.

This is the Red Riding Hood cape and basket I made AJ for dress-up/pretend. Hopefully she can get out in the backyard soon and run around collecting sticks.

This is the blue velvet dress I made for little baby G. It has gray buttons made from shells and the bloomers have a little dutch tulip pattern.

This is a house coat for AJ from the book Making Children's Clothes. I ran out of the Hello Kitty fabric so had to substitute the pink polka dot fabric.

And this is my current project for myself. I drafted a peter pan collar for a Simplicity pattern using the peter pan collar tutorial on Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. A great reference blog for sewing garments. I'll let you know how it turns out! Its been a good low key challenge for me. Have a great day and happy sewing!

Winter wardrobe for the 4 year old

This post was to be published this past fall but I just couldn't get around to it.  So here are some of the clothes I sewed for AJ's winter wardrobe. 

This dress was made with the Crafty Cloe series from Heather Ross at Hancocks. You can see that it is a Simplicity pattern since I scribbled it on the chalkboard.

The shift dress was a pattern that has been lingering for ages just waiting to be sewn. I've loved and hoarded that bird fabric for too long and finally cut into it. The skirt has some velveteen ribbon around the edges of it that I've been waiting to use as well. Its from a childrens sewing book that I've used numerous times and continue to love. I will be back with some pictures of the Christmas sewing I did for my little ones soon!