Wristlets

Trying to make a wristlet.
No pattern, just looking thru tutorials and finding which one I like
I just want to fit what I need to carry around with me.

This one I made for my SIL.
I'm not happy how the ends of the zipper area turned out when turning, so I think I will order a bit more of this fabric and retry.
Sad, since I did soooo good in lining up the print pieces at the seams!

It's snowing!

Or it was a few weeks ago!
That's when I got the idea to crochet a bunch of snowflakes,
to use them as gift toppers and in our Christmas cards.
24 + to go!
Now if only they made peppermint starch!

Bags.

I'm pretty picky about a tote bag.
I dislike advertising, bulky unused pockets and dividers, etc.
So I've been looking at all the lovely designs out there.
So much time and work!
WOW are there some majorly talented seamstresses out there :)

I've decided to try my hand,
and see what I can come up with after attempting a few basic patterns.
Perhaps I can finally find that ONE BAG that I really love!

Knits!

I fell in love with these pink knits from a few rows away!
I knew that I had to make something for the nieces.
My husband found the peace/heart print.

Surprising me.....it goes perfect!

I had to make our youngest nieces just a tad silly to fit her personality,
so I added the band of stripes on one leg.

They make me think of mini-Victoria's loungewear.

Wow! It's been awhile.....

Again, wow!

It has been quite awhile since I have posted here.

How do people find the time to create, photo, and blog?!

I'm just happy to get the first done!

For archival purposes, here's a run down of some of my Fall projects.

I made these for our oldest niece
I love the tunic tops with leggings.
So cute!

I absolutely love love LOVEEEEE
LOVE
LOVE
LOVE
the owl prints.
SO happy the 70's prints are resurfacing!

They are just so adorable!

Spent today making some quick summer sundresses for the nieces.

I love the freedom of sewing with no pattern!

Recycling!

After cleaning out (part lol) of our closet,
I came up with a pile of t-shirts and jeans
that are still in good condition.
Instead of bagging them up to take to the
local thrift store,
I decided to recycle them!

Perfect for sewing into shorts, capris, and tank tops for our nieces!

Ruffle Tops for Summer

Ever since I found the Ruffle Sleeve Tutorial,
I have fell in love with creating little tops for our nieces!
I decided to play around with it a little,
embellish the shoulder straps,
and change up the elastic around the middle.

First I hemmed up the bottom with just a small basic fold-over hem.
Then I did the first step in a french seam for the main seam down the back,
leaving the top few inches for the insertion of the elastic/ribbon.

I like doing the french seams, they don't leave a itchy seam to bug the girls!
Instead of doing the top of the chest all in elastic, I decided to use the ribbon
that I found that went really cute with the pink material.
I cut two pieces of elastic, attached them to the ends of the ribbon.

Next I folded the top in half and pressed so that I had a mark for the exact center,
and then folded that about 2 inches over,
pressing again to leave to marks equal from the center.
Here I made 2 buttonholes for the ribbon to come
out of in the center.
I also cut two little holes in just the back of the elastic/ribbon seam
for the ribbon to be pulled out of before weaving it
back to the front, through the buttonhole openings.
Using the trusty 'ol safety pin,
I pulled the ribbon ends out and viola!
Then I pinned the elastic ends into the french seam ends of the top.
Finished up the french seam, catching the elastic inside it.

For the sleeves I folded over the wrong side along a raw edge,
up onto the right side,
and then sewed the ribbon ontop this raw edge,
covering up the raw edge.
Then I folded over the machine-crocheted detail in the material,
so the right-side of the fabric was then on top,
making enough room for a seam for the elastic.

Along this raw edge, I cut the fabric as close as I could
to the machine-crocheted edge.
Then I used the applique stitch to sew along this edge.

Using the tutoral steps, I then attached the sleeves.
Then I pulled the ribbons tighter, gathering the top at the chest
& tied them into a pretty bow.

So cute!

Manhattan Dress

I absolutely love sewing the farbenmix girls dress patterns!
The Feliz Dress was so much fun to play around with,
and now I have tackled the Manhattan Dress.

So many options!
I will admitt, that it was quite daunting at first.

You are creating 2 dresses, since the lining is the exact same dress!

Summer Sewing

I have been busy lately sewing tanks, shorts, and summer dresses.
I love all the summery seersucker prints out!

I took a break to try out the applique stitch on my new machine!
I'm so excited to be able to use all these new features.
Our youngest niece has a new nickname from Papa,
so it was fitting to make her a froggie shirt!
It was difficult not to add a pretty pink bow, to tone down the boy'ish colors!

Manhattan Dress Begins

Okay I started cutting out the Manhattan Special Occasion Dress

for our oldest niece Abby.

40 some pieces cut out and I was almost ready to pull out my hair!
So many pieces!

I found it easy once I thought.....duh!.....
pin the piece # to each piece, with an arrow pointing toward the top of the piece.

Once I did this, the piecing together became much easier.
I now have a bodice sewn together, shell & lining! Yay!

I've seen some vibrant wild dresses using this pattern,
so I am hoping (with fingers crossed) that once I tackle this one,
that I can began to get creative like I have with the Feliz Dresses.

Okay, coffee done.....back to sewing!

Summer Dresses

Summertime & twirlly dresses!

I finished two more Feliz dresses for our nieces Gracie & Allie.

They sure love the ruffles & twirls!

While I sure loved sewing with these bright fabrics,

especially on the cloudy days!

Material Excitement!

I saw this cute bird print and knew that I had to make something for our nieces with it.

Some bright floral & aqua floral stripe and it's perfect!

Now to get started!

Loving the Feliz Dress Pattern

I am really loving sewing with the Feliz Dress pattern!

It is SO much fun!
I had some lighter denim, and some pink cotton

that had rows of machine-embroidered detail,

that I thought would be great to cut rows of ruffles out of.

Add lots of ribbons, some crocheted flowers, and viola!

She stood still long enough for two quick photos.....
then it was twirl twirl twirl!

Pretty Dress

I have held onto this fabric for a bit, it matches our china so prettily,

and had originally thought to make some cloth napkins & table runner with it.

But then I decided that it would make a cute dress for little Allie.

Another Feliz Dress

Since Allie took over the Feliz Dress that I made for Gracie,
I thought that I had better tackle another one!
Especially since I promised Miss Gracie one!
I had some light weight denim that I thought would make a great overdress.

After adding a few rows of ribbons/embellishments on the front,
I decided to leave the center row to add some crocheted flowers.
Time to get hooking!

For the underdress layer, I had some pink material with
rows of a machine crochet pattern. Perfect to cut apart!

I have used that to top the rows of ruffles & on the overdress.
It is very quickly coming together. Of course I can say that now,
now that 2 days of sewing ruffles are OVER!

On top of each underlayer of ruffle I had added a ribbon detail.
This took me forever, unspooling as I went along, until a lightbulb
went off-----place the spool of ribbon on the bobbin winder!
I undid as much as I needed, as I sewed along!

I had a little bit of this floral check pattern &
whipped up a little empire-waist sundress for our youngest niece.

Yellow Floral for a Grey Day!

I dug thru my fabric box & found this yellow floral.
Just right for a cloudy grey day!
Now for a cup of tea!

Peace!

I was really excited to make a pair of the Dortje pants for our youngest niece.
I just need to add elastic to the shopping list so I can finish the wasitband!
They really turned out cute & remind me of the 70's!

I'm still considering stitching on the back pockets.
Along the pink detail, perhaps "peace" or "love" or both!

Feliz Dress in Progress

Almost finished!
I'm so excited at how cute this Feliz dress is!
I added some pink daisy buttons to the back,
and I think it really added to it well.
I just have the bottom ruffle to tackle!

Circus Time

Taking a break from working on the Feliz dress,
I just didn't have
it in me to work on ruffles today!
I decided to make a pair of the Dortje pants for our youngest niece.
Diving into my fabric pile, I came up with a wild combination.
I heard my Grams in my head saying "ohhh why are you making her
Halloween pants now?!".
I had to quiet that voice with "but Grams, they fit her silly personality!"
That and I cut out a pair to put together, using denim & the blue print.

Here I go!

I'm so excited to start the Feliz dress pattern by Studio Tantrum!
After scouring the web for different ideas, I decided to try the first one out of pink florals.
After reading the feliz instructions, I decided to look online for any tips & ideas.
I found Trillium's Feliz sew-along !
She gives step-by-step instructions with some great photos.
Between the pattern instructions in the book & this online tutorial,
I should be able to whip this out in no time!
There are so many ways to embellish this dress,
I already have so many ideas for a few others!

Still twirling

I decided to whip up another twirly skirt for a niece.
I added a little petticoat for underneath with lots of pink ruffles.
I made the skirt portion of the petticoat out of white shirting,
so it will be light enough for her to wear it under skirts even in the summer.
I can't wait to see her twirl in it!

I am SOOOOO super excited!
I finally got my hands on a book full of sewing patterns by Nancy Langdon & Sabine Pollehn!
I have been searching & searching for a pattern for the Feliz Dress, but wasn't having any luck.
Then I found this book, which includes the Feliz Dress pattern!
Yay! Sewing excitement!
The book is a must have if you sew for children.
It is so full of colorful photos & helpful descriptions on embellishing your projects. I can not wait to get started.
My sewing project list just grew enormously!

Ruffle Sleeve Top

While looking thru crafting blogs, I stumbled upon this ruffle sleeve top
and just had to make it!
The tutorial is wonderful, even has step-by-step photos for those
who need to follow along.
I love how summery it looks & can't wait to see it on our youngest niece!
What a great way to use up some leftover fabrics.

Twirlly Skirt

Little girls love to twirl!
I started out thinking to make this into a basic girls skirt, using 3 strips of fabric.
(1 for the elastic casing, 2 for the main skirt, and 3 for a small ruffle)

Then I started really looking at the print and decided to take pieces from it.
The big stripe of blue I used for the ruching along the top of the ruffle.
I loved the little hearts and knew I wanted to have it somewhere in the ruffle, at the bottom, where your eyes would really notice it.
The blue gingham I attached to the very bottom for a small detail along the hem.
I really love how it turned out, but think I will add a few more details before handing it over to my niece.
I'd like to add some thin yellow & blue ribbon along the ruching, maybe in a twisting pattern, with some bows or bright buttons.
I'm also going to make a petticoat of tulle/netting for underneath to really make the skirts fullness apparent.

Little Pinafore Dress

This morning I finished up a little Pinafore Dress for our youngest niece Allie.
With her blonde hair & blue eyes, I knew this flower & blue checkered pattern would be darling!
I used a simple pinafore pattern and just added the topstitching detail, a pocket to the front, and some ties on the sides.
The ties are a nice way of "just in case" the top is too big.
I reinforced the ties at the sides, knowing how much little girls love to twirl!