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!