Monday, August 30, 2010

One Thing One Week Challenge 2

Amy's Creative Side



Amy over at Amy's Creative side hosted a one week challenge. Challengers were supposed to choose one thing to accomplish over the week and link back today if we got it done.

My challenge for the week was to cut fabric for my very first quilt and I got it done and then some! I've actually got the blocks all pieced and ready to assemble into a quilt top! I don't have the border fabric cut yet, but I figure that's okay since I really need to have my blocks connected to get the proper measurements. Maybe I'll get that done this week.

Here's my quilt so far:

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Bloop bloop


You don't know how close you came to being subjected to a cheesy pun about the Princess' first day of preschool dress. Seriously, it has fish on it; that pun was just sitting there staring at me, daring me to use it. Ha! So there pun!

Anyway....this was a big week for our household. Mokey started Kindergarten on Monday (but since this is mostly a sewing blog and I sewed nothing for his bts outfit, I'm not posting a picture) and the Princess started preschool today.

My original plan for her first day outfit was the knot dress I posted a little while ago, but then I realized that it's still in the 80's here (and what a blessed relief that is from the 90's we've had most of the summer) and that dress is just a touch too big to wear without a top under it (planned that way so she has growing room, of course, don't know why that had't occurred to me before). So, on Sunday I took a little time (while the hubby was out mowing) to go throw my pattern and fabric stashes to see what I could whip up in time. I had a different pattern picked out, but the Princess latched on to this fishy print (from Playdate by Patty Young) and was adamant that she wanted a fishy dress. Only one problem: when I bought this fabric, I was intending to make a bag with it and so I only bought a half a yard - not exactly enough to make a whole dress!

Enter Simplicity 3511. This pattern is my go-to pants pattern for the Princess, at least when I'm making pants to go under a dress or tunic, but I'd never tried the dress. I didn't have quite enough for the dress based on the fabric requirements printed on the envelope, but I eyeballed the pieces and I was pretty sure I could get it all out of that piece. I just happened to have a piece of cotton in the perfect shade of orange so I was all set (well, minus some ribbon and buttons).

I was a little afraid that the print and the orange would be too bright together, but the aqua ribbon separating them makes it work. Fit-wise it's a little shorter than I would like, but it can be a tunic in a month or so when it starts to get too short. It is a little hard to put on and off, but I think it has more to do with the fact that it only opens about an inch or so in the back rather than too small (I think any bigger and it would fall off her shoulders). We'll have to get better at getting it on and off because we both love it; it might just be my favorite so far!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Sassy


I made this weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it. This was meant as a "muslin" of this pattern to test my fit before I made it out of expensive fabric, but it worked out well, so it's wearable. It's McCall's 5882, designed by the Kay Whitt, of Serendipity Studios. She makes great patterns and they are very easy to follow. I ended up having to take this one in quite a bit in the bust and waist and tapered slightly differently in the skirt portion. Next time I think I'll make it a size smaller so I don't have to adjust so much. (please excuse the messy mirror, I did't realize how smudgy it was until I looked at the pictures ad I'm not that great with PaintShop).

Tinkerwho?


Okay, I admit, my daughter is slightly obsessed with Tinkerbell. Almost every morning she asks to wear a "sweeshie shirt", of which she only has two - one is long sleeved (and thus, too hot when it's 90+ outside) and the other seems to always be in the wash. So I thought she needed another Tinkerbell something so I don't have to say no 6 days out of the week. Wal-mart happened to have the Tinkerbell fabric I used on the Patsy Ann Apron top a few months back and even a couple of coordinates for about half the price I paid at the quilt shop back then (of course, isn't that how it always works), so I grabbed about a yard of each and settled on McCall's 6066 as the pattern. The pattern is technically too big for her, since she's so skinny, but the length actually worked out well and it has an elastic waistband anyway so it was fine. I love the tulle underskirt (although I think I'm going to trim an inch or so off - it just looks off). I think, too, that I'm going to end up making a flower pin out of the tulle scraps to pin on the loop. It's got great twirl.

Pwetty Dwess



I love Lila Tueller. Love. Especially her Woodland bloom collection. But, well, designer quilting cotton can be pricey. I thought it would be perfect for a knot dress a la Matilda Jane but you know, with the number of different fabrics you need for one of those, we're talking $30 or so, um, yeah, so not putting that much into a dress for a two year old. So, I grabbed a small bit of two of my favorites and went searching for other fabrics that would coordinate. Hobby Lobby to the rescue! I found a cute green print that worked perfectly and then two nice solids that picked up colors in the Lila Tueller. Fabulous.

I've made one of these knot dresses before. In fact, it was the first thing I ever sewed (with a lot of help from my mom on that one). I used the tutorial from Everyday Chaos but added an apron and a hem band. Then I made my tried-and-true toddler pants pattern: Simplicity 3511 and added a matching hem band to pull it all together. She loves it! She kept wanting to she daddy her "pwetty dwess." I think it's going to be her first day of school outfit (my baby is starting preschool in three weeks *sniff sniff*), as long as it's not too boiling out that day.