Amelia’s Dress Pattern Tester…
I was very excited to be picked by Dawn of Olabelhe as a pattern tester for her Amelia’s Dress. The pattern isn’t quite done yet (it was just sent out for testing yesterday!) so I will do an actual review later when she has finished it. But I can say I LOVE it!!! I actually didn’t think I would love it quite as much as I do.
Anyways I think it is a great adorable classic dress with a twist like the other patterns she offers. After getting it nearly finished I realized there are a LOT of ways to make/wear it. I choose dressy buttons for it, and after sewing them on I realized that the back is just as cute as the front, so it can be worn both ways! Also after finished the hem of the first dress for Baylie I realized I like it just as much if not more with out the bubble style hem… which means 2 more looks out of the same pattern!!! I took pictures of all the different things I am talking about in the photo slideshow on my half toddler. They aren’t good pictures, but they show you what I am talking about!
I finished these last night so I was VERY excited to try them on 2 clean little girls this morning. While putting the one with the bubble style hem on Baylie I realized that with a small alteration of the hem yet again it can make a super cute bubble tunic that once again can be worn 2 different ways! I also look forward to making more with contrasting ties instead of all of the same fabric.
Enough chat… time for the good stuff! They were made from 3 torn up curtain panels I got for free, they were just a Beatrix Potter quilting cotton… I had to cut around a lot of rips, but I thought that they would look really great in some sort of floral and this was the only thing I had enough of! The elastic was scrap I had laying around and the buttons were $1.60 for both dresses… so they cost me $0.80 each & took about 3 hrs to make both & they will go together faster in the future.
Carlie was NOT in the mood for pics… & Baylie did not want to stay still but luckily I took enough pics that I was able to photoshop the lighting, in the end they are pretty cute. If only I could get a picture of BOTH the girls in the same shot!
Baylie in the dress like the cover… bubble style hem…
Carlie in the dress with a normal hem instead…
Of course we can’t forget big brother, he likes having his picture taken too!
Finally the mannequin pictures that I promised… they aren’t great but show lots of different possibilities!
Add comment July 11, 2009
Doll Swap Quilts…
So I decided before tackling my large quilt I should work on something smaller… well the sewing site I am on has these doll quilt swaps every few months which are for fat quarter size quilts. So when the sign ups came up for the Summer swap I had to join! Of course I then ended up with a broken machine in the shop, so I have been hustling to get them finished the last 2 days.
I originally planned on making 2 different styles of quilts with the same fabrics, but I ran out so I had to work with what I had! The tops turned out very well… nearly all my corners are lined up except the darn middle ones of course! I also made a trip 40 minutes away to Wal-Mart to get more binding just to realize I didn’t have enough white OR red at home, so I had to once again make do. They are nothing fancy & I just did plain boring diagonal quilting (my darning foot still hasn’t come in!), but I think the little girls will love them!
They are for 2 girlie little girls, but instead of lots of pink & purple I thought it would be cute since it was a summer theme to do a picnic theme with fruits & some checks. The best part is that if they flip it over their dollies can use it as a cute picnic blanket too! They are in the washer at the moment to get all the starch & chalk off. Once they are dry to the post office they go!
Each quilt top consists of 96 1.5″ x 4.5″ strips sewn into 24 4.5′ X 4.5″ squares.
1 comment July 10, 2009
A funny story…
Even though I haven’t had a ton of time to sew & blog my self I try to pop into my favorite blogs once in a while. The other day I went to visit one of my favorite fabric designers Paula Prass and her blog Show & Tell. She had a giveaway… to enter you just had to share your funny summer story! I didn’t find it until after the giveaway was done, but I still decided to share my story & wanted to share it with you guys too!
We have had an unusually nice & hot week of weather around the 4th… normally we have rain in WA. Anyways since it was almost 90 out we set out the pool for the kiddos so they could play while all the adults sat & chat.
My son is almost 4 & my ID twin daughters just turned 2. Well after about 20 minutes of playing my son tells us he needs to go potty… well since it was a small pool I wasn’t gonna tell him to pee in it, but I didn’t want him making a wet mess all over the house… he is a boy so, I told him to go pee on the bamboo bush. Being an almost 4 yr old little boy he had is shorts at his ankles & was ‘watering’ it before I could finish talking.
Well the twins are starting to potty train as well are just interested in everything… so Baylie walks over to her brother & asks ‘What you doin’ Nander?’ He replied ‘peeing on the bush’ then she asked ‘why?’ and Zander responded ‘I gotta pee’ which was apparently enough to satisfy her & she returned to the pool.
Well about 20 minutes later I notice her grabbing at her self… since the twins had both pooped already that day I hadn’t put a swim diaper on so I asked if she had to go potty!
As soon as she heard the word ‘potty’ she was out of the pool & standing in front of the bamboo… ‘I potty’. I started laughing & said ’sweety, girls don’t pee on stuff, they don’t have a wee wee, girls have to stick to peeing in the potty, lets go use the potty inside’ which was answered with stomping little feet, a shaking head & ‘no I potty’ while taking turns between pointing at the bamboo & looking down trying to figure out how the heck he did it.
She was so determined… it was so cute & funny we all laughed about it for the rest of the night!
Add comment July 8, 2009
I’m in a sewing article on AOL.com!
I think I briefly mentioned something about this a few weeks back, but I was emailed about being part of an article about the ‘Sewing Renaissance’ for AOL’s DIY section. Judy (who is writing a book ‘Sew Retro’) had stumbled upon my blog at some point & wanted to have me take part in it. Anyways it is done & went up today!
http://home.aol.com/new_in_home/photogallerytall/_a/a-sewing-renaissance/20090707121309990002
To get to the different lady’s featured click on the pictures & scroll through… mine are the only ones with kids in them even though almost all the ladies have kids I was apparently the only one who sent pictures of them? I am very happy with the blurbs about me… a little disappointed that they didn’t use the picture of me that I sent in, especially since most of the pictures of the kids I had in mama made were horrible & I couldn’t take new ones because my sewing machine broke in the middle of make the girls stuff that fits (they grew since the last batch of dresses). But I get it, because my girls are totally cute! I was even able sneak a pic of B in… his mama is gonna like that!
Anyways I am really excited & just had to share!!! I am super excited she used the part about my grandma because she meant a lot to me & I miss her!!!
Add comment July 8, 2009
A Patriotic Dress For Chloe
So I had a local lady interested in a custom order… since the supplies were inexpensive & she wore the same size as my niece Chloe I just went ahead & got the stuff for it even though her order wasn’t final yet. Well she decided to pass so instead I made the sweet dress up for my niece Chloe!
To start off I am generally not a fan of t-shirt dresses, they are wide & boxy which doesn’t look great on my skinny kiddos, but then I got an idea to do the ribbon accent… it breaks it up a bit & allows it to be tied. The shirt I used/dress size is a 3T, but because of how I made it fits my 2t twins quite well too!
Anyways I made it all on my serger because my sewing machine had to go in to be fixed, & then I top stitched the hem & put the ribbon on at my soon to be in-laws. Constructing the dress probably took less then 30 minutes? & another 5 to top stitch everything?
I would love to make some for the girls with a better quality t-shirt, or one that is a cotton lycra blend. Anyways enough chit chat, time for pictures!
2 comments July 6, 2009
