Kyoko Dress

To tell you the truth, I never thought I liked the Kyoko dress pattern by modkid.  It wasn't until I saw some of the amazing creations on the MODKID Flickr group that I decided I wanted to make one for my girls.

Sometimes I make them dresses that I'm so proud of, and they could care less for them.  However, this was not one of those times!  As you can see in the pictures, she was more than pleased with her new outfit.  Well, once I added the obi (the cummerbund thing).   

Added just because it was so cute.

Even the redhead loved it and wants me to make her one.  I had her try it on to see if I needed to go up a size.  Luckily, I don't have to trace another pattern, because it fits her perfectly!

Since I made plenty of bias tape, I think I'll go buy different fabric that will match the zebra accent for a second dress. 



Look at those peepers!



Bottom line, I loved making this pattern.  The instructions were very clear and this was a quick sew.  It probably took about three hours, including making my own bias tape.  I'm looking forward to making another!

Darn It!

After playing with a huge but lovable dog over the weekend, my son came home with a nice tear in his new shirt.

My Mom has darned things for my kids before, and it always looks fairly good.  The one time I tried it, it didn't look too good.  The trick that I didn't know about and my Mom told me earlier this week is to put fabric under what your darning.  Duh .... why didn't I think of that?

As you can see in the above picture, the tear was L shaped, so I had to darn a fairly large area.

It's much better than throwing the shirt away, and since the hole was in the bottom of the shirt I don't think it's that noticeable.  I really should have used a different color thread.  If I were a professional, I would have done gray thread on the gray square, and red on the red.  However, I am not a professional; just a simple Mom who saved a shirt from the trash.

Finished Jump Rope Dress

The Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress is finished.  Wow, that argyle print turned out much wilder and crazy than I expected!  Looking back, I should have chosen the Scottie print as the main fabric and the argyle as the accent.  Ah well, she loves it anyway.  In fact, the brighter and wilder, the better in her eyes.

Fun pattern, she loves it, and I will make it again.  Next time, I will make the view B, which doesn't have a waist.  I really didn't like view B on the pattern, but after looking through Flickr, I like the no-waist view B much better.

Easy Peter Pan Costume

It's that time of year, the time for the annual 2nd grade Fairy Tale Ball!  Although the teacher said to not buy anything, but use costumes or clothes around the house; my boy insisted on being Peter Pan.  Instead of buying a costume, I opted on making one.  I bought a $4 shirt from Hobby Lobby and cut off the bottom and the sleeves.  I also poked some holes in the top and wove a strip of leather to "lace" it up.  

For the pants, they didn't have ANY green knit, so I had to use brown.  I bought $4 worth of knit and used a pajama pants pattern I have.  It's honestly the WORST sewing job I've ever done .... BUT, the beauty of knit is that you don't have to finish it and it won't unravel.  It honestly took less than 30 minutes to make since I didn't have to hem or worry about the seams.  If you don't sew, you could easily just pick up some cheap leggings in the girls section.  I would have done this since he has little sisters who could use the leggings after Halloween, but my Target only had bright colors like yellow, teal, and pink.  Isn't that crazy?  It's not like it's Fall, Target.

For the hat - I took a $.79 big sheet of stiff felt and made a "paper hat" with it, then stuck a red feather in the side.

Total cost = $9, total time = maybe an hour

He is so happy and proud and excited, I don't think he'll be able to go to sleep tonight! 



Peter Pan's shadow



In other news .....in Living this month, Martha Stewart showed how to make ghost using a foam head and cheesecloth.  Trust me, hers looked much more ghastly than mine turned out.  Although I will say that his reflection in the photo turned out a little freaky.  This apparition is supposed to be hanging from the porch, but he fell down yesterday and is now perched on a broom in the corner of my foyer.  It's just another thing that Martha makes it look totally cool and my version is a flop.

Pleased With Myself

My Mom and I got to spend the day together last week having an afternoon tea at the tahCha Teahouse.  Side note, they have GREAT hot teas if you ever have a chance to stop by.  On the way, we stopped by Intown Quilters.  It was a GREAT fabric store that we've been wanting to go to for two years and I'm so glad we finally made it.

I fell in love with the Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress  pattern over the internet, but I couldn't find it in the 4-8 size.  Well Intown Quilters had it!  I snatched it up and found this crazy cute argyle fabric and got to work right way.  However, I quickly lost steam when I read the directions and saw I had to do a placket.  Words like "precise" scared me a bit, because as you can see from my interfacing strips, I'm not exactly precise.  Now that I look at the picture, the pattern is off on the argyle, too - although I cut that on the fold, so not my fault.

Anyway, I persevered and followed step by step ......

 

Outside right placket

 

Inside right placket



 And sewed my first placket!

In the end, the plackets were not near as bad as I thought they'd be; and like the title of my post says, I'm pleased.

Too bad I have 5 bushels of apples that need tending to and I can't finish the dress.

Farbenmix Emely Pattern

I bought the Farbenmix Emely pattern awhile back and finally got a chance to sew it last week.  I had bought the darling butterfly fabric from JoAnn's and was going to make it all out of that fabric; but after seeing other people's creations I wanted some accent fabric to go with it.  My little girl insisted that zebra would go with the butterflies, I didn't agree, but I obliged.

I'm really glad I listened to her, because it turned out cute!

The directions weren't completely clear; for instance, it didn't tell you to hem the bottom (but who can't figure that out?).  It also tells you to put the elastic in the top of the pocket, although I couldn't find how much and what size elastic anywhere in the pattern - again, nothing that can't be figured out, but a beginner might have a hard time following.  All in all, this was one of the EASIEST things I've ever made and, not including tracing and cutting out the pieces, took me only about 3 hours to sew.

Another plus is - the top is reversible!  Who knew?  They don't tell you that on the pattern, but if you sew buttons to both side, why not?  Which side do you like better?  Me - the butterfly; the girl - ZEBRA!

Spring Apron

This apron swap's theme was "Spring Fling".  I thought this fabric was fresh and fun and honestly didn't want to send this apron off.  The tuck-ins were to be based on my partner's initials.  This part was so fun this time and my partner had pretty easy initials - TLS. 

T- I included some nice spring hand Towels.

L - I made the coin purse pictured below using this tutorial.  I decided it could be used for Loose change or a Lip Gloss holder.  I also included a tube of my favorite gloss.

S - Some new Spatulas.

I hope my partner likes her package I much as I do!

Apron I made for Lori

This is the apron I made for the Flirty Apron Swap.  I used some fabric from my stash and the Lola apron pattern.  The main expense of this apron was the 300 yards of bias tape.  Okay, so I exaggerate, but I did use about 5 packs, plus one pack of ric rac.

I made a potholder with the video tutorial I posted a while back.  This is an amazingly easy pattern and I think you should all go try it today.  You'll have a lovely potholder or trivet in less than 10 minutes.

My wonderful stick figure son modeling it for me.  Trust me, Lori looks much cuter in the apron than Nate.  If you'd like to see her modeling it, go here.  While you're there, take a look at the other wonderful cutie pie aprons all the swappers have made.

The apron I made -

I never did post pictures of the apron that I sent out to my partner for Shawnee's Flirty Apron Swap.

We were supposed to spell out a wintry word and include "tuck ins" for each letter of the word.  I chose the simple word SNOW.

For the letter "S", I sent my partner socks. 

I kind of reached for the "N" tuck in.  The only thing I could think of was a nutcracker, and I just couldn't find one that I liked enough to send.  In the end, I decided to send her a garland of  her Name.  Thanks to my ultra cook father in law, I got a Cricut for Christmas and was able to make this super easy!

For the letter "O", I sent two ornaments.  My partner decorates her tree in pink and cream - so I hope these two beauties looked good on her tree.

For the "W", I sent a recipe for Wassail along with two mugs.  Unfortunately, I heard that one of the mugs was smashed in shipping. 

Finally, here is the apron - since the theme was snowflakes, I went with the snowflake patterned fabric.

Here's the BIG flower on a little head this morning.

She couldn't wait to show off her new hair accessary to her BFFs at school! 

I thought I'd make one more since I have two girls.

This one is HUGE!  I decided to leave the seams on the outside and it worked up much faster.  Too bad my daughters are asleep because I would love to see what this looks like on!

Flower in her Hair

I made the sassy flower hairpin from Sewing Bits and Pieces: 35 Projects Using Fabric Scraps.  Of course, the girls love it.  The bigger the better with them.  I think it will look pretty cute when I comb their hair and maybe put it in a ponytail.

I made this smaller than it was supposed to be.  The middle section was supposed to be the top layer, the bottom them middle layer, and then the bottom would've have been even bigger.  I don't think their heads would've been big enough for the original size.

They wanted me to wear it - and after looking at the below picture, I'm wondering if I should have put more thought into my gold tooth!

Sis Boom fabric + twirl skirt pattern = FABULOUS SKIRT!

I've never sent my kids to all day Pre-K.  I've always thought that they need to be home as long as possible and also that's just too long of a day for a four year old.  However, at the end of the last school year, Molly was visiting my sister for the week; and I realized that Anna was bored out of her gourd with all five of her older siblings gone.  She was whiny and right under my feet the whole week.  I ended up calling the school and signing her up for Pre-K and finding out it was too late - there was a waiting list and she was number 53!  Would you believe it, but they called on Thursday and she got in!  My pediatrician, who books out 2 months out for well visits, just happened to have a cancellation on Friday; so we were able to go get her immunizations.  It was amazing how everything worked out. 

She was excited because that meant I would make her a skirt for her first day of school like I did Molly.  I talked her into another Redondo, because well, it's my fav pattern.  I bought some Sis Boom fabric on sale last month that was perfect for her skirt.

I got Anna to bed at 7:15 tonight to get her ready and rested for her big first day of school.  She fell right asleep, but was so excited that she woke up at 11:30 and wanted to try her skirt on and have me take pictures.  So this is not her official first day of school picture; but it is what she will be wearing - and that's really the only thing that's important, right?

First Day of School

Today is my girl's first day of Kindergarten!  She has been counting down to this day for four months now.  As you can imagine, she couldn't sleep last night.  I think she finally fell asleep around 10:30 and I have no idea when she woke up - I do know it was before 6:00.

Here she is sporting her new Hello Kitty backpack and Littlest Pet Shop lunchbox (complete with Barbie Thermos). 

Each of the classes at our elementary school has its own theme, like the Curious Caterpillars or the Jolly Ranchers.  Molly is in the Zany Zebras; so she wanted me to make her a zebra skirt.  Unfortunately, Hobby Lobby was out of traditional zebra material - but I did find this cool pink on pink zebra print!

I was a quick sew, taking only a couple of hours from cutting time to completely finished.  There was only one mistake - and a big one - that I made.  I sewed the waistband on the wrong side - with the raw edges on the outside of the skirt!  I was in a lazy mood and did not feel like ripping out the seam, so I improvised.  I decided to leave the seam; but do a rolled hem with my serger to add a ruffle type effect.  I think I rather like it!

Sweet Harmony Bag

As soon as I saw Amy Butler's Sweet Harmony Bag pattern, I knew I wanted to make it.  I love most of her bags, but her patterns are usually for bigger purses and I like to carry a small one. 

I know remember why I don't like to make purses!  Too many pieces, too much prep work, too many layers, etc., etc., etc.  By the time I finished the cutting and ironing the fleece and interfacing, I had to set all of it aside for a few weeks because I was already tired of looking at it.  I did sit down and sew it last night, though, and I LOVE the end result!

I used some Anna Maria Horner Good Folks fabric that I've been hoarding for awhile now.  I bought up a lot of that line when I found it half off a long time ago; and it was very hard to decide which one to use for my purse.

There are pockets galore in this bag.  Three on the inside, two on the outside and .....look - there is even a cell phone pocket!