Somebody Else's Project: Circle Dress

When Zadie was just a baby I got this awesome circle dress from Sweet Pepita at a craft show. I'm thinking it was Squifire's in Baltimore but I honestly don't remember.

The dress finally fits and it's been getting a lot of use. In fact, Zadie pretty much demands to wear it everyday. It hasn't been hung up on a hanger in the closet because it's always pulled straight from the laundry basket (clean) and over her little head.

One day, shortly after the first time she wore the dress, Zadie was demanding to wear the circle dress and I had no idea what she was talking about. I showed her everything in the closet and pulled out lots of tops and rompers from the drawer, only to remember that this was in the dirty laundry hamper. I pulled it out and she was so excited. If only the stuff I make for her would have the same power...

Anyway, I'm in no way getting any kickbacks from mentioning this awesome shop and seller (although I certainly wouldn't mind, ha ha). I just want to give props where they're due. Thanks for making great stuff!

Project: Birthday Party . round 2

I absolutely cannot believe that Zadie is almost 2. We had a really nice birthday party for her last year with lots of family and friends and we want to do the same this year. But what's better is that Zadie actually gets what's going on and has things she loves and has already made some requests.

I told her we'd be making bags for all the kids like last year. We looked through the Oriental Trading Company catalog for inspiration and she announced that she would like cars, balls, crayons and spoons. Spoons! Where did that come from? I've been able to get some cars on Easter clearance, balls at the dollar store, and I even picked up a box of crayons to tie into little bundles. Add some candy and we're all set.

Here is a sneak peak at the theme and the dress I'm working on for the big day. What do you think?

Oh, I know yesterday I said I would talk more about the shirt I'm working on but that's going to have to wait until Monday.

Project: Trades are awesome.

The best part about Etsy, for me, is the community. I like that when I have a question about something, the person who actually made that thing with their own two hands is going to answer me back.

Since I've been in this pattern/sewing kick, I've been looking really closely at some of the toddler dresses. I emailed the owner of DevonRose demanding that she make patterns of her designs because they are awesome. She wrote me back saying that she doesn't use patterns -- she just cuts straight from the fabric. What?!? Is that possible? Not for me. There's no way I could do something like that. She is like a magician.

Anyway, she had bought one of my yetis a while back so we got to "chatting" and she suggested we trade. Awesome. This green dress is amazing. The craftsmanship is really impeccable. That's something that's really important to me. I couldn't find a stitch out of place (and you won't in my stuff either). These little fabric covered buttons just rock (I'm so going to buy one of those fabric covered button maker thingys next time I leave the house). Check out how the underskirt just perfectly accents the hem. I love it. I also love her blog. Good stuff.

Project: a feature!

The amazing folks over at Feeling Stitchy featured my Yeti Dreams of Soup dress on their blog. It's a great site full of all the latest stuff in the world of embroidery: new patterns, some projects, free tutorials, and a lot of talent.

It's an honor to be there. Thanks so much!

Project: Men's Dress Shirt Dress

Since Spring isn't listening and we just keep getting more snow, I've decided to stop fighting it and just go with this Wintery theme: Corduroy! ManiMina on Etsy has some really great patterns. A few months ago I bought a set of patterns for recycling men's dress shirts into cute toddler wear. One pattern makes this awesome dress, another makes a top and skirt, and the third has you turn the arms of the shirt into a pair of pants.

I bought a super thick brown corduroy shirt at the Salvation Army for a buck. I thought it would be great for winter. When I took these photos the dress fit perfectly. Then two weeks and a growth spurt later, it was a tunic. I don't know how Mr. Lemon and I turned out this tall kid. I'm 5'2" and Mr. Lemon is no basketball player.

I decided to add some length to the sleeves since this would be worn when it's cold (and now with leggings, also super cute). That was not successful at first; the armholes, which fit perfectly with short sleeves, were way too tight when lengthened. I cut an ovalish shape out of some of the scraps and sewed them into the armpit area after ripping apart that seam. Now it's perfect. I will have to watch out for that when lengthening other patterns. It's no fun to hem sleeves so I added some cute bias trim that I bought on Etsy (it's Michael Miller) before I knew you could make your own.

The dress seemed dark to me so I went nuts with my sewing machine's very limited selection of decorative stitches and added a bunch of detail. I just put some pins in to give me some direction. That was quick, fun and really easy so I'm definitely going to keep doing that little trick.

Finally, I dug through my stash of vintage buttons and found some interesting ones to use in place of the hideous ones that came on the shirt (I bought a tin full of buttons at a yard sale for $3 a few years ago -- what a find!). The only really challenging part about making this dress, for me, was the thickness of the fabric -- especially where there were existing details in the shirt. It was a lot of bulk for my machine but the Huskystar once again pulled through.

I loved making this. I had made the same pattern with short sleeves for a friend in the Fall and will definitely use this pattern again. There are some other tutorials floating out there online for similar projects out of men's dress shirts so I'm going to try them all and report back to you.

Project: Design Challenge finished! Yeti dreams of soup.

If you were a yeti, what would dream about? Soup!

I'm so happy with the way this dress for the Design Challenge turned out. And Zadie loves it to. When I finished it I held it over my legs so it would be at her eye level and she screamed, "Yeti dress!!!!" and gave it (and me) a huge hug. Success.

For my embellishments, I did a reverse applique using one of my yeti t-shirts. I'm happy with the way it turned out and it was totally worth the challenge. If you like doing this technique, try it with a design element. Just trace your image onto thin paper (or photocopy it) to use as a template for placing the fabric underneath your garment. Use a lot of pins to get it right. I stitched around the edges before I cut then went around it again after. Basically I felt that the machine stitching wasn't standing out next to the embroidery so I wanted it to pop a bit more. It wasn't necessary to the construction because I used Wonder Under around the edges of the yeti.

I did the embroidery starting with the bowl of soup. I mapped out where I wanted everything with pins and then just did it freehand. I wanted it to look dreamy so I didn't want to draw on the dress and "trace" with the needle and thread. Finally, I surrounded it with the thought bubble.

Doing this project really reminded me of my love for embroidery. I'll be doing more of this type of work to Zadie's future outfits. If anyone wants a tutorial on my reverse applique, leave a comment. If there is enough demand, I'll write one up.

For more on Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Design Challenge in Progress

Lil Blue Boo sent me the pattern for the Design Challenge via email right away and after work, I got started. The whole Lemon clan looked through the Goodwill bin and Mr. Lemon donated some of his shirts to the cause while I pulled a couple of shirts Zadie had grown out of from the pile.

I ended up choosing the stripes for the bottom because that had been a favorite shirt of mine but it shrunk up too short. The sleeves are from a shirt I got for a dollar. I put Zadie in it all the time but she recently grew out of it. The red and grey are from pre-baby shirts I'll never ever wear again.

Mr. Lemon had gotten dinner together during an unusually long nap so I cut all the pieces out before we ate. After Zadie's bedtime, I stitched the whole thing up in less than an hour. It is a very clear and simple pattern. (I used existing hems for both the bottom of the dress and the sleeves for a more polished look).

I've already started my embellishments (because that's what the challenge is all about). This morning I asked Zadie what the _____ who is now living at the bottom of the shirt will do. She said, "Soup!" so soup it is. Mr. Lemon's trip was cancelled so I'll be able to spend more time on this today than I thought so I'm hoping for greatness. More on Monday!

For more on Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Another challenge

Always a sucker for a sewing challenge, I am throwing myself into the Lil Blue Boo & Dharma Trading Design Challenge ring. The deal is you have to buy one of the Lil Blue Boo patterns (all pattern proceeds are being donated to Three Angels Haiti). Then you have to sew up the garment and embellish it.

I bought the super cute Sienna t-shirt dress because I'm crazy and love to torture myself. I hate knit and my sewing machine feels the same way but, oh well, here goes. As soon as I saw the pattern I had a bunch of ideas. Unfortunately the deadline is Monday (Monday!) so I gotta get busy. Also, Mr. Lemon is heading out of town for the weekend so I'm flying solo on wild toddler duty. Wish me luck. You'll be seeing some yetis in the future. You know it.

Project: Giveaway!

Contest is over. Click here for the winner.

In celebration of the fabulous new look to the blog (see awesome banner above), I decided to do a giveaway. But first, more about the banner. Kimberly of FireDancer Designs had some of the best graphics I found while searching on Etsy. She has a nice, clean sense of design without a lot of fluff. She was super easy to work with (and I know I am not!). Don't you love it? I really don't know html but I am trying to teach myself some stuff. I was able to change the standard template colors from Blogger to the ones I had chosen for my Google Friend Connect gadget (see left sidebar) and Kimberly used those same colors for the banner. Somehow I also figured out how to remove the border that was around the compulsory header.

This blog isn't going to be about a lot of giveaways but a new look calls for some cheer. I stitched up this dress from a pattern I got on Etsy. It is a roomy size 2. The fabric is Alexander Henry's "Smiles Around the World" and is getting pretty hard to find. The dress has a cute little pleat up top and wide bell sleeves.

So if you want a chance to win this, leave a comment on this post. For extra chances, post it to your Twitter with @LemonCadet somewhere in your tweet. I'll randomly pick a winner Feb. 22.

For more about Project: Project, read this post.

A new dress.

After much success with the Simplicity pattern, I decided to pick up something a little shorter, a little more casual. I can't find the pattern right now or I'd tell you what it was. It was not Simplicity and it was not simple. I thought it would be easy but I had a lot of trouble with it. The instructions said to do things that didn't make sense. When I would look up the words they were using, I still couldn't figure out what they were asking me to do so I just did what seemed right. I guess that's why sewing classes are useful. I've never really had one.

I love how this turned out. I used yet another Alexander Henry fabric that is fabulous. It's called Traffic Pattern. I paired it with a dusty blue polka dot that I picked up at the local quilt shop. Instead of buttons, I used snaps. I still don't know how to use my machine to make a button hole and what toddler is going to sit still long enough for you to button them into something. Mine sure doesn't.

Mr. Lemon assisted with the photo shoot on the porch by blowing bubbles to entertain the little one. More pics on flickr (link to the left).