Straight Hair, Lovely Dress, Beautiful Girl

Sometimes SB lets me play with her hair and dress her up like a little doll.  I decided to see if she would put up with me straightening her hair with a flat iron for church.  It's hard to tell how long her hair really is when it curls up.  Those lovely locks reach her waist!  I'm so tempted to cut it sometimes.

This dress is the one I made for Jason's wedding.  I really love the way it turned out. Very "vintagey".  (I don't think vintagey has made it in the dictionary yet.)  Aunt Alli made the hair clip which has frayed ends hanging from it.  I love 'em.

Do you wonder as much as I do how great it would be to get a genuine smile from her?  She's really a happy child.  She sings all the time, loves to play, and can't get enough kisses.   The photos speak lies!!!

Putting up with me...

...getting more annoyed...

...bribed with candy...

...threatened and bribed.  I'll have to try a new combo next time.

Do you notice the background?  That is my new floor.  It's what I've been doing for the last month and why my back hurts and why I haven't blogged and why I may need to be institutionalized soon.

Oliver + S Ruffled Halter

Here is my version of the Oliver + S Ruffled Halter.  I found this free pattern here for anyone who wants to get their own.  Very cute, but it didn't come with instructions, not that I ever read them anyway.  I may eventually make an adult version... maybe. 
Stitch Magazine, which is where I got the halter pattern, has some great patterns if you're in the mood to sew something right here right now.  Of course you need a printer and some tape to get all those pieces together.  If you've never printed a pattern online before, it's not that bad, unless you are a dedicated tree hugger, because you will be wasting some paper.

  SB had some silly eyes going on in this picture so I photoshopped some super cute black glasses onto her lovely little face, just to cover up what is normally her most fetching feature.  In this photo, not so.  Don't judge me.

Birthday gift #2

Since Melissa had a double birthday party for her girls, I had to make something for Allie too.  Here's the dress I made for her.  Again, mostly thrift store material was used.  Lots of raw edges cut on the bias, a gaudy headband, what more could you ask for?

Cheap but Awesome Birthday Gift

I made this little dress for a my friend Melissa's little girl.  This dress starts my attempt at taking pictures of the things I make before they're gone for good.  SB volunteered to model this one for me before we gave it to the birthday girl. 

All of the material used came from the thrift store.  (I know what you're thinking.  The material is washed, don't worry.)  My mother-in-law loves to bring me any material she finds from there.  Sometimes it's a gold mine. 

I was a little worried that this would look too "Little House on the Prairie" but I actually think it looks pretty cute.  I even thought about keeping it for SB and making another one for the birthday girl.  With only a day left, I decided to give it. 



Happy #2, Kierstyn!  You look super cute!!



Recycled Shirt/ Apron

The only items added were the green ruffle trim at the bottom, the strap on top, and the pockets.  The yellow on the pockets were made from the sleeve cuffs.  The green dots came from my stash.

Flower Girl Dress

Remember these people?  This is my brother Jason and his fiance' Allison.  They'll be married in March. 

Allison asked me if I would make flower girl dresses for SB and Ada, her other niece.  I agreed to do it but needed some ideas of what she wanted.  I got what I asked for, down to the last detail.  In the image below are the contents of a box I got Christmas day from Allison.  This is a girl who know's what she wants. 

I know you can't see all of what's here, but there are 8 or so labeled fabrics, labeled photos of sample dresses she likes, and a page (front and back) of instructions for one dress.   

This is my first dress - a little too long.  Ok... a lot too long.  The bottom photos show how I shortened it.  SB wasn't really willing to model a second time.  This dress isn't for her anyway.  It's for Ada, Allison's niece.  SB's will be posted later, when I get to it.

I'm SEW Awesome

Made with Glossy ModPodge and fusible web.

Yep, I hand stitched these letters.

She likes the shirt!

A cheap, 30 minute, AWESOME Christmas present for a good friend.   (I say cheap, because I had all these things on hand except the shirt.)

Ingredients:
$6.00 Hanes t-shirt from Wal Mart
Barbasol shaving cream
Temporary Spray adhesive
Black screen printing ink or acrylic paint
ModPodge (Glossy)
Image (Sewing Machine) printed from a color (or black and white) inkjet printer
Small piece of white scrap fabric
Wonder Under or fusible web
Iron
Sponge Brush
Scissors
Embroidery Floss if you're in the mood to sew by hand.

If you'd like to see a tutorial, comment.

Christmas Dress

The Photo:
In the past, I've prided myself on my Christmas dresses for Sarah Beth.  Not this year.  I have way too many projects going on right now to fuss over cute Christmas pictures.  I had invisioned dressing her up as an angel with real feathered wings and doing a very overexposed angelic portrait of her.  These days I'm lucky to get her to look my way when I have a camera in hand much less expect her to cooperate.

It's already December and I have yet to get my Christmas cards printed and in the mail.  One of these two will have to do.

The Dress:
I did make this dress one night out of some fabric I found at the Fabric Krazy Quilt Shop which I love because of its subtle festive qualities.  The applique file comes from Planet Applique which is my one of my favorite online shops.  It happens to be the first thing I've ever made for her with zipper.  An invisable zipper.

Elf on the Shelf Shirt

This is what I've always perceived the Elf on the Shelf to look like because it has been in my family since I was a kid.  I have no idea how old he is, but Green Guy's the real deal.  My grandpa gave me this guy (along with two others just like him) last Christmas.  He and my grandma used to hang them on their tree. 

The elf on the shelf below (Red Guy) came along a few years ago and I'm still not sure what the "tradition" is but he's not quite as cute as my green striped guy.  Ok, Red Guy's a little less creepy than Green Guy.  I might rather find him staring at me from different places in the house, than Green Guy.

 

The reason they are even mentioned in this post is because of the shirt I made below.  I got this knit striped fabric and really wanted to use it to make a shirt.   I made a a pattern for myself and sewed away.  It fits well and is really cute . . .except for the fact that it reminds me of Green Guy.   When I wear it, I keep waiting for someone to tell me I belong in Santa's workshop.

Belle

Since my sister Katee is so pregnant and overdue, I feel sorry for her.  She could ask me for anything and I'd probably do it for her.  Lilly Mae asked me to make her a Belle dress.  How could I turn her down. 

Crazy enough, this dress cost me less than $6 to make.  It's got four layers of various types of material from knit to netting to satin to tulle and has some hot fix crystals too.  I enjoyed making this so much because all I had to go by was some basic measurements over the phone.  There was no pattern, only one of SB's princess books to reference.  I hope it looks enough like Belle, LM.

It cost so little I had some stuff in my stash I figured I might one day use, and because of my sweet neighbor who thought of me and found this yellow satin at Hobby Lobby for a mere $2 a yard.  She bought almost three yards and gave it to me.  What a blessing!  Katee and LM you can thank my neighbor Neila. 

Recycling

Lots of the gifts I make for friends and family come from previously owned articles of clothing.  Case in point- this little girl's shirt that was given at a birthday party today came from my hubby's closet.   It doesn't look the same as when he had it, and it's been washed, but somehow I feel a little cheap about giving it as a gift.  I also gave her the pink thingie in the other image.  I made it from all new materials, but it's not my favorite of the two. 
I'm gonna keep recycling old clothing and give it away as gifts.  If you get one from me, don't be offended.  Its' because I love you!

Baby Gifts

Some cute shoes made of weird stuff I found laying around

including an old dance costume and some blue leopard fur.

Some burp cloths made with appliques from one of my favorite sites.

Some incomplete sentences.

Elephants, Ladybugs, and Yellow Birds

LM's

SB's variation

I made Lilly Mae a big sister shirt since she's about to be one.  She's in for a shock when she has to share her Mommy and Daddy.  You're gonna be a super big sister, LM!!

SB was in love with the pink polka dot elephant and wanted one of her own.  Luckily I had planned to make one for her anyway.  I can't wait for it to get colder so she can wear it. 

On another note, I have volunteered to paint faces for the upcoming school carnival.  Hopefully the school will make a little money from my mad skills.  Last week I pulled my students aside and painted some of their faces for practice since I've never done this before.  For those who rathered I didn't paint their faces, they didn't escape without at least an arm or two painted.  This girl, a 7th grader surrendered both arms to me and went home like this. 

Maybe I'll post some fancy faces later.  For now, enjoy the garden creatures.

Serendipity Skirt

There's my face.  I plan to keep it off of most of my pictures, but here, you can see how much I like this skirt.  When I was in the store buying the fabric, there was another customer there who I began to talk with.  I told her I was using all of these fabrics in a skirt.  She began giving me looks of disapproval.  Then she got vocal about it.  She tried to explain to me how they wouldn't work together and grabbed other bolts of fabric to suggest in place of my current choices.  I still ended up with these.  Her suggestions were fun, but I like my concoction. 

About the pattern:  I bought the book Sew Serendipity by Kay Whitt.  I really like this book and it comes with all the pieces you need for the 18 or so patterns.  There are some cute shirts and jackets in the book too and she uses material from designers I really like so the finished pieces are beautiful.  I believe the book was released less than a month ago. 

New Skirt

I love this skirt.  My legs are really white so I cut them out of the picture, but the skirt is super cool.  The fabric is from Allbrands which happens to be my favorite fabric store.  My husband dreads my suggestion to go there.  It means a hole is being burnt in my pocket and he's waiting a long time in the car.  When I get in there I never expect to stay there so long, but it's so hard to decide on anything because it's all so great.  These fabrics are Heather Bailey's and Sandi Henderson's.  They work so well together.

Sew and Tell Debut

I've been busy...sewing...so I'd like to show you my work (bashful).   I plan to post a series of things I've sewn...maybe some with tutorials.   All of these were taken by my hubby in the kitchen.  He was a real sport and got up about ten times to photograph each new piece of clothing I put on.  Thank you, Dear!

So here's the first post.  Note: They will be posted in no particular order.

I made this vest last summer and recently finished the edges with some white yarn on my serger.  I saw this pattern on line last summer and decided to give it a try with some denim material that my mother-in-law got from the thrift store.  No harm done if it didn't come out because it didn't cost a thing.  I modified this thing so many times I couldn't tell you how to make it.  I LOVE the way it came out on the back.  The original pattern was not tailored enough for me so I added darts and pleats everywhere.  You can click on the photo for a more detailed view. 

Check back for more SEW and Tells.

Baby Boy Gifts #2

Lately I've been using my iPhone to take pictures of things I'm making rather than using my real camera.  The quality definitely suffers but it's SO convenient.  I tried to doctor up these photos before posting them.  The color is still a little off and you don't really see the corduroy applique.  I also used minky dots as trim on the top and bottom edges and on the back. The blanket is pale blue, white, and chocolate brown not teal, pale pink, and black.

This blanket would be just as cute for a girl with a slight change of color or cute font.

Baby Boy Gifts

No! Not ME!!! My two sisters are.  I should join the crowd I guess. 

I've been having lots of fun making stuff for them.  I'll try to post some pictures as I complete some projects.  Katee has chosen to be surprised at delivery rather than finding out the sex ahead of time.  My gifts for her will be more maternal than for baby brother/sister.  She wants a sling. 

Crystal is having a boy.  Even though she's due after Katee, I feel more focused on making her stuff because I know what it is and what she plans to name him.  Here are two so far. 

A wipe case

Store-bought travel wipe case, hot glue, spray baste, ribbon, scrap fabric, and batting. 

 Hector the Turtle which is really just something to lay on other than the dirty floor.  

A little detail about Hector: 

• His underbelly is just as cool as the top but completely different.
• He's very masculine in spite of the fact that his head, legs, and tail were cut from a dress.
• The top looks messy because it's a rag quilt.   Once Hector gets washed a few more times he ought to be nice and fuzzy.
• His eyes are made from the letter O and a few other shapes using machine embroidery.

I love making something cool without spending any money!

New Dress

My mom and I went shopping at a fabric store where we found this drapery fabric with embroidered ladybugs on it. I loved it so my mom bought it as a gift (for me to make something and for SB to wear.) I made Sarah Beth a new outfit out of this ladybug fabric recently and wanted to take her picture in it.

Well Sarah Beth has become somewhat camera shy, or just plain difficult to photograph. Now that she's mobile, she really doesn't sit two seconds in one spot. I can't tell her, "Just stay here and let Mommy get 1 good picture, then you can go play." No, before I finish asking she's off chasing something that is of utmost importance to her. Her daddy and I worked together to get the best cooperation we could out of her. He would run around placing her while I tried to make her look at me.

SB not wanting to be photographed and letting me know it.

On top of her not wanting to show off her new dress, she has found new ways to make noises and funny faces with her tongue. In most of the pictures I took of her, she has a bottom lip issue: poking out, sucking in, crooked...or her mouth is wide open in protest of my asking her to smile.

"I have smiled ONE TOO MANY TIMES, MOMMY! This is my best."

The photos above were taken on my bathroom floor. It was the place with the fewest distractions. We tried outside, but she couldn't help but squint the whole time.

Serious and sassy, SB!

The picture above was pure accident. She doesn't pose for anything. This one was taken in my bedroom because we knew she would like the chair. You still can't see the dress very well, but she's so cute.

Here are a few more random pics from the same shoot. No more hand made dress, just some cute clothes Todd's mom got her.

If you've ever tried your hand at children's photography, you know how challenging it can be. I once sat for 4 hours trying to get a friend's kids to quit crying all at the same time. In the end, SB was still a good subject even if I never got a good smile out of her. Those somber expressions are just as priceless to me.