Samuel's Dedication Outfit

My baby boy got dedicated at church on Father's Day weekend. We would have liked to have him dedicated at a younger age, but circumstances didn't work out for that. (Long story, with the meat of it being that we wanted to find a new home church and get him dedicated after we were members).

I love how sweet he looked--just what I was going for

Samuel was a bit of a handful during the ceremony, wanting to talk and make noises and jump off the steps at the front of the church, but that's what you get with a 2 year old!

 

You can see that he was done before Pastor was

There was no dress code for the dedication, but we wanted to dress up and I couldn't pass up a chance to make a special outfit! I ended up sewing 3 pieces for him--a button-up shirt, a pair of basic, elastic-waist pants, and a little tone-on-tone tie. I skipped the vest I was going to sew after trying on the shirt and pants, because I thought a simpler outfit would be more appropriate for the occasion, and seemed more innocent. At least he looked the part.

He looks like he's being good, but my embarrassed
face shows the real story!

I made the shirt using the Sketchbook Shirt pattern from Oliver + S. This was the pattern I used to make his Mater shirt (still no modeled pics, sorry), and I used it because it was already traced, even though I wanted a much different fit since it was intended to be worn tucked in and under a vest. I took width out of both the front and back pieces (and thus the yoke and the collar), so that it fit slimmer through the body. In the interest of time, I extended the center fronts so I could just fold them over for the placket, instead of cutting and sewing the placket on separately. I miscalculated the amount to add and had to use interfacing, but I still saved time. I removed some of the ease in the sleeve cap as I think the pattern has too much for my tastes. And I lengthened and re-shaped the hem a bit. It ended up looking really cute and fit exactly the way I wanted it. And they say kids clothes don't require fit!

The tie was a super quick, super cute sew from a free tutorial I found online. I made it using a tone-on-tone white seersucker that had a gold thread running through it. I think it was subtle and classy :)

The pants were special: though they were basic, elastic-waisted pants, I sewed them from one of my husband's old uniforms. Because he was being a stinker I didn't get a very good picture of the outfit on him, but he looked like a little angel and people were surprised that I made the outfit (I always take that as a great compliment).

This was him saying
"No more pictures"
Seriously.

All that effort and I didn't buy white shoes! I have to admit, I thought the light-up Cars shoes fit his age and personality and were a cute touch.

Oh, and you can now follow my blog with Bloglovin.

SQUEAL! (Guest posting)

Palak at "Make it Handmade" has posted my "confession" over on her blog tonight, and I am smiling so big it hurts. This is my first guest post and I am just so flattered that she asked me, and that she made such nice comments about my projects. PLEASE, go and take a look at her blog--not just my post, but all her awesome tutorials and cute projects.

It is just such a nice feeling to know that there are people out there who read my blog, and appreciate the time I spend on it! (Even if I only get to post about once a week ;) ) I am so inspired by what others create and I love being part of the sewing/crafting community.

If you are someone who reads this blog regularly or maybe just visits every once in a while, or even if you have just stumbled over here for the first time--THANK YOU! 

♥Angie♥

Update

I have lots of irons in the fire right now, but wanted to post a quick update.

First, I'll be doing a guest post on Palak's blog next week. She's have a series on Sewing "Confessions" and I have been invited to share mine. She's got a great blog with tons of quick, clever projects, and a super helpful serger tutorial series, so head over and check it out!

Samuel's shirt is almost ready. I'll be able to add the buttons and buttonholes in plenty of time to wrap it for his birthday party, whoo hoo!

A yucky pictures is better than no
picture, right?

Also, I have a handful of items already cut out for the "Sewing to Rebuild" project. My awesome husband was gracious enough to let me defer his Father's Day present (I'm going to do some massive cleaning/organizing in the garage) so that I have more time to try to sew. I don't know if they are accepting items once the deadline is past, so I am trying to get as much done as I can and I definitely have way less time than I'd like. (That same husband is not quite awesome enough to let me quit my job so I can stay home and sew all day...). I bought a bunch of new fabric (I have a problem, I admit), and I plan to sew up some cute chevron skirts and shorts with part of my haul.

The top fabrics (folded neatly) were purchased in the hopes that I
could sew some items quickly enough to send to Oklahoma.
The bottom fabrics include Christmas chevrons and a knit
(on the right) that will be for family sewing

I bought some cute coordinates as well, to make up some new patterns I've acquired (that is another problem I have, especially since joining a FB group that promotes PDFs and I see cute patterns all the time now...)

The crabs and the blue coordinates were bought with my nieces in mind.
The anchors are going to be made into some Summer Sailor Shorts

And lastly, but certainly not least, I have a 4 piece outfit in mind to sew Samuel before next Sunday. I am going to have to dig deep into my bag of time management tricks because he is getting dedicated at church and I thought it would be great to make him a pair of pants, vest, button-up shirt and tie. Yeesh. I might just buy a shirt, skip the vest, and the tie and pants will be quick to sew. Does that count as time management?