I'm Such a Trendsetter!

It's going to seem like I'm jumping on the Pokemon Go bandwagon, but all the hubbub about the game has just reminded me that I never posted my makes from Danielle's Pokemon themed birthday party. Her birthday was in April, so I'm going to go ahead and take credit for making Pokemon huge again, k?

Danielle is getting older (she's 7 now!) and she didn't want "poofy" sleeves. She still likes some ruffles and adores a good twirl, but her birthday dress this year was a bit tamer than previous years (see birthday #4 and birthday #5). I made the Candy CastlePrincess dress pattern with 3/4 sleeves. I used two different Pokemon prints and Danielle *perfectly* accessorized it with a Torchic inspired necklace (one of the activities we did at her party). She also did her own hair, and I think it looked cute :) (We did pictures after the party so it's a bit messy, don't judge)

This is Torchic (Pokemon wikia)

The dress was an easy make and fit well. I bought a Babylock ruffler for my machine (I've had bad luck with the two generic rufflers I bought when I used a Janome), and it got a little fussy with me. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I had a very long strip of ruffle and had to go back and re-gather a few bits. Oh, and I had to squeeze the ruffle out of the piece of white with black polka dot fabric I had, so I may have cheated and gathered it a bit more and a bit less in some places. Besides that mess, everything went together really easily.

Little brother got a custom shirt in the party theme. I used the Mac's Monster Tee pattern from Cole's Corner and Creations and I LOVE how it turned out!

The non-Pokemon parts are plain black cotton lycra

I've seen raglan shirts made for boys with a mix of woven and knits (the front of the shirt is made from woven and the rest from knit), but I didn't want a solid shirt panel. Plus I wanted to find a way to use both Pokemon prints. I made the shirt according to the pattern--the only changes I made were to use a woven fabric for the lower front panel, and to add a woven pocket (piece from another pattern). I don't sew for my boy enough and he was very happy with his new shirt.

Beside the clothes, I also "made" a cake (some poorly frosted cupcakes shaped like a Pokeball) and we played a few games. Girls seem to like activities more at their parties than boys do. It was a fun day and I loved seeing both my kids in mama-made.

My favorite birthday picture is always the "cake face" one :)

More Makes

Here is another wrap up post of things I made and never blogged about!

I made this super cute shirt for Samuel about a year and a half ago. It's unfinished in this picture, but the main details are there. It's the Mac's Monster Tee pattern from Cole's Corner and Creations. The shirt has a curved yoke which is great for colorblocking but also leaves the perfect space for applique. I chose to do an Olaf face. It's not available in the pattern, but there are a lot of great choices. I currently have two (short sleeved versions) of these tees cut out for Samuel and his best friend for the summer.

This sweet doll is the Doodley Doll Zoey pattern from Embroitique. I combined elements of several faces together to make the embroidery file for the face I wanted. I didn't read the directions very well and ended up sewing the hair right sides together and flipping it out, instead of sewing it with wrong sides together and raw edges, but I prefer my "mistake".  I wanted to use a woven for the headband instead of felt, so I cut two pieces and stitched them together to get edges that wouldn't fray. I do love using fleece for dolls (I used it for her hair, shoes and collar)--it doesn't fray and I have lots of scraps from other projects.

The jumper that matches is the Perfect A-Line Dress (which is reversible) from Tie Dye Diva. This was for a sweet friend whose mama picked out the fabrics. The doll is to match her little girl, who doesn't have a lot of options for dolls who look like her. I used remnants from the jumper to make the doll's outfit and was thrilled with how this turned out.

 

I mostly sew clothes, but the doll above was a nice change of pace. So was this cake I made for a co-worker whose name is Bob. We build data models and tools, so his nickname is "Bob the Builder". We bring in a cake for the birthday after us, so when I was responsible for his birthday, I knew I had to make a Bob the Builder cake! My mom took a cake decorating class way back when and passed down the basics to me. This is just a Wilton shaped pan, and I used the Wilton icing recipe along with some of the gel colors to make the black and bright orange-red. It was fun, but took hours. Next year I'm bringing in a traditional cake :)

 

Finally, here are my cuties in a more recent project--the Night Before PJ Pants from Cole's Corner and Creations. They sew up super fast (there are no side seams) and miraculously fit both my slim girl and my big bootie boy. There are options for cuffs or ruffles, and several different lengths. This is definitely going to be a staple in my kids warddrobes!

A Lot of Catch Up

There has been a lot of sewing that I haven't gotten around to blogging in the past couple years. I intend to try to blog in detail about some, but wanted to share some of the others briefly.

This was an outfit that I made my daugther for the 4th of July in...2014 (don't judge). I used denim for the shorts and lengthened them about 4 inches. They're super cute, just designed to be a little shorter than I prefer. They're the Lucy shorts from Made from Mermaids and I love how simple, yet cute, they are. The shirt was RTW and I embroidered it with the Star Spangled Cutie design from Planet Applique.

This pretty maxi dress is the Lily Lace dress and romper from Made for Mermaids. I think the back is beautiful, but we don't really do open backs, so this went to a sweet little friend of ours. She's the same size as Danielle so her younger sister usually gets our handmade-me-downs. She was so excited to receive it :)

Here's my goofy girl with my goofy dad :) This is a pajama top I made by using the Miss Mary Mack Tunic pattern from Love Notions. The ice cream fabric was from Hancock Fabrics "spot the bolt" table. It did not feel nice at all before I washed it, but it was so soft and comfortable afterwards. And it was a steal for less than $2/yard! It'll make it's appearance again in summer PJs.

This is the free Izzy top pattern from Climbing the Willow. I didn't want my girl getting pinched on St. Patrick's Day, and she didn't have any green in her dresser, so mommy's fabric stash to the rescue! I lengthened the size 5 for my girl and it ended up way too big :( The white fabric has a subtle stripe in it and was really pretty in person. I don't think anyone else had trouble with the sizing, but I am hesitant to use this again (I normally get good results from following whatever measurements are given).

This top and skirt are so cute together, but D never wore them as an outfit except for pictures. I realized, after taking way too many pictures, that my neckband was wonky. I put the top in my mending pile and there it sits, to this day! She wore the skirt a couple times, but it didn't get worn as much because it was a bit of an orphan (ie, she didn't have any tops to go with it). The top is a soft, buttery yellow knit with white stripes and a woven polka dot collar. The skirt is a quilting cotton with colorful mermaids on it. Both patterns are Made for Mermaids: the Samantha suspender skirt and the Charlotte collar top.

The skirt above did make an appearance when we went to see the mermaids at the aquarium! You can't see it in this picture, but it was too cute not to share. These are my sweet nieces (yes, they're twins) that came to visit. I made a mermaid applique for my nieces shirts using fabric and Heat & Bond. Danielle wore her mermaid skirt from  above, and the girls wore some Katie John skirts from Coles Corner and Creations with mermaid fabric accent (I was pretty low on mermaid fabric and decided last minute to make outfits for the aquarium--there was some seriouspiecing going on and I might have stapled a hem that I forgot to sew...). We had a great visit and the mermaids were really cool to see!