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!

Ruffle Pop Skirt

As always, so much to share, so little time! I was asked this weekend how I found time to sew. I guess it comes at the expense of blogging :) It used to feel like an item wasn't really done until it was blogged about. Now, that's kind of lessened as I have other ways to share what I work on (the ladies at work are oh-so-patient with me!) But since this blog acts as a sort of journal for me, I'd like to do better and play catch up. For real life, as my now-5-year-old would say.

This is a little outfit I put together for one of Danielle's friends at school. She was having a Hello Kitty themed birthday party and I noticed the birthday girl and her sister often wear appliqued shirts, so I thought handmade would be appreciated.

I have been really wanting to make Tie Dye Diva's Ruffle Pop skirt, and when I found a hot pink coordinating print for that bright blue HK print, I knew it was a match. Some eyelet lace made it an even quicker sew. I didn't feel up to embroidering a shirt so I went with the suggestion of some online sewing "friends" and added a plain t-shirt to go with it. Danielle picked the pink and I like it.

To round it all out I made a headband. I used some ruffle elastic that I found while looking for inspiration for the baby gown I made recently. (I wish I could have ordered it in time to use for that outfit). I ruffled a long strip of the blue fabric and used this Kitty Feltie design from GGDesigns to add a Hello Kitty-ish kitty to the middle.

The design comes with a no-mouth option, but I also left
the ear detail off as well.

I glued the ruffle onto a felt circle, then sandwiched the seam of the headband (which was just the ruffle elastic with the ends sewn together) in between the base felt circle and another piece of felt. A little glue on the bow, and more hot glue to put HK in the middle, and I was done!

More Christmas Gifts

Besides the laptop tote in my last post, I made a few other things for Christmas. My favorite was a personalized outfit for a little girl named Jada who loves Dora.

I used the Sugarplum Skirt pattern from Tie Dye Diva and appliqued a long sleeve shirt to coordinate. The skirt has a flat front waistband and elastic in the back, along with a big (optional) bow in the front. I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of most of the character fabric I've seen, but kids love it. This pattern offers the perfect solution--the end result is so pretty it doesn't matter what fabric you use!

For the shirt I used the Stitchy Applique Font from LynniePinnie. I think it's a neat look and would like to use it again on some stuff for my kids.

I used a single piece of fabric and trimmed afterwards.
It was a little tricky because the I put the letters so close together.

I also made two doll dresses, but my photos were awful, so I only have pictures of one to share. This is the Carousel Girl dolly dress from Ellie Inspired (who is no longer going to be selling doll patterns separately). It is beautiful, but was time-consuming to sew--the bottom ruffle was 6 feet long before it was ruffled! I used fabrics from the Bubble Gum Swing Dress I made Danielle and it turned out so pretty.

Here is the back which has 4 rows of ruffles making a bustle

I also made the Made for Mermaids Rapunzel dolly dress which had velcro along the back to close it and would be great for younger girls. It coordinates with the girl-sized version I made for Danielle for Halloween and which I finally got better pictures of to share.

Finally, I used the Made for Mermaids Cinderella pattern to make dress-up dresses for some special little girls. I have been making quite a few princess dresses, so I have lots more to say about Megan's great patterns, but I'll save them for another post :)

That wraps up my Christmas sewing posts! Coming up I have lots of princess dresses to share, including the sisters from "Frozen" :)

Twin Minnies (Twinnies?)

My sister and her husband's family headed to Disney World recently and she asked me to make some Minnie Mouse themed dresses for her girls with fabric she supplied.

I used the Fair & Square Dress pattern by Tie Dye Diva because I wanted the dresses to fit well and I needed a pattern for two fabrics. The red polka dot was some sort of synthetic blend and kind of yucky to work with, but I thought it looked pretty Minnie-esque. My sister also supplied some heat & bond and some yellow rick rack for embellishements.

I'm not normally a rick rack girl, but I think it definitely suited the look and was very much needed to spruce up the dress a bit. For the applique, I found a silhouette with just the right proportions (and learned about Hidden Mickeys) here.  I printed it out at the size I wanted, fused some Heat 'n' Bond to some plain black fabric, pinned the mouse head to the fabric, cut it out, ironed it to the dress and then zig-zagged around it with my sewing machine. This blog post on Sew Like My Mom does a great job of explaining how to do applique neatly.

I also added a little surprise in the package for the girls:

I ordered these bracelets from Kinsley River Designs (whom I discovered through a mutual friend). The necklace Danielle wore with her birthday dress was made by Alana as well and I've ordered several custom items that will show up on my blog with future outfits. She's super talented and is competitively priced and it is too easy to get addicted to what she makes!

Until my sister sends me pictures of the girls in their dress (hint, hint Shawna!), here's proof that I made two of these dresses (my twin body forms aren't nearly as cute as my nieces...)

Seaside Sailor

I have been sewing up a storm but unfortunately don't have pictures of my recent projects to share yet. I didn't want to post just for the sake of posting, so I was happy to find I had a legitimate past project to share. (Although I have no clue how I forgot to post about it before!)

This is the Seaside Sailor dress by Tie Dye Diva. It was a pattern test I did a couple months ago, and, honestly, the first pattern I've used of Jen's, though I had purchased a few of her other patterns. I can't believe I waited so long to try a TDD pattern--they are fantastic!!

The instructions are exceptional! They are clear and well-written and provide lots of details without being overly wordy. She explains the reasoning behind many of her techniques and, best of all, anticipates and addresses questions someone might have as they sew this garment. And the fit? Oh the fit!

One of my biggest pet peeves lately is that it's taken for granted that there isn't a lot of "fit" involved in making children's clothes. That's garbage--I want my kids to wear clothes that fit them, even if they will be changing sizes in a few months. I want their clothes to cover them properly and I don't want big gaping armholes. I want my daughter's dresses to come down to her knees--this means she can wear them longer and she's 4, bloomers peeking out the bottom of her dress won't fly at this age! The fit was great with this pattern, and when I made pants for Samuel's dedication outfit, I used a Tie Dye Diva pattern because I was confident they'd be drafted properly and I only had enough material for one shot.

Finally, I really liked the finishing and details in this garment. The ties are attached under the collar so you don't have to worry about them being a choke hazard, and they fit through a loop in the front, so you don't have to try to keep them tied. I'm not sure how many sailor dresses one needs in their daughter's wardrobe at one time, but you can't go wrong with this pattern! Oh, and for the littlest ones, there is now a baby version of this pattern--it's too cute!!