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!!

Almost Instant Gratification

I haven't fired up my embroidery machine in a while (in fact, I'd have to dig through my blog archive just to find the last time I used it). But I got antsy this weekend as none of my sewing projects were working the way I wanted them to, and I switched gears. It felt SO good to knock some projects out quickly!

First up, I added baby Andrew's name to a set of dinosaur burps I had already appliqued. These are going to my sister's friend (whose first son, Adam, received these burp cloths).

Font used is "Burst" from 8 Claws and a Paw
Brontosaurus and Triceratops appliques are from Planet Applique

I wasn't going to tilt the letters at all, just place them along the dinosaur's back, but the "d" didn't want to play nicely that way. So I rotated a few of the letters just a tad to make them fit better.


I also added a little friend's name to her beach towel. Soleil turned 2 recently and her mom brought this over for me to add her name to. I recognized the "hello kitty" font immediately and knew I had the font to match it. I decided to curve Soleil's name around the sun and thought it was especially appropriate as her name means "sun".

Font used is "Mandi" from 8 Claws

I used the capital "L"s for more depth. In order to position the letters, I measured the circle and made a shape in my digitizing program to use as a baseline. Then I removed the circle and saved the file with just the letters in her name. I was pretty pleased with her it turned out.

It felt really good to finish up two projects in less than the time it takes me to cut out some of the stuff I sew!

Popover Sweetie

My friend Jodi stopped by this weekend for a refresher on her sewing machine and when she snuck away to go do a lactation consultation (try saying that 5 times fast!), I sewed up a little Popover Sundress I had already cut out. It didn't take long at all, and I had it ready for her to take home to her daughter by the time she got back to my house. Jodi, being as awesome as she is, sent me some pictures:

I love the photos she sent and I'm thrilled the dress fit. (It ties at the shoulders, but this little lady is a very petite 5.)

This little girl is a doll and her mama said she loved the dress

The dress pattern is a free pattern from Oliver + S and gives you a great sense of what their patterns are like. Even though it's a simple dress, the way the yoke is "lined" makes a nice finish on the inside and is an example of some of the wonderful construction you can expect from an Oliver + S pattern. But enough about the pattern, here's another picture of Jodi's beautiful girl:

How cute is she? And how great is that backyard for photo shoots? The wood fence, the beautiful pool tile--I've already invited myself over to take pictures have Jodi take some pictures for me there :)

Items for Sewing To Rebuild

Sewing to Rebuild has been done for 2 weeks and I just got my box sent off today. Wow. I didn't mean for it to work that way, but I ended up getting a stomach bug not once but twice over the past two weeks. I'm feeling better now and managed to finish up most of the items I had cut out.

For boys, I made some Comfy Shorts using the pattern Designs By Moo provided for this project. I didn't care for the size of the pockets, so I left them off most of the pairs I made. I managed to get 5 pairs done, ranging from sizes 4 to 6.

2 pairs were done in a fun states print and 3 were done in "boy" chevron from Riley Blake. I got a ridiculously good deal on fabric recently and grabbed a dozen yards of chevron prints. I don't know the fashion status of chevron (though it seems to still be in) but I love stripes, and chevrons are like stripes with extra fun and a little spunk.

I also made some elastic-waisted skirts in "girl" chevron. It's the same print I used for dresses for my nieces, but this is new yardage since the other was gone. I tried to make the most of my yardage, while still making the largest sizes possible. The skirts are sizes 6, 8 and 10.

I was originally just going to stick to the skirts, thinking the style would be quick and the fabric would make it cute without embellishment. Well, I started getting distracted and ended up cutting out a couple dresses. I only got one finished in time (I use that term loosely, seeing how I was 2 weeks late), and it was the Nelle dress from Brownie Goose in a size 4.

The yellow/white are skirts, the yellow/aqua in the middle is the dress

Brownie Goose patterns are super popular on Facebook right now, and I do think the styles are cute. There were some things I didn't care for about the pattern though. Once I add a review of it on Pattern Review, you can check it out--it will show up in the widget to the right.  The quick and dirty was that there were a lot of conversational style instructions to read through just to get to the actual steps, and the armhole needed to be raised as it was too low and gape-y as directed.

I managed to stick to my original plan enough to get 2 pairs of ruched shorts and 1 hi-low skirt made. The hi-low (not pictured) was size 11/12 and the Dora shorts were size 2 and size 4 (they take hardly any yardage at all!)

I did get quite a lot made (though not as much as I wanted to) and it was such a joy to sew for others. The final tally was 5 pairs of boy shorts, 2 pairs of girl shorts, 1 hi-low skirt, 1 Nelle dress and 6 elastic-waist skirts--that's 15 kids who hopefully will be happy to have something handmade. I should rephrase that--that's 15 more kids, as the Sewing to Rebuild project collected over 600 items to help those affected by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. That is awesome!

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?