Companion Dot & Floral Ruffle Dress

I just finished the companion dress to the Floral & Dot Ruffle Dress I made earlier this week for Baby R. This one is for her big sister, Little H. Their mom picked out the fabric. I just love the colors. And I've always loved flowers and polka dots together. I'm giving both dresses to her tomorrow when we meet up at gymnastics class.

Here are some more shots of this dress.

Here are the two dresses side by side. The girls are going to look so sweet in them. I love that they coordinate, but because they are inverse, they're not too matchy-matchy.

And, I apologize for the crappy photos. It's after midnight and I'm giving them away first thing in the morning, so I didn't have an opportunity to take any photos with natural lighting.

Floral & Dot Ruffle Dress

After finishing the romper I made for Little O, I had some time to make another ruffle dress for a friend's daughter. What a breeze compared to the romper! I'm actually planning to make her two dresses (one for each of her little girls), but I only had time to make one today. This one is for Baby R and the second one is for Little H (one of Little O's closest friends). The other one will be the inverse of this one, so the main dress will be dots, and the sleeves and ruffle will be floral. I can't wait to see the girls in them. They're going to look so cute!

Adelaide Vintage Romper

Today I finished one of the most challenging sewing projects I've ever attempted. And I have to say, I am quite proud of myself!

I found this pattern for a cute little girl's romper online. It was so cute, that I got over my fear of making clothes from a pattern. Yup. I've never done that before. The dresses I made before  (here and here) all came from an online tutorial (no pattern needed).

I learned so much making this little romper, and I'm excited to put my new skills to work on future projects.

First of all, I learned how to add piping. What a pain! But it's so cute it's worth it. I didn't think so at the time, but I do now.

I also learned a new technique for making bows. I see a couple of new hair bows in Little O's future.

Before this project, I had never made a collar before. Or straps, for that matter. I love the sweetheart neckline. I think it turned out pretty well.

I've always been intimidated by patterns that have shirring on the back. It looks so cute, and makes the clothes so stretchy and comfortable, but I was sure it was really complicated. I was so wrong! I just put elastic thread on my bobbin and regular thread in the needle, and voila! For some reason, I always thought you had to shirr by hand. I love that I did this with my machine, and it only took a few minutes.

I experimented with one final technique for this outfit: applying snaps with a snap press. Thank to a friend for loaning me hers. I practiced on a piece of scrap first, but it turned out to be really easy. I kind of want one of my very own now... Hmmm. Amazon wish list?

I think the most complicated part of the whole pattern was attaching the interfacing where the snaps go. It was so tiny.

Here it is! All done and ready to wear.

Too bad it's so late. I can't wait to see Little O in it. Of course she's going to wear it tomorrow. Pictures to come!

Another Ruffle Dress

I just finished sewing another ruffled dress for a friend's daughter. She picked out the fabric (and it just so happens to be the same as the second dress I made for Little O--the sleeve/ruffle fabric is just a little bit different).

This pattern is so easy. I found the tutorial here.

I'm having a little girls' night in tomorrow night, so she'll see it then. I can't wait to see her little girl in it!

A little breather...

I've taken a little break from blogging lately. Not really on purpose. Just because I've been so crazy busy!

I did finish the dress(es) I made for Little O. And I've got a few more in the works. But now that her Morning Out program is over for the summer, I'm just not sure when I'll find the time to sew!

I know, this isn't the best picture. Sorry. It's the only one I have! Turns out, a 2-year-old isn't the greatest model.

I'm still involved in a monthly whole-foods supper swap. All the meals have been AMAZING! And it is so nice to have one or two meals a week that require no thinking and very little effort. And since they are all made with whole foods, I can feel good about feeding them to my family. We got an upright deep freezer for the garage. So that's where we store our freezer meals. And we also went in on a half of a locally raised cow. So we keep all our meat out there too. And the massive quantities of chicken stock I've been making.

In other news, Little O broke her leg. On Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day! She fell off a piece of playground equipment (while trying to turn over onto her belly to slide down). She fell less than two feet. We wound up in the ER for several hours, and she wound up with a pink cast up to her mid-thigh. Good thing I got those dresses done because getting shorts over her cast is a bit of a chore. Although some days she insists that's what she wears.

She's in good spirits. And the cast will come off in just three more weeks. In the meantime, we're keeping busy with lots of sensory bins, sidewalk chalk, the library, and play dates with friends. And the Toddler Busy Bags from the exchange I hosted a few months ago are really coming in handy! She spent the first day snuggled up on the couch watching Sesame Street and reading books. But by the second day she was crawling around all over the place. And yesterday, she started walking on it again.

It hasn't really slowed her down much. We even took her camping last weekend with some friends.

The wagon came in really handy while camping! We found it used for $25 the day before we left for our trip. SCORE!

We kept her cast clean with a large men's sock pulled up over it. She actually really liked the look and wanted to wear one on the other leg too.

Anyway, hopefully I'll find some time to get back to crafting soon! I've been missing it. And my craft room has been lonely.

Ruffled Dress for Little O (Part 1)

I went to the Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Tuesday with my mom. We decided to try out the afternoon meeting instead of the evening one. After the meeting is time to open sew for a few hours before the evening meeting. I think next month, we'll attend the open sewing and then stay for the evening meeting instead. We seem to fit in better with the evening crowd for some reason.

Anyway, after the meeting, we realized we were the only two who were staying to sew. Oh well. I didn't want to go home. I can't sew there (except on Thursday mornings when Little O goes to school). And my mother-in-law was babysitting. Didn't want to waste that opportunity! So we stayed.

I showed you the inspiration and pattern for a dress I wanted to make Little O for the summer. It seemed really easy to put together And for the most part, it was. (We had a little measuring/cutting snafu because the cutting mat and ruler were smaller than the pieces I needed to cut.

I found the fabric in the pile of donations at the guild meeting. It cost $1 each. So, the materials for the dress cost me a total of $2. The pattern was free!

I got all the cutting done. And I attached all four pieces together (front, back, and two sleeves). I also managed to overcast the edges of the seams to prevent fraying. This step wasn't in the pattern, but my fabric was already starting to fray, and I knew it needed to be done before washing and wearing.

Here's what it looked like when I had to pack up to head home:

I still need to add the elastic to the neck and sleeves and sew the ruffle on the bottom. I can't wait to have Little O try it on!