A Sun Sighting in February

The end of February is finally here. As if to remind me, today was beautiful and sunny. Not warm (at all), but still. I'll take it. We spent as much time as we could outside soaking up the blue skies and sunlight. The next five days are supposed to be some variation of completely cloudy and/or rainy, windy or snowy/rainy. I yearn for the days when sunlight is the norm and I can stop popping vitamin D pills like Smarties.

Oh February. You stupid, stupid month. You're even spelled stupidly. Go away and let winter release its grip on us. I know March isn't exactly a month of warmth and sunshine either, but it's a heck of a lot closer to getting us there than February.

See that bright colored spot in the middle of this photo? It's the sun. I know, I couldn't believe it either!

What's that? The sky is blue? I thought it was a shade of bleak gray!

The sight of these little babies almost made me weep with joy:

Same with these--and bonus that they were on clearance and in my size. Thanks, Old Navy:

Charlotte likes them too. In fact, as soon as they were out of the bag she dropped what she was doing and scampered over saying "oooh, mommy's shoes? I see mommy's shoes? Shoes on?". That's my girl; she loves a cute pair of shoes just as much as she loves jumping in puddles and picking up sticks :)

Three more days until March is here and we can put this long and dreary month to rest for another year!

~Stacy

The Boat Tent

We got home late last night from our day trip to Pittsburgh. We had a blast visiting our friend Adam. We started out at Ikea, which was my first time going. I wasn't prepared for how enormous that place is! Whew. It was really fun, a little overwhelming, and we found a bunch of neat things...including this tent:

So we saw this tent on display and thought it was the coolest thing and had to bring it home for Charlotte. Turns out the display tent in the store was a smaller version, which we did not realize until we got it home and set it up last night. It's spacious, but it's also very bendy (real word. Bendy.) so we can easily take it upstairs for her to play with in her room or if we need to get it out of the living room.

When she got home today she immediately ran inside it and spent the majority of the day in and out of it. She loves it and refers to it as a "boat." Why boat? I have no idea, but she insists that it's a boat.

I expect many more fun days "boating." :)

~Stacy

This About Sums It Up

The past week has flown by and it's been really busy, but not really the fun kind of busy. More like the work and errand and more work kind of busy. Charlotte's been a good sport and here are a few random snapshots into her week, which mainly involved a lot of too-big shoe wearing:

We scored some sweet deals at a resale shop. I found a brand new (tags still on!) Lands End rain coat in her size for $6. She insisted on wearing it most of Wednesday morning:

Love those strawberry pockets!

Another score at the resale shop? This carrier for her baby doll I found for $2:

Speaking of work, this past week she got to visit her Daddy at his office. She enjoyed exploring everything and acting in her role as Miniature Boss Lady:

And that is about all I've got for this week. Unless you want to see pictures of wellness surveys, or some riveting information on a new health insurance program, or perhaps a personnel policy handbook that's approximately 795 pages. No? Ok.

Tomorrow we're dropping the Little Lady at my parents' and driving to Pittsburgh to visit one of our best friends from college. We're meeting him at Ikea, which I've never been to and am more excited to check it out that I should probably admit to. Chad just finished his last class until June, so it's been an intense couple of months but we're looking forward to the long break. This weekend will be a nice little  celebration!

Have a great weekend!

~Stacy

Sewing Spring Tops

Continuing on with my focus on all things spring, I made some spring tops for Charlotte this week. I'm proud to say that I've already accomplished a few of my new years sewing resolutions: I've branched out with sewing clothing, I've conquered zippers, and now with one of these tops I've attempted (and succeeded) at sewing ruffles. I don't know what my problem was about zippers and ruffles...I guess I just assumed they would be obnoxious and difficult, particularly zippers since they involve a different sewing foot. I'm glad to have gotten over my fear, since avoiding patterns with either of those skills limited my choices quite a bit.

Anyhow, the first shirt I made was a simple knit top using the Raglan Tee Tutorial from one of my favorite sewing blogs: Craftiness is Not Optional. This tutorial is great--the directions are thorough and clear and pictures are included for every single step. For this shirt you actually end up making your own pattern, which sounds hard but really isn't (especially with these instructions). I used this bright colored knit I found on sale at Joann's, plus some plain white rib knit for the sleeves and neckline:

I have a large pad of tracing paper that I use to make patterns. The paper is pretty thick, unlike regular pattern paper which is so tissue thin it can be hard to use. The pattern is drawn by using an existing shirt in the size you need and simply tracing around and adding seam allowances. Since the main part of the shirt and the sleeves are two different fabrics, the sleeves get cut off to make a separate pattern piece. Here's how mine evolved:

And the final product:

It was so simple to make, and the total time involved was probably about an hour (which includes the time it took to make the pattern). I have enough fabric left over to make another one in the next size up, which I might do and save it for next spring/summer. The only change I would make is to lower the front neckline a bit and make the neckline slightly wider on each side--maybe more like a boatneck style.

The second top I made comes from this pattern:

I used View A, and instead of making it all from the same fabric I used two fabrics for the top and bottom. Why? Because I couldn't decide which one I liked better. I also left off the rick rack on the bottom.

The fabric for this top is The Simple Life by Tasha Noel. I bought a bundle of six half-yard cuts and still have quite a bit left, so another top might be in the works...

This top gave me some trouble. There were a few times where I read the same instructions over and over and just said "what??" and had to walk away for awhile. I eventually worked it out on my own, but not without a little help from my seam ripper.

Ah, only one more week of February. I don't like to wish time away, but February is by far my least favorite month. I'm glad it's also the shortest. You know, since it's also the coldest, ugliest, grayest, bleakest...you get the idea. I don't like February.

Cheers to spring coming soon!

~Stacy

Ice Cream Date

If there's anything sweeter than a Daddy sharing his ice cream with his girl, let me know. In the meantime:

That's all.

~Stacy

Basic Clothing Repurposing & Alterations: Toddler Edition

Spring is coming, which presents a bit of a clothing challenge (at least in Ohio). The weather is typically still chilly, but not cold enough to wear sweaters (and besides, if you're like me you loathe the sight of sweaters come March). But it's also not warm enough to wear summery clothes like shorts, tank tops, dresses, etc. I end up wearing a lot of t-shirts and lightweight cardigans with cropped jeans--not too warm but still springy.

I went through Charlotte's bin of warmer weather clothes and noticed that most of them were shorts, sleeveless shirts and dresses. Much of what is currently in her closet is long-sleeved tops, a lot of sweaters, and several pairs of heavier weight long pants--like fleece and corduroy. Hmmm. Many of these items still fit and probably will for at least a few more months, so buying new clothes for spring seems silly and unnecessary. So it was time to get a little creative.

Maybe I'm the only one with this problem, but I noticed that her long-sleeved shirts tend to fit just fine as she grows--except in the sleeves. I don't think she has unusually long arms, but the sleeves on all her tops get too short before she outgrows the rest of it. And her knit leggings, which she wears most of the time, end up getting too short way before she outgrows them in the waist. I decided to take some of the shirts (the ones with a color palette and/or pattern that wasn't wintery or holiday looking) and cut and hem the sleeves to make a short sleeved shirt and do the same to the leggings to turn them into capris.

First, the shirt. Love this shirt and it fits her wonderfully--except for the sleeves. They're too short, plus the elastic at the bottom digs into her little arms and leaves marks. :(

I took the shirt with the too short sleeves and found a short sleeved shirt with a sleeve length I liked. I put the short sleeved tee on top of the long sleeved one and measured the sleeve length from the shoulder seam to where I wanted the sleeve to end (keep in mind that if you want the same finished sleeve length as the short sleeved top, add a bit at the bottom to account for seam allowance. I added 3/4").

Using a fabric marker or chalk, mark the top and bottom of where you'll be cutting across. Make sure to angle your line--cutting straight up and down will end up looking a little awkward when finished. Cut the sleeve off and repeat on the other side. When I did the other side, I folded my shirt in half so that I'd match the angles of the two sleeves exactly and made sure it wouldn't look off balance once it's finished. Much easier to make those changes now than later. 

Next I turned the whole shirt inside out and folded the ends of the sleeves in about 1/8" and pressed. I folded them under again another 1/4" and pressed, then pinned around and stitched in place close to the folded edge of the seam. Working with such small seams is tricky, and if you'd rather give yourself more leeway then just cut your sleeve longer so you have more room.

Ta da!

Okay, onto the pants. They fit fine in the waist and legs but have become too short. When she first got these pants, I didn't think they would get worn much because of their bold grassy green color. I've since been proven wrong and these pants go with a surprising number of her tops, so if I can keep them in rotation for another few months I'll be a happy mama.

I took a pair of capris that had a good finished length and laid them on top of the leggings, I marked a line and again paid attention to the angle of the seam to make sure they're not just chopped straight across.

The beautiful thing about working with knit is that it doesn't fray. My original plan was to fold the bottoms under and use my double needle to sew the hem. Unfortunately when I sat down to work on these I realized I do not own any green thread. Since the purpose of this project is to alter clothes and create new outfits for free, I had to come up with a different plan. Also, I didn't see the practicality in driving to the store and spending a few bucks on an a spool of thread when I only needed a tiny bit, in a color I'll likely never use again.

Since knit doesn't fray, I just chopped off the bottoms and called it done. Oh--this step isn't necessary but you may want to consider sewing a few stitches on the inside seams to reinforce the bottom part where you cut. Can't hurt. If you end up making yours with a finished hem, just make sure to add some length for the seam allowance.

Kids wear clothes so briefly; it's nice to be able to get a longer life out of her outfits, especially when they're still in such great shape. 

Oh, and if you're wondering why this shows up on my cutting mat:

It's because of this:

And orange crayon. FYI: Orange crayon does not come off cutting mats.

Happy Monday :)

~Stacy

Inspiration Boards

If you love DIY, sewing, and crafting blogs as much I do then you've probably heard of the blog I Heart Naptime.  The site is full of ideas and tutorials for everything creative, along with recipes and decor projects. Their goal is to make creativity and the DIY mentality a priority while paying close attention to costs and saving money. A couple weeks ago, the creators of I Heart Naptime came up with an amazing new site called The Inspiration Board. At first glance, you might wonder how that could be any different from another little site called Pinterest. Ah, allow me to explain.

Like Pinterest, The Inspiration Board is all about creating collections of images and ideas that fit into a similar category and can be used to get ideas or to find inspiration for something--anything: cooking, building your dream home, remodeling your kitchen, taking your dream vacation, etc. The Inspiration Board is a way to use those images you've collected from Pinterest, your own personal photo gallery, or literally anywhere else on the web and create one cohesive idea board. You can add text, frames, and other embellishments to prettify your board and then you have the ability to share it anywhere. I've been having a lot of fun using it because, for me, it brings my various ideas I've found on Pinterest together and lets me create a more complete picture of what I'm looking for.

So here's what happens when Pinterest and The Inspiration Board have a baby together:

Click on each number for image sources: #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5

This is a board I made based on ideas for Charlotte's birthday party (yeah yeah, I know it's not until June and it's only going to be a small gathering of people but still). I had pinned a bunch of ideas to a board with pictures I liked and ideas I thought were cute but they weren't all centered around the same theme. I had ideas for the milk & cookies party, a vintage-y fair/carnival theme, and another set of pins focused on a girly looking farm theme (I say girly looking because if I just looked for "farm themed party" I got mostly pictures of John Deere tractors and other farm equipment. Um, no).

Here's the board I came up with for the county fair/carnival theme:

Click each number for image sources: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, and #7

After doing the first two boards, I realized I'd included a lot of the pins that were related to the farm idea (there weren't many), so I didn't make a separate board for that one.

So I think I'll come up with a way to use the milk & cookies with the carnival idea. I love the colors in the carnival board--all the reds, aquas, and yellows. The colors in the first board are pretty, but a little too pastel/pink overload for my liking...my favorite idea from that board is the glass bottles of different milk flavors. I'd like to find mini Mason jars (or something similar) and serve those, since most people probably don't want a large glass of milk on a summer day (except Charlotte).

Thoughts?

~Stacy