Sewing Update

As per usual, I've been trying to forget the fact that it's still winter by sewing springy/summery things.  In the past month I've made the girls' Easter dresses, a top and a summer dress for Charlotte, and two rompers for Elise.

All of these (except for the rompers) were made using the Geranium Dress pattern by Made By Rae. I can't get over how much I love this pattern. I love that it has cap sleeve and sleeveless options and can be made into a dress or tunic length top. It's my favorite pattern to date!

First up: Easter dresses. I wanted them to coordinate but not be matchy, so I used prints from the Riley Blake line "Fancy & Fabulous."

Here's Charlotte's:

And Elise's:

Next up was a top and dress for Charlotte. The top is from the Vintage Market line by Tasha Noel and the dress fabric is from Joann's. I didn't get a photo of the back of the dress, but I changed the pattern slightly and did a zipper instead of buttons. I might be the only person in the world who prefers sewing zippers to buttonholes, but it's true.

And finally, baby rompers. I used a vintage Simplicity pattern on these and it was super simple and fun to make. The top fabric is Saltwater by Riley Blake and the strawberry one I'm drawing a blank on but I believe it is also from the Vintage Market line. I can't wait to see her chubby baby legs in these :)

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy

Christmas Geranium Dresses

If you read sewing blogs, chances are you've seen Made By Rae (or at least heard of her excellent blog). I read several sewing blogs, most of which have projects for girls, so I'm pretty familiar with Rae's work and her most famous pattern, the Geranium Dress. I've seen many a blogger sew up a Geranium top or dress from this super versatile pattern and I decided it was my turn to test it out for the girl's Christmas dresses.

I downloaded the pdf pattern (though you can also order a paper version) and made a size 4T for Charlotte and size 3-6 months for Elise. The sizing is spot on--these both fit really well, no adjustments needed. I made the faux cap sleeve version for Charlotte out of some soft cotton/flannel plaid I had left over from yardage I bought last year. For Elise, I made the sleeveless version out of a large print red gingham using fabric from a curtain I had made years ago and no longer used. Repurposing=excellent.

This a super quick and simple pattern and with so many ways to change it up it will surely be in heavy rotation!

If you want to see tons of samples of what you can do with the Geranium dress pattern, check out Craftiness Is Not Optional  for tons of inspiration! She's made dozens over the years.

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy

Frozen Halloween

I haven't been doing much sewing lately, but I did manage to make two little Halloween costumes this year. Charlotte decided, after going back and forth a lot, to dress up as Princess Anna from Frozen. I knew there were patterns out there to make an Anna dress and I decided I was up for the challenge, though there were a few moments where I wanted to toss the whole thing into the garbage can and drive directly to the Disney store to be done with it.

But I persisted, and I'm glad. This is one of those projects that stands out as one that I'm most proud of. And it didn't hurt that the dress fit her perfectly and she LOVED it.

I made a few minor tweaks to the dress but stuck pretty closely to the pattern. For the cape, I used comfy fleece so it would be warm and sewed rick-rack around the edges. I skipped the collar and clasp and just added a ribbon to tie it closed.

Are you ready for Princess Anna, in all of her adorable-ness?

But I didn't stop there. Princess Anna would be lost without her loyal sidekick Olaf, so behold Baby Olaf:

That is one cute snowman :)

Happy (belated) Halloween!

~Stacy

DIY Bean Bag Chair

Last week I found a tutorial on how to make a kid's bean bag chair on Pinterest, which you can find by clicking here. It looked like a super easy and quick project to make--and it was!

I bought some cute fabric at JoAnn's that was in clearance for $4 a yard. I bought 1 5/8 yards--which was just enough with a tiny bit extra to make this (I used regular quilting weight cotton, which was 43" wide. If you use home dec fabric, like the tutorial suggests, you won't need as much yardage since it's wider).

I also found the bean bag filling at JoAnn's, which came in a giant bag full of small foam balls. This stuff isn't cheap, I discovered, and I needed two bags (one bag was 2 cubic feet and the chair requires 3.5). Thankfully I had coupons, otherwise I wouldn't have made this project since the cost for the bean bag filling would have been quite a bit more than just buying a finished bean bag chair somewhere.

I also only used a 12" zipper instead of a 22" since that was all I had on hand and I forgot to buy one at the store. This was fine, other than making filling the bag a bit of a challenge. A messy challenge.

Behold.

Filling the chair is the most difficult part of this project, and really it isn't that bad--it took about 10 minutes to get the chair full. In total, this was a 30 minute project--seriously. I made it while Elise was napping and Charlotte was eating lunch. Those are my favorite kinds of projects!

Charlotte has quickly become a huge fan of her new bean bag chair. Since it's filled with foam balls it's super light, so she carries it from room to room as she pleases. It has also been outside and used as a landing pad off the deck--which I vetoed after several dozen jumps, fearing that the seams would just burst apart and I'd have to refill the thing completely. So now the rule is that the bean bag chair must remain indoors and not get jumped on from a height greater than two feet. Sigh.

I tried it out myself as well--and it really is quite comfy!

Happy Sewing.

~Stacy

First Home Quilt

A couple weeks ago two of our best friends came to visit from Pittsburgh and it was lovely. We don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like, but we had a fantastic day with them nevertheless. They recently moved into a place of their own (yay!) and to celebrate I made them a quilt. It was my first project in months (aside from a T-shirt dress I made Charlotte, which really only involved sewing a gathered strip of fabric to a store bought tank top). It felt good to make something again, though it was a little bit of a task to take on with only 9 days to make it before they arrived! I like a challenge though, so it was good.

This quilt went together really quickly and is made up of 8" blocks, 5x8, plus a border. All the fabrics are from JoAnn's.

Welcome to my "studio" where I have two supervisors. One sleeps a lot and the other enjoys playing with plastic Easter eggs in August. 

I admit, I had a hard time parting with this one. I love the yellow/gray combo and it looked so fresh and bright on my porch and the living room! But I managed to let it go and I hope its new owners love it as well :)

Happy Sewing.

~Stacy

Sewing for Baby--Even Pretend Ones.

Over the past few weeks I've finished several sewing projects for the new baby. As I did with Charlotte's room, I wanted to make a few things for the baby's room to go with the colors I picked--gray, white, coral and mint.

I ended up making curtains, a changing pad cover, a pillow and a toy/book bin--which will probably complete the handmade items for her room (and also free up my sewing time to make cute baby clothes, which is way more fun than sewing curtains).

And a peek at part of the room:

Aside from items for her room, I also made bibs. Lots and lots of bibs. I made eight to start with and then quickly realized that bibs are always in the laundry pile, split up between diaper bags, or in use so it would be wise to have more in stock. So I doubled my inventory:

All flannel, all from Joann's, all purchased when flannel was $2.49/yd. AND with an extra 20% off coupon. I can easily get four bibs per yard, so total investment was $8. Pattern was free--I drew it myself off an old bib of Charlotte's, but you can easily find free printable patterns anywhere.

I also did some sewing for a different kind of baby--a Bitty Baby. Charlotte got one of these for her birthday and I made a few things for it using this pattern:

It's one of the few commercial patterns you can find for dolls smaller than 18" (this one has pattern sets for 11-13" and 14-16" dolls. Bitty Baby is 15").

I made three little dresses and one diaper--and that was about all I had the patience for. The instructions are not the best and the first dress I made took longer than many of the dresses I've made for Charlotte. Thankfully the other two went much better once I ignored the instructions and just did it on my own.

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy