Oh What a Beautiful Morning....

Mostly, I miss the east coast where I grew up.

Today, I love where I live now.  It was so absolutely beautiful out.  Not cold, not hot, sunny, but not too sunny.  A perfect day really.

I sewed up another Roller Skate dress for Julia, and took her to the beach for some photos to send to the grandparents.  My parents are old-school - I email them photos, and they print them on their computer.  I thought it would be nice to actually print some and send them to them by actual mail for a change....

Here's the dress - the fabric is a quilting cotton from Westminster, the designer is Jenean Morrison.  Since buying some of her fabric from her Grand Hotel line, I checked out her website (http://jeneanmorrison.net/) - her art is really cool - very much my style. 

I had to really think about how I wanted to place the fabric on this border print.  Since the bottom of the hem is curved, and the border is of course straight, I needed to leave a lot of the red at the bottom so that it didn't look like it was uneven.  I also needed to have the elastic casing in a good spot as well....I was happy with the placement, except I should have centered the pattern a bit better.  But, whatever....she's 3!

We went to the beach about 8:00 a.m. - the lighting was beautiful, the temperature was perfect.....I think I got a lot of good shots to send the grandparents....I think they'll be delighted!

 And, I don't know where she came up with the hands on the hips pose....

 This picture (above) is my favorite....the real Julia smile, as opposed to the fake picture taking smile...

  The above picture reminds me of a model face you see on runway models....

A Seersucker Geranium

I knew I'd make more dresses from the Made By Rae Geranium dress pattern after the first one I made got such good reviews from my kid.....meaning, she actually chooses to wear it voluntarily...

I bought some seersucker at Joann's - a store I typically stay away from for fabric, but it seems like every time I go there for notions, something jumps into my cart - especially with their 50% off coupons....which makes you think how much they really pay for their fabric if they can still sell it to you for 50% off and make a profit....


 I appliqued a heart in the center of the bodice, and also used red buttons on the back for some interest. 

 Shoes and jewelry chosen by Julia...obviously!

Pretty dress, and works for the playground too...

 

 I have another one - tunic length - cut out and sitting on my cutting table calling my name....

I need another pattern like.....

a hole in the head.  Or, so, that's what I thought.....

The new Oliver + S patterns came out.  I'm going to buy some for my shop - in fact, they're on order.  But, could I wait?  No.  So, I got the digital download of the new Roller Skate Dress pattern. 

When I first ordered Moda fabric, the new line from Zen Chic - Comma - just hit the right chord for me.  It's got bold patterns and colors - right up my alley!  For this project, I chose this:

I loved the colors, the print.  Everything.  Generally, I wouldn't use such nice fabric the first time I sewed a pattern, but I pretty much knew the Roller Skate pattern would be perfect from the ones I've seen popping up in the Flickr group right after the pattern release.

The pattern is a fully lined, very simple dress - with beautiful lines, an elastic waist, and a yoke overlay option.  I used some shot cotton leftover from another project to make this version:

My kid has some new orange Saltwater sandals, so we're also trying to incorporate some orange tones in the wardrobe....

The dress was simple to make, but the neckline could be a little fiddly.  Maybe that's why they rated this as a "two-scissor" pattern.  The construction - as you can always expect from O+S - was ingenious. 

I will DEFINITELY be making several more of these dresses.  This is a size 3 on my 3 year old - fit is perfect.

Post-photo shoot reward for pictures - playing with my buttons with some wooden dowels.....who needs toys!

My Fabric Stash!

I have a really huge bedroom - there's the main part of the room, then there's actually an alcove off the room.  The people who built our house were cabinet makers by trade, so we have tons of closet space, and storage space.  Before Julia came into our lives, the room was pretty empty - two computer desks, and our bed.

Now, however, I've moved all my sewing equipment into our room, and we have more toys than we ever anticipated taking up space....

I have a bunch of my fabric that I think I may make something from on cubes we bought from Target.

 

I have some more Tupperware cartons in the garage with large pieces of denim, and corduroy.  I'm pleased with how I've fit a lot of fabric into these cubes....they are semi-organized - which means that I can actually pretty much find whatever I'm looking for.

 I moved my embroidery thread, and separated all my buttons into separate jars - it certainly helps when looking for buttons to have them color coordinated - and Julia was VERY helpful with the separating.  I'm the smaller child in the picture on the left - I loved that picture - looks so old fashioned....

I bought this kind of ugly shelf at an estate sale - it's made of actual wood, and was $10.  When we finally move some big kids out of this house, and Julia gets her own room, I envision painting it and using it for her storage.  In the meantime, it works for keeping my notions and patterns in reach.  Plus, I get to put my Boston Celtics autographed basketball on top....

This is the lovely Ikea table and chair I use for my machines.  It works just fine.  There is a pile of random magazines, etc. on the left of the table that had been ignored for months.....when I went through it just now, there were two $50 Marriott gift cards and a $35 restaurant gift card in the pile. 

So, that's my personal fabric stash.....not too bad!

My Nani Iro Addiction

I had a nice long four day weekend off of work - had all kinds of plans to finish up a bunch of stuff, clean the house, organize and donate outgrown clothes - did I do all these thing?  No, not even.

I got sidetracked in my sewing - I had seen so many nice Oliver + S 2+2 tops in the Flickr that were sewn from one fabric only that I knew I just needed to make one for the child.  And, of course, I used some of my favorite fabric - gauze from Nani Iro's Naomi Ito. This is from her Little Letter line, and it's really beautiful.  Her work is really like artwork on fabric.

If you want to see any of her fabric lines, you can check out their online shop here:  Nani Iro 2013.  I am going to Seven Islands fabric in a couple of weeks to order more for my shop, and I keep looking at all these beautiful designs - I can't even begin to decide which I want to stock....I wish I had enough money to get them all!

I really think this pattern works nicely in all one fabric - gives it a totally different look.  In my opinion, this works especially nice in a muted color scheme.

The child seems to like it....time will tell if she'll wear it!  This is a size 3T with 2 1/2 inches added length.  Hopefully, this will last through the summer.....

A Posy Geranium!

I've been seeing so many adorable Geranium Dresses in the Geranium dress Flickr pool.  So, in spite of the fact that I need another pattern like a hole in the head (as my father used to say!) I broke down and downloaded it.  What I loved is the fact that it is exactly the type of dress my dress-wearing child likes - a gathered skirt, no sleeves, and pockets.  How could I go wrong?

Well, really, I couldn't go wrong.....

I chose some adorable, soft, sweet fabric from Aneela Hoey's Posy line from Moda.  I love the teeny bunnies!

There are a few shades of pink on a very pale lavender - perfect for my girly girl....I did some embroidery around the neckline to add detail and emphasize the really sweet neckline....

So, here's where I went wrong - the front and back are cut from the same pattern piece - one on the fold for the front, and the back not on the fold.  When cutting the piece for back, I laid my front piece on the fabric and cut around it.  Well, I also sliced a hair's worth of fabric off the fold, resulting in a gaping hole down the front of the dress.....I kind of figured I could hide the mistake in the pleats and just sewed a very narrow seam down the front.  Kind of ugly really....and, next mistake, I sewed the pockets too close together and am way too lazy to pick them out and re-do them.

Other than my mistakes, the pattern is wonderful!  Great options for flutter sleeve, sleeveless, and a faux cap sleeve - all great options for my sleeve-hating child!

The fabric is wonderful - very, very soft base cloth, which would be great for girls clothing or an amazingly soft quilt.  This dress is a size 3T with 4T length.  Fits exactly like my kid likes it.

She loves the dress and won't take it off....success!!

Heidi & Finn - Ballet Sweater

I've always loved the style of Heidi and Finn's patterns and have always checked out their Flickr group for inspiration.  Lots of people use their patterns during KCWC for good reason - they're generally pretty simple, and very cool style-wise.

I follow their blog and got a chance to test a new pattern - a very cute ballet-inspired sweater:

The directions were perfectly clear - lots of pictures which is good because I'm not really big on reading directions....until, of course, I screw up....

This was made from a sweater of mine that I never wore.  I made it in a size 3T and it literally fits perfectly.  Sleeve length, everything.  I finished it in probably an hour and a half or so, with the usual constant interruptions from the kid......she wore it all day yesterday which is a huge success.  Since I finished it toward the end of the day, I believe there may be some food residue on it for this morning's photos, so please excuse them!

I will definitely make this again, but next time, will either use a knit band for the waist tie, or a strip of chiffon.  The ribbon was too slippery, and kept slipping down so she ended up with a ribbon around her toddler belly.....

Thanks to Heidi and Finn for letting me test their pattern - I'm sure it will be a hit!