Lollipops and Flowers

Alyssa was lucky enough to get a new shirt a month ago. I was making a shirt for one of my nieces and couldn't decide on which pattern to use. I ended up making two shirts - one for Alyssa and one for my niece. Good thing they are the same age. I love the colorful circles on the shirt and Alyssa seems to like it too. She calls it her lollipop shirt. I decided to mismatch buttons because of all those colorful circles all over the shirt. The pattern is from some Japanese book/magazine. As usual it was very easy to sew. It only took me two evenings - one to cut the pattern pieces out and one for sewing. Yay for projects like that!Another shirt - Flowers - I made for my niece. It was a little harder to make as it had more details. The pattern was from Ottobre Magazine 4/2010 #23.It turned out a little bit wide but it still looked great. I liked the pleats on the bodice but the fabric choice was not in their favor so they are hardly seen. I was a little bit confused by the front button placket but then figured it out after ripping it off once. See, I still manage to make things here and there. The problem is that I don't have (or maybe don't want to find) time to take pictures and then post them here.

Baby Socks

Hey, I've been hiding from you :) Not on purpose and terribly miss sharing the pictures and stuff but my life is quite busy these days. Nonetheless, I have been making things here and there. The freshest thing I've made this past week are the new socks for Katelyn. It's getting colder and colder here in Moscow and she needed some warmer socks. Love making tiny things. Sad to see my baby grow so fast because I have so many planned things for her to make.

Back to the socks.

The pattern is by Drops Design. They have a ton of cute designs and all of them are free. The pattern was very straightforward and quite easy. These are my first ever socks and I loved making them.

Baby Steps

I made something again! You can tell I am very excited. I am making baby steps in getting back to sewing.

Katelyn was born at the wrong season because all the newborn clothes we have is for winter time. While we were in the US I got her some stuff for the first three months but then I did not have that much from 3-6 mos. So when she started growing out of her 0-3 stuff I had to do something. So I started sewing. This little romper is so cute. I loved making it and it was a pretty fast project. To make it cuter (or maybe I just did not have an already made bias tape) I made a polka dot bias tape. The pattern is from the Swedish magazine Ottobre 2011-3.

From the same magazine I made this sleeveless shirt. I used my old jersey shirt and cut it out with the original hem as the hem of a shirt. Another fast project. But took me a little longer than I would have liked it because it was my first time sewing with knits.

I was planning to make couple more rompers but the weather got so cold today that we had to wear jackets. So maybe I should start sewing for the fall already.

Sunny Hat

When I have a tiny bit of free time I run to the sewing machine. I usually cannot finish anything in one sitting just because there are little people who make sure I am right by them most of the time. But Katelyn needed a sunhat and all the ones I have from the girls are too big. So what else could I do? I sewed one. It was an easy and fast project but it still ended up being a little big. I love the fabric with little matryoshka dolls (you'll see more of them as I am obsessed) and yellow polka dots on the inside. It's fully reversible but we'll only wear it with dolls on top.

Orange Onesie

I totally forgot to show you this little number. I posted about it on Ravelry and forgot all about it. Are you familiar with Ravelry? It is an excellent web site for people who like to knit or crochet. You have to register there and then you get lost in all the projects. Every time before I make something I stop at Ravelry and look for inspiration. There are so many wonderful patterns there both free and the ones you have to pay for. So go check it out.

Enough of Ravelry and let's get to the pictures. Here's my little thing I made for Katelyn. I knitted it before she was born but it took me forever to finish it up. I was contemplating on how to make the neckline look better and also how to put the snaps in between the legs. Neither was in the pattern so I had to come up with it myself and that's why it took me a month. :)

While I was finishing it up my girl was growing like a weed. Then when it finally was done I put it on her and it fit her perfectly. And it's supposed to be for a 3 month old baby.

I have so many projects lined up waiting for me to make them. I am afraid it's not gonna happen for a while though. It is taking me so long to do something these days. Katelyn doesn't like to sleep during the day (or night) and it's the hardest. I hope she changes her ways and I have a little more time on my hands for things I like to do. Am I asking too much? :)

Making It Cuter

Who likes plain white onesies? Not me. So when I had a little bit of time I made some appliques. The good part is that this project is fast and easy. To come up with the ideas what to put on these onesies I went through Google, looked at other people's ideas and maybe stole some. :)

The Pacman onesie is my favorite. It makes me smile every time Katelyn wears it.

The downside of this project is that these onesies are not gonna last much longer. My baby is growing like a weed and will not fit into her 0-3 months clothing pretty soon.

The Array of Skirts

To keep myself sane and calm in the crazy times I have to find time for myself. When I find time for myself I just have to spend it all on crafting. Because that's something that helps me sort my thoughts out and helps me calm down and look at things from a different perspective. Maybe it's because I tend not to talk when I craft or maybe it's just calming repetitive things of the craft itself make me forget about stressful things. I have some other ways to relieve my stress - CHOCOLATE. Lots and lots of it. But agree with me crafting is much better... at least for my muffin tops. :) So here's the latest stuff I made. I have a huge line of unfinished projects waiting for me to finish but not enough time to do it. So I will have more pictures to show you in a day or so. I couldn't resist buying fabric and wanted to make something for my girlies. Emma loves skirts and so I thought it would be easy to just whip up a couple of skirts for them. I made two of these easy skirts. Did not take a picture of Emma wearing it because I have to bribe her to do anything these days and did not feel like bribing that day. Her skirt is made from the same fabric but her ricrac is pink (obviously). These two skirts were fun to make because they are different from the cupcake skirts and not as easy. So Alyssa's skirt is just two tiered skirt that I made without a pattern. Just winged it. I made a skirt like that for Emma a while ago and so recreated it from my memory for Alyssa. Emma's skirt was even more fun, because it has pockets. Why do little girls like having pockets so much? Have no idea, but know that Emma would always appreciate pockets. So one day saw this tutorial and decided that I was too lazy to make a dress but would love to make a skirt like that. The only problem was that after cutting it out I realized that for a skirt I had to make the top a little higher so I could put the elastic in without making pockets tiny. So I had to come up with something else which was wide elastic. You cannot really see it on this picture, but it's there. So here are my little things I made here and there. Thanks to my mother-in-law for letting me use all her stuff for sewing and her sewing machine. Good thing she is crafty too :)

Spidey Cardi

Long ago I started this cardigan for Alyssa. It took me too long to finish it. Perhaps it was because I was pregnant and tired or maybe it was because I did not have a pattern to follow. I work so much faster when I have a pattern. I finished it just in time for hot days. Ha. At least it is not too small so Alyssa should be able to wear it this coming fall.

Alyssa seems to like it. I like it but think it could have been better, but I am a perfectionist and want everything to be just right. When I put it on Alyssa today she said that it's awesome and that she loves it. What else could I ask for? That made my day.

Here's the little number I was trying to recreate. It's Lili Gaufrette - some French clothes line.

All in all it was a fun project to work on. I was not bored as this little cardigan has different sections with different patterns. I really liked making the lower section with spiders. That's where the name came from.

If You’re Sick

Then Dr. DoLittle will come to help you out. She’ll take your temperature, listen to your lungs and maybe make some tea with honey.

I had to make dress up clothes for the kids in Emma’s preschool. I am honored that I was asked but annoyed that teachers don’t really give me time to do it. It’s like they ask one day and in a day they ask me if it can be done by tomorrow. I guess none of them sews and so they don’t know that the process of sewing takes time. That aside I did enjoy making this little doctor outfit. It turned out just perfect for Emma and good thing all the kids are either smaller than her or the same size (I feel bad for the one big girl in her class as she’ll have to be a nurse all the time as she won’t fit into this jacket).

I got the pattern from one of my many Japanese books but lengthened it a little. It was quite easy to put together and maybe I’ll make a real jacket out of it someday for Emm’s.

We also have a nurse who will be happy to give you a painkiller aka candy and will try to make you feel better. She’s a good nurse.

Notice the thing on Emma’s upper lip. The night before poor thing was wacked by her little sister. The weapon – my cell phone. There was a lot of blood and there will probably be a little scar left. I guess everyone learned the lesson to not stand in the way of our little Alyssa.

Happy Aprons

I was asked to make two aprons for Emma’s preschool class. Every day the teacher picks two kids to be “kitchen helpers”, when they help with cleaning after everyone is done eating. So they need to wear aprons while on duty. These aprons had to be all white but I tried to make them more fun. I think embroidery is very cute and I love different colored bias tape on the pockets.

Again, made without any real pattern. Had some measurements in one of my Japanese books and had to change it a little bit to make aprons a little bigger. Put some snaps on the top part so the length of it can be changed according to a child’s height.

 

The embroidery just makes me happy. Got the idea from another of my Japanese books. :) I am a Japanese craft book addict after all.

Have You Ever Seen a Snowflake

Up close and personal? I am lucky enough to live with one little snowflake. She likes to twirl and dance. She falls sometimes but not too often. She is a very happy snowflake but not without some attitude issues. I hope she stays with us when the winter is over because I love her too much to let her go.

Emma had to be a snowflake for her school New Year’s recital and I had to make her a costume. I had no idea what to make first and then came up with this little number. Obviously I am not a costume designer as all I could think of was a puffy skirt. So I made a puffy skirt out of some organza fabric plus embroidered a snowflake on her leotard and made some puffy sleeves (sleeves and embroidered snowflake is barely seen on this picture…sorry). Then threw some sparkly accessories and ta-da! You’ve got a snowflake.

Sorry for the crappy picture. That’s the only one I could snap of Emma before she took her costume off.

Time Flies By…

It’s crazy how fast time goes. I never have enough time in a day for everything I want to accomplish. I have to admit I procrastinate a lot too. Instead of the things I could have been doing I sit on the couch just browsing online. I do get inspiration like that, so it is partly useful but it’s not an excuse for me to forget my blogging. I will try to do a little better (no promises though). But let’s talk about something better. I do have a couple projects I wanted to share. When winter suddenly came to Moscow I discovered that Emma grew out of all of her winter hats. So I had to come up with something fast. I made one out of two layers of fleece (I still have to take a picture of that one). And then I saw a hat in some online store and wanted to replicate it. So I did and voila!

 

I had to line it so it’s fully warm and ready for frosty days. The only problem is that that was my first time dealing with a lining for a knitted hat and I made it a little bit bigger than the actual hat. But it’s inside of the hat and nobody can see it… well, everybody can see it but let’s just pretend it’s all perfect :) The other problem is that this hat is not that practical as I wanted it to be. It looks weird if you tie it and if you don’t then it moves around a lot because of Emma’s big hair. It would be perfect for American winters but not for Russia.