I Am Back... Or Am I?

So it's been quite a while. My baby is almost a year old and walking. Making lots of messes and getting into trouble. Life with four kids is quite a busy one. Thus my absence in this space. I've been making things (both sewing and knitting) as I cannot live without crafting. It is definitely one of the things that keep me sane and keep me going every day. It did become a luxury as all my time usually is taken by my girls. Oh, and don't forget about the moving. Oh, those annoying moves across the globe. When you ship your craft stuff off and then wait for it for months, when you have to pack or unpack instead of crafting, when you have to spend all your time on making a new home wherever you are. By the way, we are moving in less than three weeks to Kazakhstan so I might fall off the face of the Earth again.

But here I am, wanting to show off one of my latest projects. My oldest daughter wanted to be Dorothy for Halloween and asked me to make her a dress. I, of course, obliged. I don't make costumes every year, nor I make costumes for all of my kids in the same year. But one a year is a good rule of thumb for me. That way it doesn't stress me out and I finish it by Halloween and don't have those late night trying to cram the sewing right before Trick or Treating.

The pattern is Fairy Tale Dress by Oliver+S. Size 8. All fabric from JoAnn's.

As I researched the ideas of the costume I wanted to make something that she'd want to wear after Halloween too. So instead of making a blouse and a gingham apron I made a gingham dress and a white simple apron (not shown here). I stumbled upon this idea and shamelessly did the same thing. I am so glad I did! The dress turned out so cute! It is an intermediate pattern but I wasn't afraid to tackle it as Oliver+S patterns are so well written. It did take me a week to make it as I was working in the evenings mostly and then allowed myself one evening to do all the hand stitching required by the pattern. But the end result looks quite professional. The dress is fully lined and has some tulle to make the skirt fuller.

I really do like everything about this dress. I will tell you a secret - I already made another Fairy Tale dress for the same daughter but you'll have to wait to see it. I see myself making a couple of more dresses for her to wear to church because this pattern makes a perfect church dress.

She loves her Dorothy Dress! And she makes a beautiful Dorothy.

Sanity Sewing

I've taken quite a break from this blog. I kept thinking about how I need to get back but at the same time had nothing to write about and nothing to show. I haven't sewn for quite a while. I kept thinking that 4 kids isn't a joke and I barely had time to take a shower let alone sew something. Though baby days are always like that, even if it's your first and only child. No time. At all.

Now when it's started to get a little better and I do have some time to spare here and there I have to clean, organize and get ready for the pack out. We are leaving Bulgaria in 6 weeks and the craziness that's called moving begins around now. So not much will change on this blog. Sadly. I will pop in here and there but mainly I will be absent until we get to DC and I get my sewing machine back, which will be in September.

I've made little things over these 6 months but I didn't really take any pictures and already forgot about most of them. Ha. You know those projects. I did take a picture of one that I finished couple of months ago. When Sonia started teething (and she started early) I made her some teething bunny rings.

They were very easy to make and fast. I literally made them in 10 minute breaks between feedings, cleaning, cooking and making everyone happy. As much as I like how cute they are, Sonia keeps untying them somehow with her mouth. The pattern and tutorial are from this blog. And the teething rings I ordered from here. Will definitely make again because they turn out very cute and make great baby shower gifts.

A couple of weeks ago I saw my friend's daughter's picture wearing this dress that I made her two years ago. She grew during these two years and the dress got shorter and you could tell it won't fit her for much longer. I was so happy to see her wear it that I had an urge to make her another one that fits her now. I had to make matching dress for her favorite American Girl doll as I did last time (though I forgot to show a picture on the blog).

I searched and searched for some cute and easy summer dresses and this big bow dress looked great. The pattern is called Aubrey Bow Dress. It is very easy to put together which I needed as I am still crunched for time. The shop had the same matching dress for the doll. So I made both. The dress is made in size 6. Fabric is from my never ending stash of quilting cottons.

After the first dress I was so happy to be sewing again that I quickly made another dress. This time I went with the pattern I know and love - Geranium by Rae. Again it did not disappoint and came together quickly and it felt like my fingers knew what they were doing. Matching doll's dress I made partly from this pattern, just changing the skirt and making a tiny signature Geranium's neck notch. Dress size is 6. Fabric from the stash. The only change I made was the skirt. It is supposed to be much fuller but I did not have enough of that fabric so I just gathered it from selvage to selvage. I also did snaps instead of buttons this time around.

This was such a welcome sewing time for me. I am not obsessed with sewing as I like doing other crafts too BUT I felt like I needed to escape and have my time and do something I enjoy. That was it. And so much needed.

I Am So Crafty

I make little humans.

I am especially good with making little girls. They come out so sweet and beautiful. I also think that I get better and better with each one. I keep telling my husband that we should see what our next one would look like as she will be just gorgeous but he is not buying it. He says he's done having kids. Ha.

I keep itching to make things but my hands are full for now and I don't have much time for big projects so I take on the little ones. I still need to finish K's Christmas gift that I started a month ago. Lazy me, couldn't finish it before the baby's arrival.

I do have a project to show you that I finished almost a month ago. It's a little knitted soaker I made as a cover for the diapers I showed you earlier.

It's called Adaptation soaker from the Ottobre pattern. I've heard a lot of good things about it and decided to try it out. It was a very easy and fast project. Thanks to my pregnancy brain I had to undo almost the whole thing as I noticed I made a mistake. All in all it took me maybe two days to make these. More details on Ravelry (the link for the project).

Bunch of Stuff

I am waiting here. Waiting for something special to happen. My due date is here and no baby yet. I am getting antsy and instead of crafting I just sit here thinking of good ways to induce my labor. True story.

But I do still have something up my sleeve. Ha. I haven't shown you a couple of little things I made for the baby before I left. As I said before I was on fire before we left. So I will just show you everything I made and call it done for this year.

So the first thing I made was leggings. I picked an easy pattern from the Ottobre magazine. Good thing they have leggings in almost every issue.

The pattern is Ottobre #8 6/2012. The size is a little questionable. I started with a size 56cm, made one pair and decided they were too big. I needed some leggings for 0-3 months. So I decided to shorten them a little and took a little from the top too. So as you can see on the picture all the leggings are different sizes with gray ones being the smallest. The pattern was easy and very fast. I mostly used my serger for this project.

Next on my list was a top. Pattern - Ottobre #1 4/2013.

This top made me sweart. I blame it on my pregnancy brain. I had to re-do the whole gathering in front and on the sleeves over and over until I got it right. To be honest I considered to just chuck it and forget about it but then decided to try once more and it worked out. I am not sure if I will be making this shirt again. It does look very cute though. I made size 56cm as it was the smallest size they had.

And the week before we left I decided to be a little adventurous. I have a very cute and comfy Gap shirt (sweatshirt) for the baby and wanted to recreate it. I looked through some draft-your-own-pattern tutorials online and went to work. I liked making the pattern but the shirt turned out a little too big.

I used some very soft Japanese double knit (is there a thing like that?) which has been in my stash for a long long time waiting its turn. I am in love with the fabric. Sadly I do not remember where I got it from.
As for the shirt, I am not happy with how it turned out. It's big and the neck opening turned out too big/wide/deep. Have no idea how to fix that.

So I tweaked my pattern a little and thought it would turn out better. But the neckline is still awfully big and I just do not know what to do about it. And it's still kind of big even after I tried making it smaller.
I made the second shirt from an organic bamboo terry knit. It is very soft and nice to the touch. I was going to dye it some other color but at the last minute decided to just stencil it. So now I guess when I go back home I need to work on the pattern more as I really like this little sweatshirt idea but need to figure out how to make the neckline smaller. Any ideas?

That is all I made before I left. I was sewing it all pretty much a week and a half before the KCWC so I was kind of thinking that I was participating in it just a little earlier than everybody else. I am glad I made some things for the baby as it takes me awhile to get back to sewing after being gone for so long. I am having total sewing withdrawals already and cannot wait to get back to my sewing machine. But we will see how good my newborn will be with letting me sew or do anything.

Two Projects

I still have to show you a couple of sewn projects from before I left Bulgaria but today I wanted to show what I have been doing here in London. I mean I haven't done much at all as I've been laying on the couch and eating bonbons I am lazy these days. But I did manage to make two little things.

The first one was a hat for Matt. He did not bring any hats with him and so I picked up some Debbie Bliss tweed yarn for him and started the hat.

The pattern is free from knitting web site Ravelry. It's called Turn a Square and it supposed to have stripes all over the hat. I changed that. I just did three stripes all different thickness. I like how it turned out. This is actually a second version of the hat. The first one turned out too big so I had to undo everything and re-knit it again.

Second time around I knitted it without any increases after the ribbing and, also, used smaller needles. Now it fits him perfectly. And I love the tweedy look of the hat.

So then I signed up to do another test knit on Ravelry. I promised A I'd make her something and she's been waiting. So I tested her size so she can keep the finished project and wear it. It is a bolero/shrug thingie that's called Wisteria.

It was a very fast knit. I made size 5T. It turned out very cute BUT I wish it had some kind of ties or a button in front as it keeps falling off her shoulders. Other than that, I like it and she loves it. Always wants to wear it.

Of course there is a picture of A's super posing. She's into posing lately.

Wish These Worked

I brought some pictures with me of what I have been working on for the last couple of months. So you won't see any freshly made stuff here for now as I am away from my sewing machine. But I will be blogging about the things I made before I left.

So first on my list are the training pants I made for Katelyn. I actually purchased this Tinkle Time Trainers pattern long time ago as I planned to make some trainers for Alyssa to use at night when she was potty training. Crazy how long ago it was. Then I never got to it as I was away from my sewing machine at that time too being pregnant with Katelyn. And Alyssa got potty trained very fast and wore usual undies even at night.

This time around potty training proved a little more challenging so I dug my pattern out to make some trainers for K. I was a little sad to discover that I only had instructions part and could not locate my pattern pieces pdf. Good thing I had one trainer cut out already laying around so I just cloned it. I made four of these. All with a pocket inside so I can stuff different inserts in there. I don't like the pocket option though and if I make more I'll just sew the soaker into it. I think it would be easier to deal with them that way. The pattern was easy to follow and the fit is alright.

My only wish is that they magically potty train K. Ha. She's actually is very good about going #1 into the toilet and telling us when she needs to go. But #2 is going to take a loooong time. Ugh. Any tips on how to teach them to ask before they go #2 in their pants? :)

Purple Phildar Tunic

I've been making things for little ones for a while and kind of neglecting my oldest child. So one day I decided to make E something and my eye fell on the tunic with cables from the Phildar magazine. The reason I don't make stuff for her as often anymore is that she's getting big and it takes more time and more yarn to knit something for her. She doesn't really complain, but when I told her I'd make something for her she was very happy.

I showed the picture of the tunic I wanted to make for her and told her to pick any color she wanted it to be. She decided that she wanted a purple tunic. I was a little surprised as my girls usually pick pink for pretty much everything.

I decided that I did not want to deal with sewing the seams after it's finished and knitted it from the top down. I did make a couple mistakes and not quite satisfied with how it turned out but it doesn't look too bad. I think I made a size 8 but it's hard to tell as I did not really follow a pattern. But it looks like it will fit her for a while.

I used "local" yarn - Alize LanaGold. I bought it from some yarn store in Sofia. I think it's turkish though. It is surprisingly nice yarn. It knits well and holds cables even better. I had to go back to that store and buy more yarn so I can make more stuff while we're gone. Oh, and did I say it's also cheap? Win/win.
But let's get back to the tunic. Emma loves it and is asking me to wear it every day. It's too nice out though for her to wear a sweater (because it is a sweater, really). So we are waiting for the colder weather over here.

Marple Pattern Testing

In the beginning of September I got an itch to make something absolutely new and not very much seen. Ha. Well, that is how I felt. And so I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to test a knitted pattern. I've never done it before and so it was all new for me.

The pattern is Marple Dress by Taiga Hilliard Designs. Made from the top down and without any seams. My preferred way of knitting as of lately. I also really like round yokes like this. The knit was easy and went without any glitches. My yarn stretched a little after blocking so it turned out longer than I expected it to be. But it only means one thing - K will enjoy it for longer.

K saw me making it and asked if it was for her. When she heard that it was indeed for her, she got so very excited. That is why I made sure I finished it as fast as I could. She'd come up to me and ask again and again if it was still hers. Isn't it the sweetest thing when your kids get excited about something you're making for them? I don't get that excitement anymore as much from E, but A and K are still in my fan club.

Loved doing this test knit and maybe will do some test knits again after the baby is born. I'll be sitting around quite a lot with all that nursing and holding the baby.
Stop by Ravelry if you need more details about this pattern and yarn.

Cheery Undies

We are in the middle of K's potty training. I know it's foolish as we are having big changes ahead of us which will definitely send her back to accidents and diapers. But I just cannot not do anything while she has a tiny bit interest in being potty trained.

The second foolish thing (could be my pregnancy brain) I did was make undies for that purpose. We don't have Target or Walmart for that matter and the local undies aren't that cute. Also, I have something against Dora/princesses undies so I opted out of shipping some for K. So instead I made some.

Pattern is by That Darn Kat and I've had it for quite a while. I also made a couple of undies from this pattern for Alyssa when she was little and in my pre-serger era. I like the pattern a lot. The only thing I did not like about making the undies was the assembly line sewing. I just despise it for some reason. Size 2T. I just love how colorful and cheery they turned out.

So now to get K excited about wearing these and not to get upset when she poops has an accident in them. Maybe I should have gone with Dora undies after all so I wouldn't care about them as much. :)

Forgotten Dresses

Now I am playing catch-up with you, guys. I feel like I haven't made that much this summer. But I do have something to show. Nothing big, just little projects I could squeeze in here and there.
One of my friends here in Bulgaria gave me a ton of fabric she was going to use for a quilt backing but never did and asked me to make a dress for her daughter. She gave me that fabric in April. I put it aside and forgot about it.Then in June I stumbled upon it and felt quite embarrassed about my fleeting memory. So I decided to make two dresses out of that fabric instead of one just to make it all better. Ha.

First one was a Geranium dress. I had to email Rae about it and bug her ask nicely to release the pattern's bigger sizes ASAP so I could start making the dress. The girl I sewed for is 11 years old but her mom asked me to make a 12 year old size. It took a lot of fabric! As I am always sewing for little kids I never think of how much fabric it takes when the kids get to be 6 and older. Then it gets to a scary amount of fabric.
Again, loved working with the is pattern. Just so easy and straightforward. I added a red little strip of fabric at the bodice for contrast.

The second one is an Oliver +S Seashore Sundress. I've made it before for Emma and loved how it looked on her. So I decided to make one for the girl too. Pattern was a breeze just like all the Oliver+S patterns go. It took a little more work and time than the first dress but it was fun making it again.

To be completely honest I got so tired working with the same fabric. I still have a yard or so left of it and just don't have any desire to make anything out of it any more. Can you get tired of fabric?
Also, the girl is a complete tomboy so I am not even sure why her mom asked me to make dresses for her. I hope she liked them though and put them on at least once this summer.

Ruffles of My Summer

I've been lazy this summer. My family came for a visit and it was fabulous. I only went down to my sewing room once and it was because my little sister asked me to make her a skirt while she was here. Which I obliged to. I had no pattern and not much of ideas in my head as to how to make it. I just sat down with my sewing machine and started sewing. Good thing something came out of it. Cause it would be embarrassing if I ended up with some piece of ruffly cloth. Sewing without a pattern is a big deal for me. I am a huge pattern follower. So here's my end result.

I had a very vague idea on what I was making as my mom and sister were telling me about a skirt they saw on a picture somewhere. It turned out okay, but I am not completely happy with it. It could be better. If only I had instructions on how to make it. Ha.

Well, at least my sister liked it.

The Story of an Unfinished Dress

This dress waited for its destiny for a couple of months. I cut it out during the April's KCW but never got to finishing it. It laid there on the cutting table untouched for quite a while as I lost my sewing mojo and did not even go to my sewing room. When this happens in the middle of a project I tend to not even finish unfinished things. They just go straight to the to-be-finished pile where they die from the slow and shameful death. I could not do it to this dress, however. I remembered how I promised to Alyssa to finish it and how excited she was to get a new dress. I got to work. It took me a couple of hours to finish it and I really like the result.

The dress is a dress R from this book (Happy Homemade Vol.2). Size 110cm. I used some shirting fabric from my never ending stash.

All the time I was making it I was thinking about reinforcing the front panel with interfacing but when I got to it I totally forgot all about it. Thus the panel is a little bit floppy. The instructions don't say to reinforce the panel which is weird as usually Japanese patterns are very well thought through. Overall, I enjoyed making this dress as I always do with making things from Japanese patterns. It was easy and very straightforward.

Alyssa likes it and it should last her through the summer. It is longer than any of her things and I like it that way. So now onto my long list of things to mend and make/finish.

KCW: Day 4

Which is my final day for this KCW. I did cut out another dress for Alyssa, but not sure when I will finish it. All the different things suddenly caught up with me so I did not have time for sewing these last days. That's okay though because KCW will be happening every season from now on. So no pressure.

On day 4 of the KCW I made a sundress for Emma. She is the one who needs clothes the most. Isn't it always the case with the oldest child?

Pattern is from the Japanese book Happy Homemade Vol. 5. Size - 130cm. Fabric - cotton from my stash. As usual, Japanese patterns do not disappoint. This one was quite simple and looks very nice finished.

I am glad I participated again in KCW. Usually I am so productive during the Kids Clothing Week but this time around I had some things that disrupted me from being fully invested in it. Good thing there's always next time.

KCW: Day 3

I have been drooling over Citronille patterns for so long I cannot even remember when this obsession started. I had purchased a couple of their patterns while on my vacation in Paris. And have been meaning to use them since then but did not have the chance. KCW was a good time and excuse to dig that pattern out and work on it.

I am so glad I made this blouse. It is perfect in every way. I love how easy it was to put together. I was a little intimidated by not being able to understand the instructions but I shouldn't have. There were some drawings which helped a lot. So I went with the drawings while making it.

Pattern - Capucine by Citronille. Fabric - lightweight cotton from my stash. Size - 6 but I lengthened it by an inch as my kids are giants.

Emms was very excited about her new blouse that she wanted to wear it to school today. Good thing the weather today is absolutely beautiful so I let her do it.

KCW(C): Day 1 & 2

Yesterday started Kids Clothes Week for me (and for everybody else who's doing it). I was very excited about it until the last minute. Then I realized that we are having friends come over for almost a two week visit next week and that I should be getting my house in order instead. That and some other things slowed my sewing down. So I don't have anything finished to show for the Day 1. But I did finish it today after K's doctor's appointment, thus Day 1 & 2 progress.

The pattern of this dress is out of one of the many Japanese books that I owe. Usually I love Japanese instructions as they are very clear because of all the drawings in them. But this book is like a comic book with no instructions. So I had a pattern and kind of went to town with it. Maybe that's why it took me longer as I love detailed instructions. Size - 90cm.

The fabric is from my beloved un-ending stash. (And, yes, I do have that much fabric. I am pretty much a fabric hoarder.) As much as I like the fabric color and polka dots, I really disliked how it behaved when ironed. You can still see all the wrinkles and, I promise, I did iron it many times.

Sorry, there will be no picture of K wearing it because she got shots today while at the doctor's and not in the mood for modeling.

Geranium #2

Made another Geranium dress by Rae the other day. I was itching on sewing something and decided to make K a dress. I noticed that she had a growth spurt and doesn't fit in a lot of her dresses lately. And so I decided to fix that problem.

Made it out of the corduroy I had laying around for a while. I love the pink polka dots all over the fabric. I think it's so very cute. I had only a little bit of this fabric and had to change the skirt part of the pattern. Instead of cutting out two separate parts of the skirt I just cut from selvage to selvage thus omitting two side seams. The skirt is not as full because of that but I like it this way too.

And I had to show you the big pink buttons on the back because I really like how they look with this fabric.

Loved making the dress again. It is such a quick project and turns out so cute every time. So satisfying. What I like the most about the pattern is that it's so versatile. There are a couple more versions that I want to try. So you'll see more of this dress in the future.

And here's the K's reaction to me trying to take a couple of pictures of her wearing the dress. Even bribing with candy did not help. I think she likes the dress though.

On The Roll

It is me who's on the roll. I keep sewing and knitting like a crazy person over here. Maybe winter is to blame. I get super crafty during winters. I was working on another Geranium Dress this time for Katelyn. For some reason in the middle of it I decide to sew another thing for her. So I made her a peasant shirt.

The pattern is from the book Intemporels Pour Bebe. This is my first thing made from the book. It is in French and good thing I took French in school, because the book lacks illustrations. And explanations too. The author just listed things that need to be done in numbered sequence.

I made size 2T but as always it seems a little short. I am telling you, my kids are gigantic. The fabric is from Ikea.

And now I need to go make that Geranium Dress that I started. :)

Party Dress

Approximately two weeks ago as I was sewing something Alyssa came to me and said:"Is this my 'party dress'?" Sadly, it wasn't. So I promised her that as soon as I finished whatever I was working on I would make her a dress for her birthday. So every day after that she'd come up to me and ask the same question:"Is this my 'party dress'?"

Alyssa picked out the fabric, Matt picked out the pattern. All the decisions were made for me and I got to work.

The pattern is a darling Peplum Bubble dress from the StraightGrain blog. The dress was very easy to make and it took me around two hours to make. I stumbled upon a problem when I didn't find an invisible zipper long enough in my stash. So I had to make it work with a tiny little zipper. Oh well. It worked. Also, the bodice came out a little long so I had to rip it off and cut of an inch and sew it to the skirt again.

She loves it and I love her in it! Win win. And I made it right on time - she turned four today! :)

Yet Again

Emma grew out of her pj's. I haven't bought any for her for over a year now. I keep making them or using a random shirt/pants combinations. I've been meaning to make pajamas for every child before Christmas, but it never works out the way I plan it. Sooo… I cut out these couple weeks before Christmas. And only got to them a week ago. Yay on finishing things!

Yet again Sleepover PJ's pattern by Oliver+s. I keep returning to this pattern and the sewing part gets easier and easier with each time I make these. Made size 6 hoping they will last till next Christmas. I am sure I will be making more pj's for this girl as the summer rolls in but she's set for now. Used some flannel I had in my stash that I bought five years ago at a Black Friday event at JoAnn's. Crazy, huh?

We've reached a point when it is not enough to have two yards of fabric to make things for Emma. Sadly, I realized this when I was cutting out the pj's. I had to sew a random piece to a sleeve to make it work. You can see it on her left sleeve. So from now on I should hoard more fabric make sure to buy enough yardage to make things for Ems.

And I am leaving you with this staged picture of Emma in her new pajamas. That is how she thinks things need to be modeled. With a flower and a purse.

Shoot Shirt

One of my friends here in Sofia offered to take our family pictures but it had to be this week. I put the girls' outfits based on Katelyn's plaid pink shirt. After I went through Emma's clothes and couldn't find a pink shirt that would look good with skinny jeans, I decided to make something fast. I even was willing to buy a pattern online. I was deciding between Figgy's Banyan Tee and famous Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee. I went with Banyan Tee and do not regret my decision.

I really like how it turned out. It was very easy and fast to put together. I think I spent 30 minutes from cutting the fabric to finishing the shirt. I used one of my stashed knits - I bought it right before we left from Joann's remnant bin. I am pretty sure it's rayon. I usually sew only with cottons but I liked the stripes and the pink that was not very overwhelming.

I am very pleased with the pattern and how fast it came together. The only thing is that, like with Ayashe blouse that I made last spring, Banyan Tee turned out a little short even though I made size 6/7. I am not sure if Figgy's patterns run a little small or maybe my child is a giant much taller than others. So I left the tee unhemmed. Good thing it is made out of knit fabric which does not unravel.

Love projects like this. Fast and easy.