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.

::2014::

Is it really 2014 already? It feels like we just started year 2013 last month. Happy New Year! I hope it brings you (and me) all the best and lots of crafty time.

Every year I think that Christmas gifts for my girls should be handmade by me. But then I realize that I have too many kids to start making those gifts far in advance in the year to be able to finish it all by December. This last Christmas I had a great idea to give K a Waldorf doll. I've been in love with these dolls for quite some time but never tried making one yet. And I did not make one. Ha. I bought an unfinished one (without hair and clothes) from an Etsy store and started working on it.

It turned out a bigger project than I thought it would be.

I forgot that I don't have a sewing machine here in London. I had to make all the clothes by hand. I never even thought of how much work it is. And let me tell ya, it ain't easy nor fast.

I actually liked making little doll clothes. But at the same time thought of how much faster and nicer it would be if I had some elves to help me my sewing machine.

I also bought a cute fabric suitcase to hold the dolly and her clothes. She fits in it quite nicely.

When K opened it she did not show much excitement and my heart fell. I thought, "That is why I don't make handmade gifts for my children". But then after all the craziness of the Christmas morning and opening gifts she started playing with it. I was very happy to see her playing with the doll and walking around with her suitcase. I think she might be a little too young for a doll like that but I just couldn't wait any longer to make a Waldorf doll (even if it was just partly). Too bad my other girls don't play with dolls.

Oh, and I got a little blog award from the Green Eyed Oriole blog which is kind of nice. Thank you, Anastasia, for giving it to me!

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.

Baby Jumpsuit

After making the diapers for two months and getting sick of the assembly line sewing I decided to make some kind of clothes for the coming baby. The thing is it's going to be my fourth girl and so I pretty much have everything. Not in a new condition as it all has been passed down so many times, but still. And at the same time I feel guilty about that same thing and always feel like making/buying new stuff. Am I the only one feeling that way?

So here's the jumpsuit I saw one day on Pinterest and really wanted to make it for some reason. I am glad I made it as it turned out so very cute. I think it's my favorite of all the things I made for this little one.

The pattern is a free pattern from this site. It's in Dutch I believe, but Google translations helped me with the instructions. I did not have any problems making this jumpsuit and it came together quite quickly. I used the serger for the most of it and thought how grateful I am to have a serger for projects like this. The only problem I had with it was installing the snaps in the crotch area. There are so many layers in there because of the binding that my snaps were not going through. It did not help that I used the prong type snaps instead of my usual plastic ones.
The fabric is some Japanese interlock knit that I bought from Etsy some time ago. I did not have much but I am glad I had enough for this project. I think this fabric is so very cute. And the quality is very good.
I made size 56cm. I believe it's supposed to go up to 3 months. But my pregnancy brain played a joke on me and I cut the pattern out without seam allowances. So it turned out smaller than supposed to. Hopefully it fits the babe for at least a month. I will make sure to post a picture in it when she comes out.

Two Months of Diaper Sewing

We've been using cloth diapers since A was 6 months old which makes it almost four and a half years. I am not a pro but I am pretty confident about using them. I've been lucky that Matt does it with me without complaining. I don't know if it has saved us any money but I am happy to think that I am saving the Earth at least trying to not throw away disposable diapers into the already full landfills.

With all the babes we would always start after they turned at least month and a half as we have to travel or be in an unfamiliar place until the babe is six weeks old. It's been easier to just use disposables for those first months. This time around though I decided to try to start from the very beginning. So when I went through my stash I noticed that I didn't have many small sized diapers. So with my pre-nesting feeling that hit me at the end of August I decided to make some fitted diapers. (Fitted diapers = diapers that are not waterproof and need a cover to not leak). I've heard good things about fitted diapers and wanted to try them. Plus they are easiest to make.

First I made fitteds from the Rainy Days pattern. I really liked the pattern as it was easy to sew the dipes and they went quite fast because I serged them. Size newborn/small. I used all the fabrics I've had in my stash, which are cotton knits as the outside layer and cotton velour as an inner layer. There's some kind of absorbent fabric in between but I don't remember which I put in which diapers.

Next I made five diapers from the Darling Diapers Unlimited pattern. I've had it for quite a while but never had time to tackle the diapers. The pattern was very detailed and not hard to make but I was a little overwhelmed by all the instructions and different options. So I kind of used the same process as with the Rainy Days diapers. Also all of them serged. I made three out of the minky fabric as I wanted some cute plushy ones, but hated sewing with it as it is very wiggly. Rest are from the cotton knits. Inner layer is made out of cotton velour as the other diapers. I think three or four diapers don't have a layer in between as I ran out of fabric but soakers are made out of super absorbent fabric (Zorb) which should help with absorbency (or at least I hope so).

It took me a couple of months to finish these. I did not have time to work on them every day so I sewed them a little at a time. I am glad I finished them all and they are ready to be used with the new baby. I just hope I like them as much as I liked my pocket FuzziBunz ones.

I also made some quick fleece soakers. As I said before fitteds are not waterproof so they need some kind of a cover. I made some fleece soakers and I am still planning to make some wool soakers. Plus I have some PUL covers.

These are made from this free pattern. They were very easy and fast to make. I also used my serger for most of it. Size small. Fabric - fleece I had laying around.

And to finish it off I also made a medium sized wet bag to hold all these diapers in.

I used this tutorial. I have made a large bag two years ago or so but I needed something more manageable in size. So medium it was and plus it is with a pocket. So I can stuff unused diapers in the pocket and used ones in the bag when we go out and about. Very happy how it turned out.
So here you have my long and boring post about diapers. I am sorry if I bored you and also for the awful lighting in the pictures. I made everything and then rushed through taking pictures so I could post about it later. Did not know the pictures turned out so horrible.

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? :)

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. :)

Last of The Gift Sewing

Remember that season of gifts? Well, I have one more little thing to show. I had to make one more gift for a friend of mine who had her baby last winter and shamefully I got to the gift in June. Shame.

I loved this romper from the first sight. I am in love with little baby boy rompers for some odd reason. And no boy to make a cute boy romper for. The pattern is Little Goldfish from Ottobre 3/2012. I don't remember the size I made but I think it was 64cm, which should fit a 6-9 month old baby. Hopefully, it fit the baby boy I made it for.

The hardest part of the project for me was to pick fabric. I am so used to sewing for girls and as I noticed I only have girly fabric in my stash. I spent a couple of weeks deciding on which fabric to use. Decided on this light blue seersucker. I think it works very well with this pattern.

The pattern was easy to work with but I did have to re-read it in couple of places as I didn't get it right away. Such are Ottobre patterns. I think it turned out very cute and maybe wish a little I had a little boy running around in a romper like this.

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.

Gifting Season

There is time in a year when everybody surrounding you more than a couple of my friends have babies. I try to make things in advance but this year everything seemed to roll on to me and I fell behind. By the time I sent off the gifts the babies were already 3-4 months old. I am getting slow and lazy.

My friend likes to dress up her boys into handsome things and so I made this Prudent Baby vest but just scaled it down a little. The tutorial was pretty straightforward and took me not more than an hour to make it. I paired it with the floppy tie onesie. Tutorial from here. I also made some bandana bibs but did not take a picture of those.

Then another friend had a baby and I started making another gift. This time I made the cardigan onesie. I saw them popping up on Pinterest and thought they were adorable. As I don't have any boys I decided to try my hand on one for a friend's baby boy. I used this tutorial. It was a great tutorial and the project went quite fast. To add to that onesie I made some interchangeable bow ties. I drafted my own pattern as I couldn't find a baby sized bow tie that kind of looks like it was tied.

Oh, and I threw some bandana bibs in there too. I really like how these bandana bibs look on baby boys. And they should be pretty practical when the baby starts drooling.
I am also finishing another baby boy gift for another friend of mine but cannot show it yet as she does read this blog. Masha, just so you know you will be getting some bandana bibs along with another thing. And I really hope I'm done before G turns 10 years old.

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.

Good Idea But Not So Good In Life

I've been a little absent from the blog lately. Not because I am not sewing. I was working on a lengthy assembly line project. With our foreign service life we are pretty much all given the same furniture all over the world. Some people choose to bring their own furniture with them, but we did not have much at the moment we started this nomadic kind of life, so we went with the standard state department furniture. Which is not that bad but it wasn't purchased with the little kids in mind. It is not as wipe-able as I would like it to be. The dining chairs get the most wear and tear with our kids. So I got an idea that I could make some chair covers that would be washable.

Well, it took me a month to finish covers for all eight chairs we have. It didn't help when I decided to add a water resistant layer and had to order and wait for the fabric to get here. It took me a couple of hours to figure out the pattern and make the first cover.

After that it all went like an assembly line. I was getting a little tired of sewing the same things over and over. Then I finally finished them all and sighed with relief. Hopefully I will never have to do it again. Too tedious.

I made two different types of corners. Not because I wanted to see how many corner types I can come up with BUT because I had limited fabric amount. First type consists of three valance (what do you call the bottom strip of a chair cover?) pieces and little tiny one in between of them.

The second one is just one long piece with two pleats at the corners. They kind of looked wacky so I had to sew little tacks to keep them together which looks a little better.

So after I put them on the chairs I got quite disappointed with them. As they look nice on individual chair, they look a little weird when all together on eight chairs. I don't even know how to explain the feelings I have about them. It just doesn't look as good as I wish it did. I would rather get some chairs that are easy to wipe but for a couple of reasons we cannot do that right now so I will have to endure this ugliness for another couple of years. Or if they bug me too much I will just take them off and Matt would have to go back to cleaning the chairs every week.

In other news I am getting ready for the KCW. It is happening in a week so I better be ready by then. Last time I was not prepared and it was not as enjoyable as I wish it was.

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! :)