Remember Me? The Pants Still Fit!

 

Remember those reversible cuffed pants I made for Brooks?  You don't?  Well, then, why don't you venture here first.  Here's Brooks, wearing them when he's roughly 7 months old.

And here he is yesterday, verging on 10 months.  They still fit great and, uncuffed, he still has some length to grow into.  If you've ever experienced the crazy rapid growth of infants, you know that a piece of clothing that lasts more than 3 months (sometimes even ONE month!) is pretty awesome.

Oh my goodness... My little man is getting so big!

You should probably grab some of your cutest fabric and whip some of these up now.  After all, you'll get to put 'em on your kiddo for awhile! :)

Tanya Skirt Preview... and a little laugh

My friend, Tanya, requested that I make her this cute skirt, and-- loving a good project-- I immediately said, "YES!"  (Actually, I think I said, "Heck, YEAH!")  I kinda love it, but instead of just stealing the one I made her, I'm going to make one for me and create a tutorial for you alls along the way.  Look at me, venturing into the crazy world of adult clothing. :)  Here are a few pics of Tanya's skirt.  The waist is just slightly too big on me, but it's still oh-so-cute!

And in case you're wondering why I don't have a lot of pictures of me, I'm going to be unashamed and show you the next few...  I had no make-up on, didn't do my hair (but hurray for short and choppy cuts!), and I wasn't planning on having my face in the pics... But when you have gems like this, you must share them.

I think I'm trying to hold in some hiccups here?

Ahh!  A hyperactive chipmunk!!

"I'm going to win!  I'll hold my breath the longest!  Oh wait... I'm about to pass out.  But at least my retro, neon watch will look totally out of place while I'm doing it!"

 By the way, as I was posing away, my husband was taking pictures and saying really helpful things like, "Uh... okay... now give me... uh..."  I think that kind of spurring-on is what lead to that last picture.  Love you, babe. ;)

Hope your Tuesday is a little brighter now.  Just remember, you have my wacko face to thank for it. :)

Workin' The White Dresses

I mentioned these earlier, but here are some shots from our cousin photoshoot, taken by the lovely and talented Christy Nieh!

 I think Noelle's dress turned out to be my favorite.  I had dyed this doily a while back and, after I finished the dress, I thought, "Hey! I'm going to slap that sucker on!"  Love how it turned out.

Hannah's dress is accented by this fun orange braided rope.  She's very beachy, indeed.

Riley got a red elastic belt with a shabby chic flower and hairclip to match.

Haley got a circle skirt, which is perfect for sitting babies.  It looks so cool, spread all around them.

 

I love love love this picture.  Sure, Brooks isn't looking, but he's so happy!

Okay... so I love this one, too. Ring around the rosie!

Thanks again, Christy!  You're amazing!

Pink Elephants on Parade Dress Tutorial

Don't forget to enter the giveaway here!  It closes Sunday night!

I got this elephant fabric for $.50/yard at Walmart!  Fifty cents a yard, people!  Nice!  The only thing is that it's very baby, y'know?  And the only baby I have is a boy, and he's not going to be sporting pink and purple elephants. As luck would have it, though, we were getting together with some good friends today, and one of those friends is a 7-ish month-old little lady.  Thanks for posing for me, Addie! Obviously, this dress looks much better with you in it. :)

Materials:
Pattern

Main fabric, about 1/2 yard
Underskirt fabric, 10"x selvage to selvage
1/4-inch elastic
coordinating trim
fabric marker
basic sewing stuff

Instructions:
**Use 1/2-inch seam allowance throughout.**

First, cut out your pieces.  Use the pattern for the bodice, and the straps will be 2.5" x 6.5" (mine in the picture are too long... don't get confused).

For the skirt portion, cut from selvage to selvage.  Your main fabric will be 8 inches long.  The longer layer will be 10 inches.

We'll start with the bodice.  Fold your straps in half, sew up the long side.  Press with the seam in the center.

Cut your trim to 6.5".

Center the trim on the strap and sew on.  My trim is a velvet and organza ribbon.  I ran a line of stitching down both sides of the velvet.

Measure 2 inches out from the center of your front bodice piece and baste the straps on, close to the edge, with right sides together.

Measure 2.5 inches from the center of the back and baste the other side of the straps there.

It'll look like this when you're done.

Sew up the side seams of your main (strapped) piece and your lining piece.

Turn the lining right side out and pin it to the main piece, so the straps are sandwiched between the two.

It'll get a little bunchy in there, but that's ok.

Sew around the whole top edge then flip and press.

Topstitch close to the edge.

Your back piece is longer than the front, so that we can elasticize it.  Use a fabric marker to draw a line, 3/4-inch away from your top stitching.  The line will go across the entire back piece.  Then draw a second line, again 3/4-inch below.

Stitch along these lines.

Cut 2 pieces of 1/4-inch elastic to 9.25 inches.  Use a safety pin to begin threading it through your casing.

Once I pull my elastic close to the beginning of my casing, I pin it in place.

Once I finish pulling it through, I pin in place on the other side.  Then do the same with the other piece of elastic and the second casing.  Then you can stitch them in place with one continuous line.

I actually did a double line of stitches to make it extra durable.

Now grab your skirt pieces and sew up the side seams on both of them.  Finish with a zig-zag stitch.

Keeping them both inside out, place them together, with main skirt inside the underskirt.  Pin together at the top.

Run a gathering stitch along the top and gather both skirts up at the same time, until they match the bodice width.  KEEP IN MIND-- your back is bigger than the front.

Once you have the skirts gathered, slip the bodice inside, so right sides are together.  Match up one side seam with the side seam of the skirt.  Pin.

Sew through all four layers and finish with a zig-zag.

Flip and you've got your self a dress!

Train Bunting for the Nursery (or... The Hardest Easiest Project Ever)

You know how, sometimes, everything is the worst?  That was this project.  This "super simple project."

I was actually going to do the "easiest tutorial ever" for this bunting, but then the wheels came off.  Then the axles came off.  Then the brakes... then the windshield wipers... and then the car burst into flames.

I may exaggerate, but only ever-so-slightly.

But let's start with how great the bunting ended up.  I got this train fabric at the sidewalk sale at one of the cutest stores, Stork's Cradle.  Not only do they carry absolutely adorable baby goodness, but the ladies who own it are so sweet and kind and helpful.  Oh, and they make a lot of their items, too.  Like these dolls.  Awesome.  Every July, Wheaton has a sidewalk sale, and I hurry to Stork's Cradle to see if they've put any fabric yumminess out.  This year, I scored big.  I not only got this train fabric but also a bolt of blackout fabric and other assorted scraps.

Back to the construction horror show of the bunting.  I knew I wanted it to be kind of "shabby chic" (what's the manly version of that?  rugged?), so I wasn't going to finish the edges.  This made the project even easier.  I cut the triangles out of the train fabric, grabbed some navy corduroy for the backing, and cut that, too.  Then I got lazy.  I decided that I didn't feel like appliqueing the trains to the corduroy, and I figured I could just pin them in place.  Wrong.  As I looked at my first attempt, I debated whether I could pass the uncentered train off as "rugged."  Then I faced the fact that it would forever drive me bonkers and picked the train off.  But I figured it was worth one more shot.  I tried again and unpicked that train again.  I then went for the applique.  As I was going through that process, I realized that I had accidentally cut one of my triangles with the selvage on and another one had been folded a little when I cut, so it was all wonky.  Dang.  So I re-cut my cord, applique, and go to sew.  My machine acts up.  The thread is bunching and jumping, and I still have no idea what happened.  More picking.  I take out the bobbin case and do a quick clean of the machine.  I re-thread.  Finally, it works.  And I'm happy to say there were no more blunders.  I sewed ric-rack on (which I think will work well with the chevron curtains that will soon be up!) and, what seemed like 8 hours later, hung that sucker.

I suppose I've learned a good lesson?  Anyone else ever have an irritatingly easy project that goes horribly wrong?  I know I can't be alone. :)