Trick or Treat Bags!

I stayed up way too late last night making these totes for Halloween!!!  I made a bag last year for Christian but I hot glued a little applique on the front!  This year I can do the REAL thing! lol!  I love how these turned out!
 

I ordered a bunch of this chevron thinking I would use it for clothes but it's just too thick.  I'll make bags with them and give as gifts!  I think the blue chevron would look really cute with a red monogram!

 

Stay tuned for pics next week of our Trick or Treating night!!!  The kids are going to be so cute! :)

More fun with my Singer Futura! :)

 I have been keeping pretty busy with my embroidery machine and it's so much fun to sit and relax while creating something new!!! lol!

I just LOVE how the entire design is embroidered instead of appliqued.  We were going to go with an applique "N" but decided this look seemed a little more classic!

This is the latest fully handmade outfit I've created!  I bought the blue gingham fabric from JoAnn's craft store and lined it with a soft flannel so that Noah can wear it through the winter!  His mommy is going to take some professional quality pictures that I'll be able to use if I ever open up an etsy store! :)

The pattern is Children's Corner Johnny - It's been my tried and true Jon-Jon and Long-all pattern since Christian was a baby!  At first glance it seems big but I held up one of Eva Mae's 18 month sleepers and it matched the length and width - hopefully the fit will work when Noah tries it on! :)

In other news, my friend Veronica over at SewVery has been experimenting with embroidery and applique!  It's so much fun to see fellow moms using crafty talent to make beautiful clothing!!!  She had problems with the Brother PE770 that she ordered from Amazon (BROTHER PE770 SEW Embroider Machine with USB (Google Affiliate Ad)) but after using medium weight cutaway stabilizer instead of tear away I think it will end up working just fine for her!  I might create a link back to her site when she does her first blog post on embroidery!  We have so much fun when we meet up to let our little 3 year olds play!!!  They used up a ton of energy at the zoo yesterday!  I hate that I forgot my camera again.  Next time I'm going to snap some pics!  They were adorable holding hands as Ella tried to get Christian to climb the rope ladder!

I have 4 more appliques to take pictures of this weekend and I'll blog about them soon!!!  And I'm excited to work on Eva Mae and Christian's Christmas jammies!!!  ADORBS!!! :)

Day 6 KCWC

So it's day 6 and I finally finished the jacket!!!  I will take better pics tomorrow in the natural light with her matching ruffle pants! :)  It took me several days to finish the jacket but I love how it turned out!



I was hoping to have one more outfit done (Pristine Swing by Melly Sews) but I don't think I'll have much time to sew tomorrow.  We'll see!  I need to clean the house this weekend too!!! LOL! 

 

 

You can tell baby girl was fighting sleep - I had her model before I put her down to bed! :)

My review of the pattern is this:
SUPER CUTE!!!  However, I noticed some of the measurements weren't exact.  If you can be flexible with your seam allowance everything will turn out fine!

The fit is spot on - I did the 18 months and it fits her perfectly!  It might be a little snug for what I was hoping but I think it's adorable!

I used woven cotton as the outside and a pink jersey knit as the lining.  Some of the things I did a little different - I rolled the cuffs for the hem and I used ribbon for the button loops.

All the directions were really clear and the pictures were great!  If you like the style of the jacket you should go check out the pattern here!!!

 

 BONUS PICS! :)
Here are some better pics of the outfit I finished yesterday for my BFF! :)

 

 

KCWC Day 4 and 5

Not a whole lot to show for two days but I'm hoping to make up for it tomorrow!  I'm wiped out tonight and think I better stop before I make stupid sewing mistakes! lol!

This is an adorable set for my best friend's daughter!  I can't wait to see her in it!  I'm going to try to have a local friend model it for my future etsy shop before I send it off to Las Vegas! :)

KCWC Day 3/PR&P Holiday Week Tutorial

KCWC Day 3 and PR&P Holiday Wear!!!

(Fabric: Michael Miller 100 Calorie Snack Pack - Applique: Gingerbread Alpha from Planet Applique)

So I thought I would try to kill two birds with one stone this week and finish a Holiday wear look!  I LOVE how this dress turned out!!!  She is so stinkin' adorable!!!

Here's the tutorial of how I created the look!

I took measurements of a bodice pattern and drew up my own (I didn't want the neckline that was on the pattern so the neckline was the only thing I really changed.)

I traced the peter pan collar from a Simplicity pattern and ironed interfacing to one side

The pattern I modified had short sleeves so I added length to make it long sleeved.

You'll also need a long rectangle to make the skirt - double the width of the waist and cut about 10" if you're making the skirt to a 18mo-2T size.

Here's what your bodice pieces will look like:

Sew the peter pan collar and turn right side out.  Baste to the front of the bodice.

Sew the back to the front at the shoulders. (Do the same for the lining pieces)

Gather the sleeves and sew right sides together to the bodice.

Add the lining bodice to the front bodice right sides together and sew the arm seam only so that you're encasing the sleeve.  That way you won't have a raw edge on the inside of the dress at the arm hole.

Here are pics of what the finished seam looks like at the arm

 

NOW, this is tricky.  You are going to sew the neck and back together but it's going to look really funky like this:

Don't worry, it will all turn out in the end!!!  Make sure to pin it in place though.  Sew up the side seam, curve of the neck and down the other side seam.  Leave the bottom open.

Turn it out and press really well!!!!

 

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the steps but it's easy to put together after this.

Sew the sleeves closed by putting them right sides together.  You can finish with a serger or zig zag stitch.  Hem the sleeve.
Sew the side seam of your long rectangle for the skirt.  Gather and pin to the bottom of the bodice.  Finish the seam with a serger or zig zag stitch and top stitch the bottom of the bodice.  Hem the bottom of the skirt.

Add buttons to the back and you're done!!!

Sweet baby girl!!!!

 

KCWC Day 2

 

Here's a little preview of what I'm doing currently - I'll finish it up tonight and start on the Urban Weekender jacket.  I'm trying to put together a tutorial for this gingerbread dress too - we'll see how it turns out! :)

What are you sewing today?

KCWC Day 1

Meg at Elsie Marley has a HUGE following of mama sewers right now for Kids Clothes Week Challenge - sew an hour a day for a week!  I am about to get my hour in but I wanted to post my first creation from this week!  I'm calling it the "Bumblebee" dress since it's yellow/gray/black! :)  I whipped it up the other night after chatting with some local mom's in our facebook group!  One of the moms has become obsessed with the smocked auction groups and may have developed a little addiction! :)

She posted this picture...............

........and I told her I could probably sew a similar style that night.  So, I stupidly stayed up until 2am to finish!! LOL! (I did start at around 11pm so it didn't take a whole lot of time!!!)

Here's the finished product

 

I may create a tutorial in the future for anyone interested on how I made it.  I just basically took a bodice pattern piece, added ruffles and sleeves. I just ordered the exact chevron fabric so it would make a pretty cool DIY post! :)

 And my beautiful model!!!!

 

 

Look at those blue eyes!!!!

 

 

Also, I am so excited for my friend Veronica at SewVery!  She is so sweet to blog about our collaboration a couple weeks ago on 2 reversible dresses!!! Please visit her blog and read about it!!!  I love this picture of her daughter, Ella!

img by SewVery

#iSew

Andrea over at Train to Crazy has started a fun Instagram party - each week is a theme to share your love of sewing!

I am lame and don't have a smart phone so I can't participate with a camera phone, but I still thought it would be fun to participate through the blog!  Plus, I needed to clean up my sewing space for company on Thursday and thought I better document it since you'll probably never see it this clean in the future! lol!

In this pic you can see the bookcase that has all my fabric.  I would like to get shelves with doors at some point to install on the walls!  I think that would look a lot nicer and tidy! :)


Here's the view of the sewing table and dresser that has all my patterns and notions!  The door with the wreath is the laundry room.  You can also see the serger and behind the Sewing For Boys book is my smocking pleater.

Here's the computer desk with my embroidery machine hooked up! :)  I love having everything right next to each other!  

 

I found that you can search Instagram photos so if you want to see what other people have posted click here!

Uh oh - change of plans for KCWC

***************10/5/12 UPDATE***************
I'm so bummed!!!!  The plans to sew up the 5 pieces for VFT fell through but they were so sweet to send me the 5 patterns to thank me for my willingness to help them out!!!  Such a sweet company!  You all need to check them out! :)  I think I may need to sew the Molly Jacket and Whitney Pants for KCWC!


**************

So after I posted that my plan is to sew the Heidi and Finn Urban Weekender Jacket I got a call from the girls at Violette Fields Threads asking me to help them make samples for Quilt Market!!!!   WOWEE!!!  What an honor!  So, I will absolutely be sewing a few hours a day to finish up these fine patterns!!!  Here's what I will be sewing:

Molly Jacket

Ginger Top and Lucy Pants

Josephine Dress

Whitney Pants

Go check out their page and see the awesome creations!!!  What's even more awesome is that these girls are local!!! Yay for Spring Hill/Thompsons Station! :)

My plan is to still sew the Urban Weekender after the samples are finished so Eva Mae can have a cute jacket for the fall! :)

Week 4 Boys Wear

Meet my handsome buddy!!!  I feel so bad that the past few months have been image heavy on only my baby girl!!! lol!  Poor buddy has been left out!  But not any longer!!!  This adorable set is the perfect dress up outfit! (And yet, still casual with the applique t-shirt!)

 

I started with some pinstripe material from JoAnn's and cut out the pants according to the Blank Slate Basics 4T pattern from Melly Sews!

I love this action shot with the sun coming down on his golden hair!  So spiffy!

The adorable vest is a pattern from The Mother Huddle that is listed on SewSet!

 

 

And last but not least, the applique shirt is a black tee from Walmart with the tuxedo applique pattern from Planet Applique

Thanks so much for stopping by!!  The outfit will be worn on Halloween with a top hat and penciled mustache along with our little circus elephant baby! :)  I don't think mommy and daddy will dress up this year - maybe we'll just walk around with a bag of peanuts!