Upcoming NEWS!!!

Wow!!!  I've been juggling a lot of projects the past few weeks and want to share with you what's coming up in the next few weeks on the blog!!!

First, the Sew Fab sale!!!

  I can't wait for you to see all the AWESOME patterns in this bundle!  I will send out several posts on FaceBook and a newsletter reminder on May 5th when the bundle goes live!  I would be so appreciative if you chose to purchase the bundle through my affiliate link!  Every sale of the bundle benefits the designers and this is my first time as a designer in this sale!  I was an affiliate in the past two Sew Fab sales and I am very honored to be a designer this time around!  Thank you so much for your support in growing my blog and pattern designs these past two years!  I have learned so much and can't wait to share more designs with you soon!

Speaking of.... I will have a FREE pattern (size 2T) on the Sewing Rabbit blog on Friday!  Make sure you check it out!  AND, you may see my name in the Sewing Rabbit Member Pattern Bundle!  If you've never heard about the Sewing Rabbit Member features, you pay $10 a month for access to amazing patterns each month plus a community forum to interact with other sewing friends!

 

Thursday, I will share some fun pictures of Eva Mae in her new Spring Showers Jacket!!!  Go check out the tour and see what's being made now!!!

Phew!!!  I look forward to sharing more with you this summer!  My next project will need to be getting matching cousin outfits made for our Idaho trip in June!!!

Fashion Revolution 2014

"Hey Christian, who made your clothes???"

"You did, Mommy!"

  

Sewing for my kids brings me so much joy and I am proud for them to wear their clothes #insideout today in support of the first Fashion Revolution!

A lot of blogs like myself have taken the pledge to raise awareness and encourage the people, brands and retailers that sell and make clothes, to be more considerate about the work conditions involved in garment production.  The movement started in response to the collapse of the textile factory Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh which happened one year ago today.

Read more here!

Stand with me and take a picture while wearing your clothes inside out and share on social media!

Clara Dress - Filles a Maman

 Several months ago I responded to a post on Facebook from the talented Mel Henry of Filles a Maman! (Check out her shop!!!)

When I saw the Clara Dress I thought it was a perfect dress pattern for Eva Mae!

I started sewing it with the pretty swiss dot fabric I bought at JoAnn's
and knew that it would be the perfect Easter dress! 

I wish I could say that I sewed Christian's Easter outfit too....
it was a budget mama moment from Ross - $12 for a 4 piece suit!

She recieved so many compliments from family and friends at church!  I think paired with the adorable Easter hat she looked like a sweet little Parisian Princess! 

Isn't this the best picture?!  I love how she's looking at herself while singing and playing piano!  Maybe she'll be the next Nadia Boulanger? (only French female musician I can think of off the top of my head!)

The pattern is written in French and English and VERY easy to understand and sew!  I enjoyed piecing the pattern together and watching how everything was constructed as I followed the instructions!

This picture is one of my faves - I may have gone a bit overboard in Photoshop but it looks like it could be in a magazine!

 

The one change I did make was instead of a casing for elastic at the sleeve I decided to shir the hem with some elastic thread!  It worked out nicely! 

As you can see from some of the pictures, the bubbles that Grandmama bought for Easter were a HUGE hit!!!  Her face was priceless when that big bubble machine went off!

 

 

Our family had such a blessed Easter and hope you did too!!!

I'm off to start sewing up some new projects to debut soon!  Hopefully this week I'll have a post with what you'll expect to see over the next few months on the blog!

Chocolate Garden Cake

 

I'm taking a quick break from any sewing projects to show you this adorable DIY for a garden cake!!!  I love "Pinspiration" and these cute individual carrot patches made me head out to the store to make a full size cake garden!

 You'll need:

Box of chocolate cake mix (eggs, water, oil)

Chocolate icing (I used whipped)

Vanilla Sugar Wafers

Cake top decorations (they had marshmallow carrots and flower icing decorations. I also added some flower lollipops.)

Step 1 - bake 2 8" square cakes.  Trim the top off of the bottom layer.

  

Step 2 - add icing after cakes have cooled.  I sliced some strawberries to go in the middle.

 

Step 3 - Place 2nd cake on top and cover with icing.  Begin to place wafers around the cake like fence posts.  Use frosting to adhere the wafer to the cake. I trimmed the wafers to a point at the top to resemble the top of a fence.

 

Step 4 - Cut wafers in half lengthwise to stick horizontally across the wafer fence.  Again, use the frosting to make it stick!

 

Step 5 - decorate with your choice of toppings and enjoy!!!

I hope your family has a Happy Easter!!!  HE IS RISEN!

Easter greetings!

Happy Easter!!!

I haven't been around too much the past few weeks because Spring musicals always take up my thinking and planning time and I am of no use with a sewing machine at the end of the day!

Christian performed in his first musical program last week "God Makes All Things New" and was soooooo stinkin' cute!  The good:  He said his speaking part perfectly  The bad: Mommy was the director and daddy had to take Eva Mae outside so there were no pictures during the play!

That's ok - one of his classmates will be making me a copy!

 

I'm so proud of how well he's been doing in Mrs. Stephanie's class!  She is such a great teacher for him!  I love to see his growth and how much he's learning!

The day after the program we had a fun time at the zoo with my 

sewing partner in crime Veronica of Sew Very!

 

This is an outtake but it's so funny!!!  I love Christian's expression - Ella's eyes are halfway closed from blinking but you can tell what a sweet girl she is in more of the photoshoot at Veronica's blog!  

Go check out the post for Calling All Kids!

 

And finally, I'll leave you with some pictures of what I made for Easter.

 

For Eva Mae:

Hobby Lobby fabric from last year and the Planet Applique Chick Alpha with a matching hair clippie from GG's Embroidery and Design

 For Christian:

Stitch on Time chocolate bunny with a bite!  I merged the letters and when Christian realized the joke he thought it was so clever!

 

For Eva Mae in church:

The Clara Dress by Filles a Maman!  I can't wait to take pictures!  It was such a sweet pattern to sew up!  I'll be pairing with some tights, white shoes and an Easter hat!

Come back Monday for a fun announcement on a pattern bundle you will want to buy!!!!

I hinted at it in my newsletter - I'll have some goodies in the next few months for newsletter subscribers!  Sign up here!

Subscribe to our mailing list

Perfect Pattern Parcel #2 and PR&P Create your fabric!

 Welcome to my corner of the web if you're visiting from the Perfect Pattern Parcel!!!

I had so much fun sewing the Celestial Tee and Hosh Pants!  I sewed the Seraphic Raglan from Figgy's Heavenly Collection last month HERE and I hope to sew up many more from this collection!

I was also glad that my Pattern Parcel tour stop worked with Project Run & Play's theme of creating your own fabric!  I prepared a quick tutorial on how I used my Silhouette Cameo Machine to create a fun shoulder detail with geometric shapes out of heat transfer vinyl!  

Before I get to the tutorial let me talk about these two great patterns!

The Hosh Pants from LouBee have just recently been updated to a size 6!  I know that I will be sewing many more pairs of this great pattern!  I used a stretch denim for my sweet girl's pants and love how they are perfect for wearing inside her cowboy boots!

Can you tell Eva Mae likes the sand box?  

I went to my first choice of photoshoot location and this is what I got:

So, I decided that it would be better just to let her be happy even if it meant a mess! 

(Yes, that is sand she is pouring in her hair!)

The Celestial Tee is super easy and fast to put together!  I love the sort of drop shoulder sleeve that makes the construction a breeze!

  

Now let's talk about the wonderful opportunity to get both of these patterns AND MORE in the Perfect Pattern Parcel #2 and also support a wonderful organization!  Donor's Choose is amazing and so many of my teacher friends have furnished classroom instruments and materials through generous donors!  I highly recommend contributing to music programs in Donors Choose if you are able!
(Or, in searching through some of the creative arts projects, I found THIS ONE that wants to start a sewing home ec class!!!)

The Celestial Tee was also the perfect sort of canvas for me to create my own print!

I thought it was so funny that I had planned and made this shirt and then I saw the Straight Lines and Angles series and then this shirt by Tara at Girl Like the Sea! Geometric is certainly "in!"

For my tutorial to "create fabric" in this week's PR&P challenge, I used the leftover heat transfer vinyl that I used for making my son a Dr. Seuss shirt

  

I used the font "Pointers" to add my shapes to the Silhouette software, cut the vinyl...

And then arranged the vinyl on the shirt sleeve and used the hot iron to transfer to the material!

Voila!  If you don't have Silhouette you could also use the font to create a freezer paper stencil or just cut out the shapes from heat transfer vinyl.

 Thank you so much for visiting and make sure you grab your opportunity to get the bundle HERE!

Shortie Nightgown and Bloomers

 I'm so happy that I can be on the GYCT Designs blog tour for the Shortie Nightgown and Bloomers!  You can read about and purchase the pattern HERE!
(And you can get it 20% off by entering the code "SHORTIE20")

Chelsea is the genius of GYCT and she's been so sweet to test for me in the past and participate in my blog tours!  Her Bumblebee Jacket was such an awesome creation!

The Bumblebee was my first pattern that she was able to help me with, and these adorable pajamas are her first pattern!!!  I love seeing the growth of my creative mama friends!  Your support of all us WAHMs is so encouraging!

  

I had so much fun making this PJ set for Eva Mae!  I knew when I received the pattern that I would want to use flannel for the fabric and I was super excited to use up this Ann Kelle flannel that Kelle Boyd gave me as a gift (Christian was one of her models for a photoshoot!)

Unfortunately I didn't have enough Urban Zoologie to make the entire outfit so I supplemented with some checkered pink flannel from the local quilt store!

And I thought about where I would want to take Eva Mae's pictures in the PJs and thought about doing it outside during the day but I think these after bath pictures in bed are the BEST!  I want to remember these sweet moments of childhood and the smell of my baby's wet hair after a bath!  And how smooth her skin is after lathering up with coconut oil!

The book she's reading is one that the school librarian gave me when I was pregnant with Christian and it's been a favorite for both of my kids!  It's called "One Lonely Lion" and it's a counting book with fun sparkly pictures!

After she looked through the pictures I told her she could jump on the bed!  Oh, the joy!

I hope you are enjoying these moments with your kiddos if they are still young!
They definitely grow up too fast!

Thanks for having me be a part of the tour, Chelsea!

Go see what all the other talented blogs are sewing and enter for your chance to win a copy of the pattern!

 

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