BFF Back Pack

The Bug's BFF turns 4 this week so over the weekend there was a very exciting bouncy house party.

It was THE talk all.week.long.

Since the Birthday Girl is headed off to preschool after Labor Day we decided that a new back pack was in order.

I've gotten to the point where I can whip one of these up pretty quickly, which is good, since inspiration struck only a week before the party.  I used the Let's Go Back Pack tutorial on Sew Mamma Sew. (tutorial created by Rachel at Four Wise Monkeys)

The fabric on the bottom is a really soft corduroy that's been in my stash for a while. I think this used up about the last of it. Nothing but itty bitty scraps left now.  The other two exterior fabrics are some that my sister gifted me at Christmas a year or two ago.  They are so perfect for so many little girly things.

The inside is vintage gingham from grandma. I love that big check pattern.

And since the birthday girl mentioned to her Momma that what she REALLY wanted was a pink princess backpack I scrambled and found a bit of princess blanket binding that the Bug found on clearance and asked me to buy. It was a quarter so I said, yes. And boy am I glad I did! How else could I have added princesses? I have no idea.

(photo courtesy of Kim Bell)

The birthday girl seems pretty pleased with her spoils!

I hope the backpack serves her well. Can't wait to see those first day photos!

We love you sweet girl! 

Have a happy, happy Birthday!

~Lindsay

The Weekend Traveler Dress

This past weekend the Bug and I hopped on a train and rode up to visit Aunt Michelle.

I thought. . . big city, new surroundings. . . I'll get some great photos of this new dress for the blog!

But instead, we got wrapped up in this. . .

Playing, playing and more playing.

So forgive me, these photos aren't perfect and staged but I think what they are is a great testimony to the comfort and wearability of this little dress.

The fabric is a cute little coral colored stripe knit that I found on clearance at JoAnn's.  It's so soft and light weight!  

My new favorite thing to do at fabric stores is to search the clearance bolts for cheap knits. For all the fabric I have inherited and picked up over the years, my stash of knit is woefully slim!  

The accent fabric is a dark charcoal skinny stripe knit also picked up somewhere on clearance. Hooray for not paying more than you have to!

The dress pattern is mostly my own. I started by lengthening the tank top pattern from this book (love that book!) but I made so many changes along the way it's hardly the same beast.

The heart is simply appliquéd on the front.  It's my favorite little detail.

This photo just makes me laugh. . . but it does give a nice view of the leggings. I was hoping for more of a biker short length but the Bug was in bed and I couldn't measure. I added some elastic ruffle trim at the bottom in lieu of hemming them. Oh how I love the non-fraying properties of knit!  Ultimately, I don't love the ruffle with this so I think I'll cut that off and hem the leggings to a shorter length.

While it's not perfect, I'm pretty pleased with how this little dress turned out.  I don't have a serger so the whole thing was done on my cheap little sewing machine. 

One last little summer dress for the final dog days of summer.

Perfect for our little weekend traveler.

~Lindsay

Ruffles, Ruffles everywhere!

This ruffle dress pattern and I have a love hate relationship. 

I hate sewing on all those ruffles but I love the way it all comes together in the end.

Ultimately the time measuring and pinning is worth it. 

Especially when your model is this cute.

This is the first time I've sewn up this dress in a print and I've got to say, I think I like it even better.

I found this linen blend sketchy floral at JoAnn's and I want to go back for more. It's so pretty and modern looking.

I had to make some 11th hour changes to suit the petite little Miss. When her Momma tried it on her the straps were too far apart for her narrow frame. Since I didn't have time to completely redo the bodice, I snipped off the straps and added a band of white bias tape all around the top of the dress. I moved the ties in about an inch and a half total.  I think I like that pop of white even better than the original version.

They don't come any cuter than sweet little H.

I'm guessing she was the star of the dance floor at this wedding reception.

I love you sweet girl! I hope you get lots of wear out of this little dress because you are to die for cute in it!

~Lindsay

How I am spending my week...

Have any off you heard of the legendary Route 127 yard sale? I hadn't until last year.  Turns out my sister and my hometown is along the route.  And as it turns out - my mom has come into some stuff to get rid of - more stuff than she could deal with on her own - so I have taken time off to help set up for the sale. 

 Last year was our first year participating - and this year we are back for more!  In preparation, I spent most of my day yesterday at one of my favorite places on earth - my Grandparents farm.  Of course it is different now, without them there, but the memories are thick in the air (or was that the humidity?) 
Anyway, being out there reminded me, I promised my sister back when she posted this - that I would do a similar post showing the fabric loot I took from my Grandma's stash.  So finally here it is! Mind you this is maybe a quarter to one third of the fabric I ended up with, an exhaustive look at what I got would be, well, exhausting!

So here we go, I was able to also get some nice wool (you might recognize the blue/grey wool in front for the baby shoes),

some upholstery, ticking and canvas,

some old scarves,

some interesting corduroy,

some colorful floral patterns,

some tiny floral patterns,

some dated floral prints (yes the one front and center is vinyl),

and just dated ...

(The story behind this print is that my mom made my dad a shirt out of this back in the day.  Though somewhere along the line someone also made a shirt for a Ken doll out of it, so that is how I know the print best. )

And last buy certainly not least - okay maybe least, these shorts:

All they need is a bit of elastic and they are ready to go.  Maybe that should be my next project?

Any other fun fabric finds out there, inherited or otherwise?  Any other fabric hoarders out there, or are my sister and I the only ones that can't stand to see a good piece of fabric go - even if it is sewed into yellow terry clothe hot shorts?

~Michelle

The Runway. . .

Did you know Project Runway started last night?

I may have a slightly unhealthy obsession with this show, but do you blame me?? Really. . . combine sewing, fashion and reality tv. . . who could ask for more?

Did you miss it? Well, you are in luck!

The premiere episode is on-line now! Hooray for Lifetime getting it posted so quickly!

http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway/video

Since my dear sister does not have cable and hasn't had a chance to watch yet, here is my brief overview of who I like and who I don't without any spoilers.

Got some real strong personalities again this season!

My favorite designers (in no particular order):

• ·         Becky Ross—Something about that army green stuff with the colorful linings and then her photo styling I just really, really like. And she is fun and seems really down to earth. I hope she is around for a while because I want to see more from her.
• ·         Bert Keeter—He seems really sweet, sincere and HUMBLE which is certainly a lesson he could teach the younger designers. I really like him and think he's really a solid designer with lots of potential.  I love that he said he's doing the show to challenge himself to think outside of the box. I think that's some really great perspective and no matter what happens he's going to be a winner because of it.
• ·         Danielle Everdeen—I really loved her line from the moment I saw it. She may be channeling Gretchen with a bit of vintage thrown in but I like it. (I liked Gretchen too so don't be a hater) Her personality may wind up irritating me. Time will tell.
• ·         Fallene Wells—Love her sense of humor in her work (although it was a bit over the top on the first challenge, right?). I think she’s unique in a good way. Like her a lot. And I want her hair. How cute is she?

 Yep those are probably my favorites—mostly based on the stuff they brought to auditions and their personalities and not so much based on what they made for the first challenge (Which was WILD--but since I don't want to spoil it for anyone, my lips are sealed).

Other designer commentary. . .

• ·         Anya Chee—She has got to be a liar. There is no way she has only been sewing 4 months and made a pair of pants that fit that well.  I'm sorry but no.  I don’t like her at all.  Which is unfortunate because I do like her clothes.   I just can't buy her story.
• ·         Anthony Auld—Really like his story (beating testicular cancer) but hope it doesn't become a distraction. I guess that whole "Rockin' one" thing just got annoying for me.  I like his personality but he hasn't made or shown anything that wowed me yet--although I think the potential is there.
• ·         Joshua Christensen—So the “token Evangelical Christian” on reality tv has become the “token Mormon”--is this a new trend? Dude, I hope you do better than your reality tv predecessors at living your faith and being real. I have a feeling it's going to be an interesting ride for him.
• ·         Joshua McKinley—He is nicer & friendlier than I expected from first impressions. I just don’t like his design aesthetic at all.
• ·         Julie Tierney—I really like her personality. I hope she steps it up though. I didn’t like her challenge look at all. But I guess that will teach you to sleep in juvenile print pj pants, right?
• ·         Kimberly Goldson—She HAS to go home soon, right? I can’t believe she made it in to begin with.
• ·         Olivier Green—He is fascinating. I really like his work and he almost made it to my favorites list. I still might need to amend. I'm on the fence.

So there you have it folks. . . my thoughts after last night's episode minus my feelings on the challenge garments (for the most part).

Anyone else obsessed with this show too? I'd love to hear your thoughts and your favorites. Let's dish!

~Lindsay

Baby shoes

I apologize for the uncreative blog title, but I made some baby shoes.

A little while back my sister blogged about some shoes she made to go with a onesie.  At the time she made those I was working on these – and directed her to Homespun Threads.

And if you want to make baby shoes I would direct you there too, seriously there are some great patterns…but I would advise you – tiny shoes are not for the faint of heart.

I have been working on these for a while – and they have been done for a while.  I am starting to get on better terms with them, but I am still not sure that I like them – or that I will give them to the intended momma-to-be.

I used some old wool that was in my grandma’s stash – and paired it with Alexander Henry - Lorenza collection in peach/guava, that I had left over from this project.  I should have taken more care at making sure the wool was caught in the seam and would not unravel itself out of the seam.

But I didn’t – and that is exactly what happened at every seam – I covered the problem in the back by adding some twill tape then I added topstitching around most other seams.

Even still I was on speaking terms with the shoes – but then it came time to put the bottom in the shoes.

I thought I could use my new found ladder stich to give the inside a nice clean look – but I am not that patient.

It is probably good that the end result is something I am not overly happy with – because in the beginning stages the baby shoes were so incredibly cute – I think I convinced everyone that I showed, and I showed anyone that would look, that they needed a baby to put the tiny shoes on.

So in the end – you can see the rough edges on the inside, and there is not means of keeping them on the little ones foot.

And the mom recently mentioned that she is sick of getting things that are pink.

~Michelle

MADE Bathrobe

I have been wanting to make the Bug a bathrobe for ages.

I tried the hooded towel thing a while back but it just didn't work well. Probably because the towels I chose to make ours with were too thick. Live and learn.

At any rate, I decided a robe would be better post-bath anyway because it would stay on and would keep her warm (darn that chill inducing AC vent smack dab in the middle of the bathroom floor!).

About the same time I was processing all of this and trying to decide if I should wing it and make my own pattern or buy a commercial pattern, Dana released her Beach Robe Pattern.

Hooray for PDF patterns!!

I bought it right away. I love Dana's patterns. Always so clear, great photos, lots of options.

I was a tad bit concerned because the largest size of the pattern was 4T and we are pretty close to the time where all things 4T will be put in bins in the basement. . . so I cut out my pattern pieces a bit larger than the large.  I guess I DIYed an XL.  In hindsight, the large probably would have worked out fine but this one gives her room to grow (which she insists on continuing to do).

The towel she chose is a lovely raspberry color, not quite as purple as it appears here.

I was pleasantly surprised with her choice. I fully expected her to pick hot pink or something equally glaring.

When we got it home, the terry cloth went so well with the Kaffe Fassat print that I used to line the hood that I about squealed with delight.  I made my own bias tape from some Urban Chicks that's been in my stash for a good long time now. I just love all of these colors together.

As you can see from her expression the Bug is super thrilled with her new robe. . .

Or not. . .

I'm not sure what happened between the towel aisle excitement and the actual finished product but not even the promised gummy bear bribe could coax out a smile.

She is currently referring to this as her beach robe and is refusing to wear it anywhere but the beach.

If you are familiar with the area we live, you know "the beach" is not really a part of our daily (or weekly, or monthly) reality. We are somewhat landlocked. Too many corn fields, not enough water.

So despite the downright awesomeness of the finished product this may be another "fail" simply because of the fickle mind of a four year old.

You win some, you lose some.

And who knows. . . perhaps next month she will love it.

I won't hold my breath, but I will hope. . .

~Lindsay