I Love London Skirt

How cute is this little skirt?  I absolutely love this fabric and want to buy it all up!  Actually, I have this problem a LOT.  I find fabric that I love and want to buy it all and hoard it and put it in my closet and look at it but never actually use it.

Such a happy little model.

Some days, this is as good as it gets for photography.

I love this skirt with the blouse tucked in.

This is a very simple gathered waist skirt with a contrast panel on the bottom.  So easy to put together and easy to wear for little people learning to dress themselves.  No front.  No back.  Just pull it on and go!

I love how tidy a contrasting panel makes a hem look.  I might start using this for everything.  Watching out!

The top is the same pattern as the pink shirt I made with the 40's suit, but I stood the collar up this time instead of sewing it down.  Gosh, I love this pattern.

One of these days, I'll manage to remove all of my gathering threads before I post photos to the internet.  Until that time...

I might make a long sleeved version next.  I think it would be very cute that way.  One of these days I might make it with the short sleeve it came with too!

Why I've been absent and more bubble shorts

I haven't been posting much and for that I apologize.  I've been sewing up a storm, though!  I recently launched an etsy shop to help with my sewing addiction.  You see, I love to sew so much that I can't stop even though my daughter's closet is packed full.  It's an addiction and not a cheap one!

I've been spending a great deal of my free time figuring out branding, packaging and product for the shop.  There's not a whole lot in it right, now, but I'm feeling pretty good about what I've done so far :)





Here is a sweet ensemble I made using a self drafted pattern for the top.  It's a basic peasant top but it's gathered into a circle yoke and held together with a button in the back.  It ended up being a size bigger than I expected.  I'm not sure why.  I suspect someone forgot to take into account the extra length that would be added by the yoke.  I have no respect for sloppy pattern making...





The shorts are Elegance and Elephance Bubble Pocket Shorts but without the pockets.  I love their structure and fit.  These 3T/4T fit much better than the blue 18/2T that I made.  I might even make a size bigger next time.  I love how forgiving making your own elastic waist bottoms is.  You can make the elastic any size you want!  I don't know why I was afraid of sewing bottoms for so long!  To help differentiate the front from the back, I sewed a little twill tape tag to the back.





To accentuate the nice lines on these shorts, I added contrasting top stitching on every seam.  I love how they turned out!  Although, my stretch twill was kind of a pain.  Sometimes, it would stretch a bit and then my topstitching would look uneven or puckered.  I've been struggling with the tension on my machine and I think that might be why or maybe I'm just incompetent.  Either way, I still love them.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope that you are all surrounded by loved ones today and that you get a little time to craft during the hectic holiday.

Winter Red White and Blue

Red White and Blue, it's not just for July.  Neither are shorts.  Both are great year round.

One of my favorite color combos is navy blue and red.  Why else would she own such a pair of tights?  You'd be surprised at how much they match, especially if you have a denim skirt or a darling pair of navy blue bubble pocket shorts.

I've had the Elegance and Elephants bubble pocket shorts pattern for a while now.  I finally got around to sewing it last week when I realize that Miss had only one skirt that matched the previously mentioned tights.  Since she loved the tights, I knew she needed something else to wear with them.  I love the look of shorts with tights, so I raided my pattern stash and picked these out.

They came together very nicely, but I was a bit disappointed in the fit.  Miss is very narrow so I often have to take in the waist on her pants but with shorts, I usually just make her waist size.  These were a different story.  I cut out the 18/2T pattern pieces and they fit great except that the rise is a good inch too short.  She had chronic plumber's crack happening in the back the first day she wore them.  That isn't the pattern's fault, though.  Miss has recently developed a behind and she is having this issues with several pairs of pants that fit her fine last month.

To fix the half moon issue, I just sewed another waist band on top.  Now they cover her rear and have a cute paper bag waist.  I could have unpicked all the seams, made the waist band taller and sewn it all back together, but picking black thread out of navy linen would have been a headache inducing nightmare.  It was easier to just add length by sewing on another waistband.  It was about a 10 minute fix.

I wanted a wider fitting top to help balance out the pockets and I wanted something with longer sleeves.  Again, I raided my pattern stash and decided to give Oliver + S a whirl and sew up the Class Picnic Blouse.  Had I managed to print out all of the pattern pieces, this top would have come together in a couple of hours; however, if you forget the yoke pieces and sew the sleeves to the bodice, notice that there is a good 3 inches sticking off the top, ponder how the rest of it comes together, run downstairs to your computer to re read the directions, try to print the missing pattern pieces, fight with your printer that keeps saying it's jammed even when it's not, it might take you closer to 3 hours.  I say this from personal experience.  Ask me how my Sunday went.

Accidents aside, I think the top turned out very well.  I was worried about the fit when I saw all the pieces, but it is much less tent-like than I envisioned when I was sewing it all together.  I considered cutting out a 2 instead of a 3 and I even had to check flickr for photos of the fit because I was so worried.  A skinny Miss like she is can't pull off all styles.  The 3 fits with some room to grow without being too big.

The fabric is a cotton from Hobby Lobby in a navy floral on white.  It's a perfect match to the navy linen I made the shorts with.  I added a thin red and white striped ribbon on the front yoke as I was topstitching just to add a little something extra and to help Miss figure out the front from the back.

Miss loves how comfortable both pieces are and I love that they'll both match just about everything else in her closet even when her tights are in the wash.  Plus, they'll both transition well into spring and perhaps even summer if she keeps growing slowly.

Saint Edward Haunting

If anyone has peeked at my instagram account, they have probably noticed that I really love creepy photography.  I also love Halloween.  The two blend together into a perfect duet.  I've wanted to do a ghost photo shoot for a while and I finally got my chance yesterday :)

Little Miss was originally going to be a wind up doll...last year.  I did a self drafted pattern based on this photo I saw online.  It's a Victorian dress with lace insets all down the front and broderie anglaise trim.  I was in love the first moment I saw it.  There are more beauties at the Bowes Museum website.

I started with lace inset in the front.  I pieced it together from lace I bought on etsy.  The two I used on the front of my dress are from mingmingworld.  They seem to still carry them here and here.  The anglaise trim is vintage and it's beautiful.  So so beautiful.  I had a rough time cutting it up.  Once I had the lace inset done I couldn't wrap my brain around how to add it to the rest of the dress and then Miss decided she wanted to be Rapunzel anyway so the project sat until I picked it up last month.

The group of kids last year.  My oldest made his own costume and I made the little one's.  My poor chicken terrified all the kids in the neighborhood.

After I picked it up a year later, the pattern fell into place.  I just added two side panels and a back panel and sewed on a skirt.  It really wasn't all that difficult.  I'll admit that the some of the seams are exposed under the front trim, but it's not really noticeable.  The rest of my dress is cotton muslin. After I was finished, I tea stained the entire thing to give it more of a vintage look.  The first time around it came out orange!  Thank goodness a couple of washes fixed that.

She didn't want to be a wind up doll, so I thought a broken doll might be cute but after practicing with the makeup she didn't want to be that either.  She wanted something "spookier".  She thought a ghost would be pretty spooky.  She sat still while I did her makeup and then we ran off to the park to do a ghostly photo shoot.

The photos were taken using a very slow shutter speed, sometimes as long as 30 seconds depending on the look I was going for.  I also used a neutral density filter to help cut out light so that my shot wouldn't be overexposed.  It was nice for Miss not to have to worry about sitting still for once.  We also went later in the day on a damp overcast evening so there was hardly anyone around.  I think they came out perfectly.

I have a couple in color, but I think the prefer the mood of the black and white

I think I'm going to grow up and be a ghost photographer!

Flip this Pattern : Sunki

Once again, I participated in Flip this Pattern by Frances Suzanne.  It seems I can't resist it!  I wanted to participate last month but I was swamped with the Project Run and Play Sew Along!

This month's challenge was to flip the Sunki dress.  I love the lines in this pattern!  The large round pockets, the pleats in the sleeves, the wonderful fabric possiblities...  Seriously, in love.  Because I love the pattern the way it is, I chose to flip it by doing an upcycle this time around.

Miss and I perused the Forever 21 sale rack while it was 40% off and chose the fabrics.  She fell in love with a mint lace play suit.  This baby started out as a size L short suit.  I just barely had enough fabric to cut out the front and back panels.  The sleeves and inset are made from a lovely cream chiffon blouse.

I kept the top neckline from the suit so that I didn't have to redo the zipper or the lining.  I just cut it all together.  Of course, the neckline was HUGE so I had to pleat it to get it the right size, but I thought the pleats complimented the pattern well.

I also kept the sleeves from the top as they were.  I just cut the pattern on the fold of the sleeve.  There was some excess so I just pleated the fullness in.  The sleeves are REALLY big, but Miss loves them.  She says she feels beautiful.

I cut out a size 3 since she fits a size 2 really well (and it just feels weird to sew up size 2 items for my 4 year old) but the dress is way too big.  Luckily, she has plenty in her closet that fits and she can wear this next year when she grows into it.

Oliver and S Forest Path Cape

Last night, I cut out and sewed up the Oliver + S Forest Path Cape.  I've loved it since it was first released and bought it almost immediately.  I've had the fabric for this project since July.  I guess I just needed KCW to kick me into gear and get it done.

I don't know why it took me so long to sew it up.  I guess I figured it would be harder.  This was one of the easiest things I've ever made.  It's only 4 pattern pieces!  Yes, it's fully lined but it came together flawlessly :)  I think this is going to be a cool weather staple for every year.  Miss loves it and she got a million compliments on it today while we were out and about.

I love that it's easy for her to play in too.  It has plenty of room to run around and move in.  I also love that you can make it from a variety of different fabrics.  The pattern calls for wool, but I didn't have the budget for that after buying the wool for my suit so I bought some very soft but thick flannel.  I think it drapes very nicely and it's not too warm so she doesn't feel the need to take it off when we're inside.

It has such a cute silhouette from the side as well as the front and the back.  I almost want to buy the women's version for myself.

I added a pop of color by sewing on some bright purple buttons.  (They were leftover from her Princess Bubblegum dress.)  The pattern calls for 5 buttons.  Three down the front and one on each side to hold the arms together.  If you don't want to do buttons, though, the pattern tells you how to use snaps to hold it together instead.

This is definitely a pattern I will buy in the larger sizes when she outgrows this pattern.  Such an easy project that looks so stylish and will be great for the older crowd.

She fancies herself a super model