Kid Clothes Week: Day One

My first item for Kid's Clothes Week- a Roller Skate Dress!  This is a new pattern from Oliver + S.  I have seen so many popping up in their Flickr group and for good reason.  This is a quick sew, and it looks so cute!  

Not only that but I squeezed a size seven out of one yard of fabric!  Woot!  Nothing like a little creative placement. ;0)  I have had this fabric in my stash for about five years!  It is floral by Anna Griffin.  I have always loved it, and it was just waiting for the perfect project.  She said she looks like a garden in this dress. ;0)

There are just two pattern pieces, which makes it easy to cut out and put together.  I love that it is lined as it t makes it feel very sturdy.  The instructions were flawless.  I already have another one planned out!

Also, she is looking so grown up!

-first birthday outfit-

My sweet Samantha turns one next week.  Talk about a year going by fast.  She is the tiniest little thing you have ever seen.  People are often surprised how old she is.  She just now is starting to fit into nine month clothes.  She may be tiny, but she is surprisingly independent.  She already yells at us to do things for her and knows how to push her big brother's buttons just right.  She doesn't seem to have any interest in walking just yet, but she crawls everywhere and gets into plenty of mischief.  

For her outfit I knit her the "In Threes Cardigan".  This was my first little sweater, and it was so much fun and went together fast since it uses a worsted weight.  I already have another one planned for another baby.  The yarn is Knit Picks Swish worsted in Wonderland Heather.  The dress is the Molly Peasant Dress.  I have made this pattern lots of times, and it is a great basic little dress that you can change up and personalize.  For the diaper cover I used Dana's free diaper cover pattern.  Super quick and comes in a variety of sizes!

Now to go finish that quilt I started her a year ago...! ;0)

-kcwc day five-

pattern:

Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee, size 5 for my almost 5 year old.  Felicity told me it is a little big.  I told her that was a good thing because that way as she gets older it will still fit.  "So it will fit me until I am 159???", she asked.  Well, I don't know about that...  

fabric:

heart jersey knit  and solid yellow knit from Girl Charlee.

You might recognize these from the pajamas I made earlier this year.

sewing:

Rae was so generous to give her Spring Top judges their choice of one of her patterns.  I picked out her popular Flashback Tee and have been meaning to make one ever since.  It really is super easy. Cutting and sewing took me less than an hour.  Hemming did take a little longer because I tried the twin needle method for the first time, and I had to re-thread my machine and test it out on a scrap to make sure I got it just right.  Katy from No Big Dill has some good tips on how to set everything up.  If you haven't taken the plunge yet into knit sewing, this is the perfect pattern to start with.  Rae walks you right through it.

Up next: twirly skirt!

-kcwc day four-

pattern:

soft baby shoes pattern

found here!

These fit my (very small) six month old perfectly.

fabric:

Heather Ross fabric: horses and princesses.  I cut into the precious for these.  I can't just hoard these fabrics forever, right?!  I loved fussy cutting the princesses to face each other. For the bottom I used a light suede.

sewing:

Keeping on with my theme of easy. These two pairs took me about an hour to put together.

These little shoes really only take scraps and now I have something to cover my little Sammy's feet this fall.   I  can feel myself losing my sewing steam...must. keep. sewing.  I still have a huge stack of fabric I want to cut into!

-crafty fun-

1. Blackbird Fly by Poppyprint, 2. Hangin' With My Gnomie PTS8, 3. patchwork tote, 4. Scraparadise, 5. Triple dresden on Kona raisin, 6. glamour shot, 7. Spool Pillow, 8. Nicey Jane hexies, 9. SG quilt progress report, 10. IMG_6091, 11. Elephants on Parade, 12. hexagon pillow 2, 13. Pillow Talk Swap (ready to send), 14. My Pillow Talk Swap from Little Miss Shabby, 15. Pillow swap - finished!, 16. 100th post prize cushion

The baby is finally sleeping a little better.  She even sometimes naps at the same time as the two year old in the afternoon.  Bliss!  We are starting week five of school and getting a good rhythm.  So, I am excited to have a little more crafty time. 

I am joining in the Pillow Talk Swap this round!  This is my fourth time, and it is such a fun swap.  The pillows that come out of this swap are almost all swoon worthy!  So excited for a fun challenge.  I believe there are still a few spots left open currently if you have been wanting to join in on the fun of this one.

(image from Alicia Paulson at http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/)

Ginny over at Small Things is also hosting a stitch along for Alicia Paulson's Winterwoods ABCs cross stitch sampler.  I love the slow pace of stitching this throughout the fall to have ready for winter.  I like more yarny and handstitch projects in the fall and winter.  There is something so cozy about curling under a quilt and stitching.  Not that we are really anywhere close to really needing quilts right now, but a girl can dream. ;0)  

Kids Clothes Week is coming up in October!  Yay!  I really want to make a few things for the fall.   Some skirts for the girls and maybe some pants and a vest for the little man? 

 Do you have any fun crafty plans?  

-needle and thread!-

I have been wanting to link up to Needle and thREAD for awhile, so I am excited it is finally happening this week!

Homeschooling is done and preschool is over for the year.  So this week has been so obligation free!  I have been sewing almost every day!  I wanted to make some new nightgowns for my girls because that is what they like best to wear at night. I decided to use the Sienna Dress pattern by Lil Blue Boo for the nightgowns.  However, I still had a dress cut out from a year ago that I still had not finished!  Shameful!  So before I let myself cut out the nightgowns, I finished the dress.  I meant for this to be Juliana's preschool graduation dress last year.  Their class mascot was Clifford the Big Red Dog.  I wanted to use an iron on transfer and make her a Clifford dress.  However, I botched it.  Once that happened I had no motivation to finish.  

So, I cut out a new front piece and appliqued a "J" on instead, and I was done in an hour!  The dress has a bit of the homemade look, but Juliana has declared it "soft and snuggly". (Also, she is wearing her daddy's sandals for the photo shoot.  I told her to go get her shoes on and she comes out wearing these.  Silly girl.)

After the dress was finished I got to tackle the nightgowns!  I found these super sweet knits over at Girl Charlee.  She has great prices and a nice selection!  These were super easy and quick. I used steam and seam for the hem, and it definitely made the hemming turn out nice and neat.

Juli got rainbow hearts.

 Felicity got pink hearts.

As far as reading goes, I have been slowly been making my way through Charlotte Collins.  One of those Jane Austen sequel books.  Not amazing but a fun little read, and hey...it was free on the Kindle.  I also downloaded Cloudy Jewel onto my Kindle after reading about it on Elizabeth's blog! She definitely has a kind of L.M. Montgomery feel to me, and I think these are perfect no thinking summer books. ;0)

-little shorts!-

Summer is here!  Felicity finished preschool for the year, and Juliana finished kindergarten (homeschool style!).  It gets hot here during the summer.  My girls have lots of skirts and dresses, but Juliana especially needs some more play clothes.  I have been in love with this little shorts pattern by Oliver + S since they came out with it, so I was excited to have a reason to make them.  I love the fun retro look. I used chambray from Joann's for the main part of the shorts and an older yellow print I have had for a long time.  I really like yellow.  It is a good accent color that goes with lots of other colors.  It has been awhile since I made an Oliver + S pattern, and I realized as I was making it that their patterns really are set apart from a lot of other patterns.  There are just so many small details that really make for a nice garment.  

So, she is looking a little grumpy in this picture, but looking at it made me kind of sad.  She is growing up so fast.  Take a look at this picture from three years ago (almost exactly!).

This was the first Oliver + S pattern I ever made.  She looks so cute and chubby.

Felicity wanted in on the photo shoot, and how can you resist these two hugging like that. 

Here they are three years ago in their Easter dresses!  Felicity looks so funny and cute!

The best of friends.  Love them.

The winner of the Field Bag and Tote pattern is

#148 Megan said...

My favorite patterns are free ones that are online!

Congrats!  I will be sending you an e-mail, Megan!

-reversible apron skirts-

I finished these skirts last month for the girls, but I am just now getting a minute to write a post!  The baby is swinging in her swing, and fingers crossed that she stays calm for a minute! ;0)

These skirts are from a pattern called The Bavarian Milkmaid Reversible Apron Skirt.  This is a super easy little pattern, and I love the different looks you can give it.  I have made it several times, and it has always turned out super cute.

Here is the other side of Juliana's apron.  My goal with these skirts was to use up some of those random 1/2 yards and fat quarters that I had hanging around.  So they are pretty bright and crazy!

Felicity, however, refuses to change her apron to the orange side I made.  I have been informed she only likes pink!  Hmmm.

In order to get some decent pictures I had to promise them some time to make silly faces.  

"Look mom!  I am running!"

-sewing week-

Sewing week was a success for the most part!  Yay!  Having my machine downstairs amongst all the activity definitely helped.  I am going to keep it down here for another week to try and complete a few more projects.    

I made hair bows!  I made a couple of different ones.  This pink one seems to be the favorite.  The last time I tried making hair bows they were a complete flop.  I found this tutorial that uses hand sewing, and this one "clicked" for me.  

Juliana kept smiling so hard in these pictures.  I was trying to get her to look a little more natural, so I told her not to smile for this one, and this is what I got.  I took a look at it and just busted out laughing.  

So we switched back to smiling.  Much better.

I made a simple little cover for my new Kindle Fire!  My sweet husband gave me one for Valentine's Day. I wanted one for my birthday because I know I am going to spending a lot more time sitting on the couch come April once this little baby is here.  I love it!

I used some of my treasured Far, Far Away II fabric.  I just measured around the Kindle and added some seam allowances.  Of course, the first time I sewed it together I had to completely rip it apart and use a smaller seam allowance.  

So, I moved on to baby things starting with this swaddler.  This is a pattern in Lotta Jansdotter's baby sewing book, but I found the pattern for free here.  We are big on swaddling over here, and I am sure this will get a lot of use.

I used some of Anna Maria Horner's flannel from Loulouthi line and an older Good Folks cotton fabric for the outside.

These weren't on my list, but I became obsessed with the idea of making some little newborn pants.  I used the Britches and Bloomers pattern.  Super easy and sooo cute.  It is hard to tell just how tiny they are, and it is hard to imagine they could really fit anyone!  

Here is another pair made with a sweet little birdie fabric and some eyelet.

I also found this little peasant dress tutorial through Pinterest for a newborn.  Another quickie!  I sometimes forget how fast sewing can be.  I have gotten used to all the more complicated quilting patterns I have been working with lately!

So that is what I finished!  I have started baby girl's quilt and am almost finished with my mini.  I will be back later this week to show you all!

-we are ready!-

The kids' costumes are ready!  I have been dying to make the cape in the Oliver and S book, Little Things to Sew, and Halloween was the perfect excuse.  Luckily, Felicity really does like the story of Little Red Riding Hood and was easily sold on the idea.  I used some Kona Red for the outside and a pink gingham flannel for the inside.  I made the smaller size, and the whole thing went together very well.   

However, you can't have a Little Red without the Big Bad Wolf, can you?  I was just going to buy a wolf costume, but by the time I started looking the cheapest I could find was $40 (that was cute, anyway).  Call me cheap, but I didn't want to spend that much for something he would only wear once or twice.  So I found this idea on Martha Stewart.  Simple, easy- perfect!  I bought the little gray hoodie and some felt all for under $10.

It took me only an hour this afternoon to cut out the templates from the felt and glue them all on.  That is my kind of costume making.  I do think my favorite part is his claws. 

The only part I actually had to sew was his tail, which is made out of more felt.  I just attached it to the top of his pants with a big safety pin.

I tried to get a picture of Little Red and the Wolf together.  However, the Wolf was distracted by that basket full of yummy treats.  Then he dove right in and attacked!

His attempts were foiled!  Chocolate is not good for wolves.

We tried to convince Juliana to be Grandma, but she didn't go for it.  She wanted to be the beautiful Rapunzel, and I have to admit that if I was six I would want to be Rapunzel too.

All three munchkins together.  (I have no idea what Juliana's foot and twist thing is about.)

The Wolf spots those yummy candies once more!

Hope you all have a safe and wonderful Halloween!

Linking up to Amylouwho's Sew and Tell!