Only a Year Late.

Soooo Halloween is coming. It's been a non-stop-sew-fest at my house the past few weeks getting ready for Halloween 2014. And it shows. The dishes are taking over the sink, the laundry is piling up, and my kids have eaten cereal for just about every meal. But if nothing else, my kids will have a costume this year gosh darn it. 

I must admit, messy house aside, it feels really good to get back to sewing projects. Since it's been almost a year since I've sewed something for my little ones, I thought I'd kick off a few project sharing with some gems from Halloween 2013. 

First up is our little Southun' Belle.

For the gown I used 5 yards of floral chiffon, a queen sized sheet for the lining, and a velveteen fabric for the sash. I made a hoop skirt out of an old garden hose, duct tape, and a lot of cursing. : )  Over the hoop skirt I made a tulle pettiskirt to add additional fullness. It was a TON of work, but seeing how happy it made the little one, it was all worth it.

The dress was simply divine on her.

I'm disappointed that I didn't take more photos of her in the dress; but this one in my empty dining room was my favorite. Of all time.

 Happy girl.

Next up, I have my Wittle Wumber Jack. The little one managed to collect the most candy last year. I think it was that beard. And the smile. Aaaand the super tight skinnies he borrowed from his sister (yikes!). Either way, it worked out in his favor. 

The beard was made with yarn attached to a piece of felt. Pretty simple.

 Hopefully I'll share this years Halloween pics sometime before 2015, but no promises. ; )

Valentine's Frock, Gathered Neckline Dress Tutorial

Remember this little Valentine's Day frock?  My little one has worn this dress 6 out of the 7 days that the dress has existed. She absolutely LOVES it (which I cannot say that about everything I sew for her).  Because of that I'm thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!  This dress is feminine, without being overly so, and oh so fun for the little one to twirl in.  It's perfect for parties or play alike. 

As promised, here's the tutorial on creating a version of this little number.   

Ready to make your own? 

Here's what you need:

• Lightweight cotton fabric. The amount depends on the size you are making.  For my almost 4 year old daughter I used 2 yards of fabric.  (I suggest using a lightweight fabric (shirting fabric, a light linen, or something else that is super light over a quilting cotton because their are lots of gathers on the neckline, lightweight cotton fabric gathers oh so wonderfully.  I used a pair of cotton curtains we had around the house.. so be creative with your materials!) 
• Iron on interfacing
• Piece of newspaper, typing paper, etc to draft a bodice piece
• Ruler (preferably a clear one like the one pictured below)
• Marking pen
• Fabric pen
• A ready to wear dress that fits your little one well
• Sewing supplies: sewing machine, matching thread, hand needle, scissors, and an iron
• Optional: 2-4 buttons for added detail

Click below to see the full tutorial.

Valentine's Duds.

This week's challenge over at Project Run and Play is to create an outfit inspired by Valentine's Day.  I love Valentine's Day. I mean I LOOOOVE it.  So I just didn't want to pass this opportunity up.  For my look, I created a spring coat and a simple flutter sleeved dress that is perfect for a chilly Valentine's Day party.   

I picked up the blue plaid suiting fabric at the clearance section at Joann's months ago.  I thought it was a perfect subtle nod to the red of Valentine's Day.... so to the sewing table it went.   The coat ended up with an exaggerated collar, heart lined hidden side pockets, gathered waist, and two gold buttons.   I hate to admit this, but looking at the coat the lyrics to "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore  kept running through my head (the clean version of course! ; )).  Sing it with me..."I'll wear your grandad's clothes. I'll look incredible. I got this big ole coat from the thrift store down the road."   Yes, I'm aware the coat boarder-lines grandad's clothes.  But I kinda love that about it.  What do you think? 

The dress I sewed was something I wanted to make for a long time it's simple, flowy, and ultra feminine. It's the PERFECT play dress or dress up dress in my opinion.  I love it's understated simplicity.  The dress was made from a pair of old lightweight cotton curtains that has a lovely drape, so it was perfect for the gathered neckline and it was FREE.  My daughter has not taken this dress off since I finished it two days ago. Needless to say, I will make a million more of these. : )  If you love it as much as I do, I have a tutorial for a version of this dress coming soon.. so stay tuned! : )

Enough chatter.. here are the details...

Two gold buttons are better than one. Yeah? 

I added a sweet little wool heart to the inside of the coat to give it a bit of whimsy; in addition the heart is added proof that this is not Grandad's coat. ; ) 

Fully lined coats are where it's at. 

 The dress front:

Tiny details, two red vintage buttons on the front. 

 Two more vintage buttons on the back. 

 This is an amazing dress to twirl in. Makes my little Babes happy. 

 Put it all together now.

Little hands fit in big pockets. 

As an added bonus, here's how Babes would style the ensemble. 
Clothes pin earrings. 
Pink princess bag 
Glass angel in tow. 

The girl's got style. 

Loves,

Amber

Project Run and Play Party Dress Remix

Why hello! It's been a while. I've missed posting on this little blog. 

Life is finally settling down in our little household. Thankfully. 

And what that means is I have some free time to whittle away at my fabric stash. : )  Project Run and Play has started up again and I plan on sewing along for a few of the challenges. 

This week's challenge is to remix Lindsey of the Cottage Home's The Party Dress Pattern.  

This is a GREAT basic pattern.  With a little creativity you can do so much with a basic pattern like this.  I almost sewed up a plaid coat with the pattern but opted to go for this Brocade dress instead (Winters just aren't long enough in Texas!), and my oh my I'm so glad that I did.  I'll get to that coat soon enough... maybe.

                                            

The fabric is a brocade-type purchased from Joann's (purchased for around $10 with a coupon). It has a lovely aqua blue hue with gorgeous gold running through it.  It is a little itchy so I opted to line the whole thing with a light weight cotton.  I must admit, when I purchased this fabric from Joann's a few months ago, I told the lady at the cutting counter I was making a dress for my Little One. She looked at me and then looked at the fabric and said, "I hope it will be a costume."  I quickly and ashamedly lied and said it was indeed for a costume of sorts (no judging! haha!).  I did doubt my fabric choice for a while so in my fabric stash this sat for quite a while.  : )

The truth was as soon as I laid eyes on that fabric I knew it was destined for a short and sweet party dress.  So when PR&P had this challenge it gave me a great chance to sew the design I had in mind and to use that darn fabric. I love the finished product and so does the Little One. 

For those of you who care, I have detailed the changes I did to Lindsey's pattern to make this sweet little number.

I wanted a shorter waistline and a lower neckline then what Lindsey's pattern called for so I just shortened the bodice pieces and used a bowl to trace a larger neckline.

Lindsey's dress pattern is a sleeveless pattern, but I felt this design really needed short sleeves.  So I drafted some sleeves and sew that to the bodice pieces.

Because the fabric is so busy and ornate, I wanted a very simple narrow sash in the front that would widen to make a nice bow in the back.  I also attached the sash to the front of the bodice.  It was a pretty simple change from Lindsey's original pattern.

Also, for the buttons I decided to not use her technique for button holes. I will use that in the future, but for this dress simple was better.

The only other change was that on all my seams I used flat felled seams which gave this dress a professional finish from the inside out. 

That's it. : )  A party dress for the Little One, thank you to Lindsey from the Cottage Home, you rock!

Loves,

Amber

Boy's Look

It's Boys Week at Project Run and Play!

I was ever so excited to sew something for my Wittle Wovie, Baby Wills. : )  Boys clothes are so very underrated, don't you think?

I barely squeaked this look out; as in I just started and finished the button down shirt and tie this morning.  Every single one of us (at different times this week) was blessed with a stomach bug that had us me scrubbing toilets and washing sheets for four days straight. YUCK.

So I'm feeling pretty good that I completed the design I had in mind.  : )

For boys it's all about seperates, separates, separates.  And so separates I sewed.  I decked baby Will's in some green skinnies, a cardigan, a white button down shirt, and a black skinny tie.  

                                            

                                                    

Alright, let's talk specifics, shall we?

The green skinnies were made using a pair of Baby Will's ready to wear jeans as a guide.  I followed Male Pattern Boldness's Jeans Sew Along found here (Peter is an angel, I tell you!).  I learned how to sew a flat felled seam thanks to Peter and I'm hooked!   Seriously, why didn't I try this technique before? Regretfully, I didn't get many pictures of this, but the jeans have a coin pocket and some super adorable pockets in the back, perfect for stashing his treasures.  I adore the jeans; the hubby hates them. Who's side are you on?? Or maybe you shouldn't answer that. ; )

The cardigan is upcycled from an old shirt of mine. I added some bias tape and buttons and it was done. 

The tie was made with a black sheet and my own tutorial found here.

The white button up shirt was made by looking at one of Baby Will's shirts as a guide.  I am honestly jumping up and down that I was able to sew this without a pattern. I  had some serious doubts that it was going to be done. : ) Just as a note, I used the rest of the white sheet from the white sheet challenge. Hooray! I decided to add some black piping to the pocket to tie the look together.  I can't figure out if I made the shirt look too much like a Mormon missionary with a black name tag. haha!  What do you think? 

There you have it.. A complete boys look all made with materials I had on hand.

If you have any questions on how I made any item, don't hesitate to email me

Loves,

Amber

From White Sheet to Bright Blue Aviary Dress

The White Sheet Challenge.

I had so many ideas for this week's challenge over at Project Run and Play.  My mind was bouncing in a million directions; I may or may not have cut out three different dress patterns (all my own patterns) before I eventually decided on this little number.   But I'll never admit that. : )

I decided to make my white sheet totally unrecognizable (the anti-white sheet). With some fabric paint, freezer paper, a hole punch, and an embarrassing amount of time later that white sheet became a thing of the past.  ; ). I'm well aware that the same effect could have been achieved by dying my fabric and reversing the hole punch, but my curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see how painting the majority of the fabric would work out.  Much to my pleasure, it worked quite well.  The fabric is stiffer then what I normally work with. It ended up being similar to canvas or duck fabric.  And it surprisingly washes just fine. 

I'll show you how I did it below.  

What I love about this technique is that it opens up a world of possibilities.  Because I'm a little lazy and the fabric wrinkles very easily, I'm pretty sure I won't use this technique again for such a large article of clothing, but this would be perfect for a quirky pillow or a little boys tie (tutorial here).  

Because the fabric was so bold, I opted for a traditional and simple silhouette with white accents (all from my white sheet).  I added some gold buttons to dress this up a bit and I called it good. 

Want to make your own painted fabric creation?

You will need:

• Freezer Paper
• Hole Punch
• Iron 
• Ruler
• Fabric paint (or acrylic paint and a fabric paint medium) If using the medium, see my notes below.

If you use acrylic paint and a fabric paint medium, use more medium then the manufacturer recommends. The medium I used said to put 2 parts acrylic paint to 1 part medium. The fabric ended up being waaaay too stiff (like unusable stiff).  The next trial I used 1 part medium to 1 part acrylic paint. The fabric is still stiff but usable.  So I thinned it out more with more fabric paint medium until I was happy.  I recommend playing around with the ratio until you get it right.



Here's what you do:
1.Take your freezer paper and using your hole punch punch a lot of shapes.  I ended up punching a ridiculously large amount those little birdies.

2. Iron the hole punched freezer paper onto your fabric. Be sure it is evenly spaced.

3. Using fabric paint or acrylic paint with a fabric medium paint your fabric.  Don't put gobs of paint on the fabric or it will be too stiff. Just lightly paint until you see only the color you want. 

4. Let it dry for an hour or so. It should be barely sticky to touch. Peel off the freezer paper.  Let dry 24-48 hours.  I recommend washing your fabric according to the fabric pain manufacturer instructions before you sew or add any notions. You don't want to have any color bleeding.   : )

You're done!

Loves,

Amber