"It's All About That Place": Aloha

A few weeks ago, the girls' school had Hawaiian Day, but only told the parents the afternoon before. I don't really buy/make the girls much in the way of tropical clothing.  So cue me sewing like a crazy person all night.  Since Project Run and Play's first week's theme is "It's All About That Place" I thought I would enter Laurel's dress. 

For her dress, I used the peasant dress from the Sweet Innocence pattern by My Treasured Heirloom using a random tropical floral fabric someone gifted me.  Laurel loves this pattern since it is "puffy" and twirly.  

As you can see, we definitely haven't entered Spring yet.  So tropical getaway sounds like a great idea to us.

The Cottage Mama: Party Dress

This last weekend we went to the park right after church and I realized that I didn't blog about the girls' Easter dresses, so I took a few pictures before having them change into play clothes.

I used The Party Dress pattern.  It is a free pattern by The Cottage Mama.  I love the look of this dress.  It is a very easy sew, though it is a bit of a fabric hog.

I love this picture of Eleanor.  I just wish I knew how to edit the hair out of her face.

4th of July Outfits!

See, I don't always use Ottobre Design.  For Fourth of July of weekend, I made my girls and niece some fun matching outfits useing the Sweetheart Halter by Peek-a-boo Patterns.

This is such an easy pattern.  All the pieces are rectangles.  I lengthened my girls' to be dresses and left the baby's as a tunic for ease of crawling.

I even tried making stars in the girls' hair.  Eleanor's is made from braids and Laurel's has twists.  I found the idea on Pinterest.

The tunic needed a diaper cover so I used #7 Tiny Toes Bikini Bottoms from issue 3/2016 of Ottobre Design.  I love the little bows so much.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July!

Sew What Club: Taylor Dress

Sew What Club has another amazing pattern coming out.  It is the Taylor Dress, featuring a high-low hem with layers of tulle and the option for an overlay or a less fuss fitted pencil skirt dress.

Other than the layers of tulle, this a fairly simple dress to make and turns out fantastic.

The only change I made was shortening the tulle by 6 inches (I'm rather short) and shortening the main skirt a little, but left the lace length.  Now I want to make a version with more tulle and tea length.

Sew What Club: Butterfly Dress

I hope it doesn't feel like all I sew anymore is from Sew What Club.  It just happens to be what I either need to take pictures of (for testing) or what I want to blog about.  I used their free pattern (for signing up for the newsletter) Butterfly Dress for the girls' Picture Day dresses.  I love the bows!

It was a really fast sew.  I was able to get both sewn in one day.  The fabric for Laurel's is Castles and Carriages and feels amazing and so soft.

  The girls love them and they turned out so cute. 

I've decided that this dress works best with a large print.  Without the belt, Eleanor's looks like a hospital gown.  It is still cute though.

Eleanor decided to get a little goofy at the end.

Sew What Club: Sanibel Dress

The next pattern from Sew What Club is the Sanibel Dress/Romper.  There are lots of details and it can be made with long sleeves or short.  I made the dress version with long sleeves.

It is very comfortable, though I think next time I would lengthen the skirt.

Sew What Club: Trouville

Sew What Club just released another women's pattern; the Trouville cover up.  It can be used on the beach as a cover up or wear it to town or even in the Fall throw on a cardigan and you are ready to go.

The fit on this dress feels wonderful and comfortable.  Other than all of those buttons and button holes, it is a fairly quick sew.  It has front and back yolks and you can add fun trims to the front yolk to jazz it up.

Sew What Club: Lille

I recently made me a new dress using the Lille dress pattern from Sew What Club during testing for them.  It is a really versatile pattern in that it can be made casual or dressy so easily, just with fabric selection and accessories.

My version isn't 100% accurate of the pattern released since quite a bit of tweaking to the pattern was done after I made this one, but I still like it.  The contrast pockets are a fun addition; for them I luckily found the same green as the leafage on the bird fabric.  I had also planned to take nicer pictures, but the temperature outside was way too hot to brave it.

Sewing Rabbit: Knot Dress/Julie's Dress Mash Up

This month, Project Run and Play's challenge is to make something with Sewing Rabbit's Knot Dress.  I used it to make the girls' Easter dresses with some sweet rosebud fabrics.

Both girls were made a size 4 bodice and then for the skirt I used both skirt lengths and had a layered look like Sewing Rabbit's Julie's Dress pattern.  Laurel's is the size 4 lengths and Eleanor's is size 5.

Eleanor's dress is white lined in the pink fabric and Laurel's is pink lined in the white.

They loved the dresses so much, they insisted on wearing them and their crowns to buy milk after photos.  Such silly girls!

The crowns were made using this darling tutorial.

My Treasured Heirlooms: Springtime Jubilee Pattern Testing

I've been finding/making more time for sewing lately and one of things I did was to test the under dress for the Springtime Jubilee pattern by My Treasured Heirlooms.  This is the same designer as the dress I made here.

The pattern includes an under dress and a smocked apron, both are really darling.  I used a fun puppy and kitty fabric that I was given.  Since I got it, I thought it would be fun to use it on a more traditional style dress.

 The under dress has a peter pan collar, puff sleeves, and button closure on the back.  On Eleanor's, I added lace to the bottom for extra length (and to cheat on the hem, I do not like hemming).  Eleanor loves twirling in it.

Silly face!

Project Run and Play "Signature Look"

For this week, I took care of two birds with one stone, Project Run and Play and Easter dresses.  My girls love wearing dresses and I love them wearing dresses.  One of my favorite dresses I made for Eleanor was the one I made for her to wear as a flower girl.  I used that pattern again.  It is Julie's Dress by Me Sew Crazy.  It doesn't seem to be sold anymore.

Thing after thing came up to keep me from getting this done, including a cold when I was trying to finish up.  Then it was raining so I couldn't get any outside pictures and this house has zero natural light.

The pattern calls for twice as much fabric for the skirt width, but apparently I can't read and was working from a half yard bundle.  I used Michael Miller's Glitz.  Laurel's is Mist and Eleanor is Glitz.  For the binding I used some glittery gold quilting cotton.

For the buttons, I used some beautiful gold and ivory floral buttons that were my grandma's.  The girls really love their new dresses.  Laurel even threw a tantrum when I tried to take it off.

Ottobre 1/2014 #25 Funny Faces Dress

When I saw Sew McCool was doing a sew along for an Ottobre pattern, I knew I had to follow along, especially since it was one of the patterns I wanted to make anyways. 

I made Design B, because I love bows and have way more woven fabrics than knits.  I used a synthic fabric that I had leftovers from to try to use it up.  It was such a pain to work with; slippery, but stiff and frays like crazy.

I just realized I didn't get a picture of the hem.  There is a hem band that peeks out a quarter of an inch of pink gingham to give a faux piping look.

I learned my lesson and am now going to start tracing patterns based on Eleanor's waist size and just add length.  She is so skinny and tall.

I also got a free swatch of silk from spoonflower so I turned it into a bow.

You can find the round up of the sew a long here.

Tikatuly Designs Tiya Tunic Dress

I was given the opportunity to test another pattern.  This one is the Tiya Tunic Dress from Tikatuly Designs.  If you are looking for a simple pattern with a ton of options to personalize, then this is the pattern for you.  At first, I found all the options a bit overwhelming, but once I was able to figure out what I wanted to do, it was great.

I choose to do the back to back pleats on the front with lace neck band and tie and a lace elastic waist.  I love the vintagey look to it.

 

I don't know what Eleanor was doing here, but I had to share.  It reminds me of Marilyn Monroe.