New Springy outfit

for L. (K.'s is on it's way, I made the elastic a smidge to big on her's so I have to go back and fix it then whip up a top for her.)

My Mom gave me yards and yards of this ladybug fabric and I'm finally putting it to some good use. So far out of it I've made L. a dress and now this top, and still have 1 yard out of the one section and a few (probably 3 maybe 4 yds) out of the other section. Not a clue what my Mom was thinking on making when she bought this fabric. Anyways, I'll take it and make L. some cute summery outfits out of it since she loves ladybugs.

The peasant top is made from Butterick 4910 which is a pj pattern (that I've already made for L. here) but I thought I could change it up a bit, shorten it and make her a cutesy little peasant top for the summer. The capri's are made from Simplicity 4336 (that I've made before in the past) which ironically are also a pj pattern.

But the best part that she loves about her outfit is that it matches her new cherry shoes. Yes, she's 3 years old and has to make sure that things match (sometimes, let me point reference to this picture here of an outfit she picked out to wear that day).

A few more recons

Yesterday I had posted a few recons that I've done and today I did just two more. L. picked out the fabric for her dress and K. picked out which shirt she wanted re-done out of the "what can we make out of these" clothing pile that has accumulated in my craft room.

L. had no choice however which shirt was going to be re-done. Her's was a plain white shirt that had a nice chocolate milk stain down the front bottom half of it. So I hacked it in half then hacked off the sleeves. The fabric was what she had picked out (which I was shocked that she picked this particular fabric because it's not purple, although it does have cherries and strawberries on it).

L.'s shirt before

L.'s shirt turned into a dress

I even made my own bias tape to go around the raw edge of the sleeves that I hacked off. I'm not happy with how tiny it came out though. I think I bought the 1" size bias tape maker but I can't remember.

The shirt K. picked out is actually her shirt from last Valentine's Day. To go with it, she picked out some Valentine's Day fabric that I had in my stash. It does however look really cute and I guess at first glance you wouldn't be able to tell that it was actually a Valentines Day dress. Either way, it looks really cute on her.

K.'s shirt before

K.'s shirt turned dress

I tell ya, I'm on a roll with this whole recon thing. On a side note, the baby robin count is now up to 3 with one egg still needing to hatch. And yes, the girls do think it's hilarious that Mama Robin sits on her babes.

Just a few recons

Things have been rather a mess around here lately. Nothing that I really want to go into great detail about right now (and nothing serious) but just a mess. To help me get through it, I've been doing some spring cleaning of our wardrobe's (sshhhh! don't tell James but I took a pair of his fave corduroy's and am hoping I can turn them into a fun skirt for this fall) and seeing what exactly could be transformed into something else (to help extend the "life" of our clothes).

To begin with, my Mom gave me a bunch of her clothes a while ago that she no longer wanted to cut up and use as fabric. This one shirt in particular I was thinking about re-doing and making it into a really cute shirt for myself but I was afraid that it would come out a little to "grandma-ey". So, I hacked away at it and changed it into a cute apron.

Mom's shirt before

Turned into my new apron

The only part of the apron that was not from the shirt was I used red bias tape around the pocket area to off set it from the rest of the apron.

Another re-do I did was I had this Xilaration cotton knit shirt that I got from Target a few years ago. It had this stretchy lace around the bottom that when I accidentally threw it in the dryer one day and it shrunk the lace in this very weird way. I tried ironing it out but it seemed as if nothing I did brought it back to life. So, hacked that shirt up along with another shirt that I had that I got from the thrift store a while ago (a polo shirt that was on the verge of death, but I saved it) and came up with this little creation (no before pics on this one). The green fabric was the Target shirt and the plaid was the polo shirt.

Added the shrunken lace going up the bust area. On a side note, it will definitely take some practice on my part with working with knit fabric.

The green band going around under the bust area didn't come out exactly how I intended it to be but I still love it.

Then lastly, L. had this red stretch knit onesie that still fit her everywhere else except for the crotch area.

L.'s onesie before

L.'s onesie after

So again, hacking up more clothes, I transformed it into a cute little dress for her. Super easy to do. Just cut out 2-29"x19" rectangles, stitch up the sides, add gathering stitch across the top, match up seams to the hacked up onesie, pull gathering stitching until it fit perfectly, then stitched up that seam. After all that was done, just hemmed up the bottom and she was off to play.

I love to Knit!

Not that anyone around here at my house doesn't already know that about me. In fact, when James has his little "date day" with the girls, I always jokingly say "What am I going to do with a nice quiet house?" The girls always reply with, you can knit and watch Gilmore Girls.

A while ago I came across this bag here from Karissa Cove XO. At first I just loved it because it said "I love to Knit". But then, browsing through my favorites on Flickr the other day (in a mood to make something), I came across her photo again (seriously, how many of us even remember what photos we've added to our favorites on Flickr?) and decided that I would make it for myself. A nice big "lug all" bag that I can throw across my shoulder and head out the door with the girls. Filled with whatever we need for that day and of course a knitting project, although, at this moment, I don't have any knitting WIPs. All the socks I was working on I frogged for one reason or another. Maybe this bag will help be to get bitten by the knitting bug again.

And yes, this bag is huge! K. tried it on and it almost comes down to her ankles. But I love it and it's just the size bag I've been wanting for quite sometime. I believe that every Mom has 2 bags, one big bag for when she's taking her babes out and about and one small one for when it's just her and her honey.

The only thing that I'm not happy with about this bag is the inside pocket I made. It's way to flimsy (didn't add interfacing to it) and I think it just needs some sort of closure added to it for it to stop flopping open and getting in the way. But it does however hold some of my knitting goodies quite well.

But I do love it and can't wait to put it to some good use.

Off to Grandma's House

Finally getting around to showing the "action photos" of K. in her Little Red Riding Hood costume. Blame Ohio snowy weather, flood season, tons of rain, and wet muddy soggy grass. Now, blue skies, dry land, and no more snow. Anyways, her play was this evening and I swear, it was the cutest little play I've ever seen. It was a very good time and K. did an excellent job.

To make it even cuter, (the hood has been "off limits" until after the play. Knowing my two girls, they'd want to wear it as dress up, which would be fine until the arguing kicked in and I could just see them playing tug a war with it and it ripping in half) K. is sleeping with her hood on (with the ties untied, I'm paranoid about kids and things around their neck). I told her that it was now hers to play with and do whatever and she asked if she could sleep in it because it's so super soft.

Birthday weekend

What a busy, busy weekend it was. A very good weekend (but busy). K. turned 8!!!!!!!!!! My goodness how the time flies, and to get me even more emotional, she reminded me that in another 8 years she'll be old enough to drive. Eek! Friday she had one of her friends spend the night. Strangely how I forgot what a sleep over consist of. Playing music, laughing, and of course nail painting at 11:30 p.m. Then today we had the family birthday party and it was so much fun. The weather was absolutely beautiful (which 8 years ago it was cold, drizzly rain, and gloomy) which was good because it meant that K. could wear her birthday dress.

The pattern is Simplicity 3860 which did not call for sleeves but being that this time of year isn't exactly "sleeveless weather" I added sleeves to it. Fabric used for it was a pillowcase from a recent thrifting trip, and (literally) scrap pink fabric. And what birthday dress would be complete without a cute embroidered cupcake.

K. absolutely loves her dress, as well as the doll that I made her and the little pillow drawing that L. and I made her.

Not sure though who the girls were more excited to see, my brother and his wife or their dog (which is their "child") Nellie. Either way, a good time was had by all.

(Seriously, how cute is my brother's dog? I swear, I could just eat her up!)

L. had a great time at the party, but I think that she had more fun with the bubbles. She loves bubbles so that is another "summer essential" that we always have to stock up on.

New jammies for L.

Back around Christmas I went shopping at JoAnn's with my Mom and picked up Butterick 4910 to make the girls some pj's for the Spring. Finally yesterday I got started and finished up L.'s today. I had her pick out which pj's she wanted and she picked View D. I didn't like the long sleeves for some reason so I used the sleeves from View A. Anyways, she is quite happy with her new pj's and in fact, it almost looks like a wearable dress that I'm going to make her some summery dresses here shortly.

(And because I'm getting much better at my hems)

The only problem that I had was getting the sleeves correct. I swear I worked more on the sleeves than I did for the whole entire dress (that includes cutting out the pattern). But I'm extremely happy with how it all came out and so is L.

The fabric is some that my Mom got a while ago from JoAnn's with (very good intentions intentions) of making K. something but then her sewing machine broke. So, she gave it to me when I took up sewing (a few years ago) and that is what L. picked out for the fabric.

Now, being that I'm a ditz sometimes (and also use to Simplicity patterns), I didn't realize that the pattern sizing was for sizes 2 through 5. So now I have to find a pj pattern for K.

New Springtime Purse

Since Spring isn't coming quite as quickly as I'd like it, I thought I'd bring Spring inside. What better way to bring Spring inside other than a new purse for the Spring.

Fabric are both some that I had in my stash left over from other projects. The purse came from the very easy tutorial from Vintage Ric Rac. I modified it a bit by adding some d-rings for the strap and also adding a flap (because I don't have the magnetic closures). I tried to add snaps to it but couldn't get the teeth to grab ahold the fabric.

New Skirt for L.

Remember yesterday when I had posted about different tutorials I had found. Seems like I was inspired by my own inspiration. I was in the mood for something quick, easy, and could be done in time for me to prepare dinner.

Browsing through the tutorials I had found, I knew that anything with a zipper was definetly out of the question so I decided to make L. the easy skirt pattern I had found via Two Little Banshees. And yes, it was easy. Took me only an hour to make from start to finish (with an interuption here and there from the girls).

I somehow managed to cut the elastic a smidge to big so it almost falls off of her. Hence the pictures of her sitting down. Going to fix that today.

The strawberry fabric is actually a vintage pillow case and the red fabric is fabric that I've had for quite sometime now. I've been wanting to use it but alone it was just to much (it's that bright, makes your eyes bleed color of red).

Quick question, isn't there a pattern for a twirly skirt somewhere? I know I've seen it but can't seem to find it right now.

New Friends

This past week I was watching Martha Stewart (yes, I can't help but love her and Carol Duvall) and she had Emily Martin from Inside a Black Apple on making the most cutest most sweetest dolls. The pattern and construction seemed easy enough that I knew I could figure it out (I've never made a doll before). So up to the craft room L. and I went. It's actually going to be a surprise for K. because she has a birthday coming up in a few weeks (has it been 8 years already?!)

She is just a "test run" doll for now. There are a few things that I would like to change about her. Nothing much, just pretty much the sizing of her and plus she needs a gorgeous wardrobe. So, now I've put another deadline on myself and everyday have slowly been making her things. For now though, she'll live in my craft room and gets much playtime in with L. Which believe me, she does not understand why she can't name the doll, but on the upside, got to help me pick out the fabric, stuff her, and just little help with the sewing part. Shockingly enough though, she has not told K. "our secret" and keeps reminding her that she can't go into Mama's craft room.

A few more friends have been in the making. K. came home from school today and wanted to make bunnies.

She almost had them complete before my Mom came to pick up her and L. so James and I could have a nice (quiet) night alone together. They are really cute and she even made them little tails, bows for there ears, and dresses (all out of construction paper).

Whew!

My little project is finally complete and I just need to add one little last detail. I actually finished it over this past (snowed in) weekend but with a dead camera battery, I'm just now getting around to taking pictures.


Probably guessing what my project was. Well, K. is going to be in the Spring play at her school next month as Little Red Riding Hood. Her music teacher had asked me (since her school found out that I'm the "crafty mom") if I would be able to make a Red Riding Hood cape. Of course I jumped at the chance.

The pattern I used was actually a pattern that K. found while browsing the Simplicity book at JoAnn's. We were looking for the costume pattern of Little Red but JoAnn's was all sold out. K. was looking at the book for pretty dresses and came across Simplicity 6451. Would I make this pattern again? Absolutely NOT! I had the worst time with constructing this pattern and after my pattern pieces were all stitches together, I ended up having to reconstruct everything. I wanted to do a simple circle pattern but my Mom didn't like the idea of "just winging it" and suggested we get a pattern. "OK Mom, fine!" Not sure which was worse, constructing the cape or the hood. Neither one of them looked right and I ended up taking about 3" off the bottom of the hood to have it lay in the cape nicely. The cape on the other hand, came out looking like a freakin' garment bag. I had to reconstruct and take in the shoulders, and kept trying it on K. until I finally got it right. Next time I have to make a cape for anything, I'm just going to follow my instinct and wing it.

In the end though, it looks absolutely beautiful on her and I'm actually proud of how it came out. To make it even better, once it was all complete (just need to hand stitch on the ties for it) K. looked at me, threw her little arms around my waist, gave me the biggest hug and said "Thank You Mommy! I love it!" whoosh! All the problems (and the cursing that happened a time or two) of making this thing disappeared.

The hood has a beautiful drape to it and the whole thing just looks really nice on her. It's living in my craft room for the time being considering that her play is a month away, and tomorrow will get the final approval from her music teacher.

I'll take some pictures of her wearing the cape (looks better on her than an old oversized wooden hanger) this afternoon when she comes home from school.