Flower Clips

It's hard to be the middle child. Big sis gets to go to preschool, and you're not the baby anymore. That's why when baby naps, and sis is at school, mom and the middle child have some one on one time. On this particular day, she wanted to do something special. She wanted to make some hair clips like she'd seen on her friends. We pulled apart some silk flowers and then layered them back together with a paper punch center and held together by some cute brads. A perfect project for little fingers. Mom took care of the hot glue part to stick it to the hair clip. Doesn't she look so proud? She even made one for her sister.

The last-minute dress

As you may have read in my previous post, my brother just got married, and we got all decked out for the wedding. At first I was just going to put baby in a hand-me-down black dress, but I had some fabric left over from my dress and had an idea.

First, I used the left-over fabric to make this little sheath dress in a peasant style. I didn't have a pattern. I just measured her and drew my own on a piece of paper.

Then I took a couple yards of black tulle, folded it in half and sewed an inch from the fold. Then I threaded this sash (that came with the dresses I ordered for my other daughters, but which wasn't going to be used) through the waist and bunched it together. Because the sash is thick and the waistband area a little narrower, the gathered tulle doesn't slide.

Like an apron of tulle, this just ties around her waist for a full skirt. Super fast! I even had time to make a little rosette headband to match. I love this dress. The skirt is full and fun, but when pictures are over, you can just un-tie it and baby can be comfy in her simple sheath dress.

The little black dress

I needed a new one for my brother's wedding. I couldn't find any that I loved and so decided to make my own. I started with Simplicity pattern 2497 ...and then made lots of adjustments... combined sleeved and ruffled versions of the dress, lengthened the skirt, raised the neckline and extended the ruffle to the waist. I don't sew clothes for myself very much and was pleased at how it turned out. I recommend this pattern (on sale today at JoAnn's for $1) but would cut a size bigger than you usually wear, and adjust from there.

My favorite details were these perfectly puffed, cap sleeves and the hidden zipper down the side... you can just barely see the zipper pull there in the armpit.

It was such a busy night, combined with the constant chasing of kids... the photo above is the only one I have of me wearing it. On the hanger you just don't get the same effect. I'm hoping my sister has a few on her camera.

The ruffle around the neck is only attached to the dress to the bottom of the neckline and then the end dangles like a necklace. I tried it a couple of ways and thought this was the most flattering as I moved in the dress.

Another detail that doesn't show are the perfectly placed pockets, also hidden along the side seam. They don't add bulk to the hips, but are at a flattering position when you put a hand in one on your hip.

Two of my daughters were flower girls and while I thought of making their dresses too I decided against it when I found these that were less expensive than what it would cost to buy the fabric.

Happy Valentines Day

Lots of sugar cookie making going on around here. I have a special recipe that has sour cream and a hint of nutmeg that is my absolute favorite. The girls and I had a lot of fun making and eating them. We shared a few!

I also made this "valentinish" apron for a friend. (A very belated birthday gift.) I loved the cherry on black fabric and got it in a hand-me-down fabric stash. There was just enough for this apron. I'd love to get my hands on more of this print. My girls want their own. Anyone know where to find it?

Swaddle Pod

In addition to Christmas crafting, December was a month full of birthdays and babies being born in my family. I was not good at taking photos before I actually gave the gifts away... but this one is a fun one I thought. It's like an extra large sock, just big enough to slip over a swaddled baby. Lots of photogs are using them in newborn shoots as well. This is the one I knit for my new nephew.

You can see some photos of the cute little guy in the "pod" at Meredith Photography.

Wallet

I made this wallet as a birthday present for my sister. Lots of pockets, but lightweight... I have so much to carry around these days, I'm really into lightweight! Does anyone else with kids ever start to feel like a pack horse? I figured since she's always lugging around a big camera bag or a carseat/diaper bag, she'd appreciate that feature as well. I started with the tutorial I found here, but added to it so that instead of just folding in half, I'd have a tri-fold wallet with a flap.

Pettiskirt

Ava has wanted one of these fluffy beauties for a while. Her birthday was coming up, but when I saw the boutique prices I thought I'd try making one myself. I admit, I'd always wanted one as a little girl too. I followed the tutorial I saw here on Martha Stewart's website, along with the tips and fabric purchasing source here on one of my favorite blogs: Grosgrain. 15 hours later (pieced together after the little darlings were asleep), I had an adorable pettiskirt, a realization that the boutique prices are cheap if you count your time (minus materials I figure I would have earned about $3/hour or less were I to sell this at a boutique price), and some additional tips of my own. The next one will go faster, and yes there will be a next one. With three daughters and regular play dates, one fluffy pettiskirt is not enough.

So here are my tips:
1. The measurements on Martha's site are for a very short, toddler size skirt. For older girls, you will need to add an inch or two to the width of each strip. You'll probably need at least 6 yards of the nylon chiffon.

2. Martha's tutorial suggests 1 1/2 yards of the satin charmeuse, but there is enough gather in the waistband to skimp a few inches and just get enough for the width of the band you need, from 8 to 12 inches of a 45/46 inch wide yardage for example.

3. Instead of measuring all those rectangles out of the fabric, I did a little math and approximated the following so I can just use my cutting pad and ruler and cut straight strips across the width of the fabric. The nylon chiffon I ordered was about 46 inches wide so I cut:
1st tier: 6 strips at 3.5 to 5 inches wide (depending on length of skirt)
2nd tier: 14 strips at 4.5 to 6 inches wide
Ruffle fluff: 38 strips at 2.5 inches wide (you don't need to make this wider regardless of skirt size)

4. It took me almost exactly one roll of elastic thread to finish all of the shirring for one skirt. (To shirr: hand roll elastic thread, without stretching, onto your bobbin and set the stitch length to a long setting. As you sew, the chiffon will gather up.)

5. When sewing the tiers together, put the ruffled/shirred layer on the bottom and the smooth layer on top so the ruffles don't catch on the sewing machine's presser foot.