Vote for ME!!!!

Well, for my shirt that is!

VOTE!

So one of my favoritist blogs, "Made by Rae" had a little spring top contest. It was some much-needed motivation to do some selfish sewing. I seriously hadn't sewn for myself since I was in the fourth (or so) grade and I made myself a fishy shirt with matching red hot pants...yeaaaah...
Don't mock me, I won first runner up at the county fair for those pants! I wish I had a picture!

So anyway, I made myself a couple tops from McCalls 5388. The first one, for practice, ended up being way too tight in the armpits.

It's funny, I actually really like this one. But see how it puckers in the armpits? Sad. :( I used some eyelet fabric that I bummed off of my mom on my last trip home. I think she had originally bought it with plans of a dress for me. That should tell you how old it is. It's 80's curtain fabric. I thought it would make great "practice fabric." Pretty hideous, until it's magically turned into a shirt! Then I loved it! 

So I tried again. This time with some pretty quilting fabric that I bought at JoAnn's for just this purpose. I adjusted the size of the pattern and redrew the armholes.

I love the pink and red polka-dots. And I love how my Grandma Dolly's red necklace looks with it. And I love the puffy sleeves. And I love the neckline. I think I love sewing for myself. :)


So vote for me! And I will love YOU forever!

"Bubblegum Happy"

kcwc: day 3-7 because I’m horrible at blogging with any sort of regularity.

But I did meet my goal! I worked on kids’ clothing for every day for at least an hour! Whoop! Unfortunately, I cannot show all of it, because some of it is super secret until Saturday after a certain someone’s baby shower. Here are a couple projects I can show you.

1) Freezer stenciling loveliness.
I think this is my new favorite project. Finally something that B actually likes too! As you can see by the fuzziness, he was really into his dino-tee.



Freezer stenciling is a really great way to bring new life to stained boring shirts. I have plans for lots more, but my printer ran out of ink and I’m not feeling the drawing skills right now.

2) Overalls for Liss.
I love love LOVE this fabric! Something I picked up at JoAnns. (I really need to start reading those selvages for fabric names!) And only my 2nd go at a pattern in my new sewing endeavors!

 

Ok, so maybe they’ll be overalls for NEXT summer. But cute, nonetheless.  Oh, did I tell you, she’s WALKING?! At 11 months! Ack!


And remember this??



 I’m really glad that I stopped with my kids clothes challenge for time to finish it! More details to come! :)

A Bicycle Built for Two…

I have REALLY been wanting to go out for a bike ride in the beautiful weather we’ve been having. Only problem?
This:

Yeah, that is what the seat of the infant rider looked like. Nasty. I think there was a creature living in the padding on the back. I didn’t take a picture to show you. Let’s just say, I was not about to put a baby in the thing. So I decided to make a new one. I couldn’t find any tutorials out there, so I made some step by steps. It was a super simple process, I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.
Materials:

• 1-2 yards of canvas or other sturdy material. I got a yard of 54” canvas from Walmart that worked just fine.
• 1 yard of fusible fleece. It really doesn’t have to be fusible, but it’s what I had, and made the project even easier.
• Thread

Process:
First, use your old nasty seat pad as a pattern. I traced it onto a double layer of fleece first, also marking the strap holes. In retrospect, you don’t need to mark the holes now, because they won’t show once its all turned. When you cut this out, allow for a seam allowance by cutting about a half inch outside of the line.

Do the same thing to a double layer of fabric. It kinda looks like an airplane, don’t you think?

Now iron your fleece pieces to your fabric pieces.

Pin your two assembled pieces, right sides together, and stitch, leaving about a two inch opening so that you can turn it right side out.

Don’t forget to notch your curves so it lays nice and flat. Here it is all turned right side out.

Next, I marked lines where the folds are, and topstitched those. It just makes it fold easier and fit into the seat better.

Now, mark and make your strap slits. I used my button hole foot for my machine.

Last thing, mattress stitch your 2 inch hole shut!

I also changed this:

To this:

And I included little loops, so I could attach a toy or cup, or whatever else. Knowing my daughter, she would throw anything she had out of the seat.
Unfortunately, we can’t go riding just yet. The infant helmet I thought I had, is nowhere to be found. Sigh…

But she’ll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two!

kcwc: day 2

Ok, I did, in all honesty, spend my 1 hour requirement on my kids clothes today- cut overalls for Liss and got some freezer paper stenciling done for B and a friend's new baby, but I have no pictures yet. I would have spent more time on it, but…

The Spring Top Sewalong deadline was extended!  ARGH!

So I HAD to finish the top I had originally planned on for the contest! Hooray! It actually fits! I call it: "Bubblegum Happy." Lame? Maybe. Anyway, I think there is going to be a reader's choice vote in the future, so stay tuned...maybe if my 3 followers will vote for me, I'll win. Hehe.

 

kcwc day 1:

Well, we’re off to a bumpy start. With all the things I had to do today, I didn’t get a whole lot done. And this one might be cheating, but it was a genuinely on my list, so I can now cross it off.

I now love this layered style of little boy shirts even more.  Here are a few of B’s cold weather shirts. Not bad- a little wrinkled, a few mud stains, but still fit! Last week we had a couple 90 degree days and so we were really digging for t-shirts that fit. Not many in there. So what’s a mama to do but get out her trusty Ginghers Fiskars?!

So I turned these:

To these:

Perfect for summer!  Of course, the wind kicked up today and it’s cold again…

Day 1 down…6 more to go! I’m hoping to have something more exciting to show tomorrow. :)

Kids Clothes Week!

Kids Clothes Week Challenge starts tomorrow! I'm-a-do-my-best to make something every day, although I admit I'll be cheating tomorrow, because it's my work day, AND the week of open house, AND staff meeting day, AND t-ball game, AND I'm snack mom...

Happy Mother’s Day!

I love this quote by Washington Irving:

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

And since I can’t find a scanner, or even a decent picture of my best friend, Mommy, and I, here’s one of me and my loves.

What’s that you say? You like my shirt? Why, thank you! I made it myself!