Apron knotted dress

Last Christmas, I decided to let Isabelle pick out the fabric for her Christmas dress and I was determined to stick with what she chose.  She actually has a strong aesthetic sense and I want to encourage that as much as possible.  Well, one of the fabrics she picked out was this red and green swirly fabric that I really did not like so I tried to find a pattern that would let me highlight the fabric she chose with the candy canes and chocolate on it and de-emphasize the swirly one.

I decided on this Simplicity apron dress pattern.  It is a very simple pattern and I really recommend it to beginner sewers.

I appliqued this candy cane on the bodice.  I am not thrilled with how it came out but it helped tie everything together.  I really like the knotted straps because that helps the dress fit your child for more than one year.

 Even though I did not like the swirly fabric, I think the Christmas outfits came out really well.

A friend of mine from church sent me this picture of her precious daughter Chloe and asked me if I could make Chloe a vintage apron dress with knotted straps like the one she is wearing in this picture.

 

I told my friend that I would love to do that for her.  I knew I had the pattern to do it but it took me a little while to find the fabric.  Vintage clothes are not really my style so I was concerned about whether I would b able to piece together fabrics that would have a vintage flair.  I think I found the right fabric.  I hope she likes it!

 

There will be pants to go with it and I will post those when I have them.

 

G is for Giraffe

I made this pillowcase dress for my friend's daughter whose name is Grace.  I am a bit wary about monogramming children's clothes because it doesn't allow for the parent to use the outfit for other children.  Monogramming is fine for really special outfits but it is not practical for general dresses.  

This dress worked out perfectly because my friend got a membership to our area's zoo a lot this year where they have giraffes.  I monogrammed the "G" but also appliqued giraffes so she can wear the dress to the zoo.  So, the "G" works for Grace and for giraffes!  Hopefully, this will let my friend pass this dress on to other friends or to any other children she may have.

Easter shortie

I made this romper for Gabe for Easter this year.  Gabe looks adorable in orange and this fabric is perfect for him.  It has great colors but it also sort of a linen fabric so it is really light and lets him climb, jump and be his free little boy self all he wants.

I have used this McCall's romper pattern

many times before and appreciate its simplicity more every time I make it.

I love Easter

Happy Easter!!  He is Risen!!

Easter is by far my favorite holiday.  Preparing my heart for the celebration of Easter is amazing, too.  I love seeing the new flowers and thinking of how we are new creations in Christ and how His blood over us makes us pure and beautiful before our heavenly Father.

Making new Easter outfits for the kids is really fun for me.  

I love dropping the heavy flannels and corduroys of the winter and finding the light cottons of spring and summer!

I will post individually about each outfit in separate posts for those interested in the sewing info; this post is just to show you how they look on the kids and hopefully inspire you to get sewing!

Go Blue!

This coming Sunday is Superbowl XLVI and our favorite team made it this year!  Go NY Giants!  I have been making some fun new gear for our kids to get ready for the big game.  

Love this girl!!!!!!!! This hat was a gift from my brother.

FLEECE VEST

I will post separate info on the vest pattern later.  This post is mainly just for pictures.

Yup, it is big but she will grow into it, right?

Cutie shoes

One cute model!

Fleece skirt with twirly bottom (aka randomly cut fleece strips)

Precious girl who loves to twirl!

My little man in blue

Football Fun

These shoes by Mud Pie are totally inspiring me!!!  Surely I can make them for less than $26.95!!!

Great pattern for babies

This Butterick pattern has been one of my favorite patterns for babies.  Why can it be difficult to sew for babies?  You need to be more exact in your measurements when sewing for a baby.  While you can adjust a 3T dress to fit a 2T toddler, you can't really make a 6 month dress and fudge it for a 3 month old or a 9 month old.  That being said, I like this Butterick pattern because I feel like the sizes are the most accurate to baby sizes. 

Fall 2011 Sunflower (one of my favorites!!)

It is a little strange at first because the sizes are small, medium, large and x-large but once you read the measurements, it is easy to find the right size you need.  Remember, since you need to be more exact on baby clothes sewing, don't mess with the 5/8" seam allowance (like I am prone to do because I think I am wasting fabric by using such a wide seam allowance) or you will quickly make the dress to big or small for the baby.

Christmas 2011 Candy Cane

I also feel like it is a pattern with flexibility in sizing because it does not have straps that you need to worry about being too long or too short.

January 2012 Cupcake dress (the coordinating pants aren't pictured here)

I also love the little bloomers or pants that you can sew with the dress/top so that the dress that can last the baby longer.  The pants have been great for us since my daughter isn't walking yet and the pants protect her legs from being scraped on the floor.

Flannel fun

These rompers are from my favorite romper/shortie/longall pattern (McCalls 6304).  I won't go into details about the pattern since I have done that before in a previous post.  All I will say about the pattern is that it is a SOLID romper pattern that I would recommend to anyone, even a beginner sewer.

The flannel fabric here is so soft and warm and makes me want to snuggle with my little man Gabe even more than I already do! 

 I had so much fun with the applique on these two rompers.  Aren't they cute?

I made this NY Giants romper for the Super Bowl this year.  Go Blue!

Before I made these three flannel rompers, I made this fish one last week:

Hooting for Owls

This fun owl dress was inspired by a dress that I saw (as are most of the dresses that I make), but this one was a little different.  This dress was made in a different fabric and was on a mannequin at JoAnns and the design totally grabbed me when I walked by it.  I never really look at those mannequins in the store.  Normally, I am bee-lining my way to the fabric section before my kids have a meltdown because they are bored (or because they know they get away with a little more trouble in stores than they do at home).

Owl dress front

{Total mommy sidebar here where I must brag on my kids...  My kids are usually amazing in stores for which I am very thankful.  I try to set both them and me up for success by going at good times and making sure everyone has a full stomach.  We try and have fun out and about on errands.  Ok, shameless mommy moment is over.}

Back to the dress... what I liked about this McCalls M5838 pattern was how even with very simple fabrics, the dress (on the younger girl) is very fun and feminine with the gathered sleeves and gathered top.  I am not a big fan of the older girl's dress (sorry, older girl).

I made this dress for my daughter's friend Hannah.  I don't know how girlie she is so I did not want to go overboard on pink like I tend to do with Isabelle.  I used this cute owl flannel that I have had for a while.  I really like the gathered top, don't you?

The back has a zipper instead of buttons.  I just have to be honest and say that I am not good at doing zippers yet.  I can put them in but I am not good at sewing a straight stitch all the way around the zipper.  I lose my focus somewhere along the way around the zipper and I get a crooked line of thread which is of course on the yellow midriff section of this dress (with black thread).  Oh well.  I am going to try to use zippers more often to get better at them.  I will defeat you, zippers!!!!

Owl dress back

Comments on the pattern:

1. I would rank this pattern as a medium skill-level.
2. You need to follow the 5/8" seam allowance on the top, especially where the straps are inserted.  Be very consistent or you will have extra fabric on either side of the straps.
3. When you sew the top to the top lining, you will sew the straps into the front of the top.  Since the straps are gathered, make sure you pinch the entire strap so that you do not catch the side of the strap into your stitching coming up the armpit or down the neck.  I did this  - ugh!!
4. The steps describing attaching the midriff lining was VERY confusing.  I just skipped those steps and did it how it made sense to me.  
5. The midriff lining wound up being too short to cover the gathering of the skirt.  Not sure how this happened.  Could it have to do with the comment #4 above?  Next time, I am going to cut these lining pieces wider than the pattern says to in order to make sure I can use them to cover over the raw gathered edges of the skirt.

Here is Hannah in her dress.  Isn't she precious?