Shake It Off!

     I've been missing from Craftland for quite some time.  I'm going to blame it all on this adorable squishy faced boy.

     I've been sneaking in a little sewing time here and there and when Paisley Roots posted about the Shake It Off contest, my girls and I turned to YouTube to check out T. Swift's looks in the video.  (See contest details here if you haven't already Shake It Off contest!)

     The oldest immediately wanted Taylor's fabulous white tutu outfit.  That one is still in progress as it's a little overly ambitious for my limited sewing time.  The youngest, however, cut her momma a break and gravitated towards the first outfit shown in the video.  A cute little top with a cat face and a pair of leggings.  Now I must confess that my New Year's resolution was to sew my stash and when I was sewing this outfit I was still holding on. (I lasted about 3 weeks which is probably longer than anyone who knows me thought I could manage.  The fabric addiction is strong.)  So Taylor's white shirt became a gray one and her black leggings became cat print fleece.  It's a perfect comfy, cozy outfit for a 3 year old.
     Before we get to the pictures, I must warn you that sometimes, just sometimes, my darling children do not wish to cooperate with my modeling needs.  Today was one of those times.  You'll notice little miss is wearing a long sleeved v-neck T that doesn't look all that good with her top.  I was attempting to get her to wear a tank top and do a one shoulder look with the shirt.  Didn't happen.  Sometimes even the candy bribery fails me folks.

     Pretend you don't see my older daughter in her old lady outfit or my kid standing on the arm of the couch for a picture.  Somehow my photo editing software is missing from my computer and I hear a little man stirring so no time for getting it back on and cropping!  The top is from the always awesome Scientific Seamstress, the All-the-Rage Raglan, modified to suit my needs.  The leggings are a free pattern from Craftsy (because my New Year's resolution was also supposed to include not buying patterns; that lasted even less time than the fabric!)  

Back in the Saddle Again

I have a big confession to make. I've sewn virtually nothing over the past few months. Birthday dresses for my girls and Easter dresses, of course, but nothing that didn't NEED to be sewn. Tax season and the exhaustion of a new pregnancy resulted in me doing nothing but sleeping whenever I had free time!

However, tax season is now over and I'm well into the second trimester so I am feeling much improved! To kickstart my return to sewing, I decided to join in on a UFO (unfinished objects) challenge through one of the many Facebook groups dedicated to sewing that I'm part of. The idea is to complete as much of your unfinished sewing as you can in a two week period. This is the start of the second week and while I've not made as much progress as I was hoping for, I've at least gotten started!

  This is my list for the two weeks (overly ambitious because I like it that way)

2 Peppermint Swirl dresses
2 Norah tunics
pillow cover
baby gift
PAB overalls
2 SS skorts
2 tote bags
2 SS bebops
2 flower girl dresses

Before I started, I had mostly a pile of printed out patterns and a pile of washed but unironed fabric to go with them. My main focus so far has been on tracing pattern pieces and getting them cut out and starting to cut fabric. Yesterday, with my fabulous kid-free hours for Mother's Day, I finished cutting out my 2 Peppermint Swirl dresses. If you've made a Peppermint Swirl, you know those flounces take a long time! I also have my tote bags mostly cut out (I realized I didn't have enough interfacing so those will have to wait until I make a trip to the store). The contest ends on the 18th so check back in later this week to see just how far I've gotten!


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Throwback Thursday: Little Lizard King Apron Knot Dress

Today's Throwback Thursday showcases an Apron Knot doll dress that I sewed up for a friend's daughter. The pattern is easy to follow and turns out great! I also used a combination of this pattern and the Scientific Seamstress Simply Sweet for my oldest daughter's birthday dress. It looked fantastic and is one of my girl's favorite momma made items.

Sneak Peek!

I'm so excited about this bitty outfit! This is a 0-3 month romper made using the Bebop top and the Reversible Romper bottom. As you can see, I'm still waiting on my snap tape to ship from Amazon to finish off the bottom but I couldn't wait to share a little preview.

Throwback Thursday: Scientific Seamstress Simply Sweet

When I first decided to start sewing last year, I borrowed my grandmother's old machine (older than me) and attempted a pillowcase dress. I spent more time fighting with the machine than I did actually sewing and by the end of the dress, I had almost decided to give up my new hobby. Then I started looking into getting my own cheap sewing machine. I fell in love with embroidery designs and chose to spend my money on a Brother SE-400. When I got it home, I got out the manual and read it cover to cover twice before I even took the machine out of the box. I was scared that I had just wasted a big chunk of money that could have gone to our Disney trip on something I would use once or twice. Turns out, my machine is one of the best things I've ever bought for myself!

Today we're going to look back at the very first items I sewed with my new sewing machine. I bought the Simply Sweet pattern from Scientific Seamstress after seeing rave reviews for it several places. Those people weren't overstating it. This is one of those patterns that is so versatile. It comes with so many options that you can make it over and over and never make the exact same thing twice (unless you're sewing two identical items as I always do!).

My oldest daughter really likes rainbows so when I found this rainbow fabric, I bought it up. The rainbow Mickey head design from Frou Frou by HeatherSue was perfect to go with it. I did make these a size larger than I likely needed since I was sewing in February for a trip we were taking in September and didn't want to risk a big growth spurt making them too small. I still think they came out wonderfully!

All-the-Rage Raglan Sew-Along: Success!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have completed raglan dresses! As mentioned before, I used Jeanine's tutorial from the Scientific Seamstress blog to turn the raglan into a dress. In this case, I used the width of the fabric and just folded it in half and had a seam on one side instead of measuring and cutting two pieces for the skirt. I'm happy with how they turned out, and more importantly, the girls love them. They especially like the hoods. The mark of success in my household is how long my daughters will keep clothing on. (Does anyone else have kids that like to change their clothes multiple times per day?!) These dresses lasted from the time I finished them up until it was time to put on pajamas.

I'm happy that I managed to get my Kids Clothes Week goal completed in time even though there were a few hiccups for me. I confess I did not have at least an hour every day, it just wasn't possible for me, but I did make up some of that time yesterday! Hopefully next week, I'll have 2 completed Ellie Inspired dresses to show off as well. (Don't hold your breath though, I've been working on these dresses for a very patient friend for a looooooong time already.)

Do you have a raglan finished? Make sure you add it to the sew-along album in the Scientific Seamstress Lab Group. In just one week we'll be randomly choosing a winner for a SB/SS pattern of their choice!

All-the-Rage Raglan Sew-Along: Moment of Truth

Today we're sewing the sides and sleeves together. If you're making a shirt, all you'll have left to do is the hem! I'm using Jeanine's tutorial for a raglan dress, so tomorrow I'll be finishing up with a ruffled skirt attachment! Here is my completed top.

I confess, even though I knew I had cut the stretch in the correct direction this time, I was still holding my breath hoping that it would fit my girl. I had to bribe my oldest into trying it on but once she had it on, she didn't want to take it off! That is how we judge sewing success in my household.

If you remember back to the beginning, I sized down a size for this since I wanted a more fitted look. As you can see from the picture, there's still plenty of room in it. I probably should have gone with her regular size or a size up for the hood though as my children have large noggins and it'll likely stop fitting over her head before it stops fitting her everywhere else.

I'm eager to see the raglans everyone else has been sewing. We'll have an album in the lab group for everyone to add to and then on February 10th, we'll select a random winner for a free SS/SB pattern!