The things they won't wear

Quite often I will see an outfit somewhere and think this is super cute, I need to make something like this for my girls. And then I do. Only to learn afterwards, that NOBODY likes it and that it will, most likely, never be worn.

Here are two examples. Really pretty double-ruffle knit jersey pants:

 

..and super cool and hip bubble pants. 

 

 

What's not to like?????

Well, it's all about the bottom of the legs: "too big". Who knew, the girls only like tight leggings?! Uhm, I did, but was hoping they'd like these new ones afterall.

I am glad, that both sets are on the bigger side. So, I am hoping that the girls' taste will change over the next couple of months and that they may start wearing them after all. Especially, the bubble pants. I LOVE them. So, much that I will be making myself a pair from this fig colored European Linen and smoke rib knit (looks blue in the picture, but it's actually a really dark grey). These pants will become my new favorite around-the-house-comfy-pants.

Chevron Outfits

A few months back I bought several different colors of Riley Blake's Chevron fabric, never really knowing what to make from it.
Then, I was so excited when "Project Run and Play" announced that one of the challenges would involve said fabric. My plan was to wait and see what the awesome contestants would come up with and then use their ideas as my inspiration. But, alas! Inspiration struck yesterday all on it's own! I found this lonely dark grey polkadotty pillow case and figured it might go well with the grey and white chevron.

I decided to make a striped skirt with a shirred waiste. That was it, no more. But, sometimes, when you have an idea but no real plan things will turn out different than you thought.

I used 6 inch wide strips for the skirt; four of each fabric and shirred the top with seven rows. Even after seriously steaming the shirring for a LONG time, the skirt was way too wide.

So, I decided to add a belt. The belt is about 1 inch wide, has a 4 inch elastic section in the back and closes up with a button in front.

After that, the pictured model requested a shirt to go with it. Never mind that I only had 8 inches of the chevron fabric left, and none of the pillow case. After much thinking, I took a plain white shirt and added ruffles to the top of each sleeve and sewed on a little red button in front to match the bigger ones on the belt.

Love the pockets!
I think, the whole outfit came together quite nicely. Now, I am off to make the second one.

 

Update:

 

The second outfit is done, too. Along the way I added two more belt loops on the front of both skirts and also added a triangle to cover the deep V-neck on the T-shirts. They look much cuter now and tie the outfit together.



All Season Jumper Dress -update

For the longest time my "All Season Jumper Dress" post has been the most popular. I always figure people land there when searching for a free pattern.

Now, I just realized that the download link for my Jumper Dress pattern was broken. And NOBODY told me!!!!

Anyway, I have fixed it now. So, if there are still people out there looking for the pattern and tutorial, it's available for download again!

Crochet Edge Skirt

Hello!!! I am still here.
I have been sewing quite a bit over the past weeks, but do not always feel like taking and editing the pictures.
Today, I just want to show a few pictures of a new set of skirts I made for the girls. They are made from pinwheel corduroy that I found in my stash.
The things, that are different and special about these skirts are the exposed zipper and crochet border around the bottom edge.

I purchased the zippers here. They have a ton of different colors and shipping took only about 10 days. Considering the store is located in Hong Kong, not too bad.

The edge is two rows of single crochet stitches. To get a row of loops to start with, I simply used embroidery thread and used a running stitch all the way around. I made sure to make it rather loose, so it wouldn't bunch up later. The fluffy yarn was left over from these Hello Kitty hats.

Scirocco Dress by Figgy

I have had this gorgeous fabric from Westfalenstoffe forever. And now, I finally found the perfect pattern to use it for. Figgy's Scirocco Dress pattern.

Although, it takes some time, I loved putting these two dresses together. They came out perfectly. I used size 6/7 and would say the pattern is true to size. The girls are 5 and usually wear a size 6/6X.

I only had one yard of each of the fabrics and was a bit short to make each dress of just one print. So, I decided to make the middle ruffle layer with a red/white chevron print from Riley Blake.

I love the back!

The girls were in posing mood, when they got to wear the dresses this past weekend. It was such a nice day for the area we live. Unfortunately, today we are down to the low 30s.

Just a shot of the fronts. The pattern is really well made, everything fit together perfectly! No puckering, or anything.

Soon I will share some pics of winter outfits, I have made. Have a great week!

Ruffles everywhere skirts and ironing board cover

A few weeks ago, right around my birthday, I won a Free Spirit giveaway and received SIX (6) yards of fabric. Yes, six whole yards. They were all from the "Katharine's Wheel" line by Nel Whatmore.
I almost never get several prints from one line, so I was super happy to have received this much matching fabric!

Here is what I made from it:
New skirts for the girls with LOTS of ruffles. These two skirts used up a total of 4 yards.

The skirt has two layers.

All is topped off with a cute fabric bow. I made them a bit longer so they  will last a couple of years.

And for me: a new ironing board cover. I followed Mandy's recommendations on how to make it. I used almost one yard of fabric for the board. Mine ended up being pieces together, but you can hardly see the seam.

So, that leaves one yard left over. I have no plans for it yet, so it goes into my stash. At least for a little while.

The Wolverine Costume

So, here is the Wolverine costume I mentioned before: the costume that is full of compromises.
Yanic wanted to be a real animal wolverine. After a lot of thinking and searching, I could not come up with anything that would make it work. Hardest part being the head. So, we sat together and came up with a Michigan Wolverine/Wolverine the animal/Wolverine the cartoon character costume.
And this is it:
Michigan Wolverine = Foam head and maze/blue accents
Wolverine the animal = fake fur jacket (what a mess to sew....!!!!)
Wolverine the cartoon = claws made from vinyl

The Butterfly and her Flower

Can't believe it's Halloween already.
The kids' costumes are home made again this year. Of course! ;-)
All are done. Even Yanic's. We compromised a bit on the look, but it's still what he wanted to be: a Wolverine. I have not taken pictures of him in his costume yet. So, you will have to wait for those until after Halloween.

But, here are the girls: They wanted to be a purple butterfly and a yellow-orange flower.

The butterfly wings are based on this tutorial. I had a hard time finding the foam that the pattern is calling for. In the end I used regular batting and inserted a wire coat hanger to stabilize the top of the wings a bit. It works.

The flower shirt is a Thrift Store find. So, are the pants. They were white and I hand dyed them. The flower skirt is made from felt with a white tutu underneath. The flower headband I have since downsized a bit. It was just too heavy and looked like a barrett.

Aside from the wings, the butterfly also has a headband with antennae. I used a cheepo plastic headband and wrapped it with brown pipecleaner. To finish off the look, she is wearing a brown shirt, striped tights and a purple tutu.

Now, let's hope it's not raining, snowing or storming tomorrow for Trick or Treating. Happy Halloween!

First Day of School and Picture Display

So, Tuesday was the first day of school. Where has the summer gone??? Seriously!
To celebrate the first day of school, our kids get a "Schultuete" filled with supplies, gifts and candy every year. For the girls it was actually their first, since they are now Kindergartners.

The skirts also got finished in time. They look really cute I think. I have also washed them since that picture and was surprised, that the pleats held up during washing and drying. I only had to iron the ribbon trim on the bottom a bit.

Now on to a little project. To preserve our summer memories I made a new picture display for the girls' room.

To re-recreate this picture frame, you will need a wooden frame, spray paint, thumb tacks, any kind of ribbon or string to wrap around the frame a few times, spring loaded clothes pins and embelishments to glue onto the frame.

I did not take pictures of the process, because it was so easy, that anybody can do it.
1. Spray paint your wooden frame any color you like as well as the clothes pins.
2. Wrap ribbon/string around your frame and secure with thumb tacks on the back side. I used 1 inch wide fabric strips, folded in half length wise and sewn down the middle.
3. Embellish the frame with flowers or other things. I made felt/fabric flowers which I glued onto the frame with E6000 glue.
4. Print some pictures and use the clothes pins to hang them from your frame. I used mini and regular sized wooden ones which I also spray painted beforehand.

Such a display also makes a nice gift for friends, parents, grandparents. Or you can hang it to hold notes, shopping lists, etc. I made a smaller version for the Nanny we had this summer as a going-away gift:

Have a great week. I will be back soon with a small chalk board project.

Summer Project - Make a butterfly net and home

This was probably the last of our special summer projects this year, unless I can think of another one before school starts after Labor Day.
For this one we made butterfly nets out of tule, a coat hanger and a stick. We bent the coathanger to resemble somewhat of a circle and taped it to the stick with duck tape. Then we the kids handsewed a long tube from the tule and sewed it onto the wire circle.

For the butterfly home we used this tutorial. Over the past few days it became home to several butterflies, moths and grasshoppers. Of course, they were all released each night.

Summer Project - Design your own fabric II - Make stuff with it

My post titles are getting more original by the day... ;-)

I had a couple of hours of free time this weekend, while hubby and the kids went to the zoo. I decided to start "making stuff" with the fabrics the kids had made last week.

I turned some of Yanic's into reusable snack bags for school and a pencil case. The snack bags are lined with ripstop nylon.

And while I was at it, I made some for the girls too. All in varying sizes. The biggest is the size of a regular ziplog sandwich bag.

This is Yanic's new pencil case. I used the front of last year's and replaced the back and bottom with his fabric.

And here is one of the skirts. The second one is not quite done. So, because of that, no model shots either, yet.
I have to say, I LOVE IT? I think, it's so cute.

I did not use a pattern. But, I have seen so many skirts with boxed pleats lately, that I wanted the girls to have one too. I think, this will be perfect for the first day of school.

Pretty ribbon finish on the bottom:

 Cute piping and fun buttons in front:

And the back: