May Flowers Dress 2.0

I really loved how my daughter's May Flowers Dress turned out when I sewed it up last month. It has gotten a lot of use, and every time she wears it, I can't help feeling proud. My friend, who doesn't live locally anymore (sad!) saw it on my blog and decided she wanted one for her daughter, who is 6 1/2. Could I sew one for her? Absolutely! Only problem was that my version of the pattern, which is Shwin&Shwin's Maggie Mae Dress, only went up to a size 5*. And so I needed to test my resizing skills in order to make a size 7 for Clara. I may have overshot a little for this sweet, skinny girl, but Clara's mom didn't seem too bothered. And it was thrilling for me when Clara tried on the dress and broke out in a huge grin. Success!

I used some pretty flower buttons from Joann's for the back.

In order to resize this pattern, I printed out the largest size (a 5) and traced the bodice pieces on paper. Then, I looked at the lines from a size 3 to a 4, and then from a 4 to a 5 and estimated how big a size 6 would be and then a 7. I then measured what ended up being about .5 inches around the size 5 bodice pattern pieces and cut them out. I did a similar thing for the skirt and band pieces, looking at the sizing on the pattern and adding the necessary inches and cut them out too. Voila, size 7! 

Oh and Miss Clara was very fun and easy to photograph. No treats in the pockets needed. Seriously, it was like - Look right (Ok!), hands in pockets (Ok!), twirl (Ok!). The quickest photo shoot ever.

Over the course of the two days that I saw Clara (in town visiting), she wore this and this skirt that I made her last summer (they still fit!). And they looked sufficiently worn (yet still holding up) after a year. Made me very happy to see she that still liked (and wore) them.

And just a final note, if you've never tried Shwin&Shwin's Maggie Mae pattern, I think you'd really love it. It's a very satisfying pattern with very polished results. Quite simply, I love it.

Hope everyone is enjoying the month of May. We are so happy here to finally see May flowers.

I'll be linking up with some of these fun parties!

*Note: (Shwin&Shwin has recently re-released this pattern and now it goes up to a size 10. No guess-work needed!)

Dressy Little Boy Ties

 So not too long ago, my son expressed an interest in having a tie. You know, like daddy. Since it was right before Easter, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to find a pattern and make one. I looked high and low and found many different patterns, with different ways of cinching the tie behind the neck. And finally, I decided on what I thought looked easiest: this pattern. There's even a free printable!

 I first made the blue bunny tie for Easter. Then I realized it would be so cute to have my kids look all matchy-matchy and decided to use material from my daughter's recent Maggie Mae dress for another tie. And then, because my son was so very excited about his new ties, I decided to make a few more. 

He was (*proud mommy drumroll*) Star of the Week last week in pre-school and got to do a presentation on a topic of his choice. He chose the very respectable topic of Rocks and Minerals (which was sort of like taking a crash-course in Earth Science for me as I helped him prepare. Memories came flooding back.). Did you know that most rocks on earth are igneous rocks, which means made with heat? (Igneous - ignite) And basalt is a common igneous rock that is used to make roads? Yeah!

But the short of it was, my son wanted to wear ties that week and wanted to pick out fabric for the tie he'd wear on presentation day, you know, when he was showing off his own personal rock collection. 

He chose the multi-colored squares on the blue background. For this one (see above), I lengthened the tie a few more inches just for kicks. (See? It was so long the whole thing didn't even make the picture.)

As with most new things, the novelty of tie-wearing has now worn off. But who knows - it may make a resurgence when I least expect it. And in the meantime, it will make dressing for church a little more exciting. For both of us.


I'll be linking up with some of these fantastic parties! 

The Snakeskin Vest

I didn't get any posting done last week, but I did do a

little sewing. 

I made this cuuuute little vest for my son out of faux snakeskin material. I think he looks kind of like a cowboy in it.

For the inside, I let him pick his favorite fabric from the stash. And I made him a tie to match too.

 The vest was was really easy and quick to make. The pattern was from Leila & Ben and it was a free pattern! I'm really digging their style and want to try this next for my daughter.

 Never mind the patch on my poor kid's head. He had to get stitches over the weekend. Poor thing. But he's doing really well with it. We just have to wear a hat a lot now.

What a fun, easy and satisfying project! I'll post more about my ties soon. Have a great week!

I'm linking up with these parties. 

May Flowers Dress

It's not May yet, but we're dreaming of May flowers!

For the last week of Project Run & Play, the theme is "Spring Formal Wear." I wanted a dress for my daughter that had a little extra pizazz so that it could be worn to church or a party, but would not be too dressy to wear any day of the week (gotta get some use out of it, right?)

The pattern I used was the Maggie Mae Dress by Shwin&Shwin and I stuck right to it (not altering a thing) and finished with a beautiful spring dress!

I cut a size 5 (I have this sizing-up addiction so that whatever I make can be worn longer) and I feel like it's true to size. I've found that some patterns seem to run small, but Shwin&Shwin's patterns always seem to be right on target (like this, this, this and this.) So the 5 is definitely big on my little girl (she wears a 4T these days), but I still love the look and will enjoy seeing her in this dress all spring and summer.

And for the pizazz? I chose three sparkly vintage buttons in my stash to glam it up a bit.

The pattern calls for pleats in the front and in the back and I found this alternative to gathering quite refreshing. I think pleats also dress up the, er, dress quite a bit too!

Can you tell my daughter loves the pockets?

(That and the Swedish fish swimming around in there.)

I used the same kelly green pinwale corduroy that I used on my Fox Jacket, which gives the dress a nice structure and a bit more formality. And the flowery print is quilting cotton. Both are from Joann's.

After a while, we got a little silly...
 
Here's hoping that May flowers are around the corner...

 

...along with plenty of use for this May Flowers Dress!

Thanks for reading and for stopping by! You can find many more beautiful Spring looks at Project Run & Play.

I'm also linking up with these parties.

The Embroidered Fox Jacket

This week for on Project Run & Play, the theme is "It's All In the Details." I decided to go with embroidery, something that I love to do and that I feel adds a big wow-factor to garments.

My idea started with a little embroidered fox. I used the pattern in Aneela Hoey's book Little Stitches to guide me.

After making a jacket for my daughter last week, I decided I should make one for my son too. Since he is a big nature and animal lover, I thought a fox theme would be perfect!

 

My son LOVES the color green, and I was so happy that I had enough of this pinwale green corduroy for the outer layer. Once again, I used Shwin&Shwin's Abbey Jacket Pattern for this jacket. For my son, I decided to omit the oversized button-flaps that I used on my daughter's Chevron Jacket and use two vertical columns of buttons instead.

Again, I fully lined the jacket, this time using a super soft flannel shirting fabric from my stash. I also did some piecing around the center, changing up the pattern a bit, to work in the two cute foxes.

But before I explain the inside details, let me talk about the outside just a little more. I embroidered another fox for the front of the jacket, and on this one, I added my son's initials. Just for a personal touch. (I don't think he's realized they're there yet!)

 I also decided to take the fox theme a little further and add some Fox patches to the elbows!

I used the same basic shape of the tiny fox face and then used a backstitch to outline his nose and mouth, then a satin stitch for the eyes. And then I used three different colors to frame the face with a straight stitch. I think the patches look cute and tie the fox theme together a some more.

Now for the inside, I figured the kid needed

 a pocket. So I put a small one in for him. I also embroidered a message on both sides of the insides of the jacket.

The other side has this message below. (I used the font in the book S is for Stitch, by Kristyne Czepuryk).

 

My son can't read yet, but when he learns, I'm hoping these messages will be a nice surprise.

So The Fox Jacket is a light, semi-formal jacket for spring or fall with room to grow as well. I love the bright green color of this fabric - he'll be easy to spot if he roams! And, truly, I love seeing my son in clothes I've made for him. 

Stitched with love, isn't that right?

 As an aside, it's been quite an adventure for us this week, getting this jacket done. Wednesday night I was sewing away and went to change my needle (being maybe an hour from the finish, tops) and couldn't get the needle in straight -- again! (I paid $96 to have the alignment fixed just last month!) I wanted to cry! I was so close to being done. I ended up borrowing a friend's sewing machine the next day (she was so sweet to let me borrow it last minute AND drop it off because my son woke up Thursday morning sicker than a dog.). Anyway, it took me a bit to figure out the new machine, and then I couldn't figure out her button-holer so improvised with a tiny zig-zag stitch. At one point, I broke a needle in my serger... And all the while, I felt the sickness creeping up on ME! I somehow convinced my son to get off the couch and get some pictures done and after that, collapsed myself. Thank goodness my husband came home and took care of everything -- I was so sick last night! I will spare you the details, but just getting this jacket done in time is a HUGE accomplishment for me!

 Now I'm ready to go crawl back in bed -- AFTER I link up with Project Run & Play. Check out the other amazing garments while you're there!

I'll also be linking up with these parties.