Jul 25, 2012

Bright Balloons Shorts

 ... to match the Every Little Thing Tunic I made in the spring. I'd been wanting to do this for a while and Shorts on the Line was the impetus to get it done.
 I used this lightweight, colorful fabric for the main part, and chambray for the trim, both from Joann's. To me, the fabric looks like balloons, very cheerful!
 For the pattern, I traced some shorts that I already had. Turns out the Bright Balloons are a little small because I didn't consider the fact that the shorts I traced were stretchy knit shorts. And these don't stretch. Alas. Another learning moment.
Still, they're cute, and we'll get a few uses out of them. My daughter's not complaining. :)
Happy Wednesday!
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Jul 24, 2012

Twirly Teacups Skirt

 A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me to make some skirts for her 5 1/2 year old daughter (who is also a friend of my son's). I was so excited to complete four skirts and to have little Miss Clara try them on! It was so different sewing for a "big girl" as I'm used to using half as much fabric for my two-year-old. I had a lot of fun picking out fabrics I thought Clara and her mom would like. This is the first skirt, and turned out to be everyone's favorite.
 I used Dana's circle skirt pattern guidelines as well as Cherie's tutorial for doing a reversible circle skirt. The Twirly Teacups Skirt is indeed reversible, though I have a feeling Clara strongly prefers the teacups showing.
I added the turquoise and yellow bands on the bottoms of the two layers for added interest and used some orange thread to hem the turquoise band (hard to see in the photos, I know). I really like the color combinations in this skirt!
Five-year-olds like Clara definitely have the twirling thing down. I've seen so many other blogs with some darling twirl pictures, but figured my baby girl was too little for that, and wondered at what age she'd start.
 Well...
...after seeing how it's done, my daughter wanted to give it a try!
Hehe, isn't she cute?
Thanks to my super sweet models for this post. I hope to showcase more of Clara and her skirts in the coming weeks!

Jul 17, 2012

Little Roses Dress

Oh, I so wanted this to work! I love the Peter Pan collar. I thought I was so clever lining the dress and making the white "apron" front. The thing is, I'm a novice. I'm still learning. And I have more confidence than I probably should!
I like to plunge in and just do things. 
I saw this cool looking tutorial and thought I'd use the bodice/collar part and add the skirt and my own features. Well, lining the dress (which was not part of the pattern/tutorial) made it turn out a lot smaller than the 3-4 size that the pattern was for.
I couldn't even close the keyhole at ALL. So I just pulled out my scissors and made the keyhole bigger. Then sewed on a binding. It worked, sort of. But the dress was still...too small.
I think my little girl looks pretty cute in the dress, and so I took lots of pictures. But, upon reviewing them, I knew she could not wear this in public. So I gifted it to a friend who has a one-year-old. And I'm happy that this Little Roses Dress has become a big hit for another little girl.
Here's a look inside at my lining. By the time I got to sewing the hem, I knew it wasn't going to work, so I didn't even bother pressing (gasp).
Sigh. I still like it. I think I just need to figure out how to make it bigger and then try again. As my husband always tells me, each time I sew, I learn something from the experience, even if it doesn't turn out the way I wanted. And he's right. (sigh. Guess I should go back to trying full patterns again. Those definitely help me out. Like with this and this, for example.)
Live and learn! Happy Tuesday!

Jul 8, 2012

Polka Dot Play Shorts...and Top

 Stretchy, colorful, comfy shorts! Perfect for play.
This is a self-drafted shorts pattern. I just used a pair of my daughter's pants as a guide, shortening to the desired length. I added the pink trim just to be fancy. ;) For the roll-top waist, I referred to Modkid's Yoga Shorts to guide me on the non-elastic waistband. I love the look.
 The shorts came second, actually. I made this top, modeled in part after The Audrey Cape (I made two capes of my own), but with a few alterations and adjustments.
 The Cape is cut like a circle skirt. My top is cut more like an oval, with the longer parts in the front and back. I sewed about 3" from the bottom around 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock (if you imagine the top looks like a clock)to make sleeves. I also used elastic thread for the neck line and pleated it a little too before sewing on a ribbon bow. To finish off the top, I hemmed the bottom (do this part before sewing the sleeves) and added a tag.
And voila! A hip and breezy top to dress up or down for summer.
Together, the shorts and top might be a little too much polka dotting? So I'm hoping to mix up these pieces with some solids. I think my eyes are starting to cross.

Reach, reach!
 
But I love the look of these knee-length stretchy shorts. My daughter is always running and has had so many scraped knees. My hope is that these shorts will protect her baby skin a little bit better as she hops and skips and plays.
Nice baby lounge-wear too, I think.
I'm adding these shorts to the Shorts on the Line Flickr pool hosted by Designs by Sessa. Check out the other pretty pieces!
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Today's Creative Blog

Jul 6, 2012

Summer Seersucker Shorts!


Shorts!
I am very excited to be able to join in with Sessa at Designs by Sessa for her Shorts on the Line summer sewalong!
My daughter has been in dire need of some summer shorts, so motivation was already at hand. And now that there is so much eye candy over at the sewalong, there's even more motivation to join along in the fun.
I made these shorts out of some thrifted seersucker fabric, knowing that it would be light and airy for the summer months. I wanted some poof and definitely got it with this fabric. To make these shorts, I simply traced some pants my daughter already owned, adding a good 1" - 1.25" around the edges of her pants (which were slender to begin with) to make sure there was enough room for poofiness.
I made a front and back pocket and lined them with some coordinating ribbon that I just happened to have. I hemmed the legs, and then sewed a line with some elastic thread in my bobbin, about 1" above the hemline. Don't you love the look? I sure do.

 Here's the back view (never mind the non-matching blue shirt).
 hello belly!
Be sure to check out all the other pretty shorts in the Flickr group for the sewalong. Lots of great ideas in this pool!
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