Little Geranium ~ big cuteness factor

This dress is seriously small! And seriously cute! It's the Little Geranium pattern and it's free on Rae's blog. I had a wonderful time making this little dress for my friend's new baby. Picking the fabrics, cutting the tiny pattern pieces. Imagining a new little person inside. (sigh) I have yet to meet this new little girl, but cannot wait to see her and give this dress to her mom and dad.

And, of course, I can't wait to see her wearing it. It seems like eons ago that my little girl was this small. But I do remember being stressed and tired and not wanting to fool around with difficult garments. So instead of buttons on the back, I put snaps. Easy on, easy off. 

I love the full skirt on this dress and those little pockets and that thick hem. Rae's patterns are so awesome in their thoroughness and I'm always happy with the finished product. I'm thinking I may have to get with it and buy the bigger pattern for my daughter. It's that good. 

Oh, and I figured a matching little hair bow/band would be super cute with this dress so I put one together pretty fast. Elastic+fabric tube+bow=easy.

Cannot wait to wrap this gift up and give it away!!
Linking up here.

The Clara Skirt

Named after the little girl who loves it! Because it is twirly and very girly. I am so glad she liked it!

For this skirt, I cut two circles (using Dana's circle skirt tutorial). I cut a big circle in the brown gingham, and a smaller circle with the flower fabric. I basted the two together at the top, then sewed the elastic waistband on.

I worried that that the skirt wasn't going to be long enough (I shouldn't have worried!), and added an extra band of white fabric. I hemmed the flower fabric and then hemmed the white band after Clara tried on the skirt.

 So the skirt is definitely on the longer side, but I have a feeling Clara will be able to wear it not only this coming school year, but the following year as well. 

And, you know, it just seems so elegant at this length, too. 

I'm glad it worked out. I rather like it all long and flow-y.

Twirl!

Whoa...getting dizzy. 

(Isn't she adorable? Would you believe she speaks three languages? Yeah, pretty incredible.)

And then, to finish, a little personalization for the tag. I used letter stamps I bought at Joann's, and stamped some extra white fabric, sealing the ink with a warm iron (the butterfly was a foam stamp that the kids have played with in the past. No idea where it came from.).

I thought Clara liked the Twirly Teacups skirt the best, but then it was this one that she ended up wearing for the rest of the morning during her playdate with my son. 

Thanks again to Clara and her mom for a fun morning!

Fancy Holiday Skirt

 Pretty original post title, huh? Ok, not so much! But I think it's fairly accurate in description, so I'll just stick with that. :) With this floaty, light skirt, I'm picturing Christmas-time. I'd pair it with a black leotard-style top, black leggings, and black patent-leather shoes. Oh, and maybe some holly in the hair with a little black bow. Yes, that's my vision. But it's August, and way too hot. 

My little model, Clara, went with a white tank top and shorts. 

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been making some pieces for Clara this summer (my friend's beautiful 5-year-old daughter). She really was so good about modeling these garments for me and letting me take a bazillion pictures. And this morning, the patio was quite chilly and her feet were cold. But she didn't let it stop her. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great straight-on shot, but you can sort of see from these pics how ethereal this skirt seems to be. It's a burnt-orange/red color with gold highlights and swirls. I have three layers of fabric sewn together at the waist, following Dana's Simple Skirt tutorial. And then I added a black cotton bow in the front to dress up the skirt even more. 

 I love it on Clara! And I can almost hear Swan Lake playing in the background (oh, wait. I was playing Swan Lake in the background that morning. Swat to the forehead).

 Not too early to be thinking ahead, right?

Have a great day!

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!

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!

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!