I can't wait to do this...

While I've been searching out patterns and reading various blogs about sewing. I discovered something amazing.
Before sending her off to kindergarten her little girl found out about the tradition of new school clothes... so she made a series of drawings of the clothes she wanted where it becomes amazing, and something I'm REALLY excited about doing with my girls is where she takes these drawings and actually makes the clothes! Check it out here and here.
I'm really excited about doing this with the girls. I think we'll end up making it our annual summer project. Once they are old enough I'm looking forward to their help too!

Front Page Excitement!

Last night from 6-7pm there was an excitement in my house. This fabulous "high" created by discovering one of my etsy shop's listings made it to the front page. I'm in a new group on Etsy and we're slowly growing. This treasury was a way to feature our fledgling group and who knew it would be so popular!
My Runaway to the Circus T shirt made it. I had looked at it earlier in the day and saw that it had 172 views and 7 hearts. After making the front page it now has over 400 views and 20 hearts!!

Pictures to share

Yesterday I mentioned the sheet set I'm working on for T. Here's what the pillowcase looks like. I'm excited to work on the flat sheet but I'm waiting until I have some child-free time to do that.


I completed a shirt from one of the vintage patterns. I love it! I'm looking forward to making a few more from that pattern.



detail of the puffed sleeves...
The gathers are at both the top and the bottom of the sleeve, I think this give it the retro feel...

The Quest for Toddler Bedding

T has moved to a toddler bed. Her bed however is lacking bedding. Every single "toddler bedding" set I've found is either prohibitively expensive or Disney. Now I have nothing against Disney, but I think that it's crazy that I can only find Tinkerbelle and Cinderella sheets for my 18 month old.
Fitted sheets are easy to find in solid colors because they're just crib sheets. Where I've been running into problems is finding a flat sheet - or a set that includes a flat sheet. I've decided to make her a sheet set. (And to make as many copies of the set as I can from the fabric I have - since I'll want the two girls to have matching sets when D moves to a big girl bed.)
I've been browsing around trying to find the "right" fabric for a while. Found a pink fabric with the alphabet on it and a coordinating striped fabric on clearance at Joann's. Turns out right now their clearance fabric is 50% off too. So at $1.50/yard i bought what was left on both bolts. (5.75y of the alphabet and 2.5y of the stripe)

Today I used this tutorial to make a pillowcase. It went quite well, though the pillowcase was a little large - which was an easy fix. I have pictures to post when I get to uploading them from the camera.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find the time to make the flat sheet. Only if it rains though, because if it doesn't we're going to the zoo.

My new dress form still doesn't have a name. Any ideas? Trying to decide between a boy's name (I don't know why I keep thinking of it as a "he" when "he" has never worn anything but dresses...), a Mobster type name - given the shady situation I got it in or one of the names that my husband vetoed when we were trying to name our daughters... What would you name it?

Oliver and S Puppet Show Dress and Tunic

Several weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on the Oliver and S Puppet Show dress.
Now that I have a dress form (who still needs a name!) I thought I would show you what I've made.

The first one is actually tunic length and has matching shorts in black with the darker blue bias trim. I still haven't sewn on the buttons or hand sewn the hem.


After making it I gained the confidence needed to play with the pattern a little. I decided to try upcycling a men's shirt. It worked out beautifully. There's even a pocket on the bum of the dress - I didn't want to remove it, I wanted to leave the integrity of its origins in tact. And the best part? No need to sew on the buttons or do the hem!

Shady dealings and the best customer service I have ever had

I want a dress form.
Not one so I can sew for me. I need one that is the right size for toddlers.
I've been searching ebay and discovered that while the prices are reasonable, everyone wants $20-$30 for shipping. Somewhere in my searches I managed to find a local warehouse that had one in stock. They would even let me pick it up! I called ahead and they said they could help me bring it to my car - a must considering I had to have both the girls with me.
So I drove out to the shady warehouse district in Newark NJ... I called to say I was at the front entrance and was directed around to the side of the building. A guy comes down the freight elevator with a black trash bag. I hand him some cash, check to make sure all the parts are there and toss it into the trunk.
I'm sure somewhere a security camera caught that and in a few weeks someone will come knocking on my door to ask me about my connection in the disappearance of some mobster...

So now I'm the proud owner of a new dress form.
What should I name her?

Visit to Grandma's

One of my favorite things about visiting Grandma is going through her stash.
Fabric, notions, patterns...
I have a jar of buttons that I got from her. She's of the generation that never threw anything away. In the jar are buttons from old shirts, buttons from pants and fascinating buttons with an unknown and mysterious history.
This trip, I perused vintage sewing patterns. Grandma let me take all the patterns I wanted! I can't wait to get started on some of these for the girls.



















She also has a collection of McCall's Needlecraft Magazine dating back to 1948. She said I could have it! I took the first twenty home with me. Reading old adverts from 1948 really highlights how different the world is now.