Robes

It gets freezing cold in our house at night, so in the morning, C has been wearing his old robe that I made him 2 years ago. Needless it say, the arms and bottom was about 3 inches too short.

Now, C and L have cozy robes to wear and they actually fit.

C wanted a button at the top so none of his skin hit the air and he didn't want to wear a shirt under it because then he wouldn't be able to feel the softness.

Back inside to play legos together.

Now we are all so warm and cozy in our robes!

Boy Pants

I have tried and tried to make C some pants. But, they always seem to be little snug and girly. What is it that Winnie the Pooh says? "Try, Try again." Well, that's what I'm doing.

Can you tell in the windows, it was raining today. It went from being almost 90 a couple days ago to being 60 degrees and raining today. C has about 3 pairs of pants from last year that I just realized this morning are all about 2 inches too short. We don't need many pants here in Southern California, but a couple pairs is helpful. So, I tried again with some fleece because C LOVES fleece. I used an old pair of shorts for the pockets to add a little style to the pants.

Now, your turn to tell me honestly what you think. These are my best pair yet, but Mr. C things they look like potato sac's and are too dorky and girly. He did say I am getting better though. I don't think they are THAT bad. C loves them and says they are his favorite. I think the beanie brings the outfit together.

Kristen

Smocked Shirt

It got hot around here again! Isn't is supposed to be fall? I got teased last week, but I know it will come soon enough. At least the hot weather pushed me to finally make this shirt out of some fabric I have had for almost a year now.

Ok, so the shirt is a little puffy, but I think once I wash it up it will lay a little flatter. C is my wonderful photographer for the photo as always.

This shirt was super easy to make, I just cut out a rectangle, the length I wanted and 1.5 times the width. Sewed the sides, hemmed and smocked the top and bottom 5 times and put some straps on.

Kristen

More Dresses

Remember the Threads of Love project? Well, it's been a couple weeks since I have had a chance to sew for it, so I decided every other thing I sew will be for Threads of Love. This week, I got 3 more dresses done.

It turns out strapless is working best for the kids in the Orphanage in Haiti. So strapless it is. :-) Since I got all the kids measurements, it's fun to pick a name and sew for that child. These dresses are going to Thamara, Charlinda and Rachel. I think they are 10, 7 and 4.

I just love this lettuce hem. I haven't quite got it down on my serger, so I am still using my regular machine for that, but it works great. On this one I did the blue thread on the top and pink in the bobbin. I like the way it turned out with the colors in the dress.

Birthday Present

We have another birthday party to go to Friday and it's for a little girl just a bit bigger the L and I have had this cute, cute fabric I have had for a while. What a perfect time! I did need to get a little coordinating fabric to go with it, but here is what I came up with...

I think I thought about how to make this skirt for months and it FINALLY came together this week. I'm so excited how it turned out and the little top to go with it is so simple! Just a tube of knit with little ruffle straps.

L loved it and modeled it for me. It's a bit big for her, but the little girl is a little older then L, so hopefully it will fit her.

She had to dance all around in it, I could hardly take it off her.

Yes, I have used my serger

I know, I haven't posted in a while and I haven't posted anything from my serger. Well, I have been using it and I LOVE it. I was using it even when I didn't need to. It's so fun to have the seams sewed and cut for you. Nice! Just look at these seams and edges.

It's so nice to sew on knit too. Remember this green jersey cardigan? (I have no idea what to call it.) Well, my sister-in-law wanted one in white, so she got one that looks all professional.

Here is the cardigan...

It's perfect for a cool summer night.

Here is C testing out his photography skills. Yes, I know it's a bit wrinkly, but it was all crinkled up and it will smooth out in a few minutes.

Kristen

Smocked Dress Tutorial

This is a very simple, comfortable smocked summer dress. Before you take a double look, yes, that is my son in a dress. I needed a model! I hope you all don't think that is too horrible that I did that to him.

First, here are some of the dresses I did for my special project...

Anyway, I'm making a bunch in different sizes for a special project. But, before I share the project with you, I need to get the tutorial up for others to copy. Since it is very late and I have been busy all day, there may be a few mistakes in here. If you don't understand something, please let me know and I will fix it right away. So here it is...

***There is a change to the straps for the Haiti dresses. The dresses that work the best are strapless or the straps sewn to the front ONLY so they could tie around the neck.

You will need:

1. Pattern paper or old sheet

2. Fabric with matching thread

3. Elastic thread

Here are your steps:

1. Make the Pattern

2. Cut out fabric

3. Sew sides

4. Hem top and bottom

5. Smock

6. Sew on straps.

No onto the details and pictures.

1. First, measure around the chest of the person wearing the dress. Then measure the length you want from just below the armpit to where you want the dress to stop and add an inch for hems on the top and bottom. For my dresses, I did 24 inches around and 24 inches in length for 6T; 23 inches around and 23 inches long for 5T; 22 inches around and 22 inches long for 4T.

Now take that 1st measurement, the one of the chest and multiply it by 1.5. Then divide it in 1/2. This will be the width of your pattern piece. I will use my 6T as an example. I had 24 inches around, times 1.5 I got 36 now divided by 2 and I have 18 inches.

I drew my pattern 18 inches across the top, went down 24 inches and 24 across so the dress goes out a bit and isn't just straight. I think it flows better this way. Here is my pattern piece.

2. Now, take your fabric and fold it, right sides together. I did wrong sides together, it really doesn't matter, but if you do right sides together after you cut it, you will just go right to the machine and sew. Anyway, lay your pattern on top and cut. My pattern might look a little big, that's because I forgot to divide by 2 up above. It took me a day to figure out why it was so big! Duh!

3. Now that your fabric is cut, right sides should be together. Take it straight to your machine and sew the sides with a zig-zag.

4. Then sew a zig zag around the top edge. Now because it's knit I don't even iron this part, just fold the top down a thumb width and sew straight along the hem. You can use the pressor foot as a guide for a straight line.

The bottom hem, I didn't do the zig zag first, I folded it a thumb width and sewed a zig zag along the folded edge. I didn't like the zig zag on the top so I did it with that extra step.

5. Once the sides and the hems are finished you are ready to smock. You need to take a new bobbin and hand wind the elastic. Be careful not to stretch it while winding it.

Stick your bobbin in the machine and sew straight lines around the top of the dress. I use my pressor foot as a guide for these lines.

Yes, it looks a tad messy at the top edge, but, in my defense, this was my first one; the trial one and I thought the contrasting thread would be cute. I wasn't exactly right on this one.

Anyway, when you have as many rows as you want, you are finished with the dress part. Iron up the top and it shrinks the elastic a bit more and you are left with straps if you want them.

6. For a child's dress, I usually take the middle and measure out 2 inches on either side. For the 6T, I measured out 2.5 inches, marked it and sewed on the straps.

***Since I was using knit material, I thought I would just try cutting some strips the non-stretchy way. (This knit only stretched one way.) So, there was no sewing for the straps, just to put them on the dress. Anyway for these particular dresses, they need to be very easy to get on and off. Someone had suggested buttons, but I was having great difficulty with the button holes in this very thin knit and buttons take me a very long time to sew. So, I left the straps long, fed them through the button holes and tied it off. It looked decorative.

Please remember this tutorial was done on the first one, the trial one and I messed up the pattern, making it way too huge! Also, the straps are way too far apart. I didn't follow my 2 inch rule because the dress was huge and I still hadn't figured out why. Once I realized what I did, I cut off the excess on the sides and made the dress much smaller. The other dresses turned out much better. But, this one isn't bad.

Anyway, here are a couple other dresses with some variations...

Dress refashion

Yea! I'm back. I haven't been sewing much lately. It's been crazy around here, I've been packing, cleaning, going on vacation, unpacking, cleaning and doing it all over again. In-between River trips and vacations I've been very busy with swimming and beach trips, so there hasn't been much sew time. I also haven't had anything I've been dying to make. Until today! I got the sew itch yesterday.

First thing this morning I pulled this dress out of my closet.

I never wear it, it just doesn't look that cute. I bought it for about $2 on clearance. No wonder, huh. So, I cut the top off and cut down the skirt part to 1.5 times L's chest size.

I put the right sides together and sewed it closed.

Then I smocked the top and used the straps from the original dress for this new dress. Not much work at all and L loves it.

She was a little upset because I already made 2 other dresses this weekend and she wanted to wear those, but they aren't for her. So, I had to make her something too. You can probably see some of the sewing mess in the background. I have a big project I am working on that I will share with you soon. I'm so excited for it!!

The visor is from JoAnn's. L and C each brought $2 with them to pick out something. She has been wearing it ever since.

Happy sewing, I'm so excited to be back and sewing again!

OH! I almost forgot!!! I am SO excited! I got a serger for my birthday!!! It should be here between July 13th and 16th. I can't wait to get started. Oh My Goodness, I am so excited.

Kristen

4th of July Dress

Last year, I made L a little dress for the 4th. I made it a little long so she could wear it again this year. Holiday stuff just doesn't get worn enough. So, I pulled it out yesterday and it fit perfect. My little girl has gotten taller, but hasn't gained much weight. She's just a little peanut.

I just did a very basic dress, cut 3 pieces for the front, 2 for the bodice and 1 for the skirt. Then for the back I cut one piece and smocked the top part of it so it fits nice and snug and pulls over easy.

I used ribbon for the bow and the straps. I had some ribbon hanging down from the bow too, but that frayed since I didn't use any fray block, so I had to remove that.

It's hard to take a picture of one without the other sneaking in.

Very simple, just my style.

Kristen
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Simple Refashion

I found this cute but big dress at the Salvation Army a while back.

I'm so sad, I LOVED the Salvation Army and it was about a mile at the most from my house. But, it burned down. I can't find any information on what happened or if it will be back. I don't think it will. 

Anyway, back to the dress. My husband actually spotted it and liked it. It was about 5 sizes too big, but I loved the light flowy material. So, I decided to get it anyway, it was only $2. I knew I could do something with it. I really liked the dress and didn't want to change it too much so I decided to cut it off where I would want my waist to be, sew a casing and add some elastic. That's it! I made a super cute, light and flowy skirt.

There is me with my belly slipping out. I'm trying to hold it in a bit, but we just had dinner. But, I want to give you the full effect of the skirt.

I really love it, it's so comfy and light weight.

Kristen


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Tank Top

I've got my sew back! I haven't sewed in a while because of the poison oak and then just trying to get stuff done around here. I've had a couple things that I wanted to get done, some I'm still not ready to sew and others I just got too excited about to wait.

Anyway, this is what gave me my sew back.

Yes, I think I have a slight tank top addiction. I can wear them every day. More then half the clothes in my closet are tanks. 

Naturally, when I tried on this tank and loved the fit, I knew I had to make more... many, many more. I also knew I had fabric at home just waiting to be cut and sewed into this tank.

Yes, that is my new lovely label. Now, here is my new lovely tank...

I have another idea for a new tank using a slight change to this pattern that I can't wait to try and I hope it turns out. I will be showing you soon.

Ooh, I almost forgot to tell you. The shirt I bought was $7.95, the fabric I used to make the new one with was $2 and I have a ton left to make something else. So, I got 2 perfect tops for $9.95.

Kristen


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