I just love this print! The hair isn't bad either. Now that it's short, I don't have to detangle it every morning.
Such a perfect summer top. Very girly too.
Kristen
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Shirt from scraps
Remember that orange knit I made one of the Haiti dresses from? Well, I had a thin strip left and I have been wanting to make Lacey a specific top that needed just that amount of fabric. I cut 20 inches of that strip and smocked the top and bottom, added straps and ta-da...
I just love this print! The hair isn't bad either. Now that it's short, I don't have to detangle it every morning.
Such a perfect summer top. Very girly too.
Kristen
I just love this print! The hair isn't bad either. Now that it's short, I don't have to detangle it every morning.
Such a perfect summer top. Very girly too.
Kristen
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Haiti Dresses
Look at all this wonderful knit!
All this lovely fabric is for that project I was working on this week. My church has this thing call, "Threads of Love," it's an outreach for people that can sew, knit or crochet. I was so excited when there was an e-mail that went out about it an a meeting, I so wanted to do something. I went to the meeting and found out they needed people to sew clothes and diapers. Perfect! They also needed quilts sewed, but that's not really my thing. Anyway, one of the things they needed were dresses for Kenya and Haiti. An orphanage in Haiti was the most immediate need. There are girls that are in some way disabled and they can't dress themselves very well. So, the girl from our church that works there requested tub type dresses! Perfect! I could do that. She wanted strapless, but I thought that wouldn't be good if they were too loose and falling down. Especially as these girls go through puberty. Anyway, I made some dresses this week and they are all a tad different. I will put the whole story of Threads of Love and what it is all about on a Threads of Love page soon, but for now this is just the basic.
I had so much fun creating these dresses this week. L sat with me many times at the sewing machine helping.
It was so cute, both C and L wanted to know so much about the girls, L had these specific questions, "Why don't kids have moms?" "What were their names?" "Can we see the girls?" "How old are they?" "Where are they?" "Can we see them when we give them the dresses?" and "So, the dresses aren't for me, I don't get to keep any?" Yes, she is only 3.
Now onto the dresses.
I am told that many of the children are very thin because of malnutrition. I was given no sizes really so I used C as my model and made them long for him. There are a lot of girls in a lot of different heights. These dresses will stretch and are long so hopefully they will work.
This orange one is one of my favorites. I made it tie so a child can put it on with the straps down and a worker can come and tie it for her later. If she wants she can wear it with the straps tucked in. (Lovely picture with the fabric and paper air planes all over!)
I made some smaller dresses too. This is when L was a little disappointed that she doesn't get to keep any dresses. On this dress, I sewed the straps on, but it's a good knit that stretches both ways, so the straps stretch. I thought this would be easier to get their hands in.
This one is my favorite. I loved the feel of this knit! It was SO soft. I did it without straps because I ran out of time this morning before I had to drop them off. But, I thought she can try one strapless. If it works, I can do more, if not she can send it back and I can add straps. I love the way it turned out with the lettuce hem at the top and bottom.
Here are all the dresses. I know, it's a bad picture, but I couldn't find either camera with all the mess so it's taken with my phone.
This project is on-going, so there will be many more to come. Diapers, shorts and shirts too. If you are interested in the project, I will have the Threads of Love page where I will post everything and have a tally of how many dresses, etc are made for all the kids by all the sewers. It should be fun!
All this lovely fabric is for that project I was working on this week. My church has this thing call, "Threads of Love," it's an outreach for people that can sew, knit or crochet. I was so excited when there was an e-mail that went out about it an a meeting, I so wanted to do something. I went to the meeting and found out they needed people to sew clothes and diapers. Perfect! They also needed quilts sewed, but that's not really my thing. Anyway, one of the things they needed were dresses for Kenya and Haiti. An orphanage in Haiti was the most immediate need. There are girls that are in some way disabled and they can't dress themselves very well. So, the girl from our church that works there requested tub type dresses! Perfect! I could do that. She wanted strapless, but I thought that wouldn't be good if they were too loose and falling down. Especially as these girls go through puberty. Anyway, I made some dresses this week and they are all a tad different. I will put the whole story of Threads of Love and what it is all about on a Threads of Love page soon, but for now this is just the basic.
I had so much fun creating these dresses this week. L sat with me many times at the sewing machine helping.
It was so cute, both C and L wanted to know so much about the girls, L had these specific questions, "Why don't kids have moms?" "What were their names?" "Can we see the girls?" "How old are they?" "Where are they?" "Can we see them when we give them the dresses?" and "So, the dresses aren't for me, I don't get to keep any?" Yes, she is only 3.
Now onto the dresses.
This orange one is one of my favorites. I made it tie so a child can put it on with the straps down and a worker can come and tie it for her later. If she wants she can wear it with the straps tucked in. (Lovely picture with the fabric and paper air planes all over!)
I made some smaller dresses too. This is when L was a little disappointed that she doesn't get to keep any dresses. On this dress, I sewed the straps on, but it's a good knit that stretches both ways, so the straps stretch. I thought this would be easier to get their hands in.
This one is my favorite. I loved the feel of this knit! It was SO soft. I did it without straps because I ran out of time this morning before I had to drop them off. But, I thought she can try one strapless. If it works, I can do more, if not she can send it back and I can add straps. I love the way it turned out with the lettuce hem at the top and bottom.
Here are all the dresses. I know, it's a bad picture, but I couldn't find either camera with all the mess so it's taken with my phone.
This project is on-going, so there will be many more to come. Diapers, shorts and shirts too. If you are interested in the project, I will have the Threads of Love page where I will post everything and have a tally of how many dresses, etc are made for all the kids by all the sewers. It should be fun!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Surf Board
Here is my husbands latest project...
Yep, that's a surf board. It's his second one. I was very happy this time that he got to barrow his dad's plainer. It went SO much quicker. The shaping part done in a day instead of weeks.
Here is Mr. C taking a picture of himself covered in foam.
And having fun with the camera again.
That's my man, isn't he cute? :-)
Check back to the really cool paint job!
Yep, that's a surf board. It's his second one. I was very happy this time that he got to barrow his dad's plainer. It went SO much quicker. The shaping part done in a day instead of weeks.
Here is Mr. C taking a picture of himself covered in foam.
And having fun with the camera again.
That's my man, isn't he cute? :-)
Check back to the really cool paint job!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
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...
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...
Kid Crafting
Ok, does anybody else's house ever look like this?
That's just a quarter of the living room. There is tons of fabric on the part not in the picture too. It's a little preview to my project that should be done tomorrow. :-) I'm very excited. Anyway, while I had that mess, C, L and I made this mess...
We decided to paint old egg cartons and toilet paper rolls.
They were very serious while working.
I couldn't even get them to talk.
When our critters dried we added pipe cleaners. C LOVES pipe cleaners. It's his favorite craft item.
Here are a couple of C's finished projects.
That little blue guy that you can hardly see, C & L spent almost an hour playing with it while I was making dinner. That was nice. They were using their little high voices to make it talk.
Now, back to sewing!
Kristen
That's just a quarter of the living room. There is tons of fabric on the part not in the picture too. It's a little preview to my project that should be done tomorrow. :-) I'm very excited. Anyway, while I had that mess, C, L and I made this mess...
We decided to paint old egg cartons and toilet paper rolls.
They were very serious while working.
I couldn't even get them to talk.
When our critters dried we added pipe cleaners. C LOVES pipe cleaners. It's his favorite craft item.
Here are a couple of C's finished projects.
That little blue guy that you can hardly see, C & L spent almost an hour playing with it while I was making dinner. That was nice. They were using their little high voices to make it talk.
Now, back to sewing!
Kristen
Monday, July 11, 2011
Dinner from the Garden
This is one of the reasons I LOVE summer...
All those fresh veggies. They sure look yummy. Too bad they weren't all perfect. The lemon cucumber wasn't quite right and the regular cucumber I let grow too long. I was waiting to see if it was a lemon cucumber and if it was going to change colors. Obviously, it was not!
Isn't this a lovely garlic from the garden?
I was so excited when I saw how big the cloves were. I need to make roasted garlic with one of them.
I put the garlic with some olive oil in this butternut squash that was given to me out of another garden. Mine are not growing yet. I really hope that changes soon because I really love this stuff and because of the hard skin it keeps all winter long. Anyway, I bake it at 375 until it's soft and it is so, so good.
Here is my favorite salad made with all the summer veggies. I have the peppers, red onion, and carrots from the garden then I added some avocado, lettuce, feta cheese and almonds. I tossed it all together and added Trader Joe's Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola Salad Dressing, my favorite! The only thing missing was the cucumbers.
To go with my salad and butternut squash, I made teriyaki meatballs, bell peppers and onions.
It was a delicious dinner!
Mostly all organic. The meat, avocados, cheese and dressing were not organic, but the rest was.
Did I make you hungry? :-)
Kristen
All those fresh veggies. They sure look yummy. Too bad they weren't all perfect. The lemon cucumber wasn't quite right and the regular cucumber I let grow too long. I was waiting to see if it was a lemon cucumber and if it was going to change colors. Obviously, it was not!
Isn't this a lovely garlic from the garden?
I was so excited when I saw how big the cloves were. I need to make roasted garlic with one of them.
I put the garlic with some olive oil in this butternut squash that was given to me out of another garden. Mine are not growing yet. I really hope that changes soon because I really love this stuff and because of the hard skin it keeps all winter long. Anyway, I bake it at 375 until it's soft and it is so, so good.
Here is my favorite salad made with all the summer veggies. I have the peppers, red onion, and carrots from the garden then I added some avocado, lettuce, feta cheese and almonds. I tossed it all together and added Trader Joe's Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola Salad Dressing, my favorite! The only thing missing was the cucumbers.
To go with my salad and butternut squash, I made teriyaki meatballs, bell peppers and onions.
It was a delicious dinner!
Mostly all organic. The meat, avocados, cheese and dressing were not organic, but the rest was.
Did I make you hungry? :-)
Kristen
Sunday, July 10, 2011
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
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
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Hair Cut
L got ahold of the scissors! Her hair doesn't grow, she hasn't even had a first hair cut yet and she butchered the front of her hair.
So, I cut about an inch and a half off the bottom to make it somewhat match the front.
As it grows, I'll keep cutting till it evens out. I couldn't even layer it to make it work. She cut the front shorter then bangs.
Oh, I almost forgot. We are taking family pictures Saturday! We have only taken family pictures once before, when L was an infant. I guess she will have a barrette in her hair.
Kristen
So, I cut about an inch and a half off the bottom to make it somewhat match the front.
As it grows, I'll keep cutting till it evens out. I couldn't even layer it to make it work. She cut the front shorter then bangs.
Oh, I almost forgot. We are taking family pictures Saturday! We have only taken family pictures once before, when L was an infant. I guess she will have a barrette in her hair.
Kristen
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