Back to School....

 It's been a while. Arthur is back at school and we are back to an almost normal schedule again. I love having him home with us but towards the end there was a constant bickering between the two and even though it was mostly Bella-instigated it was good for him to get back to a schedule and friends his age. I never really sewed for him just because I wasn't sure he would wear mom-made clothes but so far he is very happy with the things I've made him so I will continue till he gets too big for

 Mom- made clothes :)

 

 



 

the shirt is an upcycled shirt. I used the recess Raglan pattern from Pattern Anthology . The shirt is from the Alphabet collection and I am hoping to sew up all of the pieces for both kids.

 

The sleeves are from an alphabet shirt Arthur received from family in South Africa so it is sentimental but way too small. It worked perfect for the sleeves.

 



 

 

the front was used for one sleeve and the back for the other sleeve.

 

 

I had some leftover white knit fabric lying around for the use of the front and back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pants are made with one of my favorite patterns as you know - the KID shorts from MADE

It is the flat front shorts with the bias tape pockets. I've made a few of these for Arthur and Isabella and they are great.

 

 

 

The shirt turned out great...

 

but most of all the little man LOVES it!

 

 

till next time......

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From Play to Party.....

This is my second August flip for flip this pattern over at Frances Suzanne . The pattern is from StraightGrain called The Tinny .

Check out my other flip here .

 

This time I made her a whole outfit which will work perfect for Sundays when we get dressed at least twice into more comfortable clothes after church. The one shirt is made with knit fabric ( the anchor knit is from Girl Charlee where you can go for all your knit fabric needs and more at a very reasonable price.) and the other shirt is more like a formal jacket. The skirt is a 3 layer skirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for the formal look I made her a little beret. The collar is the asymmetrical collar from the pattern. For the opening I moved it to the front and slightly to left and added buttons. The flair at the bottom was cut from the skirt part of the pattern and just added it to the bottom of the jacket.

 

The skirt was real easy to cut. I cut the bottom layer on the size 3 line, middle layer on size 2 and the top layer on size 1 which made it easy for me and it came out nice and even.

 

 

 The rose headband I made for her to go with the knit top and it is perfect for keeping her hair out of her forehead.

 

not a happy face because I asked her if she could stand still which there is no such thing as standing still for Miss Bella. Gotta love the personality and attitude onthis little girl.

 

 

 

for the knit top I use a white knit fabric for the collar. For this shirt I used the Peter pan collar. I used the bodice part of the Tinny pattern and extended the bottom and added some shirring. I opened up the armholes and added some of the flower fabric to the white knit rib. The back has a little slip with a blue button so she can get it over her noggin.

 



 

today was a lot better picture performing day as yesterday when she wore the knit shirt :)

Look at her twirling.

 

 

Trying to spy some bugs....

 

 



 

till next time.....

this post linked up to

The Tinny for Flip this Pattern.......

 

 

 

 This month was yet another fabulous pattern for Flip this Pattern over at Frances Suzanne. Its called
The Tinny by Straight Grain. It is quite fabulous and Isabella loves the twirly version.

 

 

The pattern as is has so many options with different collars , skirts and sleeves so I couldn't change too much. I wanted it to still be a true Trinny just because of its FABULOUS'ness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added flower petals to the sleeves and skirt. I ironed them on with ez steam and then hand embroidered around with a chain stitch.

 

 

 

 

The front I changed with adding pintucks and buttons ( beautiful flower wooden buttons I found at JoAnn's) so it opens in the front instead of the back. I added 2 layers of net in between the denim and mustard color fabric which is 4 layers in total on the skirt part.

 

 

I extended the sleeve and gathered it a little before adding a cuff.

 

 

 

 

She has a huge Band-Aid on her head disguising the8 stitches on her head. I quiet library trip turned into a not so quiet trip when she fell and sliced her forehead open on the side of a bookshelf.

Being at the library we had to take the ambulance which she loved. 4 hours later and she was all stitched up. She loved all the attention way too much and unfortunately didn't turn out to be a learning experience on when your mom tells you to slow down you should listen :) .

 

 

 

I made a huge Flower hair pin with vinyl to keep the hair out of the forehead.

 

 

 

I absolutely love this pattern and hope to flip another one for the month of August.

No promises though........

 

Camera sling and Rag doll Nurse!

The past two weeks I have been working on two fun projects in between sewing kids clothes.

A friend of mine from high school told me they were going to be in San Francisco for two weeks over July. We haven't seen eachother for 19 years but recently connected on facebook again. Her beautiful daughter will be having heart surgery on Friday and we had them over for a bbq for a wonderful time  on Wednesday. I wanted to make something for her daughter that she can have with her in the hospital. I made one of these dolls for Isabella a year ago and she seems to love them. I added a little nurse apron and left the name to the little girl to name. The little skirt are made from south African fabric called sweswe ( we are both born and bred South Africans and I wanted to add some of our roots to the doll) I hope she is going to love her!

 

 

 

A friend from Upstate NY had asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would be interested in making a camera strap for her camera with a pocket or two. I have never done on of these and also no pattern. She gave me the measurements and picked this fabric for it.

 

Don't you just love my little model?

 

 I hope you love it Nicole, and that you will get lots of use out of it.

 

 

Penguin outfit.

Ready, Set , Sew........

Its that time of the year - Time for KIDS CLOTHES WEEK - a seasonal sewing challenge  This is my first time joining in on the fun. It is a wonderful website with so many ideas for children's clothing handmade by amazing people who love to sew. Yesterday was day one and I made two outfits for Bella. ( We are getting visitors on Wednesday which means today will be mostly cleaning house but I will make time for some sewing inbetween)

 

This post will be about Isabella's new Penguin outfit. Isabella loves moveable and colorful which this outfit is both!

 



 

Don't know why but my kids NEEDS pants . Both of the outfits I made I used DANA's KID Shorts Pattern. Staple in my sewing room I tell you. If you can sew and don't have it yet go get it HERE - Go on you cannot go wrong. It is versatile and in all sizes for boys and girls.

 

These pants was inspired by THIS PIN. that led me to the 3D Pleated summer dress tutorial - so beautiful. I loved everything about it. I wondered if it could work on Dana's kid short pattern. I first made the pleats and sewed them together with a bead attached and then cut the pattern.They turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

 

 



 



 

I was just going to stencil on a white t-shirt but then saw my blue chevron knit fabric from Girl Charlee matches perfectly and set out to cut and make my first t-shirt. I just used a plain t-shirt from Bella to outline her size and then everything fell in place. We found a cute little penguin when I googled penguin clip art to make a stamp and used fabric paint to stamp it on.

 

 

the stamp was done late last night so there was no way I could get the picture without the camera shadow - oops.

I added some blue rib fabric and there you have it.



 

 

 Bella wanted to try it on immediately when I took some pictures.

 

Details:

 



not much keeps her busy for a long time but she loves to sit and play with my buttons for quite some time. She doesn't tire of it and will play with it making her own games everyday when I sit and sew.
I LOVE the creative mind of a child.
 





 

Ok, I am off to clean the House -  UGH!!!!