Lake Tahoe Outfit

It's all ready time for Week 2 over at Project Run and Play and its "the Spring Break" Challenge...
Favorite vacation spot or dream spot...... mmmmm there is so many to choose from. Growing up in South Africa we are definitely beach people.. South Africa is blessed with miles and miles of beautiful coast line. When we moved to Iowa 9 years ago we were sooooo far from any coast and thought we would miss the beach terribly and yes in the beginning we did but then we started going to Brainerd lake and started to fall in love with the lakes of the Mid-West. When we moved to Upstate NY we were fortunate enough to enjoy Lake Placid and last year after we moved to the Bay area we visited Lake Tahoe for the first time. I did not expect the beauty of it. The water is Beautiful, the trees are beautiful and it is so peaceful..... There is just something about sitting next to the lake with a glass of wine and enjoying the beauty and Peace of Nature.My son goes to a Christian School and we only have Spring break at the end of April to celebrate Easter . After taking pictures of Bella I was about ready to get in the car and go on vacation:)There was no question about what I would use as inspiration and hence the Lake Tahoe outfit was born....

I tried my best to capture the natural beauty of the blues and greens as well as the browns of the rocks and beach.....

The blues and greens are all Kona cottons. The brown that I used for the pants is Robert Kaufman Chambray Stretch Linen Cocoa from Pink Chalk fabrics .

for the dress I just used a basic a- line dress which I color blocked with all the shades of green and blues. I added half circles of blues on the bottom to mimic the waves of the lake. I added half circle pockets with the cocoa linen to resemble the beautiful rocks around the lake. The buttons I used on the back of the dress as well as the headband is all natural buttons in wood.

I Loooove how the pants came out. I used a legging pattern that I widened around the bottom and added a faux side seam. It has a nice stretch to it. I found turquoise wide soft elastic at our local JoAnns that I used as a waistband. I used three different shades of turquoise thread to make waves on the back pockets of the pants.

always so silly....

 I wanted to take pictures at the Lafayette reservoir but we have had a rainy week so Isabella was happy helping me draw a lake on some paper to add to the wall!

I made an infinity scarf with some blue and white tie dye knit from girl charlee that is super soft and comfy to keep her neck warm on chilly spring mornings.

the headband is made of foldover elastic with a circle a flower and a button.

 next week is design your own fabric and I am excited to share my outfit with you. It's one for Arthur and so far he has been very excited about it...

Cockadoodledoo.....Project run and Play week 1

wow it is Season 9 already over at Project Run and Play and my 3rd time I am joining in on the fun. Last season was the first time I sewed all 4 weeks and I am hoping to do it again. So for week 1 the challenge is called "put me in the Zoo" You sew an outfit inspired by you or your child's favorite animal.....

Why a Chicken you might ask ?We are animal people so there is lots of favorites. Then I did the risky thing and decided to ask Isabella - I also decided that no matter what animal she picks I was going to stick with it and so the the chicken outfit was born. After she uttered the word the first thing i see is a beautiful white and red dress and a couple minutes later more than one stain all over it so I started to plan around a brown chicken.

My choice of fabrics for the top was from my Shwe Shwe fabric stash which is greatly depleted. I am glad my mom and dad is coming to visit soon. I chose brown for the bodice and red for the sleeves. You can see the brown has yellow diamonds on that reminds my of chicken beaks. The brown between the bodice and sleeves is the same brown just the wrong side.(The wrong side of Shwe Shwe is just as beautiful it has the official shwe shwe stamp on it that says it is made in South Africa and you will see it later on the sleeves) 

THE SHIRT:The sleeves are made of the wrong side of the red Shwe Shwe and resembles the red comb of a chicken. 

I used a basic a-line dress pattern to draft a new pattern to look like above.The front was gathered before I added the top panel and the back is gathered by adding 4 pieces of elastic. That way I dont have to add buttons and it goes easily over her head. The bodice is wide to resemble the round body of the chicken.

THE PANTS:   Yellow knit leggings to resemble skinny legs of chickens. I added "beak" pockets 

( I made squares turned them in the shape of a diamond and folded over the top corner) on the side of the pants.

these beak pockets is kinda my favorite. I love how they turned out and Bella loves to carry her rocks and acorns around in it.

We went over to Old Borges Ranch here in Walnut Creek to see if we can find some chickens and we sure did. There was nobody else there and we could go in and have them all to ourselves. Bella was stoked.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of Bella in her chicken outfit. 

This is my favorite picture.....

Boy Meets Girl...... the Beachy Boatneck FLIP

Its March Flip this pattern time at Frances suzanne and this month is the Beachy boatneck from blank slate Patterns which is a great gender neutral pattern.

Both the kids are very into skateboarding so I added a boy girl on a skateboard on the front panels ( you might notice it is the girl and boy that I have as my logo which in reality is Arthur and Isabella (ARTBELLA)) I used the same method I used with the Lego Pillows  It holds up really well in the wash Arthur's was already washed because he couldn't wait to wear it .

 The Flip:

After I cut out the pattern I ironed the images on and then sewed their clothes on as well as their mouths.

I love the neckline and used bias binding made with knit fabric instead of a lining. Both were color blocked. Isabella's sleeves were widened quite a bit and added elastic to make a puffy sleeve.Arthur's is just like the pattern with the rounded bottom. For Bella's I shortened at the middle and added a bubble skirt.

all the fabric I used are from Girl Charlee

We went for a walk at Lime Ridge open space that is just a short walk from our house and the hills are turning a beautiful green after the nice rain we've had.

I hope you enjoy all the pictures......

I joined something very exciting this week. I joined  Pattern Member over at THE SEWING RABBIT.  Go Read all about IT. I love new patterns and it is a nice sewing community for advice and tips and showing off what you make.

and I finally have a Facebook page. If you want you can like me

HERE

Lego Pillows....

today I have an easy project that the Lego lover in your house is going to love. My kids are loving me for these pillows and my daughter carries the pillow everywhere and refuses to sleep on anything else.

 This is what you are going to need:

•  Avery  Transfer-on paper for dark fabrics
• normal printer paper to use to cut out clothes patterns
• fabric for the pillows and knit fabric for the clothes
• x-acto knife(or any tool) to cut out the transfer paper  
• and last but not least a sewing machine and iron

You are welcome to use the mario Lego man and girl that I created with a combination of these decals , picmonkey and adobe photoshop elements 10. I then enlarged them by using Blockposters ( I wished I discovered this site sooner and would have saved me a lot of moving of paper on copier and paper with past projects.

These ones you are going to use to print with the Avery Transfer on(your are going to need to pieces of paper for every figure you want to print out.

Lego girl without hair

Lego figure

This is how it looks after you cut it out with the x-acto knife

and These two you are going to print on plain printer paper and use to cut the right size clothes:

Lego figure with hat  

 Lego girl with hair  

I can draw the clothes on. My son wanted a Mario so I just drew Mario clothes and my daughter wanted pink and a heart so you can do whatever the kid/s likes.

before I cut the clothes from the knit fabric I ironed on wonder-under by Pellon which makes it easier to cut and also iron  onto your Lego figure.

After you cut your pillow( I just cut 2 rectangles to make a standard pillow case) you are going to iron on your Lego figure by first taking off the backing and then iron on the feet and the the top side of the body as per instructions on the package. Make sure you use the wax paper on top off your figure at all times when ironing......

there was watermarks on mine after I ironed it but disappeared after it cooled down.

Now you are going to add your clothes, iron it on , top stitch  

and then assemble your pillow.

this is how it looked after pinning the front and back panel together...

and for now I am the kids' Hero!

I just started a Facebook page to let you know what I am up to, kids craft ideas, craft and sewing products that I like, Tutorials I've tried etc. Like me 

HERE

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a Bye Bye Love Diaper Bag...

Just after I had Arthur I sewed a diaper bag for myself and a bag for a good friend of mine, then I got asked to sew one for somebody and another and another.... It was great fun but then we moved, and again and again and I just couldn't get back to sewing because we just spend so much time settling in that there just wasn't time for non-urgent projects. I friend recently asked me if I could sew one for an expecting friend and let choice of fabric up to me which was great fun. I finished it this past weekend and got to send it off today!

I used  the Bye Bye Love bag pattern that was the January pattern for bag of the Month Club with some adjustments to the width and height of the bag and the pockets. The only reason for that was that for a diaper bag I prefer a wider bag when digging for diapers,cream,pacifiers etc. I added a bird softie rattle to keep baby busy when trying to find something.

The pictures are not great and I only realized it after I send the bag off and downloaded them. Nonetheless you get the idea!

The purse handles I purchased from Janelle over at Emmaline Bags Pretty Aren't they?

Till next time..... I have some cute girl / boy Lego pillows in the making.