Handmade Halloween: Anna and Olaf

I kinda wish I was sewing something more inventive or funky this Halloween. I mean, if you've got to sew something that likely will only be worn a few times, it might as well be a show stopper, right? But Halloween costumes aren't about me, and Charly is Frozen obsessed like every other 2-6 year old girl right now. An Anna costume was in order, which WILL get tons of wear. IT WILL SO HELP ME!! Olaf of course had to happen next, since Caroline is always whatever character Charly deems her to be.

For the Anna costume I used Simplicity S0733 and made very little changes. I used a charcoal tweed for the bodice just to make it a little more special, and I used cotton everywhere else.

Kenzie's Wedding Dress

Two posts in one week?! I'm on a roll here, folks! I finished my sister's wedding dress on wedding eve with some last minute hemming and alterations. Last minute sewing is the price of making a wedding dress for someone who lives on the other side of the continent. We arrived in Utah on August 30, one week before the wedding, but I got a stomach bug shortly thereafter that set me back a couple of days. Luckily my laid back and patient sister didn't seem one bit bothered by the fact that her dress was one of the final pieces of the puzzle to come together before the wedding, so I just chugged along! I am so happy to have been able to add to her special day by making her dress. She was radiant- really and truly- and my pictures don't do it- or her- justice at all. Nevertheless, my pictures are all we have right now, so they'll have to do!

Sunki Village Dress & Pattern Parcel #5

Hello my friends! I've been a busy seamstress, and I should have a post up with pictures and details from my sister's wedding dress SOOOOOON!! The wedding was lovely and our trip was too much fun. I've missed the desert air. Utah was on the cusp of autumn when we left, and had I not known that the blissful Virginia autumn was soon to come I may never have left that dry and blessed state. I'm done with humidity, yo. Thankfully, the leaves are starting to turn and we've even had a couple of boot-and-soup days so I'm in my element. I even made pumpkin crap cookies, which is the official mascot of fall in this house.

But yes, enough blabbering about air and cookies, right? This post is about clothes! I'm happy to be sewing along for Perfect Pattern Parcel again with Parcel #5- girls and tweens! It's a stellar parcel, to be sure. Every parcel seems to have a few patterns I've been eyeing and a few new-to-me patterns, which is a perfect mix I think. For those unfamiliar, Perfect Pattern Parcel offers limited time sales of pattern bundles from indie designers, and donates all profits to a charity called Donors Choose. Donors Choose provides supplies to teachers and students for their classrooms. It's a win-win-win- support indie designers, help students, and get patterns!

This particular bundle of patterns includes sizes from toddler to tween- meaning these patterns will be in rotation in my house for YEARS to come! A few of the "tween" sizes may even fit me, so I'm excited to see how versatile these patterns become. Click through the links or pictures to learn more about the patterns in this parcel!




Oh, and did I mention that you can name your own price?! Yes. I know. Unreal. And hey, if you name a price of $28 or more, you'll be sent the bonus pattern as well- the Sunki Dress!

Ombre Bohemian Babydoll

When I saw the Bohemian Babydoll Dress and Top pattern by Elegance and Elephants popping up all over my blog feed I fell in love. The curves are phenomenal and the simplicity is right up my alley. No closures means my fiercely independent three year old can dress herself at will (which she does, multiple times, every day) without needing me to button or zip every time she's ready for a change. Hallelujah! She also demands dresses most days, but loose fitting, flowy tops are considered dresses in Charly land, so I also knew this would actually make it into her rotation. The hem band appealed to me because I just don't like hemming. It isn't hard, or complicated, I just don't like it. I think it is the folding and ironing. I'll iron seams all day long, but folding the edge and keeping it consistent is tedious to me. I don't purchase a lot of patterns; I have to REALLY love something to buy it, and then I try to use it in several different ways. But man, I had to have this one. So I pulled the trigger and sewed up three of them assembly line style, one for a gift and one for each of my girls. This one is the one I made for Charly.

Mod Paisley Dress (AKA The Merida, or "I made my kid a muu muu")

Once again, a dress I sewed several months ago, photographed a couple months later, and now I'm finally posting. Hooray!

This one is a variation on the Maggie Mae pattern, which I used to make this dress. Dark blue means it's a Merida dress, just like the one Merida wears in the latter part of the movie Brave. So. Much. Princess talk. All day, you guys.

THE FABRIC

I thrifted this dress a long time ago, so I don't remember the cost, but it couldn't be more than $7 or so. I can't get enough of this fabric. The colors are saturated and fun and the print begged to be a little mod dress. I think the fabric is rayon- something kinda silky and unexpected for kids clothes. I like that. It was a little tricky to work with, but nothing unmanageable.

Green and Gold (AKA The Tiana Dress)

I sewed this dress up over the summer, took pictures in the fall, and now here we are in December and I'm blogging about it. Better late than never?

This is another Geranium dress I whipped up (and yes, that is the right term- it sews up so fast!) but this time I added some embroidery. I was inspired by this picture (uploaded to Pinterest, so I don't know the original source- sorry!) of sashiko- Japanese embroidery- and decided to try my hand at some simple line embroidery.  Charly is my little princess lover, so anything I make is automatically beloved if I can link it to a princess. Green dress= Tiana dress. Logical. I'm just grateful she has a good imagination and doesn't require it to look exactly like the dress from the movie. You'd better believe she runs and sings (screams) songs from The Princess and the Frog every time she wears it. My favorite is "tuh-RIALS and trib-uh-lay-shuns, yuh know I, had my SHAAA-are!"

Gold shoes are a must. One advantage to living in such an ethnically diverse area as DC is that gems like these are readily available, even at a thrift store!

Ultimate Refashion: The Big Reveal!

Hello my friends!

It is finally time for the wedding dress refashion post! I just realized my last post (that wasn't a {this moment} post) was Charly's Easter dress. Something about the combination of a half marathon, making a wedding dress,  a trip to Utah, and helping my family pull off said wedding, has made for sparse post-age around here. I even forgot to do Charly's 16 month update- and now she's a week away from being 17 months! I've got some catching up to do on all fronts, but I just can't wait to get this post rolling! I had a partially written dress update post written a few weeks before the wedding that I never finished, so I'll be sharing some of that later.

When the big day came I failed to get even one picture of my darling sister in the dress I had made, so all of these pictures come from the fabulous photographer Bryce Olsen. Bryce was kind enough to send me some photos to share with all of you. Thanks Bryce! Check out his site and his blog for more amazing images. He was fabulous to work with- big group shots were effortless and quick, and he was everywhere he needed to be without being in the way. He captured Chelsie and Tyler's special day perfectly, and we couldn't be happier with the pictures we've seen so far!

Anyway, since you all have probably skipped my blathering on to see the before and after pictures, here they are!

To refresh your memories, here are a few pictures of the front of the dress before:

And here is the front of the dress (and the lovely bride!) after:

Refashion: Preppy Pleat Skirt

Once upon a time there was a blog post about three dresses. They all desperately needed new life. The first one was granted its wish and became an easy breezy skirt. Sadly, the owner was a procrastinator, and the two other dresses sat in the closet, untouched, for months. Then, one day, a friend came to visit. She, too, brought an ugly dress that needed new life. It became a beautiful skirt as well. The owner was encouraged to work on her dresses, and the Preppy Pleat skirt was born. There was rejoicing in all the land.

Confused? Ok, so maybe I don't have a future in children's literature.

Basically, this green dress used to look like this:

and after a crafting day with my friend Annie (who refashioned this dress) it now looks like this:

Refashion: The Granny Rose Dress

While I was in Utah I hit up the DI (local thrift store) with my sister Kenzie. I showed you guys a few of our finds in this post. In a second trip to our beloved thrift store I went looking for a dress I could refashion for my dear friend Katie Dalton's wedding, which was the day after I flew home. It needed to be pink, which limited my options, but we were still able to find something I could work with. Can you believe that this beauty:

Started out as this:

Refashion: Smocked dress to skirt

I had this old dress (that used to be a friends) that was not so functional. One strap had broken and and it was a little short for my liking. You know those dresses that are flowy and oh-so-cute? Well this was one of those, but the flowy-ness meant that knee length just wasn’t quite long enough for me. Just a small gust of wind and there would be no telling what the world would see. I love this print though… so I had an idea. Enter title- smocked dress to smocked skirt. My post-baby bod totally loves this stretchy smocked waistband as I adjust to my newly shaped (not so shapely) belly.