KCWC Sewing & A Sneak Peek Friday

I have been plugging away at my sewing this week!  Even if I can only sneak away for a few minutes, I have been trying to sew a little every day thanks to the KCWC.  Most of my sewing gets done in little spurts of time, but it gets done (or at least started since I always have so many works still in progress). 

Monday I whipped up a few flannel rag edge bibs for Grace.  Super duper easy!  Um, at least the sewing part...  It was my first time using non-sew-in snaps and I went through four until I got it right!  But I needed more bibs with snaps since she rips the velcro ones right off.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked on this nightgown- it was going to be a peasant style one for my oldest daughter, but I messed up (again) and turned it into a nightgown for 3yo Lydia.

 I did it the same way as the last nightgown I made, but I made my own straps and cut the fabric in an a-line shape. 

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I worked on a pillowcase dress for Isabelle.  She loves pink and Hello Kitty.  Even though she doesn't NEED anymore dresses, she saw a picture of a pillowcase dress when I was scavenging for Easter dress ideas and asked for one with a big bow on the shoulder like Halley's Easter dress.

 I had already bought this fabric with her in mind, and she is such a middle child, so I tend sew to compensate for her being sandwiched between two VERY outgoing sisters.  Anyway, it was my first pillowcase dress and for the record, I still do not like single fold bias tape.

I had a little bit leftover from the yard of fabric I bought, so I made a simple skirt for Lydia, who loves strawberries.  The ric rac I sewed along the bottom was part of my prize package from Faith, Family, and Frugality!

Backtracking a little bit... last weekend I got a new nephew!  He was 5 weeks early and he is such a cute, teeny, tiny little guy!  I told my sister-in-law that she had to have a baby to get the full size Birdie Sling bag, so I delivered (Well, she delivered, but I made her a new bag.  har har har).

 My brother has a thing for chainsaws lately, so instead of a diaper cake, I made a diaper chainsaw.  I did add a few more diapers after I took these pics, but you get the idea.  I used cardboard as the base, but I wish I would have used a box of wipes instead. 

It was not a well-planned thing at all.  I just threw it together with what I had on hand (tape, fishing line, and Popsicle sticks) at the very last minute.

So, that is what I have been up to this week.  Any excuse to get out of cleaning my house. :)

Vintage and Lace Nightgown

Next to nothing in the way of PJs or nightgowns survived the first two girls to be passed down to my 3yo. Nightgowns are, in my opinion, way too much $ for what they are to buy them in stores. I made it from some great giveaway prizes, so it cost me nothing but a little bit of thread, elastic, and time. Sweet! 

There is that picture smile again.

I whipped this one up in about a half hour, probably, and it worked out PERFECTLY with the amounts I had won.  I used some vintage material that I won from Quilting, Losing, and Tea that measured 24 inches by 36 inches and a package of perfectly matching flexi-lace hem facing that I won from Faith, Family, and Frugality that contained 2 1/2 yards of 1 7/8" wide lace.  I originally wanted to make a nightgown using THIS tutorial from icandy handmade, but I don't think that this is the same as stretch lace, so I did it a little differently.  That meant, I needed a piece of 1/2" elastic measuring an inch smaller than my daughter's chest. 

Here is how I made it...

First, I just serged the top and bottom edges.

Then, I sewed a yard of lace onto the bottom edge- directly onto the right side of the fabric because the pretty lace covers the serged edge.

I sewed another one yard strip of lace lined up with the bottom edge of the top row- 4 inches from the top- and sewed right down the center.

Then, I sewed the sides together- I didn't bother to serge it because it was the selvage edges.

Then, I took the leftover lace- 18 inches, and cut it in half to make straps (See?  The amounts were PERFECT!)  I pinned them two inches from the center on each side, but I forgot to figure in the gathering, so they should have been out another inch.  I turned the top of the fabric down 1 1/2 inches and sewed all the way around on the same line where I attached the lace.   I sewed back and forth several times over the straps to make it extra durable.

Then, I made a casing for the elastic.  I carefully sewed 1/2 inch from the top all the way around, leaving a small opening to insert the elastic.  I was careful not to catch the lace from the top edge, but I did sew the straps down again really well.

Finally, I inserted the elastic by putting a safety pin in the end and pushing it through.  I sewed the ends of the elastic together by overlapping them about an inch.

And that was it!  Very, very easy!

She loves it and I like its simple, vintage style... kinda' dreamy.

Thank you again to Karen and Carly for the great prizes. :)

I have decided to participate in Kids' Clothing Week Challenge since I have some other sewing projects in mind for my girls.  The goal is to sew for an hour a day, but for me, it will probably be little bits of time here and there as I can grab it.  Wish me luck!!

Weeds

The other night, my husband took the kids with him to do farmy things and Grace took a nap.  I had one of those rare times of peace and quiet.  Apparently I go crazy when it is so quiet.

I was taking clothes off of the washline when  I saw this behind me...

I ran and grabbed my camera- thankful that my husband wasn't home to tease me for taking pictures of weeds.

My daughters call them "wishberries" and they looked so magical - like they were glowing.

You probably think I am crazy now.  If only you had seen me low to the ground with my camera upside down (my lens cover is broken).  Yup.  She gets some time without the kids and takes pictures of weeds.  But, when I walked out that far, to the cherry tree nearing the end of its blossoms, there was more.

 You can see the field growing since the pictures I took a few weeks ago.  Slowly, since it has been so dry, but growing...

Maybe I am really crazy, but I think I found something beautiful, even in these weeds.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

Halley's Plan B Dress

Halley's dress was not what I intended to make.  It was supposed to have a yoke across the neck and ties on one side, but I just could not get it to lay flat, so I ended up ripping it apart and going to Plan B!  It still has the big bow on one shoulder like she wanted, so it works. 

I also found a way to incorporate some extra white into the dress so that it would coordinate with her sisters' dresses. 

Here is a little tutorial of how I saved the day made it...

(Everything has a 3/8" seam allowance.)

I started with the main dress piece that I salvaged from the first idea- here are the top measurements (my daughter is a size 8).

It is cut in an a-line shape to be 24" high and 24" wide at the bottom.  You will need to cut two of the main fabric and two of the lining.  I already had the sides sewed together since I messed up Plan A, but you can do this before or after you sew the bands on the top... whatever.

To incorporate more white, I cut top bands 2" by 7" - you need four of them.

The shoulder strap is made from a yellow piece 4 3/4" by 9" - sew long sides together, flip, press, and topstitch edges.

To make the ties for the CUTE bow on the other shoulder, take strips measuring 4 3/4" wide by 28" long, fold in half lengthwise, sew, flip, and topstitch the edges.  I sewed across the bottoms of mine on an angle instead of straight across cause the "pointiness" just looked better for this style.

I gathered the tops and pinned a band to each one.

Sew the band on and then turn the lining inside out.  Stick the outside into the lining and put the right sides together like this...

Pin all the way around the top, lining everything up...

Sew in place.  If you flip it, now it should look like this...

But, wait!  We need the straps!  You probably could have put some of them in before sewing, but I figured it was enough to worry about getting everything lined up.  So, turned it inside out and seam ripped a little to put the strap and a tie in like so...

I tried the dress on her first to get the angles- you can do that or just estimate from this picture.
For the back side, I did the tie the same way, but the strap I just inserted from the right side.

Then I topstitched the back to hold it in place. (Don't look too close!  My totpstitching stinks!)

I added a ruffle at the bottom, too, for more length and more white to match the other dresses.  It is just a strip 6 inches by about 90 inches pressed in half, gathered, sewed on, and topstitched.  Kinda basic, but if you have any questions, let me know!

So, that is it!  Plan B Dress in a fraction of the time I struggled with the first idea.

I also used some scraps to make her a cute, rolled rosette fabric headband.  You can find tutorials on those everywhere... just do a search for it.

I hope this one is a lot more clear than yesterday's Bubble Dress Tutorial.  It is a totally different style. Just like my girls.
Well, that wraps up my Easter dress posts for this year... four dresses, four colors, four styles, four sweet girls!  Thanks so much for letting me show all of them off a bit! =)

Isabelle's Bubble Dress Tutorial

As promised, I am showing you all how I made Isabelle's Easter dress.  I talked her into a bubble dress, but she chose the wide, high bodice style with a highish waist and wide sash part herself.

And she picked the buttons out, too.

 (Yes, it is missing one- I forgot the buttons when I used Mom's machine to make the holes and didn't listen to her when she said she thought the pack only had three buttons.  I'll add another one later.)

As soon as she saw the bubble skirt finished, she got so excited that I didn't even have to give her the bribe I had promised her to let me make it!

It was a lot of work, but I was really happy with the finished result.

I thought I would try to put together a tutorial of how I made this dress.  It was not super easy, so this isn't a beginner project.  In advance, I apologize if my pictures are not all that great-  I was sewing whenever I could get a spare minute over several days.  This is also long, and picture heavy, consider yourself warned...

As it says on the pattern pieces, for the front bodice cut one out of the main fabric and one out of the lining on the fold, and for the back cut two each out of the main fabric and the lining.

The raw edge is against the bottom, just to be clear.  You could topstitch the top of the band here if you wanted to.  I didn't feel like it.

I used a slightly different technique to make my ties, but this is how I should have done it (hence, no pictures of that step).

(Sew the right sides together at the sides- just to clarify.)

Now, moving on to the skirt...

This is a little tricky because obviously the slit does not want to open up straight... just do your best to make it work!

This crease will make it fold over and overlap flat like it is supposed to.  If it does not look perfect below this piece, it is not a really big deal because the skirt is so full and bubbly that you will not notice.

 

Now, let's make it bubble!  I was making this up as I went along.  You could cut the skirt out in three pieces (two for the back and one for the front), but I didn't think that far ahead. 

This is where I realized that it would probably have been better to cut the back in two pieces and make an extra seam, but it really doesn't matter.  Whatever...

TA DA!!! You are done!

She insisted on posing this way holding a tiny flower...

If anything is unclear, please let me know so that I can fix it!  Thanks!!!

One more quick shout-out to Jess at craftinessisnotoptional for this cute felt flower tutorial found HERE.  I used extra felt, so it is extra big, but I love how this turned out!

 One more dress left to show you!