Leah has been asking about getting a tennis dress, not skirts like she currently owns. So, Jen decided to upcycle one of her t-shirts and make a new tennis dress for Leah.
Tennis is fun when you have on a new tennis dress.
She loves tennis (just like me)!
We have a love for Shopkins in our house. So, when G’Mom lovingly bought the girls (or, really Jen!) Shopkins fabric, the girls were ecstatic. Molly immediately requested jammie pants, while Leah wanted a new hoodie tunic.
Molly was so excited about wearing her Shopkins jammies that she got her jammies on hours before bedtime just to hang out in them.
Leah was so excited to wear her new tunic to school to show her friends.
A girl in a Shopkins tunic, with her favorite Shopkin.
An older girl in Shopkins pajamas, with her favorite Shopkin.
Two girls, Shopkins attire, and Shopkins.
Silly sisters.
For many months, Leah was requesting a space themed birthday party. So, last weekend we made it happen. It was a very creative venture that led to some fun decorations, including an inflatable solar system and some sewn stars hanging from the ceiling.
Chad did his best at arranging the solar system. Obviously not to scale as that wouldn’t work, but at least planetary distance should be in order of the planets. And yes, they included Pluto as well, which Leah banished to the corner.
As the guests arrived for the party, there was some space coloring.
Chad then read the kids a book - Fly Guy Presents: Space.
Next, all the kids donned disposable art smocks (made from trash bags) in order to paint the night sky. They were given canvases that I had pre-painted with glow-in-the-dark paint. Their first step was to stick stars onto their canvas in whatever constellation design they liked.
After sticking on stars, the girls painted the entire canvas black. Once dried, they removed the star stickers, giving them a black night sky with glow-in-the-dark stars.
Next up was Pin the Rocket on Saturn.
We moved on to Outer Space Bingo, created with clip art from LemonadePixel.
Our snack included star-shaped cheese & crackers, rocket fruit kabobs, and Cheddar Rocket Crackers. (Sadly, no pictures of these. The cameraman must have had his hands full helping one of the 16 girls!) The outer space cupcakes with a lemon candy sun, Skittles planets, and sprinkle stars in the night sky were a hit!
And no party is complete without singing to the birthday girl.
Then it was on to the piñata. Leah is quick to tell you that her favorite planet is Saturn, so I made her a Saturn piñata.
Some of the girls had a big swing.
Leah put all her effort into breaking this piñata. It almost broke apart here, but managed to barely stay together for one more hit from Molly.
Then there was of course the scramble for all the toys and candy.
Last, we shot Stomp Rockets into the air. These were a big hit on a beautiful day. If you look closely, you can see both rockets in mid-air.
We were way too busy to open presents at the party, but Leah was ready to do so as soon as it was over. She received lots of very fun presents. This year’s featured gift - DigiBirds.
And if you didn't catch it in the pictures above, Leah was very excited that she was finally allowed to wear her solar system skirt (pattern by Little Lizard King), with a coordinating tank top in her favorite color! She and I collaborated on the birthday outfit (Mom was planning on a dress, but daughter insisted on separates, so we made it work!).
Thanks to all who came to celebrate with Leah! We all had a blast!
Whoo loves sewing? These two cuties do!
Our final sewing project for the summer was making an owl stuffed animal. The girls enjoyed customizing their owls with their fabric choices and eye shapes.
Mommy Sewing lessons were a great experience for all three of us. My hope is that it has inspired the girls and their creativity!
In this lesson, the girls created sleeping bags for their dolls. They were not satisfied with just the sleeping bag though, so requested to make pillows to match. I think all four girls were excited about this one!
The girls made their own Fat Quarter skirts. They decided it was best to model along with their tote bags from the previous week.
Making these skirts with the girls required a lot more assistance with ironing and inserting elastic, so no additional action shots from this lesson.
Molly has really enjoyed learning to sew. She needs help some of the time, but I can give her basic directions and she takes off.
Leah is a very patient seamstress. She’s slow and steady, which is great for achieving straight lines!
The girls were excited to show off their custom Easy Tote Bags. The bags turned out bright and colorful (just like the girls’ new tie-dye shirts!)
For Week 3 of Mommy Sewing Lessons, I worked with the girls to sew pillowcases. I pre-cut the fabric, so first was the introduction to pinning.
Leah was very diligent in her pinning.
Molly was quick to sew the top contrasting band of her pillowcase.
Leah was very focused on her sewing, even taking time to practice removing the pins. I needed to help guide her sewing a bit more than big sister though.
We used the “hot dog” method of sewing a pillowcase, which involves rolling the main fabric inside the contrasting band. The fabrics are then pulled right side out.
This method is a fun trick to enclose raw edges of the fabric. Leah had fun pulling her main fabric through the "hot dog bun."
Molly was so excited to make her pillowcase that even pinning more fabric was fun!
The floor was the perfect workspace for Leah to pin her pillowcase sides together.
After I serged the inside edges to prevent fraying, the last step was to top stitch the contrasting band. Both girls have slightly wonky lines, but they did great!
Molly and Leah were so proud of their first project. After proudly showing Chad, Molly ran to her room to switch the pillowcase on her pillow!
In Week 2 of Mommy Sewing Lessons, we reviewed cutting techniques and I introduced sewing on fabric. I gave them each two pieces of scrap fabric and let them cut and be creative. (Note also that a smaller, pink sewing machine arrived for the girls!)
Now that there are two sewing machine, Molly and Leah can work simultaneously.
Leah was proud of her sewn rectangles.
Molly made hats for herself, Molly doll, and Coconut. She even created “Made by Molly Sellers” tags, just like Mommy.
The girls expressed interest learning to sew this summer. So, I have started “Mommy Sewing Lessons” with them. I created a seven week lesson plan, gathering ideas and printables from several blogs. Since the girls' new machine was still on the way, our first lesson was with my Bernina.
To introduce the basics of the sewing machine, we started with sewing straight lines on paper.
Molly is doing a great job of keeping her eyes on her project.
After the girls mastered the straight lines, they moved on to practicing turning corners and angles.
The finale of their first lesson was completing a Connect the Dots, sewing version!
They then requested more Connect the Dots to practice with. Looks like they've caught the sewing bug!
