Sewing

Sewing surprises

Posted in Sewing on June 20th, 2014 by jen – Be the first to comment

I sent a box of "Happy Summer" surprises to Emmie and JJ last week. Emmie's dress matches the dresses I recently made for Molly and Leah. The girls are excited to all wear them when we get together next month.

RollerskateEmmie

The best part about JJ's new outfit? The pockets!

JJrocketoutfit

Rockets and pockets

Bishops for babies

Posted in Sewing on April 25th, 2014 by jen – Be the first to comment

I'm a big fan of bishop-style dresses on little girls. My girls still wear them thanks to both of their grandmothers who smock. So, when I had the opportunity to sew for two baby girls recently, I tried my hand at sewing my own with the BeBop bishop dress.

Stawberry dress

I have so many ideas on what I can appliqué on the yoke. And I love the rick-rack on the sleeves; it just makes it that much more sweet!

RowanCarlDress

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

Posted in Leah, Molly, Sewing on April 13th, 2014 by jen – 1 Comment

I participated in Kids Clothes Week Challenge this week. The goal is to spend at least one hour per day for seven days working on kids clothes. I spent many more hours than that which resulted in a dress for both girls.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

After seeing me make several Maggie Mae dresses as gifts, Leah requested one for herself. Leah still will not wear sleeveless dresses, so she loves the cap sleeves and, of course, the pockets!

Leah's dress

All Chad's photography is finally paying off as Leah is becoming a natural model, giving him lots of fun poses to photograph.

Natural model

Molly's ready for warm weather in her Seashore dress. She is our little string bean so the slender style of this dress is a perfect fit.

Molly's dress

Both girls love having dresses with pockets. They never put items in them, but love to stick their hands in to flare their dresses out.

Love of pockets

Tea Party dresses

Posted in Leah, Molly, Sewing on February 25th, 2014 by jen – 1 Comment

As Chad mentioned, Molly has requested an American Girl party for her upcoming birthday. The girls asked if I'd make them new dresses for the occasion. Molly picked the Caroline Party Dress for the tea party.

Tea party dresses

As requested, the dresses have pockets.

With pockets

Sometimes making up funny stories behind the camera makes for a funny photo shoot.

Funny photo shoot

Of course, for an American Girl doll tea party, the dolls need new (and matching) dresses too. I had to get a little creative for these and modified the Mini-Miss Mary Mack doll dress to match.

Dolls are ready too

Rose and Molly, can you please stand still? It can sometimes be difficult to get these two to cooperate. ;)

Please stand still

Fall dresses

Posted in Leah, Molly, Sewing on October 11th, 2013 by jen – 2 Comments

I made Molly a new corduroy dress just in time for Fall pictures at school. Coincidentally, the Oliver + S pattern is called the School Photo dress.

School photo dress

Molly thinks it's funny to trick people with her pocket.

Pockets are the best

I also made Leah a new corduroy dress. After trying it on, Leah asked if she could leave it on to play. Guess she likes it!

Another corduroy dress

Selfish Sewing Week

Posted in Sewing on September 27th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

I rarely sew for myself as sewing for the girls always seems to take the priority. So, when I saw this post on Selfish Sewing Week, I knew that it was my motivation to make one of the dresses for me that has been on my to-do list for over a year.

I made the Angie dress from Sis Boom. This is the second Sis Boom dress I've made, as I previously made the Jamie dress. I think my Girls Night Out on Sunday will be the perfect occasion to wear my new dress. :)

Angiedress

Edit: My dress was featured on the Imagine Gnats Selfish Sewing recap for today. What a huge compliment!

Loving on Olive

Posted in Sewing on March 10th, 2013 by jen – 3 Comments

Our friends, Eric and Christy, welcomed a little cutie into their family in December. We were all set to meet Miss Olive the day after Christmas, but snow arrived and we had to cancel. When it snowed again this Wednesday, I was worried our plans would be thwarted again. Thankfully, the snow was gone the next morning and we finally got to meet Olive. Leah loves babies, so she was very excited to get to hold her.

Hello Olive

Leah also wanted to read to Olive. I'm not sure what part of Moo Baa La La La is so intense to warrant Leah's face, but I'm glad she's putting her all into it.

Thrilling book

We kept reminding Leah to be gentle with Olive. Using only one finger is as gentle as it gets.

Petting

I also brought Olive a little gift. Back in December, I was asked to pattern test these overalls, which I agreed to do even though I had no baby to be my model. It's hard to imagine sweet little Olive big enough to wear them, but she'll be super cute when she does!

Overalls for Olive

My Christmas crafts

Posted in Crafts, Sewing on January 4th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

Like the last several years, I handmade several of my Christmas gifts this year. Some of them have made it on the blog already, but many have not. So, I'll share them all.

You may recall that we spent an early Thanksgiving with my family in Memphis. I took the opportunity to give my niece and nephew a few gifts early so they could get the most wear out of them.

Tianna dress

Monster hats

Emmie loved her new Tianna dress!

A new outfit for Emmie

And really, how stinkin' cute are these monster hats?!

Monster hat

I used teacher gifts as yet another reason to use my Silhouette. This Summer Countdown will be a lot of fun for Molly's class.

Teacher gift for Ms. Colella

I also did a bit of baking for the teachers. Leah's two teachers and Molly's three paraeducators loved the cranberry white chocolate cookies.

More teacher gifts

In discussing what to give Pop for Christmas, I thought a nice, large fleece blanket would be useful. So, I made one in Pop's favorite Navy colors.

Fleece blanket for Pop

I found these mini trifle bowls and thought they'd be a perfect gift for Beth. Though I couldn't just leave them plain, so I etched fun desserty words on them.

Etched mini trifle bowls

Beth rarely entertains with just 4 people, so I made her a second set as well.

Can't just have 4

My grandmother likes to hang wreaths on her apartment door, so I made her this yarn wreath with felt flowers. My mail carriers (aka my parents) were glad that it traveled well in a suitcase.

Yarn wreath

For several years, my extended family has made donations or done a service project in honor of another family member. I honored my aunt's passion for enriching teacher's lives by trying to enrich the lives of school children. I made six pillowcases to be "purchased" at the annual Back to School Clothing Drive distribution for underprivileged kids.

Pillowcase donations

And lastly, in light of recent events, I thought these Soon to Be mugs would be a perfect birthday gift for EA.

Birthday mugs

She loved the mugs, and Scott was even more thrilled that he got to share part of EA's gift!

A gift to share

Thankful Feast

Posted in Celebrations, School, Sewing on November 20th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

The kindergarten classes at Molly's school have a Thankful Feast every year which they invite their families to come to school for. There was a good turnout, including our whole family.

Thankful Feast

Molly's friend Catherine - not sure what this expression was.

Catherine

Kaylin's giving three cheers for the Thankful Feast!

Yeah for Kaylin

After the feast, the kids went back to class for 30 minutes. We were invited to stay if we liked. Leah immediately jumped into the class (Ms. Colella said it was ok). Here she is dancing around the circle, loving being a kindergartner for a few minutes.

An extra (smaller) kindergartner

I had made the girls new Fall outfits earlier in the week, which they requested to wear to the Thankful Feast. Molly's Music box jumper was my first Oliver + S pattern. Leah's skort was the same Isabella pattern I made for her birthday. She loves the shorts underneath!

Fall outfits

Live.Love.Craft

Posted in Crafts, Sewing on November 8th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

I was all set to help host a baby shower for Christy last weekend when we realized that we'd be in Memphis visiting my parents. So, I volunteered to help with a few of the decorations. I made a wreath for the front door at the shower, inspired by this wreath.

Baby shower wreath

The baby's room is yellow and grey themed, so the shower was a nod to that using Gold and Silver. I saw this garland and knew it'd be perfect. (Thanks to EMK for the action shot!)

GoldSilverGarland

When I saw these monster hats, I bookmarked the page to make them later, but then I decided that they were so cute that JJ had to have one. And Emmie needed one too, right?! Now Molly and Leah are asking for monster hats.

Monster hats

My mom's birthday is later this month, so my sister and I decided to make her a variety of Christmas ornaments. I was excited to play with vinyl on my Silhouette for this project.

Name ornaments

I also made reusable bowl covers for her.

Reusable bowl covers