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In early October, I again participated in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge. The challenge was to spend an hour a day for seven days working on kids clothing. It could be time spent cutting patterns and fabric or sitting at the sewing machine. During the week, I worked on several things for my girls, my niece and nephew, and a baby gift. Chad called it my "crazy week of sewing" since I couldn't just spend an hour a day sewing when I was in the middle of a project.

My mom had given me the leftover fabric from making this blanket and pillow for Leah, so I made jammies to match.

Leah might be a tad excited about her hat too!

Emmie was the lucky recipient of this corduroy Tianna dress. I was finally able to give it to her this weekend as an early Christmas gift.

Michelle also asked me to make jammie pants for JJ to match Emmie's Christmas nightgown. They are the tiniest little pants.

My last project was this Katelin dress, a long awaited shower gift for Eric and Christy. We are so thrilled that a little girl will be joining their family in December!

Pinterest has been fantastic for finding sewing inspiration. I saw this dress sold on Etsy and knew I wanted to replicate it for the girls.

I started on them Saturday morning, finished Leah's by the start of the Auburn-LSU game, and wrapped up Molly's before heading to bed. They wore them to church on Sunday. Chad was impressed with my mad sewing skills!

I intentionally made them a little long so they'll get to wear them for two football seasons. War Eagle!

As I mentioned in this post, Chad and I visited Bahama Hand Prints while in Nassau. I decided to purchase three yards of "Dancing Hibiscus" cotton-poplin fabric.

I came home and immediately started searching for a dress pattern to use. Being inspired by the dresses I saw in the boutique, I bought the Lillian dress by Children's Corner. It had the same a-line shape with little bows at the side seams.

If you look closely, you can see the extra detail of the covered buttons down the back. Chad mentioned that this added more character than the boutique dresses. I love when he appreciates my craftsmanship!

Shortly after getting married, Chad and I decided that we would try to take a trip for our anniversary instead of giving gifts. We always pick up an ornament as a keepsake. So, in addition to the dresses, I made a Christmas ornament for us. I used this tutorial for the fabric ornament.

The dresses and ornament took less yardage than I thought and after I finished them, Chad looked at my sewing table and said, "It doesn't even look liked you've used any!" My response, "Believe me, I will use every inch of this fabric!"

So, to thank my parents for coming to stay with the girls, I made them a few gifts too. For my mom, I made a Multipocket Tote from this Martha Stewart book. Mom always has lots of things in tow, so a tote with multiple pockets is perfect for her.

For my dad, I made a tie with this Puking Pastilles tutorial. I've never hand-sewn that much before, and ow, my fingers were about to fall off! I made Chad try it on to make sure it actually fit before gifting it. When Dad received it, he said it certainly would be a conversation starter!

My last project was to make the girls Oliver + S bucket hats. They love them and walk around calling them their "Bahama hats."

The hats are reversible, so I added a pop of color using Moda's Hoopla Cherries in Yellow. The girls insisted on showing everyone who came over (or Skyped with them) this weekend.

I still have roughly a fat quarter of fabric left, but no current projects lined up. But don't worry, I'm still brainstorming on how to use up every last scrap!

When I saw that Lily Bird Studio was looking for pattern testers, I jumped at the chance to sew this cute dress! The Amanda dress has a full circle skirt, pleated sleeves and a cute sash to add that little extra flare.

The dress is available for sizes 12 months to 10 years. I tested the size 5 for Molly and it fits her perfectly. I had not worked with bias trim this much before and was super pleased with how it turned out.

Molly decided it was the perfect dress for her preschool graduation and I couldn't have agreed more!

Lily Bird Studio has patterns for both girls and boys. If you'd like to make this Amanda dress, or another one of her patterns, save 15% off by using SELLERS15OFF at checkout through 6/12/12.

My sister and I worked together to pick out fabrics and make this car seat canopy for JJ. It was perfect to cover a sleeping baby during our trip to the zoo.

I made the cover reversible so Michelle could be stylish when visiting her Louisiana friends!

I also made my mom a reversible sewing machine cover for Mother's Day. Thank goodness for a sneaky Dad who could take measurements for me!

I participated in another Craft Hope project. This project partnered with Haiti by Hand to collect aprons for the women of Haiti, who rarely receive anything made special and pretty just for themselves.

I'm a big fan of pleats, so when I saw this pleated hostess apron tutorial, I knew it'd be perfect for this project.

If you'd like to participate, there's still time. The deadline for Project 17: Aprons for Haiti is May 31st. So, sign up and get to sewing!

ETA: Although the official Craft Hope deadline is May 31st, Haiti by Hand is accepting aprons through the end of July. Send them to the address listed in the project details.

A couple of weeks ago I participated in Kids Clothes Week Challenge with Elsie Marley. The challenge is to sew one hour a day, each day for 7 days. It could be anything from tracing patterns, cutting fabric, sitting in front of the sewing machine, or putting finishing touches on a garment.

I was able to finish up a two jon jons. One for a family friend who recently had his first little boy.

And another for our sweet little cousin (though a bit of a delayed congrats since he was born in November!).

I also made a pair of overalls for my nephew. I used the Whipstich Overmost pattern. I was finally able to give them to my sister this weekend (which is why this post is so delayed). I can't wait to see him in them next summer!

Whew, that is a lot of little boys clothes, especially for the amount of pink in my house!

We're finally going to meet our new nephew and celebrate his Christian dedication. My sister asked me to make him an outfit for the special occasion. I can't wait to see it on the little guy!

The jon jon is again the Scientific Seamstress Reversible Romper pattern. (Can you tell I'm a big fan of that pattern?!) I scored the shirt at a local consignment store.

I made a birthday dress for Molly's friend, Keira. Molly was a good sport and modeled this front tie dress several times for me to take measurements and pictures.

Molly has loved wearing skirts lately, so I made her a new one. Here's one sassy little girl in her sassy pleated skirt. (Note: I added 2 inches in length since the pattern was a bit short.)

Who can resist posing in a new skirt?!

Since Molly wore her new smocked dress for Easter, I decided to make Leah a new dress too. After my aunt made Leah's twin quilt, she gave me the remnant fabrics, so I used those. I was inspired by this knotty jumper, but slightly modified the Simplicity 2171 pattern to create the dress. And now, Leah has a dress that matches her room!