By the Seashore Knot Dress

Obvi, I made Lucca a knot dress.  I can't make a cute little garment for one kid and not make it for the other!  This fabric was bought with Lucca in mind... I though I might make her an Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress at one point... but never did.  Now I'm glad I was lazy, because this pattern suits it perfectly!  I really love that the tiny people playing at the beach are printed right side up AND upside down... no chance of sewing something on upside down!  I don't need to spend any more quality time with my seam ripper!

Some views of the dress, hanging pretty on my front door:

I used pretty simple coordintaing fabrics for the bodice and trim:  blue with white polka dots, and yellow with white polka dots.  I'm all for mixing patterns, but I really wanted the focus here to be on the beach party!  Having both other fabrics be polka dots, even though they are different colors, makes it bright and fun without being too distracting.

Of course, I made matching ruffle pants!  But, my friends, August in Boston means 90 degrees and a gagillion percent humidity, so my tiny model will not be wearing them for a while :)  

Outfit, complete:

Oh, these were both made from the same patterns as Raina's Rapunzel set in my last post.  Both patterns from Pink Poodle Bows on Etsy!

She pretty cute, even when I can't convince her to ham it up for the computer :).  (These are her 9 month pictures, taken 2 weeks late!)

Gigi Dresses Part 2: Lucca's Dress

(the pictures in this post are wacky.  my tall lamp broke, and pictures without my tall lamp friend mean bad lighting.  I tried to move into the bathroom, but things weren't much better in there.  pictures on model will come soon and will hopefully be in better lighting!)

Making these dresses has been an emotional process for me.  Taking her things, well worn, soft from washings upon washings, and making them into new little things for my own littles... it's given me time to think about her.  I'd sit at my sewing table, pinning, cutting, trimming, my fingers running along the bindings and over the buttons, and my mind would have a chance to wander and remember - something it doesn't get to do often enough in the hubbub of my everyday life.  I think she'd like these dresses.  (See Raina's dress here)

This one, for my chubby little 6 month old love, is made from the pink rose print apron.

I made it using the Goldie dress pattern... with adjustments of course, to account for the fact that my fabric was not a flat rectangle... but was instead an apron with snaps and pockets and a pretty finished edge.  

I had some snafus with this projects.  I don't know where I went wrong.  Obviously, my mind wandering got the better of me a few times, and this isn't a dress I'll be showing many people the inside of!  :)

I noticed at this stage in my sewing that a couple things had happened.  The bodice and skirt were well constructed, but sewn together wrong.  So I ended up with pockets in the back, and a seam down the front of the bodice.  Le sigh.  I did find a cute fix for the seam, and Lucca doesn't really need front pockets... so it I used it as a learning experience, but didn't spend any time with my seam ripper.

And for the first time, a HAMMER made an appearance at my sewing table!  Oh SNAP!  I've been favoring the button and loop lately, but for Miss Lucca, snaps seemed like a better choice... and it was fun to bust out the hammer.

THe snappage, however, did not go quite as planned.  Due to my previously mentioned inside out and backwards bodice, there were original snaps in my way when I went to attach the new snaps.  The yop ended up being slightly uneven, despite my best efforts to adjust things.  See the funny insides?  Extra crazy snaps.

When all was said and done, the finished dress was adorable.  I love the details on the outside, even if teh details on the inside are imperfect.

Clever seam covering.  Lace, chiffon rosette trim, really old buttons from Gigi's sewing box.

Straps cut from the gathered top of the original apron, giving them a "poof" at the top of the shoulder!

back pockets!

back view, topstitching on gathered top of skirt

Front view, rosette trim at waist.  I think the gathering came out just right.

Finished back

Finished front

Front of bodice

Refashioning Bunny Dress

This short and sweet post meant to be written during the week following Easter, the week I just wasn't into it.  It's an easy refashion I did to make two otherwise unwearable shirts wearable again!  It was also Lucca's third Easter day outfit, after she slobbed all over her dress and easter onesie :).  That girl loves to make the laundry piles grow!

Both of these shirts (well, the bunny one is actually a onesie that I had already cut, but, y'know... details...) are size 0-3 months.  Lucca hasn't fit into that size in quite a while now, but I really wanted her to be able to wear the cute bunny on her first Easter!  So snip snip snip...  off came the top of the pink ruffle shirt, and off came the bottom of the onesie!

Stitch stitch stitch... together they were serged! Two shirts lost, one cute ruffly Easter dress gained!

Treasure Pocket Pants

Sewing for Boys, for girls!  

This pattern is from the book "Sewing for Boys' by Shelly Figueroa....  I ordered it because I saw the treasure pocket pants here on Tara's blog and I fell in love with them.  When I took a look at the book, I decided it was a pretty cute book that could just as well be for girls with a little fabric switch-up!  So I ordered it, and my husband got really nervous when it came in the mail :)

"What's this?"

"A new pattern book I ordered!"

"Sewing for BOYS?"

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you..."

(silence)

"I'm KIDDING!!"

(nervous laughter)

oh, good times, good times!

Anywho... I traced the pattern on vellum, which I've never done before.  It was awesome.  You can see right through it to trace, but it holds up much better than tissue paper.  Love it.

I made them in the smallest size the pattern comes in, 12-18 months.  I don't know why.  I don't know who I thought I was making these for.  I have a 6 month old and a 3 year old.  Yeah.  I would have made them in 2/3 for Raina, but she only really likes jersey or fleece pants these days, and I was afraid she wouldn't wear them!  So I made them as small as possible, and Lucca will be in them before I know it.  Or maybe Raina will love them, and she can wear them as capris.  Who knows.

First step, the pocket panel assembly.  And I was already a tad confused.  Luckily, I found this Treasure Pocket Pants Sew Along on the trusty old interwebs and it saved me a lot of headache!  Sadly, by that time the birds on the top part of the panel were already flying upside down, but we'll pretend they aren't.

Poofy pocket!

What the elastic casing looks like on the inside of the pocket:

So then you attach the completed pocket panels to the front pant pieces.  Easy beans.  Then you construct and sew the faux fly.  And this is where the aformentioned sew along came in really handy.  Without it, I'm pretty sure it would have taken me twice as long.  With two little girls, I have never constructed a faux fly before... but I think my first one was a success!  I was so proud of it.... I made my husband look at it way more closely than he really wanted to, but hey, I listen to him talk about video games, so it's only right!  Right?  Another note:  You have to mark the stitching line for the fly on the top front of the pants...  and the pattern says to do this in chalk.  I usually use a good old fashioned fine tip orange crayola marker to do my markings, so I was initially stumped as to what I might use.  I ended up using a piece of honest to goodness sidewalk chalk from Raina's basket of chalk.  :)

Inside the flappy-do:

Next you attach the back panels and do some fancy top stitching to make it look all pretty.  After the pockets and faux fly, this is cake.  

And then you have a pair of very unfinished but very recognizable pants!  Woohoo!

This is the hot pink thread I've been using on all of my projects this week:

I love the color, and that it came from my Grandma's sewing box, which I was incredibly blessed to inherit.  I have no idea how old it is, but it cost $.60, so probably a couple decades at least. It's beautiful and silky, but when you use it to topstitch on white, things get tricky.  My stitches got crooked a few times, and (to me at least) it's pretty obvious because of the color.  Not that I'd change it, though!

And a little aside... does anyone else have one of these amazing bobbin winding devices?  I bought it with a Christmas gift card and it is seriously one of the best sewing tools I've bought.  Major time saver!

Back to the assembled pants...

I am in love with this bird sheet as clothing fabric!

Can you see my pink topstitching to the sides of the pocket panel?

p.s. - I did some of this during Raina's nap.  Here's what Lucca did.  Yum yum on some baby mum-mums.  She loves to gnaw them into a pile of mushy rice goo!

Next up, you create the hem and waist facings and attach them.  This is also where you thread elastic through the waist casing to make a for realz waist band that is so cute.  And do more topstitching.

Again, the faux fly :)

The fabric is from two places...

the main part of the pants is this purple and pink print, recycled from a pair of Gap capris I could never throw away, but that haven't fit my mommy body in many moons.

And here is the queen sized pile of bird sheet.  What else should I use it for?

When my husband first saw me cutting the fabric, he asked if the fabric was for one pair of pants.  He's not big on the pattern mixing.  :)  I think it came out really cute, though!

One more thing.  Here are three pairs of pants.  The center, as you know, is the treasure pocket pants, size 12-18 months.  On the left is a pair of Raina's capris from last summer - also size 12-18 months.  On the right is a pair of Lucca's current pants, size 6-12 months (the waist is the same measurement as R's old capris!).  Sizing is so arbitrary!

Can't wait tog et one or both of my girlies into these pants this summer!!