Sailing Away

My seester saw my pretty blouses (this one and this one) and let me know it was time to make one for her, asap.  Sailboats, red and blue, polka dots, nautical buttons... those were the orders.  Before she had even finished her sentence, the shirt was made in my head.

You had me at "sailboats."

Ya see... one of the aprons of Gigi's I'd been holding on to... well... it was red, and blue... and sailboat patterned.  Perfect.  So my seester, she got herself her very own Gigi blouse!

I feel like I'm kind of a pro at this pattern now.  If you haven't made one yet, you totally should.  It's such a quick one to put together, and the result is really nice.  If you just hold it up, the finished blouse has a tendency to look a bit like a sack... but once you put it on, it hangs nicely and, to quote Raina, "It is so soft and cozy!"  :)

To mix things up, I tried my hand at cap sleeves... and although I'd like to try a non-poof version some time, I think the cap sleeve was successful.

I'm pretty excited about the double stitching on the edge.  I was careful to sew straight across the white spots, because of course, if a mistake was going to happen, it would be on the most obvious location!

POOF!

The buttons were what held up the finishing, if you can believe it!  I tried for an anchor button, but short of ordering one online that cost as much to ship as the button itself, I was batting zero.  By some stroke of luck, I found these tiny sailboat treasures at JoAnn fabric while I was playing there one day!

I love this fabric.  This particular apron was one I had pulled out to look at quite a few times, wondering what project would really have me ready to cut into it.  I considered a dress for Lucca, I considered another shirt for myself.  I am so glad I saved it for seester.

She got to keep the pockets:

I got to add some fabulous bright red dot for the top:

my topstitching came out awesomely awesome:

Each one of these aprons seems to be finding it's own special way to live on.  I'm sending this one off to my bestest sis with memories of roller skates and Roy!

Strawberry Pickin' Summer Blouse

I made another top for myself!  I used the Summer Blouse pattern again, only this time I lost the sleeves.  I really thought that challenging myself to sew things for my own wardrobe would be a struggle, since I love sewing for kids so much.  Turns out I love sewing for myself!  Now I need to opposite-challenge myself to start sewing kids clothes again!  :)  Or maybe I should challenge myself to work harder on my baby clothes quilts!!

Here's the front:

 

And here's the back!

This top is the much anticipated (ha!  By me anyway...) companion piece to Raina and Lucca's Gigi dresses - made from my sweet grandmother's old aprons.  Once again, I stuck to the pattern as much as possible, but basically just cut iff the bottom of the apron and used that as the bottom piece to keep pockets, buttons, and trims intact.

 

From the beginning, I knew that I'd use this strawberry print apron to make something for myself.  I love it - print, softness, color, everything about it.  I knew I needed to use a fun pattern to coordinate with it for the bodice top, and as soon as I saw this strawberry print I fell in love.  

It's strawberries and raspberries in pinks and reds, and has kind of hand-printed look to it. 

 

I was concerned for just a second or two that it was TOO MUCH STRAWBERRY.  It didn't last long, and I'm glad I didn't let the little voices sway me.  Love.

 

No buttons on this one, and no poofy sleeves.  Simple summer tank, perfect for picking strawberries.  Which I plan on doing with my lovely little ladies as soon as the stinkin' rain stops!!