Girl Friend Princess

I saw this fabric on the Shwin & Shwin blog that I follow and loved it. And here's what I made with it!

It's Girl Friends in Bright by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman. (Look at me remembering details of fabric.)

I knew my girl would love it as well. So, I went searching for it. I knew it wouldn't be carried in any of the fabric stores in my area and I was going to Texas to visit my twin soon, so I searched online for stores in her area. Texas is bigger than SC so I would have more options...I thought. There was a sewing center that sold Robert Kaufman fabrics, but I didn't know if it sold this particular fabric, but we checked it out anyway. They didn't have it in the store, but I did find a whole bunch of other fabric to bring back with me.

The fabric wouldn't leave my mind so I found a shop on etsy that had it in stock and for about the same price I had seen it online at other stores that didn't have it, including the shipping. There was one yard left so I bought it. It's so pretty! When I showed it to my girl she gasped and said, "Oohh! Is that mine?" "It sure is."

I  loved the pajamas that Shauna made for her girl, but I wanted to make something a little different for my girl. I decided to make her a nightgown. Since she loves dresses, she also loves nightgowns. They are dresses you can wear to bed.

I don't have a nightgown pattern and I wanted it to fit her just right the first time, so I found some fabric in my stash that I didn't know what to do with yet and used it as a first draft. I picked out some articles of clothing that fit my daughter well and have the shape I was sort of going for and created my own pattern.

The finished product ended up being slightly bigger than I wanted. So I made some changes to my first draft. I made the shoulder straps thinner in width ,and made the bodice part smaller in size to help pull in the neckline a little more. The sunflower nightgown fits her, but I wanted something a little more fitted. She will definitely be able to wear this one for a couple of years.

Retooled pattern. Ready to transfer.

I perfected my paper pattern, traced it on to my fabric, and cut out a front piece and a back piece.



Pretty!

Once those were serged, I sewed the pieces together. Sewed the arm holes and neck hole under, and finished the hem.

Two nightgowns completed!









 Now, I just needed to choose buttons for the shoulder straps. I asked the girl which ones she wanted.




She chose purple. Imagine that!









Once the buttons were sewed on, it was ready to wear!

 Awww. So glad that she loves it.

The neckline is still a little wider than I would like, but it fits better than the sunflowered one. I still need to tweak the pattern just a little but more for a perfect fit. I am happy with the results, though.

 I apologize for the slightly blurry photo, she likes to dance and move. And apparently make silly faces at me.

In addition to the nightgown, I had a little fabric leftover. I saw that Shauna made her daughter matching stuffed princess dolls from the remaining fabric. I thought, "How cute, that is so clever!" So, I made some for my girl as well, but slightly different. I didn't cut as close to the princesses as she did.

 I may have gone a little overboard. I made 15 little princesses. Fourteen are pictured, I am not sure where the missing princess is at the moment. No two princesses are the same.

I am still not sure if I got all of the different princesses I could, but I plan on trying to get a few more out of the leftover fabric to give to other little girls.

The back fabric piece of each princess is from my scrap fabric pile and coordinates with their dress. They are totally fun. The first couple I made, my girl kept asking me what her name was. I tried to get her to name them instead. I think one of them ended up being Princess Pinkie 'Possum, or something like that. Creative.

Check out the Shwin & Shwin blog site (link at top). It's super fun. They have cute patterns and some are free! Awesome! If it's free, it's for me.

Magic Unicorns Sorbet

I've been working on a couple of projects and I have one ready to post, finally!

Look at this fun fabric by Michael Miller called Magic Unicorns Sorbet. It's bright. It's girly. It's perfect for my daughter who loves pink and purple.

I decided to make her some summer pajamas from this yard of fabric. I made a pillowcase top and matching shorts using the KID Shorts pattern (link goes to her tutorials page) by Dana from MADE.

This time I used the regular shorts pattern without the flat front. I still used the 4T pattern for her, like I did for her other shorts, but I used the 3T length instead of the 4T length, since she has short legs.

Once everything was cut and serged, I sewed all the pieces together.

Completed!

The original top was a little too wide for her. She was sleeping when I finished everything so I couldn't try it on her beforehand.

No problem. I just removed a few stitches, pulled the elastic a little more (I used elastic in the casing because I don't want the ribbon to run all the way through the top so she doesn't pull the whole thing out, and I kind of like the look of it better. Keeps everything gathered nicer.), and put it back together. I'm not overjoyed with having loose strings on pajamas, but I haven't quite decided how to remedy that.

She won't fully wear it until I remove that hazard.
But she sure does look cute!

In time for the Fourth

I know, it's not the Fourth of July, but I completed some projects for the kids for Independence Day. This will be the first actual projects I have made in my "workable" studio.

And I added something else to my studio. My Ironing station! It used to be...well...I don't know what it was originally used for, but for me it has been used for storage, a desk, and a baby changing station with storage for blankets and other stuff. Now, it will be my ironing station. I added chunky casters for easy moving (the original ones were tiny and rusty and only had three when I acquired it in grad school). I love it!

My project: Racer shorts for the kiddos.

I bought Dana's KID Shorts pattern (www.danamadeit.com for $6=a great price). I have used her free KID pants pattern for shorts in other projects and it works great for shorts, but what I love about the shorts pattern is that is comes in sizes 12 months to size 10. Lots of size options! (I kinda wanna see how it does with pants; just extend the pattern for the length I need...hmmm.)

While I was putting fabric away in the ironing station, I found this red, white, and blue stripy fabric that I bought (not sure where, Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, wherever I got it it was in the scrap bins) to make the kids something for the Fourth of July. Perfect timing because the Fourth was quickly approaching. Since I had recently purchased the KID Shorts pattern, and had fabric, it was the perfect project.

I love having my own space now. I love working on the floor for sewing things because it's like a big ole flat table, but without taking up floor space. And I can move around without obstacles, like corners, in the way. If I have to leave to go to the house for whatever reason, like cook dinner, I don't have to clean up. Bonus!

Here's the finished product: Racer Shorts, and a skirt

I was able to fit shorts for both kids on one scrap fabric bundle. I had purchased both scrap fabric bundles to make sure I had enough for whatever I wanted to make. I used the second one for a skirt for the girl. With some scraps left over from the first bundle I cut out some butterflies and appliqued them to a plain white shirt for more interest and decoration. We have options for the shorts and skirt, plain or butterfly shirt. Mix and match.

Their Fourth wear! Adorable.

Love.

Group pic (well, minus the hubs...he took the photo).

I'm a butterfly...

I'm a princess....

I'm frolicking through a meadow....

I'm just being silly because I'm not wearing any shoes and walking through the grass...

I don't actually know what she was doing but it was a cute shot. Silly girl.

I used the size 6 pattern for the boy because he has long legs and a long torso and needs the extra room to fit him. He might even be able to wear them next year, I tried to build in some room when I was sewing them and left some extra elastic just in case I need to let them out later.

I used the 4T pattern for the girl. She wears a 3T, but I also wanted her to be able to wear the shorts again next year (which is why they look so long on her now. It doesn't help that she has short legs.) so I made them a size bigger and left some extra elastic on the end to adjust the waist if I need to next year.

I loved using Dana's KID Shorts pattern. It's easy to assemble the necessary sheets of paper to create the size you need to work with. She provides many different ways to construct shorts for a boy or girl; racer or regular shorts, flat front or elastic all the way around, and pockets. Her tutorials are also fun and colorful, and easy to follow. She has great photos to accompany her tutorials as well. Conclusion: great pattern, love Dana's stuff, and her website.

The end.