A spring dress: cross back, wrap, pinafore

Cross back dress?
Wrap dress?
Pinafore?

I am not sure what the official name is, but I made one. 

I love the shape! I just love this super cute orange flower and bird fabric. I think it came from Wal-mart, maybe JoAnn's. I can't remember.

I found a free pattern from somewhere. I have been looking for the link, pin, something, but I have no idea where it is. The writing on the pdf was saved as Roxy Dress Pinafore Cross Back. It is a hand drawn pattern, so someone put some work into it and I can't give proper credit. So a big thank you to the person who created this free pattern! The size was for 18 months/2T. I made the pattern bigger by taping some paper together and recreating the dress to fit my girl. She is going into a size 4T. 


I also adjusted the pattern a little so that the back curve matches the front curve. The backs of some dresses curve up a bit at the end of the crossing part. I wanted the hem to be the same all the way around. I also straightened the line from the shoulder to the hem instead of being rounded more at the hem.

I added a light weight cotton lining to the dress so that it would hold its shape better and to provide a little sturdiness to the main cotton fabric. 

I was hoping to be able to attach the main fabric and the lining together, and then turn everything right side out so that the finished look would be neater. 

Well, that was not possible because of the way I assembled the dress. I attached the dress at the shoulder instead of leaving them separate and using buttons for closures. When you have something that has an X shape at the back and sew the shoulders together you can't just turn it right side out. It won't work. 

I had to remove the lining and pin it to the main fabric and top stitch all the way around the dress to attach the two together (everything ironed under a 1/4 inch). No big deal, it was just a pain in the beginning. 

I didn't attach the lining to the hem of the main fabric. I cut it a little bit shorter than the dress itself because...well, for no good reason other than I just wanted it to be shorter. Probably in case I made a mistake and didn't want it to show when I was finished.

All in all it is an adorable dress and my girl loves it. Now we await warmer weather so she can actually wear it.

And that day has arrived.... (finally!)

...for a one day only appearance. Hmpf. Come on spring! 

It's adorable. She's adorable. We are all adorable. Too much? 

Anyway, I like how it looks. If/when I make her another one I want to make it a bit longer, make the neckline a little smaller, and adjust the straps to fit her better. Just a few minor adjustments to make the pattern work for me.

Now, all we need is consistent warm weather. Stay warm folks.

Fleece Peasant Dresses

I had a very productive snow day earlier this month!

I love when I see a project I can make and someone uses a different type of fabric or has a different take on the same idea. I've made some peasant dresses for my girl before, and they are super cute. I love 'em. 

The "new" thing that I found was making peasant dresses with fleece. Such a neat idea. It's winter, it's cold, and fleece is a winter fabric! Fleece is warm and cozy, so why not make winter dresses?

So that is just what I did. I bought some fleece from JoAnn's that I liked and had a pattern small enough to be perfect for clothing. Some of the patterns on the fleece were really large, which is fine for a blanket, but not so great for a small dress. I also had some fleece in my stash that I could use as well.

The pink fleece was in my stash. I bought the flowery fleece at JoAnn's. The flower pattern was small enough for this project. I added a kangaroo pocket to this dress because the girl loves a kangaroo pocket. And it helps to tell which is the front and which is the back.

She looks comfy and ready to play. For added warmth I could put another shirt underneath the dress and pair it with some warm tights or leggings and she'll be ready to play.

She's just so cute! in her tinkerbell socks.

With this dress I used the flowery fabric as the main piece. I didn't have any fleece fabric that would coordinate the way I wanted it to. Orange or white fleece would be perfect for the sleeves. I didn't have any of that, but I did have some white flannel fabric and I used that for the sleeves.

For this one I didn't want to do another kangaroo pocket. I cut out two rounded bottom pockets and placed them on the front. Pockets make it easier to tell the front from the back.

Flannel is a little thinner than fleece, but oh so warm. It is soft and cozy as well.  I love the white sleeves with this dress. 

She did a wonderful job letting me take photos of her in these dresses. I love it!

Goofy girl. Sweet and funny.

Super fun dresses for a super fun girl.
Pattern for peasant dress can be found here. (It's free.)

Random sewing

So, what do you do when you are at home in between housework and taking care of the family and you have a few minutes to fill? I do some sewing!

I picked up some cute fabrics from JoAnn's after my dentist appointment recently. I wanted to make a few more burp cloths for my kids daycare director's new baby boy, and a couple of over-sized receiving blankets that she said she really liked for him.

For the burp cloths I used some flannel remnants from my stash: the city-scape blocks and the fishing frogs. I bought a 1/3 yard of the chevron and puppy dogs to make burp cloths. The backs are just some pieces of cotton fabric that I found in my collection.

I bought 1 yard of flannel in robot fabric (love!), and brown with blue elephants (sweet!). I love cute boy fabrics. These were especially fun.

These ended up being the over-sized receiving blankets, and once I got the yards squared up as best I could, I used the whole yard of both fabrics for blankets.

I did these projects by the time school let out so I could drop them off on the way back from picking up my son from school. I bundled then up and we dropped them off. Lucky for us she was right inside the door when we walked in. She was very happy. 

Random kid moments and Winter day

Oh, the cold weather. So much coldness for the south. I don't know about everyone else, but I do not like to be cold at all. It is also my short work week so I have been at home with the kids. 

On Monday I had a dentist appointment, then went to the fabric store (yea!!), and then to visit a friend. After that I picked up the kids from school and daycare. Tuesday was a cold rainy day and my hubs came home from work early because he has a "long commute" and they allowed people to leave work early. It was nice. So I picked up the boy from school all by myself and left the girl at home.

School was cancelled Wednesday and Thursday, so far. Which means more quality time with the family. I don't mind it so much, I spend lots of time with the kids anyway, but my poor hubs. He has had many more opportunities to spend one-on-one time with the kids outside of the norm for us. He is at it again on Thursday as it is my work day.

This is what my kids have been up to:

Pic 1: I came home from work earlier in the week and noticed that the girl has some scribble on her hand. Curiously I asked her, "Did you draw on your hand?" Her response, "We aren't 'posed to speak about that." Then she ran off to put on her pajamas. I was left confused. She is an amusing girl. Pic 2: I bought the kids some new shoes on clearance. She put them on her bunny. They stay on her feet, which is just funny.

The first snow day I got up early with the kids and tried to get them to be quiet so the hubs could sleep in a little. We were watching highlights from the winter Olympics and the boy decided to try ice skating with this sister in his new shoes. Great finish guys! Gold medal for sure. :)

The winter weather: lots and lots of sleet.

Some ice accumulation on the trees. 

This tree looks more weighed down this morning, but it was also dark outside when I took updated photos that didn't make it to the computer yet. The ground is just covered with sleet and topped with ice. It's slippery.

I had my supervisor make arrangements for me to get to work Thursday morning. A trooper with a big SUV picked me up and took me to my location. I'll figure out how to get home later. I am so glad that I only have to work one day. The roads between my house and the interstate were awful. 

We are supposed to get above freezing by lunchtime today, so I am hoping that my roads will thaw out. The interstate looked good this morning. The main roads in the larger city area were sort of passable, but definitely in better condition than the roads closer to my house.

Hangout Hoodie Dress (Minus the Hoodie)

My girl is a dress lover. She would prefer to wear a dress any day of the week no matter the temperature. 

I bought the Hangout Hoodie pattern from the Peek-A-Boo pattern shop. I love that the pattern can be made into a dress for a girl or a sweater for a boy or a girl. The model kids look adorable in their outfits. I knew this would be a pattern I needed to make more dresses for my girl, especially since I can use it to make fall/winter dresses for her.

I gathered my fabric to make a Hangout Hoodie dress, minus the hoodie part. I had some purple-y fuchsia colored fabric that I do not know the fabric type (polyester cotton blend? maybe?). It was most likely a part of the free fabric I got. I used is as the main fabric for the dress. 

I had some knit cotton fabric I bought from a remnant bin probably at JoAnn's. I loved the cute multi-colored polka dots and it goes perfectly with the fuchsia fabric. To round everything out I had some purple ribbing to use for the cuffs and collar. I was ready to cut and assemble my project.

Pretty cute! When I picked up my girl from daycare and came back home she spotted the dress pretty quickly. She looked up at the hanging dress and "oooh"ed, and asked if it was for her. She said it was a pretty dress, then she wanted to wear it. She let me take pictures but she wouldn't take off her pants from her previous outfit. Whatever, they go with the dress.

I love the colorfulness of the outfit and it's a good fit. I made the 4T size for her. The arms are a bit long right now, but by the time fall comes back around and she does some growing it will be just fine.

She loves that it has a kangaroo pocket. The pattern offers many options. Short or long sleeves, kangaroo pocket or not, plus a hoodie. I'm not sure that the hoodie is an option as the pattern didn't provide details for not having a hoodie otherwise it would probably have a different name. :) I just chose not to add the hoodie and had to measure to see how much ribbing I would need for just the collar portion. (About 20 inches of ribbing).

I think the kangaroo pocket could have been slightly bigger and I put it a little low on the dress. It should probably be about 1-1.5 inches higher, but it works where it is. There are some issues with the ribbing being scrunchy at the neckline as well. I just need more practice with sewing with ribbing. All of these issues are things I can live with and if she likes the dress then it has been a successful project.

The colors are just so pretty! I added some top stitching around the collar and fixed a couple of errors that I noticed when she was wearing it.

It could use a little ironing, but she was playing and enjoying the dress and that comes with wrinkles. 

This dress is perfect for multiple seasons: fall, winter, early spring. The dot knit fabric is a little thin so depending on how cold it gets she may need to wear an additional layer with a long sleeve shirt.

The bright colors will be sure to cheer up any dreary day and add happiness to a fun, sunny day. A perfect dress for just hanging out! :)

some baby things

Remember when I made some baby things for my kids' daycare providers? 

I am happy to report that they absolutely loved what I made for their new bundles of joy.

One of the girls, that had a baby girl, started following me on Pinterest and sent some pins to me that she liked, and would like me to make for her baby.

Burp cloths are simple enough.

All I needed was some fabric, which should not be hard to find. 

The only problem is deciding which fabric to make them from. I had many options, but some of the fabric I want to use for projects, though I don't know what project yet, and want to make sure I have enough for these unknown projects. Make sense?

Remnants to the rescue! I sewed some up for her. So cute! I just used whatever remnants that I had that were the size I needed (approx. 10x18 inches).

Now, we just got to meet up so she can have her baby goodies. Her baby has been very sick so the timing hasn't worked out yet. 

I feel so bad for winter babies because if they get sick there isn't much that can be done for them because they are so young and tiny and just can't fight off the bad stuff like everyone else. If they get worse they end up in the hospital, which is where they went, and then there is still at least a couple more months of cold weather and flu season to contend with. Poor baby. I hope she gets better soon so that mommy and daddy can be less worried about health issues.

I also made a tiny pair of baby shoes. The inner fabric didn't quite turn out like it was supposed too. It's kind of bunchy and not tight enough. But they are still cute. It was the first time I have used this particular pattern so there is always something to learn and fix for the next time.

The other daycare provider, the daycare director, returned to work and I got to meet her sleeping baby boy, another winter baby. She mentioned that she loved the oversized receiving blanket (left) because it was perfect for his crib, or whatever he sleeps in.

He can't be swaddled (because of reflux?), so the blanket in his crib has to be tucked in on three sides, and regular receiving blankets just aren't big enough.

I made a couple more burp cloths for her as well, but I want to make one or two more, and maybe some more blankets once I find flannel that I like. Looks like a trip to the fabric store is in order. I'll go if I must. :-)

In other news...

I've been working on spring projects for my girl. Spring can not get here fast enough! Also, spring children's consignment sale season is approaching and THIS GIRL is totally excited about it. I haven't even started my sorting, was waiting on warmer weather but that looks like that is not going to happen any time soon when I need it to. Thus begins my busy pre-spring/spring season.

Oh, did I mention that three of the four people in my household also have spring birthdays approaching? And that one of them gets a birthday bash this year? (More planning and busy-ness). And that t-ball should be starting soon? And that I have fabric that I need to match with a project so I can do some sewing? And school is more than half way over? And summer is coming and I want my kids to learn how to swim? Wait, what happened to spring? Breathe.

Oops, sorry for the rant. 
I am looking forward to the next few months and all of the fun they entail. So if you don't hear from me, you'll know what happened. My life got busy, and that is a good thing.

Have a great day.