2014 Christmas Photo Shoot

The kids had a short school day so it was the perfect day to take them to the mall to get their photo taken with Santa earlier this month. They did so well this year. No tears. I even got the girl to sit on Santa's lap. Big accomplishment. When I got them settled and walked out of the photo area I heard my son ask Santa if Rudolf was real. Poor guy. He didn't stumble looking for an answer so he must get that one a lot. 

This is what they wore. And they looked cute! 

Mall people were taking second looks, staring, some people made comments about my daughter's outfit, some asked where I got them from. They were impressed when I told them that I made it. One even asked if I sold things because she was looking for ties for her two sons. *snicker* Sell things. Job, kids, laundry people. 

Here is a little idea of what happens when I try to get my kids to cooperate during a photo shoot...

I started with just my son because he put on a Santa hat. My daughter went to go look for hers. She didn't find it. It showed up later.

He's cute and funny. Merry Christmas!

I go through all of this:

They're giving me mean looks because they had not been the greatest listeners while we were at the mall, and I had been fussing at them.

Ha! The faces and expressions. Bored son?

We will not cooperate.

Ok. It's getting better.

Or, maybe not.

LOL. I love these photos, even if it is not what I was going for.

The happiness is returning...?

Making silly faces can be helpful.

My girl in the top photo. ♥  One is looking good, the other not so much. We are getting to close though. 

To get to this:

There are my sweet kids. Thank you for the cute photo.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Extravaganza: Blue and Red

I am so loving the fabrics I used to make these two outfits for my daughter. They are just so fantastic! And she looks so cute in them.

Up first is the peasant dress with matching dark blue ruffle pants. The main part of the dress has little houses all ready for the winter on a blue background. I used some snowflake fabric on a red background for the accent pieces. 

The dress can be worn by itself, or with some leggings or tights, and even layered with a long sleeve tee underneath, or maybe even a sweater or cardigan for added warmth. The dress is a bit longer than I would like for the pants, but she'll be able to wear it for another year or two, hopefully.

I, of course, made my son matching ties. One with the houses and a red snowflake knot, and the other with just the snowflakes on red.

Here they are together sporting the different ties and hair bows. So many options to wear!

 Here is a closer look at the hair bows. A funky hair bow, and a regular hair bow/bow tie.

Which brings me to the next outfit for my daughter. The pattern is from Simplicity (1793). I've used it before to make two outfits for a friend's two girls. This time I used it to make one for my girl.

Stop the cuteness! Too much!. 

I shortened the top middle skirt piece a couple of inches, because the finished product seemed a bit too long for her. As she grows I can let it back out. I made the size 5 pattern for her and is not snug fitting at all. I added the zipper in on the side this time. I left it out on a friend's outfits because the girl's didn't need it. So my girl definitely has some growing room.

I used Dana's KID shorts pattern to make the pants.

The tie in the back is great for making sure you get the right length of straps for your child. The bow normally looks better, but I had washed this outfit already and hadn't ironed the ties at that point. She can also wear this top as a dress. There are so many options!

I turned the hair bow into a bow tie for my son by using the neckband from his ties and slipping the bow onto it. They all look so good on him. 

I happened to be shopping at the Dollar Tree for some easy Christmas gifts and found the cutest pair of knee socks. I turned them into leg warmers for my girl, and they happen to coordinate with the above outfits! Woohoo!

Peek-a-boo Santa. Found you! It's hard to tell close up that she has Santa leg warmers on, but if you are farther away from you can definitely see him. Santa is going down a chimney and waving. You can't quite see his hand.

The back of the socks have the back side of Santa. Love! If her boots were a bit shorter you see more of the chimney, but when these were socks the chimney bricks went all the way down to the toes.

They are just so awesomely cute! 

If you happen to see any more at the Dollar Tree would you pick up 2 or 3 more pairs for me? Thanks.

I am loving that there are so many options for these outfits: funky hair bow or regular, ties or bow tie, peasant dress with or without pants or layers, Simplicity top or dress, leggings, pants, Santa leg warmers... Mix and match!

All of the fabric came from JoAnn's except the dark blue ruffle pants which came from Hancock's Fabrics.

I did a Christmas photo shoot with the kids in the Simplicity outfit and the houses tie. It was the outfits I put together when I took them to see the mall Santa. They looked amazing. Post to come soon on that one.

Christmas Extravaganza: Red and Green

I dare you to sing this:
"Oh, Red and Green Christmas trees, and Green and White Striped Pants."
Catchy, huh?

Anyway.

Next up in my Christmas sewing extravaganza is, as the title says, lots of red and green.

This is a very festive outfit. Totally adorable.

I made my girl a A-line top from Dana's First Day pattern, and some ruffle pants using her KID shorts pattern.

She also has a matching hair bow and a green button for the closure.

I love the mini-ruffle on these pants!

A better view of the hair bow, and a closeup of my son's matching tie. I love that I made the red tree be the center for the knot. Handsome fellow.

This tie is the perfect length for him. Sometimes he even does some cute modeling for me. Thank you, son.

Another outfit coming up soon. :)

Christmas Extravaganza: Reindeer

I had seen this applique online (Pinterest, most likely) and thought, "Well, that would be easy enough for me to do." So I did.
It is just the cutest little red nosed reindeer.

My girl has a red nose, too. I found this blinky light up nose at JoAnn's and knew my kids would love playing with them. And they have.

This is a simple applique using fabrics I had on hand, and a couple of black buttons for eyes. The reindeer even has a hair bow.

The full effect.

I made my daughter some pants using minky fleece. I call them her snowball pants. They look so comfy on her. She likes that they are soft.

I also made a reindeer shirt for my son as well, sans hair bow of course. We just haven't done the photos for it yet.

They look adorable, even if it doesn't show. :)

Christmas Extravaganza: Colorful Snowflakes

Read the first Christmas Extravaganza post here.

This colorful snowflake fabric was just too adorable to pass up at JoAnn's. I made my girl a peasant dress with long sleeves and matching ruffle pants. She also has double hair bows (or use one as a bow tie for my son), and he has a matching tie.

The colors are much prettier than photoed.

Here's a truer photo showing the colors of the outfit.

The dress is on the long side, so she'll have years of growing room. I did have to shorten the sleeves though. 

I didn't get a photo of my son in the matching tie...yet, or in time for this post. You can and will see the other ties I made for him.

My little snowflake girl is ready for the holidays.

Christmas Extravaganza: Greetings

First up in my Christmas wear sewing extravaganza, (too much?),we have the Christmas greetings ensemble.

This fabric is so sweet. I made my girl double matching hair bows that can also double as a bow tie for my son. Ha!

So cute!

I made her ruffle pants from Dana's KID shorts pattern, and an appliqued long sleeve matching tee.

She's just adorable in this.

I found a snowflake template by just doing a search and adding a bit to it to make it more unique, and to save me some tight angles for pivoting during sewing.

Of course the boy is not left out, he has a matching tie. You can find free tie patterns on Pinterest. I have several pinned to my Boy board. 

Looks good on him. I was running short on fabric to the tie ended up a bit shorter than I had intended, but it still works. 

Then, I made them take photos together. What an endeavor that always is. 

Christmas Sewing 2014

This is what I have been busy working on for my children.

Christmas wear, matching hair bows/bow ties, and ties.

Posts coming very soon!

I heart denim

I got this super cute heart bottom weight fabric from JoAnn's. I had my husband's grandmother do some embroidering for me for this outfit. She actually did it over the summer when I was doing the back packs for the kids and shorts for the boy.

I did matching short sleeve and long sleeve tees to go with the ruffle pants, which also have her initials on it. :)

They are super cute. I love 'em.

She looks great in it. Can't wait for her to wear it some more.


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P.S. Christmas sewing posts coming shortly. Get excited!