have a lovely easter!

April 7, 2012April 8, 201211 Comments

wishing you and your family a wonderful weekend. i hope your days are full of hugs, sunshine, and great food (even if you don’t celebrate easter, it’s a great excuse to have brunch! mmmmmm….brunch).

we’ve actually got two birthdays to celebrate as well as easter! pretty sure both kids will get a big kick out of easter egg hunting this year, given that everything round is a “BALL!” to O and he likes to collect them everywhere he goes.

O’s vintage shirt is from stacy’s shop. Em’s sunbeam dress is based on the 3T version of Rae’s itty bitty baby dress, made in shot cotton with a circle skirt (using Dana’s tutorial).

i’m working on a tutorial for the pieced bodice and skirt, a technique you can incorporate into many different patterns! it’s actually the same method i used for my flapper dress, if anyone has wanted to know how i did that. i hope to have more about this dress and the tutorial up next week.

fingers crossed that the rain stays away and the sun keeps shining! if not, we’ve got our own little sunshine right here. 😀

sheet as top

April 3, 2012April 13, 201237 Comments

drunk off the success of my first wiksten tank, i decided to remix it! honestly, i’d been waiting for a great-fitting base pattern that i could work with to create something new, so this was a really fun challenge.

i drafted elbow length sleeves (holy cow, full grown women sleeves look GINORMOUS when you’re not used to sewing anything larger than a 3T!) and gathered them at the top for a little puff. then i created the bow collar by cutting a really really long, 5″ wide strip. i folded it in half and sewed around all edges, leaving enough open in the center to fit around the raw neckline of the tank. i turned the tube right side out, finished just the chest area of the neckline with bias, sewed the open part of the collar on around the rest, then topstitched it in place.

so this is kind of funny – my grandma always used to wear bow collared shirts to family Christmas parties. that’s my point of reference for these things, and until i saw THIS beauty by sophie, i was never really interested in wearing one myself. once i saw hers, though, i wanted to try making one. as i cut it out, i had no idea whether it would actually work or not, and it made me so anxious while i was sewing! was i wasting my time with a flop, or would it turn out? i think it turned out! 🙂

after i tried it on, i decided i wanted it a bit more fitted, so i pinched some fabric at my mid back, then just sewed it down on the inside. i’m going full blown romance with this shirt – puff sleeves, big bow, floral, and a sort of peplum back!

i shortened the front by a couple inches and i wish i’d done that in the back too, for the sole reason that it peeks out from under my jacket when i wear it to work. and i have worn it to work! it feels so subversive when i do, because it’s actually a vintage bed sheet! OH YES! this sucker was $4 at goodwill, and i’ve already made a toddler dress, skirt, and a sash for myself out of it. pret-ty good. and i would be remiss if i didn’t show you our mother and daughter matching vintage sheet garments in the same shot, so behold:

it only felt dorky once i took my jacket off. 😉

whole cloth floral vintage sheet quilt

March 9, 2012March 19, 201231 Comments

i’d been jonesing to make a quilt and was seeing some really cool whole cloth quilts pop up lately (like this and this and this), which made it seem even more attainable in the short term! then our friends had a new baby girl, H, causing my “i wanna make a quilt” feeling to quickly bubble over. also, i just really, really wanted to sew with this lovely vintage sheet i thrifted months ago. it’s so soft.

the backing is denyse schmidt scallop stripe in rose.

i did the ol’ machine stitch the front side, handstitch the back side method for the binding, which is a mustard-y kona cotton but i’m not sure which. the finished size is 36″ x 45″ (i just used a package of craft size batting). perfect size to wrap a small person in.

i actually thought up, started, and finished this quilt the same day, working during naptimes and finishing the binding after bedtime. it’s that quick! this is only my fourth quilt and only my second with batting, so i’d say whole cloth is the way to go for a beginner. so easy, but you learn all the steps. i loved the scallop shape of the back, so i mimicked it in my quilting. i used a dinner plate to create the shape, and laid a big measuring stick across the quilt to keep them straight. (PHONE PHOTO ALERT!)

i made little marks on each side of the plate with my water soluble pen once i knew how big i wanted the scallops, then traced around the plate, repeating until i had my quilting pattern. the scallop rows are about 6″ apart.

i quilted it with a walking foot, pivoting at the corners. i also added a pink appliqued H, so she knows it’s hers. 🙂

once the quilt photo sesh was done, Em wanted to take some pictures with my camera, too. she was very interested in capturing the flowers and grass and our shadows. i think she did a pretty great job, wanna see? the shadow is me holding onto the camera strap for dear life in case she dropped it…