first ballet class: or, when i died from cute

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i went through a tomboy phase as a child.  my gradeschool years were spent playing lots of sports and avoiding dresses at all costs.  however, before i started soccer at the age of 7, i did ballet.  i loved ballet class, and i’m told i was pretty good (you know, for a 6 year old).  that’s me in the middle, smiling for the camera (circa 1988):

and playing games before it was time for my recital (it was my first time wearing makeup, i felt SO special):

i still get pretty excited about all things ballet.  and i’m not gonna lie, when we found out that em was going to be a girl, i believe one of my first thoughts was, “i can’t wait for her to be old enough for ballet class!”  it helps that she ended up loving ballet all on her own (my mom also took ballet in college and has been teaching her the five positions when she watches her on thursdays).

the magic age is three and she turned three in may, so i could finally sign her up for the pre-ballet/pre-tap summer session at a studio near our house.  last weekend, my mother-in-law and i took her to the dance store and got her real ballet and tap shoes, and a leotard.  i made her a shoe bag from dana’s hobo sack tutorial, because you can’t wear your dance shoes outside!

the shoe bag has a boxed bottom, so it stands up on its own and is the perfect size for both pairs of shoes.  the fabric is kinkame shades gradient cotton from fabric depot, with satin ribbon ties (like toe shoes!).  i added a little green ribbon tag to make it look “professional.”  🙂

her first class was this morning.  em did SO well during the class!  she wasn’t scared or nervous, she smiled often, she listened to the teacher, and did really well following the motions.  she actually added extra little ballerina touches to her moves (touching her fingertips together and going up on tiptoe whenever possible).  this was her first class of any kind, and it was really neat to see that she was totally ready to handle it all by herself.  the parents stayed on the other side of a one-way mirror, so she couldn’t even see me for reassurance.  i was so proud of my little girl!

oh also, if it’s not evident from the photos…my heart burst from cuteness.  watching eight tiny three-year-old girls do ballet and tap is pretty much the most adorable thing in the world.

a tale of two elephant hats

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we went to visit good out of town friends a couple weeks ago, and i noticed a few of their son M’s hats appeared to be getting a little small.  it had been a while since i sewed something for him, so i felt like he was due.  then they just so happened to have a wedding to attend in town this weekend, so i finished it up and presented it to him when they came over for a bit.

poor M was having a really rough time being away from home.   little mr. crankypants wasn’t too into a photoshoot, but i had to try anyway.

here’s how it went down.

M grabs O’s hat:

O grabs M’s hat:

M gets mad and throws his hat:

O gets two hats (and tries to eat one – not pictured):

i try for a photo of the polka dot side, M is not having it:

Em investigates the discarded polka dot hat (wearing her polka dot dress):

the end.  hopefully he’ll like it better when he’s wearing it at home.  🙂

deets:

fabric is the same daiwabo elephants as O’s hat and i had to get creative with cutting because i barely had any left.  O has gotten sooo much use out of his hat, wearing it almost every sunny day this summer, so elephants apparently go with everything!  for M’s, the reverse side is michael miller dumb dot gray – i had a fat quarter on hand.

the pattern is again the bucket hat from “little things to sew” by liesl gibson, size small 12-24 months (M is 13.5 months old).  it fit him well with some growing room.  it’s my third time sewing one of these bucket hats, and i really love it.  i think it does help to use a heavier fabric on one side – gives the hat some structure.

the end for reals.

picnic blanket for the sound

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happy fourth of july!

we were up on the puget sound this weekend with my husband’s extended family.  it’s a neat place to watch fireworks, because we look out over the water and can see various displays going off in all directions.

knowing we’d be watching the show (and betting that someone in our group would head to the rez nearby for a few “big guns” of our own), i made a picnic blanket.  i dreamed it up and decided to make it on monday, and finished it up on friday afternoon during naptime.

it’s 11″ x 11″ solid squares (kona charcoal, aqua, jade, and olive, plus a bella solid lighter green to coordinate with the olive), backed by an old urban outfitters tapestry that i had hanging on my apartment wall in college.  the tapestry gives it a nice weight, while still remaining soft to use as a warming blanket if need be.  i have a love of blue, green, and charcoal, and am usually restraining myself from using those colors for every project i make (case 1, case 2, case 3, case 4, case 5, case 6…shall i go on?).

and look, i serged the edge!  i FINALLY threaded the serger my husband got me for mother’s day last year.  it took me a half hour to figure out, but i’m glad i took time away from actual sewing to add this tool to my toolbox.  i love it!  i was just going to serge the edge to clean it up then add a proper quilt binding, but once i serged it, i decided i really liked the look and called it done.

here it is all laid out so you can really see the pattern – it was inspired by this one.  i quilted it 1/4″ from one side of each seam with a regular sewing foot (since it was only two layers, my walking foot wasn’t necessary).  someday i’ll make a non-square quilt (em’s quilt was patchwork squares, too), but this time i liked playing with color and value and kept it simple.

finished size is about 75″ x 75″ – plenty big to load up with cousins (five under eight) with room to spare…

we let em stay up super late for her first real fireworks show, and she was so much braver than i expected!  she’s normally a pretty cautious kid, but she was waving around sparklers and ooooing and aaahing at the fireworks like a champ.  O went to bed at his normal time and slept through the whole thing (good baby).

here is em and a sparkler, with my husband doing the ol’ long exposure trick on the camera…

and some fireworks right over our heads…it looked like glitter in the sky!

happy fourth!

bibs and bonnets

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i was so excited to try made by rae’s peekaboo baby bonnet pattern that i made this little number for my expectant friend rizeld a couple weeks ago, but i couldn’t post about it because her baby shower wasn’t until TODAY!  that’s what i get for being too efficient. ha!

i wanted buy a pattern from rae after getting so much use out of her free newborn baby pants one, and i’m so glad i did because it’s SO cute.  this was my first time sewing piping correctly!  i had tried when sewing O’s car seat cover canopy, but didn’t really get it and my mom finished it off for me (still blaming my lack of patience on the fact that i was 38 weeks pregnant).  this time, i got it.  and when i was done, even though i have a 6.5 month old baby boy, i got baby girl fever!  rae’s pattern should come with a warning: “THE NEWBORN – 3 MONTH SIZE WILL IMMEDIATELY CAUSE WOMEN TO WANT A GIRL BABY – SEW AT YOUR OWN RISK.”  i suppose i could make one in em’s size, but for some reason a tiny baby bonnet is so classic and adorable, and i don’t think a 3T bonnet would have quite the same “awwwww!” effect.

so anyway, i made it in the 0-3 month size so the baby could wear it this summer (she’s due in just 4 weeks).  the fabric is liberty of london for target floral, and kaffe fasset shot cotton, the same fabric combo that i used here.

i tried it on O, who has a 90th percentile head by the way, so this bonnet is probably two sizes too small.  poor guy.  modeling too-small girl hats.  hehehe.

then i sewed up a few bibs for the niñita, con un corazón y mariposas y flores (that’s about the extent of my retained high school spanish but rizeld is latina so i had to sprinkle in un poquito español, verdad?  okay, that’s it).

my own pattern again (loosely based on a store-bought bib).  i restrained myself from applique of the bottom one, so it could coordinate better with the bonnet for “fancy occasions.”  fabric is mostly from scraps.  from top: riley blake’s rainy days and mondays first used here, the fabric i don’t know because it was a fat quarter but first used here, and the liberty of london for target scarf.  appliques are kona cottons, all bibs are backed with pink minky and close with velcro.

i also made her a crinkle teether.  O still loves his and they’re such a great use of scraps, so it’ll probably be a go-to baby gift for me now.  again stuffed with a travel wipes wrapper, but this one is backed with pink minky.  heather bailey, anna maria horner, and amy butler all in one little square!

here’s the gift all together.  rizeld seemed to really like it – yay!  she has two sons already, so it was fun to go super girly (okay no ruffles or lace, but for me this is super girly).  it was pretty neat, there were quite a few seamstresses (sewers?) at the shower, and lots of handmade gifts were given for the baby girl.  i loved talking sewing machine brands, fabric stores, where to get that bonnet pattern, etc. with ladies a generation above me (but i always feel like such a newbie!).

 congratulations again rizeld, it was a fun and lovely shower!

giraffes in the jungle dress

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my sisters and our families had professional photos taken this weekend as a gift to our parents.  we were supposed to do it back in may for mother’s day, but had to postpone due to illness.  the reason i mention that is to show how much of a procrastinator i am, yet again!  even though i had over a month to prepare, i decided em didn’t have a suitable outfit just the evening before photos, and sewed this little sundress after bedtime.

i tried to think of a pattern that would be a clean, face-framing dress that was quick to sew (due to it being the last minute), and complemented the rest of the family (wearing mostly blue and green).  i decided on a print instead of a solid, to pop against plain backgrounds of the photo studio.  i’d been saving this really pretty fabric that i’d picked up at bolt months ago because em loves animals and i knew she’d get a kick out of the giraffes wearing scarves and ribbons, and a sprinkling of flowers.

the fabric is kayo horaguchi’s “hide and seek” in green.  it’s a soft and light double-gauze.  isn’t it fun?  i figured such a loud print would juxtapose nicely with a very simple dress design, so i used the free popover sundress pattern by oliver + s, which i’ve sewn three times before, here and here and here.  i cut it as a 3T most places, but the length of a 4T and made the dress a bit more a-line to the hem (from 3T at the armpits to 4T at the hem).  it fits just right, which was a surprise since em is pretty short for a 3 year old.  the green is kona grass.  i made the ties extra long to make them sort of “vine-like.”

i have a completed sewing project that i can’t show yet because it’s a baby shower gift (and it’s KILLING me because it’s SO cute!), but those in the sewing-blog know may guess what it could be when i say i’ve recently learned how to sew piping.  wink!

the studio photos turned out well, and i’m sure this dress will get lots of wears over the summer since it’s so lightweight and fun.  and because em was in a silly mood, one more photo…this kid cracks me up!