Fashion, as defined by my 7 year old

Easter Saturday

In our house, holidays are all 2 days long, due to the fact that we have to spend it with my family one day and hubs family the next.  They don't live close enough for us to do it all in one day. And besides...mixing families doesn't always bode well.

I picked out these 4 coordinating Joel Dewberry fabrics from the Modern Meadow line.  I bought quite a bit of fabric to play with and I had in mind a cute, full twirly skirt with lots of panels. But my Gracie Girl had a different idea. And that girl has a mind of her own and I knew if I didn't make what she wanted, she would never wear it again.

{sigh}

So I made a simple 4 panel LONG skirt. No fun ribbon on the bottom. No flowers adorning the lower side panel (I made them. She wouldn't let me pin them on).  Wassup with the length?  Its so... modest.  And add the leggings to that. That's her new thing. Its so she doesn't have to sit like a lady. Or worry about those pesky undie sightings on the monkey bars.

I made a coordinating necklace top with the fabrics.
Which, of course, did not turn out as planned. Perhaps because I could only find vneck shirts at Old Navy. Or maybe it was because I was doing this 20 minutes before we left on Saturday. 

At least my boys don't groan when I dress them alike!

We had a very delightful Easter weekend, despite a few hiccups. Lots of egg hunts, food up to our eyeballs, too much candy (can one OD on malted milk balls?), and family, family, family.

DIY Curtains

I was so excited to make curtains for my kitchen. It took me forever and a day to pick out the "perfect" fabric, and I finally found it...Blossom, by Vicki Payne for Free Spirit. I got it from my local fabric shop that sells fun and funky stuff, Drawstring Studio. 

I love laying the fabric out and the sound of cutting it, as scared as I am of effing up.

I chose to sew it because there's just something about a perfect seam versus using hem tape.  It just looks professional and real.

I love the smell of my sewing machine when its loudly humming away.  I love when I get something right.

I do not, however, love when I screw up.  That hem tape would have come in handy.  Despite using a worksheet from a book on how to measure for curtains, they were the wrong length.  Crap crap crap.  Thankfully, we can fix the issue by moving down the rod.  And at the end, I can always yank out the bottom 4" hem and make it a bit smaller.

Repurposing cute outgrown shirts

A wonderful consignment shop 2 blocks from my house (yeah, like that doesn't get me in trouble. I like to see it as supporting the local economy) uses tshirts to make bags.  Last year, they taught my daughter's Daisy troop how to make them.  Since then, Norah's been obsessed with me turning her favorite shirts into bags.  I don't mind. It takes but 2 minutes if my sewing machine is out.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy and they are super cute!

Ta da! And a happy little girl who can cart around her "crap" in her former tshirts :)

Can you hear it?

Tesla, that is.
Yes it's only gettin' better, better every day, aha yeah!!
Does that age me?
That's the song that went through my head as I finished sewing on the tie on Ethan's shirt.  I was like, "I got this shiz down, baby! Imma figurin' it out! Yeah!"

We went to the cute baby's 1st birthday party today and so I made him those 3 shirts.

Sweet tweet

Last night, I made a cute and easy birdie applique to match the pants I blogged about here. Of course, it couldn't be easy peasy, right? Nope. My machine wigged out on me and I took it apart and then? Then I wigged out because I couldn't get it back together. I called it a night and figured I'd take it in in the morning and get a tune up while I was at it.  This morning, I had a renewed faith. I remembered that my fearless friend Sheila fixed her dryer recently. If she could do that? Then hells yeah...imma do this! And after some trial and error (and having to rip out all the stitches after having the tension wrong), I did it.
Birdie accomplished.
And yes - she's meant to look messy like this :)

I am working on some scrap, trying to get the satin stitch down pat (that's what its called, if I am remembering). Then I want a new machine, baby.

{tweet tweet}

Boden also has some super cute appliqued stuff that I am going to attempt to replicate for my girlie for this summer. Like these:

Now I need a silhouette so I can make my boys some rockin' shirts!!!

Git R' Dun!

Today is so bloody cold out and, if subzero temps are not bad enough (-10 anyone?), I have pinkeye. Fabulous.  So what better way to spend the day than staying in the house, sewing?? Yeah, I thought so too. 

I got a few things done...

A cute tie shirt for St. Paddy's Day for my Snoopy lovin' Elliott

A shamrock shirt made from St. Paddy's Hello Kitty fabric for my cat obsessed Norah

And another kitty fabric for the same sweet girl, but for Valentines Day. I also managed to get some more life out of a pair of jeans that she recently wore a hole in.

The other night while the boys were at their Pack meeting, I made this little thing w/ some scrap paper, my Cricut (the Storybook cartridge), and some $1 frames from Mike's...

...while Miss N worked on this canvas to hang over the hole on the wall where I am impatiently waiting for my TV to go (wasn't it supposed to be there in, oh, October?)

More Fun Appliques

Ahhh. The tie shirt. Cute. Fun. Don't attempt at 12:30 am. Look at this! Hot damn - its crooked! Once its appliqued on there, you're screwed, aren't you?? But that's not enough. I didn't notice that it was crooked until *after* I did the shoddiest job sewing it on. Wow. I am keeping it as a reminder of not to rush. Or sew at 12:30am.

At least the cute 'C' turned out ;)

Bathroom Facelift

Years ago, we redid the bathroom. When we bought this 1920's house, someone had already 'updated' the bathroom. Horribly, horribly updated it. There was this paneling on the wall. Only it wasn't a wood paneling. It was a metal, faux wood paneling.

It was glued the wall. And nailed. Fab. The tile that was under it wasn't ceramic tile, though. This photo does not do it justice. No... it was a peachy-colored metal tile.

I know y'all love that light fixture/medicine cabinet.

The husby tiled over the 'tile' and then we picked out a paint color to match the blue in the floor and I found a shower curtain from The Company Store to give the bathroom a pop of color.



Here in the city, if we really wanted to, we could talk to our neighbors through our houses. They're that close together. That's why I've always wanted curtains in the bathroom. In the summer, when the window is open and our neighbor is out in her driveway, I really don't like her being able to see me. Or vice versa. Since I was going to make curtains, I decided to change things up. It was time.

I found this fabulous organic cotton at a LFS, Drawstring Studio. Its Nancy Mims Free to Grow for Robert Kaufman. And I got it on sale on Cyber Monday!!


The grey rug on the floor matches the grey in the curtains. I went w/ a white shower curtain that will hopefully remain white and not covered with dirty handprints and toothpaste. And we did the walls in a really light grey that's in the same color family as the dark grey in the curtain & rug. I like the airy-feel of the room now!!!

What I've Made...

:: This and That ::

An advent calendar I've thought about for years, but never did. It was fun to make...don't know what was holding me back! I think when I took this photo, it wasn't adhered down or sprayed yet.

A ceramic flooring tile I mod-podged a photo of my beautiful nephew to, as a gift for my Aunt. Super duper easy and I now want to go tile crazy! We have a box of the white ones leftover and I want to cut out some cool designs on the Cricut and make some coasters.

Pillows for the chillins for the den. Nuthin' fussy, just simple and straightforward and cheap flannel.

What I've Made...

Appliques!

Alyson of Eisley Rae made these adorable ruffle pants for Miss N. She was so kind and sent me some scraps and I made this Christmas tree shirt to match. It was my first time using a fusible web. I used Wonder Under, following some instructions on Crap I've Made. I was super frustrated, but it turned out. And I have enough fabric left to make another matching non-Christmas shirt.

This was my second experience with Wonder Under and woah...it went so much easier. Like riding a bike!! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And I just adore this red fabric that I got from Drawstring Studio.

I have some more adorable appliques planned. Some for boys, some for girls. I can't wait!

What I've Made...

Skirts!
This one is my first skirt. My first piece I ever made with a machine. My first pattern. And I have to say... I am proud. It wasn't easy and I did well. Its not something I'd pick out in a store, but I do like it.

A Halloween skirt I made for Miss N.

Miss N's cute owl skirt

I adore this fabric. Natch, another piece for Miss N.

There were a few others I did for Miss N, but they are non-descript and basic skirts like this :) Now I need to graduate to fancier skirts. Fun!