Grrrr...

So, I was all excited about the shirring, right until the moment that I tried it on M, and realized I had cut off too much fabric before starting to shir it. It will go on her, but it's clearly much too tight. Then I was frustrated, and I really haven't been in a sewing mood lately. Plus it's much harder for me to do much in the summertime, with the girls both home all the time.

But the girls have been needing sun hats, and I finally got interested in making some. Last year I more or less made up the patterns that I used, but I decided it would be easier to use a pattern that I already had. Got all the pieces cut out and interfaced, which actually took quite a while. Today I started sewing the first one together, which was a huge pain, actually. (And all I did was attach the top to the crown! But it was super annoying to put together.) So, I took that piece after it was all sewn together, and apparently my children have big heads or something, because it doesn't remotely fit. It should be the right size, but apparently it's not. ARGH!!! So now I have all these hat pieces cut out, and I can't use them. I'm super annoyed right now!!

Woo-hoo!

I don't normally post work in progress pictures, but I'm very excited about this. Look what I finally figured out:
Shirring!

I tried it a couple of times last summer, or maybe even the summer before, but I never could get it to work correctly. I have no idea what I was doing wrong, but the fabric just wouldn't gather. But M loves the shirred sundresses, and the pre done fabric is super expensive, so I decided to give it another try. I read a bunch of tutorials, and this time it worked! Of course, the first attempts were so long ago now that I don't actually know what I did differently. Oh well, I'm just glad I don't have to pay $17.99 a yard! (Well, minus 40%. I refuse to pay full price for it.) Plus I have so much cute fabric already - this gives me another way to use some of it!

Under the Sea

A's birthday party theme this year was "Under the Sea". As it turned out, the theme was only VERY loosely followed - usually I make a thematic cake, but this year she wanted the kids to decorate their own cupcakes. So the decorations were about it, really. However, I did have to make the girls their own under the sea dresses (which I figured could do double-duty as Seaworld outfits this summer). I had found a cute, comfy knit dress pattern in one of my Burda magazines a while back, but I hadn't been able to decide what fabric to use with it. Eventually, I came up with a plan: use one color for the dress, another for the ruffles and ribbing, and to do a sea related applique. It turned out a lot more 80s than I'd really planned - good thing that's kind of in style at the moment! ;)

I ended up going with the girls favorite colors - blue for A and yellow for M, and I just did them opposing so that they could coordinate. My original plan was actually slightly different colors (and maybe would've been a wee bit less 80s, although I think the ribbing is the problem! Next time I'll just be using the coverstitch machine, I think....) However, there was some confusion about the price of the knits at Hancocks, which was maybe just as well, since I ended up with the girls' favorites.

I'm pleased with the appliques - these were more complicated than anything I've done before, and they worked out pretty well:

An orca for M, who loves whales:
And a dolphin for A - her favorite sea animal:

I'm all into the idea of applique at the moment - I wouldn't be surprised if more shows up on these pages, lol!

Oh, and I showed the girls their Goofy outfits from a few posts back, and the very first thing A said was "Those look like jammies." And darn it if she isn't right! Now I can't even look at them without thinking that! So... I had the girls use the shorts for under these dresses, as they're the same blue, and I'll be finding something else to wear on the bottom of the Goofy outfit. The tops are just t-shirts, so I figure that's fine - it's really the combination with the shorts that looks so much like pajamas. I thought it was pretty funny, though - my first reaction was more or less"Hmmph!", and then I thought gosh, she's so right. Hee-hee.

Anyway, it was good day - everyone had fun at the party, and the girls like their dresses. And now I'm off to collapse! :)

Seven!

I'm pretty sure I say this every year, but when did this baby:
turn into this great big SEVEN year old girl:

Today, that's when! Happy Birthday to my sweet girl! My first baby - she loves frogs and the color blue; swims like a fish; constantly fills up paper with her imaginative drawing and writing; is sweet to her sister (but definitely thinks she's in charge!); likes to wear dresses while she's climbing trees, riding bikes and splashing in puddles; is quite an athlete, but can spend hours on complicated (often inexplicable) imaginary play with M; and is sweet, loving, funny, and the best big girl I can imagine having. I love you, baby!

Hiya, Mickey!

The girls were on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse kick a while back, and apparently in the course of this, they decided Goofy was their favorite character. So, while we're in Orlando, we're going to have breakfast with Goofy. (And I think Donald and Minnie, too, but Goofy's the one I'm sure will be there.) Anyway, I figured they needed Goofy outfits, so I made these:


The shorts are a Burda pattern I picked up a while ago. I like the pockets, but they ride really low - I think I'm going to have to adjust the rise a bit. Plus I broke two needles making them - one on each pair - so that's definitely not a plus for this pattern! My girls love pockets, though, so we'll see. They were quite easy to sew up, at least, aside from the needle breakage.

Then I made matching shirts and used freezer paper stencils for Goofy:
For some reason I'm a little surprised he actually worked - I really don't know why. Maybe because it was rather complicated to cut out. Anyway, they'll be all set for breakfast now. :)

You can fly, you can fly, you can fly....

Here are the girls in their Tinkerbell shirts and matching shorts:

The presmocked fabric is totally cheating, but they're awfully cute! And M loves this kind of smocked top - she wears the one we bought in Hawaii all the time.