4th of July

The 4th of July dresses are done. I hadn't gotten around to doing anything about dresses until the beginning of the week, and A mentioned that she wanted one. I, however, didn't really want to go buy anything. (Amazing, huh? Usually I'll take any opportunity to buy fabric!) So, I dug around in my stash and came up with some red, white and blue knit. (The red was actually a failed shirt from my wrap around shirt attempts earlier this year that I cut up. It's good kids are smaller than me!) Then I got a vision of a tank dress, and made up a pattern for it, using a t-shirt pattern I already had to get the sizing (more or less) right. I think the next time I'll make the armholes a little smaller on M's, but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. M ran away from the camera this morning, so here's A alone:

(She was being kind of nutty, so it's not a great picture, but you get the idea.) They seem to like the dresses, although A's first response was "Why is it only stripes? I was thinking of something with more stars..." Hee, hee. I thought about stenciling some stars on, but honestly, it seemed like too much work. Plus I like them the way they are.

I actually managed to get a sewing project for myself done this week, too. I made a buttercup bag from Made by Rae. (I'm a bag addict, in case you haven't noticed. Iestyn is continually amused when a new bag shows up.) It's cute, but not really practical for me for everyday, given that it won't close when my normal wallet is inside. It'll be a good going out purse, though. And I'm using it right now even though I can't close it.

I changed a couple of things - mostly the strap, and I added a little interfacing (although I think I'd prefer more interfacing, actually.) I had some trouble with the pleating, but it was apparently user error, because it eventually worked the way it was supposed to. Oh, and I didn't follow the final assembly instructions, because I prefer doing it my usual way, and that worked fine. And I love the look of the original curved button flap thing, but my attempts to make a curved one all went really badly, so I went with straight edges. ;) Anyway, it's cute, and I love this fabric (Amy Butler, from Daisy Chain), so I'm pleased.

Uncrafty stuff ;)

We've been very busy with swimming since school got out, but last night was the last swim meet, so we're done! I'm really glad we did it - A had a blast, and she learned *so* much - she went from just barely doggy paddling to swimming full on backstroke and freestyle. I'm so proud of how she's worked! She really loved it, too. It's exhausting, though (just SO busy), so I'm glad we're done for this year. (A isn't, though - she told Iestyn the other day that she wished swim team was every day forever! I'm sure M is pleased she doesn't have to go to the pool every day and NOT swim anymore, though, lol.)

In other news, we just got a Roku box, and it's super cool. It's a little box that hooks up with Netflix to allow you to watch movies instantly on your TV. Not everything from Netflix is available for instant watching, but there's a bunch of stuff, and it's really nice to be able to just watch it on the TV rather than the computer. Plus the quality of the video was really quite good. I'm very taken with it, so I've been busily adding things to my instant queue. (Such a very random selection, but there are plenty of things that I want to watch.) This is vaguely craft-related, in that this will give me more to watch while I'm sewing, since all my shows are currently off for the summer! :)

The only actually crafty thing I've done lately is work on 4th of July dresses for the girl. They aren't done yet, though. Somehow summer has not been very productive for me, probably because I tend to find it hard to sew when the girls are running around. But I'll post the dresses when I finish them!

Quiet week(s)

This is a post of kind of old stuff. I managed to finish up the portfolio thingys for A's party, without much trouble, actually. There are a few changes I would make if I did them again (mostly with the spacing), but on the whole they turned out well. The kids seemed to like them fairly well.

I also made A her froggy cake:
And some froggy cupcakes (which were my favorites):

They remind me of Keropi. :)

The cake was a round cake with cupcake eyes and legs cut out of a sheet cake. (I think the leg pattern came from the Wilton site, and then I just enlarged it.) And the cupcakes have marshmallow eyes, which I saw somewhere online.

The party was fun - lots of splashing around in pools, etc. Unfortunately, I had started into a rather bad case of bronchitis (probably allergy related, possibly even asthma. Joy.) So I've been sick and not sewing anything lately. I'm finally mostly better, I think - still coughing some, but I feel okay - so hopefully I can return to my machine. I have a lot of things I want to make - now I just need some time and energy to actually make them!

I'm a nut.

Or possibly just a glutton for punishment, I'm not sure. ;)

The background: as previously mentioned, A's birthday is coming up this week, which means that A's birthday *party* is also coming right up. We tend to have pretty big parties around here - just at our house, and nothing crazy, but generally a bunch of kids are running around. Which means, at least in these parts, that I have to provide a bunch of "goody bags". I have sort of an aversion to goody bags, but my kids like them, so I provide them, more or less. The thing is, I know *I'm* neurotic about how much candy the girls have, so I don't want to give a ton of candy out at parties. And we have SO MANY little plastic toys, so I don't really want to give those out, either. And my kids are also convinced that no birthday party is complete without a pinata, so really, I do give out candy and little plastic crap already at the party, and I hate to add more with the goody bag. So. Generally I try to find something a little nicer (although still cheapish) and use that instead. Last year, we tie-dyed shirts at the party, and the kids took them home. One year we did bubble guns, and another year was Schleich animals. Or maybe that was with the shirts. They all blend together in my head at this point.

Anyway.... This year A's party has a frog theme. She has a great love of frogs. So I've been pondering the goody bag issue, without really having any fabulous ideas. Then we were at Joann's earlier in the week, and we found some cute frog fabric, and I bought a couple of yards with the idea that I could make something for the goody bags. Not actual bags, probably, because I wasn't sure how all the 6 year old boys who were coming would feel about that. After some thought, I had an idea! Little portfolio-things! Sort of like an older version of a crayon roll, with space for paper and pencils, maybe some scissors or a ruler. (I drew some inspiration from pictures of Craft Apple's patchfolio, although that's much fancier than I had in mind. Also, all the various crayon rolls and knitting needle holders floating around.)

Here's a sample of what I came up with - closed:

And open:


What fun, especially since A is very into art! Except that now I have to make up to 15 of them.... Gack! Actually, what's worse is that I really don't know how many I have to make, because I'm still waiting on SVPs. I'm working on them in an assembly line fashion. I've got 12 in progress (actually, 5 completed, yay!) And I have enough materials to make more if I need to. That's just going to have to do!

Despite feeling a little crazy, it's not actually that bad - kind of time-consuming, but I'd probably be sewing *something* during that time, so it's not such a big deal, really. But it would be much easier if I knew exactly how many to make!

Busy days

We've been awfully busy around here lately. My great big girl (who's turning SIX soon!) has had a bunch of stuff going on. She had her first (and last, I think) ballet recital this week. Here's a picture of her outfit:
She did a great job, as did the rest of the cast. (The Duluth School of Ballet puts on quite a production, I must say!) She's done with ballet, though (I think all she wanted to do was arabesque, and beginners don't do that sort of thing), and I can't really say I'm sorry. It's sort of a pain - lots of driving around - for something she wasn't all that interested in. We'll stick to other sports, I think.

Speaking of other sports, she also had her first (practice) swim meet this week. It started badly, with a (fairly legitimate) freakout over being asked to swim backstroke. (She'd never practiced it at all, so it's not so unreasonable not to want to do it, if you ask me.) But THEN, she swam freestyle, and not only did she go the entire way without touching the rope (for the first time ever, as far as I've seen), but she did it in 51 seconds! She was 6th out of 12! (Without ever putting her face in the water, lol!) She was really, really excited, and I was so proud of her. Especially since I've been kind of worried that she'd be dropped from the team for not swimming a whole lap. (The water has been extremely cold since they started practice, and that really hasn't been helping things at all.) I loved swim team as a kid, so I'm glad she's having fun. And she might even be swimming in a real meet with that time!

Oh, I think I mentioned her watermelon shorts and matching shirt in a previous post - here's a goofy yet sweet picture with M post-ballet recital:
And I have another outfit to show off - a white version of my Burda shirt, and a jean skirt that I quite like (another version of Simplicity 3881):
Very comfy. I'm working on another denim skirt - that seems to be a summer wardrobe staple for me this year. At some point I'll have some more tops to show off as well, but I probably should sew the kids a couple of dresses first. They're starting to complain... ;)

And a completely random note - we saw the Star Trek movie this evening, and it was awesome! I definitely recommend it!

I find it hard to believe that it's already June tomorrow. The calendar's pretty much full for the month, so I'm sure it'll fly by....

More stuff for me...

Well, I've been busily working away, but I don't have pictures of very much of my stuff. I made another one of those Burda tank tops in white. I made some super cute shorts with watermelon fabric for the girls, and A has a shirt to match (M's isn't made yet). I adapted the Favorite Things Little Smarty pants pattern (that I had previously made for M), and they fit better.

Then, I spent a whole lot of time drafting a pattern for a circle neck tank top. Since I have absolutely no pattern drafting experience, that took a considerable amount of trial and error and time. ;) I finally got something I like, and then I made it in white knit. I'm not entirely happy with the final product (I assembled it differently than my muslin, and I don't think it worked quite as well), but it's certainly wearable:
So I have a couple more of these in mind. It's quite comfy, which is nice, and I think I know how to fix my construction issues. Oh, and I made the skirt as well - the fabric was an impulse at Joann's, and I used Simplicity 3881 again, lengthened with a ruffle instead of a flounce. And I put the zipper in the side instead of the back. I like this skirt pattern a lot - it's versatile and flattering. I'm definitely making more of these - I've been in a skirt mood lately.

Oh, and if this picture is funny, I blame my 5 year old, who took it for me! :)

Hopefully I'll have some pictures of some of the other things at some point. And I have many more things waiting to be cut out and sewn. I think I might get some good sewing time in this weekend.

I've also been spending some time lately looking at blogs because Sew Mama Sew is having a May Giveaway Day. Tons of cool giveaways available - check it out if you have a chance!

Me, me, me

;) Apparently the me-centric sewing theme continues.... I've been in a mood to make myself things lately, and since the girls have a ton of clothes anyway, I've been doing that. This week I've made two tops and a dress (and miserably failed on another dress).

Oh, please ignore the weird angle of these pictures - I was using the timer on my camera, and I didn't really have a good spot to set it, so they're kind of angled up. Also, I ended up partly or all headless, lol.

During my last round of pattern shopping, I got Simplicity 2580, which I really like. It's meant to be dresses, but I used the pattern to make this shirt:
I used a knit that I'd gotten ages ago for a dress for A - it was really a bit thin for a dress, so I'd never used it. I thought it'd be good for making a muslin, although I actually quite like the way it turned out. It's cheerful and summery. The neckline is cut a bit low for everyday wear, to my mind, but it works just fine if you put a cami underneath. Next time I'll probably make the sleeves a little less fluttery, but they're fine this way, too.

Today I put together a dress from the same pattern:
(Okay, so it still needs to be hemmed, but I decided to go ahead and include it.) I like this version, too - I'm thinking I'll be making a top from this as well.

And then I also got this Burda pattern (7644) and made this tank top:
I didn't want to do the ruching, so I just cut off some of the bottom fabric. I cut it just a smidge too short, but it's cute and wearable. Of course it is; it's Burda. They actually fit me. I actually decided that my mother's day present this year is a subscription to Burda, so that should be coming to me sometime in the next couple of months. I'm psyched.

I'm also psyched because Stitch magazine finally came out with a new issue. I picked it up at the bookstore today, but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. I loved the last one, though, so I'm looking forward to it.

Both of these patterns are actually quite easy. I had a little trouble with the Burda one because I used the serger, and it took me a couple of tries to find a method of ruching the shoulders that worked well, but otherwise it's quite straightforward. Which is good, since their instructions don't always make much sense!

Unfortunately, I think I'm finally giving up on another dress that I was making. Long, long ago, I started to make Vogue 8182, only in knit (with a contrast band) rather than the original fabrics. So, I made it. Only it really looked amateurish around the bodice - I'd had to do a bunch of adjustments to the bodice, and it just didn't look great. So, I cut the bodice off to redo it. The second try was totally unsuccessful, because I messed it up. The third try was this week, and it just didn't work, either. I just can't get the bodice attached in a way that actually looks good. So, I thought I'd just make a slightly different bodice, which is a great idea in theory, but I went to Joann's today to get some more knit for the bodice, and it's all gone. :( I might try a different Joann's, but I'm not hopeful.

Oh, well, I'm happy with the rest of my efforts this week, so I guess I'll just stick with that! And at least my trip to Joann's wasn't all wasted - I picked up a bunch of crafts for the kids and I to do this summer, since school's out in 3 days!!