The end is in sight!

My sweet darling's Feliz dress is almost finished! After much debate and a couple fittings I decided to make the straps adjustable after all. Everything is finished except for sewing the button holes and buttons. I'm only waiting for a final fitting (probably tomorrow) to determine placement for the button holes. I think I'll only sew holes for a correct fit for now and add others when it becomes necessary. (Cute white onesie is courtesy of Old Navy.)

Front

Back

Feliz Update

I know I've been a while without posting and after much deliberation and a few changes I finally have  something to share. I apologize for the poor quality photos... these are the preliminary quick cell phone pics. (My cell phone is nearly obsolete and the tech guys that keep repairing it for me at the Sprint store have repeatedly suggested I use my upgrade. I've been eligible for quite a while, but I just can't commit to a new one yet.) I'll post better photos when the dress is completed. 

Front

Back

This is the Feliz dress I have in the works for the toddler. I am soooooo excited to see her wearing it! Obviously there were some changes to my original plan. I couldn't find another fabric I liked to coordinate with the princess prints, but I had this absolutely luxurious purple fabric in my stash.  It's from Kate Spain's Good Fortune line. (I LOOOOOVE Kate Spain's fabrics!) I tried adding buttons to the back, but I didn't care for the tabs I constructed and decided to skip it after all. I am also going to attach the shoulder straps per the pattern instructions rather than try and make them adjustable. Maybe I'll try that next time, but for now since I have my model handy I'll just attach them to fit. I typically add a flower clip to the front, but with this print... we'll see. 

I'm hoping she will wear this for Easter, but it is so true to size that by making the size up it may be too large for her to wear just yet. I ordered cute little white Laura Ashley sandals to match it from Amazon. 

Aren't they adorable? The fit is perfect. She'll wear these with her Feliz or she'll wear them with my backup number that awaits in her closet.... a cute, white, drop-waisted eyelet dress from the Gap. 

Now it's time for me to turn in... maybe tomorrow I'll finish??? Until then...

Mommydom

I should have been in bed hours ago, but this is what a cold, subsequent nap while the kiddo was down, and caffeine do to me... 

Since my brain won't shut off and I've already spent entirely too much time on Pinterest I decided to tour my house and pick up the messes of the day. I loaded the dishwasher, threw spaghettied bibs in the wash, picked up toys, discovered hidden sippy cups, reconfigured the dishwasher arrangement to allow for more junk, and found this. It made me smile.

Quilting, Building, and Clever Inventions

It is heart-warming and beautiful to witness a child's eyes light up when she discovers something new and brilliant in our world. It tickles my soul to watch my daughter point out the window to the neighbor's dog on his walk and say, "Dog. Woof!" and to see her proudly wave and vocalize "Bye, bye!" to her friends for the first time. Likewise, I secretly get the warm fuzzies as I outwardly roll my eyes at my engineering-minded husband when he turns to me, his eyes sparkling with the same kind of innocent excitement as my toddler's, while he reads and shares the "ingenious" inventions from his Lehman's catalog.

Hubbie has been busy today. While we women were getting our quilting on (more about that in a minute) he was working in the garage building the toddler a play kitchen from Ana White's plans. If you haven't checked out her site, you are quite simply missing out. Here's what Hubbie's built so far: 

These are to be the sink and the oven, respectively. Those extra boards are parts for the refrigerator. This is his first woodworking project probably since high school shop class and he's using his new power tools from my Dad and/or purchased with Christmas gift cards... so thank you, parentals! Hubbie is very excited to finally have time and space for a hobby!

I especially love and am inspired by this kitchen from Blue Eyed Yonder and this one by Kristen at the Crafting Chicks... although... I just saw this one from Cat Moore and nearly flipped for that farmhouse sink! Not sure yet how I'm going to pull this one off, but somehow I must convince Hubbie he can tweak the existing sink a bit and come up with something similar.

The knobs and sink aprons on all three are adorable! That robin's eggy blue has been a favorite color of mine for months! I think we will end up painting the toddler's kitchen white/cream because her bedroom walls are already a similar bluish-greenish color, but we'll see.... I could always keep her kitchen downstairs in the "playroom".... ;) ;) (We make "good" use of our formal dining room.)

I put the toddler's Feliz dress on hold after an uninspiring trip to JoAnn's for coordinating fabric. However, I (of course) could not leave empty-handed. While we were there I saw this adorable welcome sign and had to have it for spring. Yes, I know I could probably make it myself, but it was so cute and on sale plus an additional 20% off sooooooo.....

I feel I am justified in leaving our snowman sign on the door until all the snow if finally melted, but soon.... hopefully VERY soon, he will get to hibernate for a good loooooong while.

He was a gift from a sweet friend and his playful, springy legs and knobby smile make me grin. 

I know many of my friends would like to learn to sew. My first project was pretty rough. I did it all on my own and I really didn't have a clue! I didn't research the way I should have, my friends/family with skills were all far far away, and I was in a crunch for time. This was my first project:

It looks good in a picture, from a distance, but I sewed the entire thing without putting the presser foot down. It held together for the costume party and unbelievably is STILL holding on, but unless I someday decide to rip out and redo every wonky, loose seam it will never make it through the wash. The moral to this story is that I want my friends to have a better experience. I want them to have a first project they can truly be proud of... and be able to wash! 

I most enjoyed piecing quilts and I want to share this joy with my friends. It provides a great opportunity to learn some basic sewing terminology and have some practice "driving" a machine. I Pinterested for hours before finally settling on a few patterns/tutorials that I thought would be good for beginners-ish but fairly modern and fun. Out of this handful of choices my friends chose the Scrappy Lone Star Quilt. 

The Scrappy Lone Star Quilt by Janice at Better Off Threads is my current quilt-in-the-works. She put together an amazing easy-to-follow tutorial. You should also check out some of her other projects... sewwwww pretty! Anyway, her lone star is beautiful and I have a particularly soft spot in my heart for that navy blue and aqua dot fabric from Joel Dewberry because it is featured in my daughter's nursery.

I actually found Janice's tutorial after seeing a picture on Pinterest of Deb's Scrappy Lone Star Quilt. 

I am planning to quilt mine in a similar, modern fashion and I also chose the scrappier look in bright fabrics. The star looks so radiant with the simple, straight line quilting and I can finally put to good use part of this Kate Spain Terrain jelly roll I had tucked away in my stash. Here I have all but one of the strip sets cut.

(I'm saving the last one to use as an example for the 45 degree cut.)

I should have more up about this in a couple weeks. My friends and I try to get together and craft about once a month so until then I may have to actually get out and finish some of my works in progress! ;) ;) Here's a sneak peak of one of my buddy's color palettes... the aqua, orange, and yellow. I luuuuuuv her style. She has a great eye for color!

Until next time.... g'night!

'Tis the Season

Whew! It's only Wednesday and this week has already been a bugger! 'Tis the season for the sickies, snowing and sewing!

It actually all began Sunday morning around 4AM when my sweet toddler woke up hollering. (Backstory: About 2 weeks ago we tossed all the binkies.) I assumed my sweetie pie had just lost her pink bunny, our substitute for the hopefully forgotten binkies and mumbled to hubbie it was his turn. I waited. And waited. And waited some more. THEN the light turned on... NOT a good sign. I had to go check on them. Poor little one had thrown up all over her crib. Super Daddy was trying not to call for help, but he really should have because he needed it. The toddler had the yuckies smeared all along the right side of her hair.... new pajamas just doesn't fix that. Daddy took care of cleaning the room and I bathed my chickadee and got her dolled up in another new sleeper... which she promptly, ahem, dirtied again. That time she nailed me too. Once we were both changed, I let Daddy go back to bed because toddlers want their mamas when they're sick. After a failed attempt to go back to bed myself, I sat in the rocker with my sweetie for two more hours. We watched some of the Bubble Guppies and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood on my cell phone until she ran out of ammunition (which I deftly dodged) and then we all finally got some sleep. 

Monday night... you can guess what happened. I was working in the sewing room/office, tracing, adding seam allowance, and cutting out the pattern for a Feliz for my little one to wear this summer and I started feeling nauseous. Yep, it was my turn, only mine didn't last for 2-3 hours... it lasted for 10! After the inability to hold down even water subsided, I had a day of indomitable fever. It wasn't extreme... just miserable. 

And that nasty little bug... it got hubbie too.

Today was a day of rest, laundry, more rest, and lysol. After putting the toddler to bed tonight I was able to go down and finish cutting her Feliz pattern. I'm excited because I just ordered this fabric. 

These prints are from Alexander Henry's Once Upon a Time collection from Hawthorne Threads. I saw a dress created by one of my favorite children's clothing designers JK Heirloom in the blue color pathway. As her designs are originals that sell out quickly and this one was from months back, before I became familiar with her work, I can't see how I would be able to procure her dress for my little girl, but I do love the fabric. Actually, I love everything about that dress, but I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes. Now that I've found her AND figured out how to be notified of new features, I hope I can get the toddler one of her beauties in the future!

I decided to try out the princess fabric for my sweetie's Feliz, because what better print for a twirly princess dress than dancing princesses? I also chose the Natural palette. It is important to me that I not copy someone else's work so I made certain to use a completely different pattern and colorway. I also think the Natural palette will look great on my little one. I'm hoping to pull out some of the red or pink. My little darling looks adorable in reds and pinks. She has these big, beautiful sparkly dark eyes and chocolatey hair that looks so sweet next to these colors. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what I can find at the local fabric shops that coordinate. 

I want to make the straps adjustable. I almost tried it with the Aldo to Zippy dress, because I kept imagining it with big buttons, but truth to be told I chickened out. The only problem is, I'm not really seeing this print with buttons in the front and more importantly, the toddler is teething like crazy and I don't want her to chew one off and get choked. I'm thinking maybe hide the shoulder strap buttons in the back underneath so you can't see them? I'll have to alter the straps somewhat to accommodate, but it shouldn't be too hard. It's remembering how to use my button foot that's going to be tricky! Time to pull out the manual!

Making the shoulder straps adjustable is imperative for my girl to get the longest wear out of this dress. She has long arms and legs and grows out of things length-wise rather quickly. She's the type of kid you have to buy the pants with the adjustable waist. If you don't she either looks like she's ready for a flood or she's sagging like a teenage boy. Remember I mentioned I tried the Aldo to Zippy on her? It was definitely too big, but the worst part was the strap length. It bowled me over that she was even able to walk around in a size 5/6T! Since she's already wearing size 24 months to 2T I decided to make her a 3T so she can wear it this summer/fall. 

I DO want to put buttons down the back. I haven't done that before but it looks sooooo pretty I must try it. Maybe something sparkly? Hmmmm... we'll see. 

Before we're through here I have to give a HUGE thank you to my fantastic neighbor who plowed my driveway. As I lay in bed miserable, he was out there in the cold clearing multiple driveways on our street. We received 4-8" of snow overnight topped with freezing rain. If the toddler and I had an emergency and had to get out, I could have because of this wonderful man's generosity. I cannot put into words how grateful I am and how it eased my mind. Another thank you to one of my besties, Mrs. Rebecca, for dropping off provisions before the storm hit. We would have either been in big trouble without or infected half the county trekking to the store. 

Speaking of said bestie, I have to give Mrs. Rebecca a shout out because she is an incredibly talented chef/baker. We NEVER turn down an invitation to dinner at her house! Her passion is cakes and they are delicious! She is our go-to person for every event and made my daughter's smash cake/cupcakes for her first birthday celebration. You can find Rebecca's work at Sunset Creations. I cannot recommend her enough, especially if you have/concerned with food allergies. 

Now it's time to get some rest and hope the fabric arrives soon so I can begin designing! Eeek! :) 

The Feliz Party Dress... project COMPLETED!

I've been "working" on this project for months! A queen of procrastination, it typically takes me quite a while to complete a project unless I have a deadline. I have to let the ideas percolate and there are soooooooo many options when you're creating something new.

Here it is... the Feliz Party Dress by farbenmix. The pattern I used was included in the book, Sewing Clothes Kids Love (Langdon & Pollehn) and I followed farbenmix's tutorial in addition to reading the text's instructions. You can find that tutorial here.

The book, paraphrased by me, essentially describes this pattern as being perfect for fabric lovers because of its versatility in construction.... sooooo wonderfully true!

I used Jenn Ski's Aldo to Zippy for the overdress and a medium size polka dot from Riley Blake Designs for the underdress. Assorted trims are from Hobby Lobby. I typically purchase all my solid fabric as Kona cotton from JoAnn's using their coupons. The flower is a clip that can be used in the hair, on a headband, or attached to the shoulder as shown. I made it out of excess ruffle fabric from the back. If I remember correctly, it is Ann Kelle's Remix Black Chevron fabric. 

This is actually the second time I've worked this pattern. The first time I attached the ruffles without sewing a french seam. If you don't know what a french seam is (I had to look it up at first) you are essentially hiding the unfinished edge. The french seam looks so much better! I do not own a serger (yet), so to finish inside seams I typically just use a zigzag stitch that I fear has a tendency to fray with extended wear. I put a 1/4" hem in the bottom of each ruffle. 

Here is my first Feliz. I think for this one I actually folded the ruffle rather than hemming it. It looks pretty, but it is way too bulky and heavy for my taste. To gather the ruffle I set my machine to the longest stitch length, sewed without fixing the ends, and used the ol' pull and gather by hand method, trying to space the gathers as evenly as possible and being careful not to break my thread.

I used Ann Kelle's Urban Zoology for the overdress and the underdress was done in Kate Hennagir's Sweet Pea Dot for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The shoulder straps are in the same medium-size Riley Blake polka dot fabric. The bottom ribbon trim is Hello Kitty from JoAnn's and the pretty ruffled ribbon trim on top is from Hobby Lobby. 

Some notes about the Feliz.... the pattern does not include seam allowances, so you have to add that. I never want anything to be too small, so I allow myself plenty of fudge room. As a result, I cinched the underdress elastic pretty tight and added the elastic to the sashing for a better fit. Another note is that I finished my overdress completely before sewing it to the underdress and shoulder straps. That means my bottom hem/ruffle was complete and the back sides hemmed (as I didn't add buttons) before putting the two pieces together. 

I love this pattern as it is designed for lengthy wear. The sash can be tied tight and loosed as the child grows. This dress can even become a skirt for an older child by removing or tucking the shoulder straps.  

I don't have a ton of sewing experience period, and especially not with garment construction. I have only been sewing for about five years. In those five years I spent two in grad school taking a complete hiatus from sewing. I made these two in size 5/6 for a couple of sweet little friends, one of whom was out of state so I was unable to check for fit throughout construction. I began the dresses when both girls were wearing a size 4 and sized up because I knew it takes me FOREVER to finish a project. I do think they are a bit big for the girls now, but that's fine because it's January and they're predicting another big snow storm for next week.... the dresses should fit marvelously by the time it's warm enough for the girls to wear them. :)

Now it's time to make my own little punkin a Feliz! (I couldn't resist trying the one I just finished in the Aldo to Zippy print on her.... it was adorable! Of course it was super big on her, but she LOVED it! I wish I had taken a photo of her fingering the ruffles, twirling, and pointing to the animals! That also goes to show how adjustable it is, that my size 24 months daughter could move in it!) 

Bye for now and happy creating!

A little more than a grocery list

I spend most of my days all day every day at "home" with my one-year-old. I say at "home" because we get out... we go to the library, the park, the zoo, the mall... I just have the one little one, so we get around pretty easily. Life is good. No, not just good. Life is AWESOME. We are so blessed that I am able to be home with her and blessed that we have this precious, hilarious, ornery, adorable little person in our lives.

You're waiting for the but. Here goes...

We are so blessed BUT like many other women, and I know many other women feel this way because I read it all over the internet, I struggle with the fact that I am not working. Not using my degree (which we are still paying for by the way) to earn money/experience/social standing/personal achievement, whatever. Some days I get a little down because I realize my vocabulary has been reduced to simple sentences about blocks, pottying, and animals all day long.

I decided to do something about it. I love love LOVE all these fabulous inter web folks who share their talent, tutorials, and ideas! Intimidating? Yes, a little, but I have learned sooooo much from many remarkable women on the web. I decided to try to write my own blog. At minimum it will grant me the opportunity to practice writing on a higher level than the grocery list. At best I may be able to help someone else the way these women have taught and inspired me. In my experience, if you imagine you can create something beautiful... you can. It may take a couple tries and a million tutorials, but you can do it. The feeling of accomplishment is well worth the effort as are all the little unexpected things you learn along the way. So here it goes... let's see what we can create!