Dresses for the Girls

(Photo from Blake Collins)

I know Easter was a few months ago but I made dresses for the girls and wanted to share them here. We did not take good pictures of the girls in their dresses that day, but you can get the idea. I used a fun animal print fabric I picked up at JoAnn's for the main portion of both dresses. You may recognize the fabric from this blanket which is how I used the leftovers.

Dressing sisters in matching outfits goes back decades but since there is a four year age gap Sydney usually likes to have a little individuality. So I used a different color solid to complete each dress. Sydney picked out pink, of course, and Violet received green. I used the Ice Cream Dress pattern from Oliver + S. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. I did make a few small mistakes but I learned alot along the way. For example, I didn't secure the side seams of the dress well enough and now after a dozen washes Sydney's has begun to come unraveled. They both have enjoyed wearing them though and it makes me happy to see them.

An Irish Dress

Sydney is about to begin 1st grade. But while she was still in Kindergarten, her class did a performance of It's A Small World. The teachers asked each of the kids to dress in traditional clothes from a country of their choice. Sydney decided on Ireland so we went to work on an outfit a couple days before her performance. She loves getting dressed up for any reason so she was very pleased with the result. I think she looks adorable but the sewer in me see the things that could be better.

I just made a longer version of this skirt, with a little lace at the bottom instead of ribbon. Then I made her a quick little apron. I just cut out the shape I wanted, hemmed around all the edges and added a little tie. That gray striped fabric is from my mom's stash from when I was a little girl. Finally I made her a little vest. It was my first attempt at making a vest and I just went for it without a pattern so it is a little bit too small. We wanted to add some cording to lace the vest up so we were able to make it work though. To top off the outfit we braided her hair in a crown and added a few flowers.

Baby Quilt: Pink and Green

Some friends are expecting their first child any day now. Amy made all the bedding for their daughter so when it came time to make her a gift I knew just the colors and fabric to use.

The animal print on the back of the quilt is from the same line as the fabric she used for the bedding. For the front I just used fabrics I had in my stash. Some of the fabrics are from Anna Maria Horner, some are from Denyse Schmidt, and the rest I just picked up here and there and don't remember the names of. I used the same pattern as these quilts.

The binding I made from some leftover Kona solid. I really am enjoying sewing binding on by hand. It feels like a few moments of peace to create something beautiful.

A Simple Skirt

Sydney is very tall for her age. As her doctor told us at her recent check-up: "She's the size of an average 8 year old." Yep that's my girl...well her daddy's girl. I love her beautiful height but it does make buying clothes for her a little tricky sometimes. Especially since most skirts for little girls are getting shorter and shorter these days. And while I'm tempted to go on and on about my frustrations with that I'll continue on to a lighter note.

After some searching for skirts she could wear to school (they need to be mostly navy, light blue, white, and tan) and not finding much selection I decided to make her one. I made this little skirt for her a while back and she wore it quite a bit throughout the spring. It is perfect for her and makes everybody happy. Her school is happy with the colors, Mom and Dad are happy with the length, and Sydney is happy to have a unique skirt to wear to school and show off her individuality.

It is from the Lazy Days Skirt tutorial. It was so easy to follow and super simple. I will definitely be making more of these for the coming school year. The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner which I had in my stash and the ribbon is just a basic navy ribbon I picked up at JoAnn's.

New Pillows

I made these pillows a few months ago but just realized I haven't shared them here. The pattern is Anna Maria Horner's Love Emblem pattern. She also has a free pattern to make two different size quilts using the same pattern. They are beautiful. This was my first try with such a challenging pattern. All those different triangles and points and fitting it all together was a bit overwhelming. In the end, they didn't turn out perfect but I like them and learned so much in the process.

For these pillows I used her Folksy Flannels Collection along with some solid cream flannel I picked up at our local JoAnn's. It makes them very soft and snuggly. For the backs I just used some Kona solids. For the stuffing I mainly used the stuffing from the pillows we already had on the couch. This saved some money. Plus, we didn't need more pillows just different ones.

I like the idea of making new pillows every few months to give the room a fresh feeling. Hopefully I'll find some time to make up some new ones this fall. I also like trying new things and pillows are a good size for trying new patterns or techniques or color combinations. Do you have any favorite patterns for pillows?