Inspiration - Fairies

 

This sweet little green glitter fairy is neither pin nor ink, but she will be the inspiration for many projects in both genres over the next 8 weeks!  As hard as it is to believe, my Lilah will turn 2 at the beginning of January and due to her dedication to a fascination with Tinker Bell, I have decided to have a Tinker Bell/Fairy/Woodland Fantasy birthday party.  I'm knee deep in ideas about pixie dust and enchanted forrests and I couldn't be happier.  My husband, on the other hand, is a little irritated that she doesn't have an unhealthy attachment to Spiderman.  I assured him there is still time, but that I'm afraid she's going to be a little prissy girl and all his efforts to make her otherwise may go unappreciated.

So send any ideas you have to make my Lilah's fairy/woodland/sparkly/floral fantasy dreams come true!  I'm currently cooking up some ideas for invites, though I doubt they'll top her first birthday invites, that were fashioned after Elvis' 1970's jumpsuits...

I have one day got to learn a lesson about setting the bar so high...

Curious!

I have a sweet friend who I have been meaning to make something for since forever.  I have a million project ideas for her and her kids, but this is the project that I was finally able to sit down long enough to complete in a timely manner (aka before anyone grew out of their gift.)

How cute is this Curious George set?  Another dear friend gifted me this leftover fabric when she was cleaning out her stash.  I have been hanging onto it forever, and it wasn't until my own daughter developed an unhealthy love for Curious George that I realized I had to do something with it.  And what better than this little simple "pillowcase dress?"  I used Simplicity Pattern 2383 and let me tell you:  This is the pattern to have, people.  Two pattern pieces if you go super simple.  Three if you get all "wild and crazy."  I am going to be making so many of these that you are going to get sick and tired of seeing them.  But just try not to make them!  That's how easy they are.  They practically make themselves!

But back to the George fabric.   I wanted to have the three kids (two girls and a boy) have something matching but not TOO matchy matchy.  So I decided that red would be the tie together for all the pieces!

I started first with the 4-year-old's dress.  Big print, because she's a big girl!

Next was the 2-year-old's dress.  A smaller print but with the same red accents as big sister's dress!

 

Finally was a little something for baby brother.  I just picked a fun picture from the biggest print to make him a little applique long sleeve onesie.  I really wanted a  red onesie or shirt to match the accents on the sister's dresses, but every red shirt in an infant size had something "special" on it already!  Boo!  But I think this turned out really great!

 

 And of course, my sweet little lover of Curious George also got a dress to wear.

 She calls it her "Georgie Dress."  Sweet girl.  I switched out the contrast red for a sweet little yellow dotted cotton with a yellow ribbon that features white stitching accents.  I love yellow, but I can't wear it, so I'm so glad that I have a sweet little one who can wear it on my behalf!

One of the best things about this type of dress is that it's a dress now, over a long sleeve shirt.  It's a dress in the summer over a short sleeve or alone.  And eventually, it's a little top.  This thing will last for YEARS!

Sew Busy!

With Halloween finally here, I have a quick break between now and the rest of the 90 million things I'm sewing before Christmas to update what's been going on around here.

I only sewed two things for Halloween this year, but it took the majority of the week and a half leading up to this past Friday to get everything finished.  Sounds last minute, but I was honestly just glad not to be hurriedly sewing on Saturday afternoon to finish the girl's costume.

So what did I come up with?  First was this adoraBOOle pillowcase dress I saw over at Sugar Bee.

The only way this could have been easier would be if you painted the face on with fabric paint rather than sewing it as applique.

I taught her to say "Boo" to everyone when they asked what a ghost says.  She was so cute!  She got compliments everywhere we went on Friday!

For her costume, I figured that - since she's a super opinionated 21-month-old - this would be my last year to have a say in the costume choice.  So I decided to dress her as one of my childhood favorites:  Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

I used Simplicity Pattern 4024

 

I think it turned out very picture-like, don't you?

 The only trouble I had was in getting my STUPID basting stitch to work; the bobbin stitch was looped so huge that the gathers fell out of the neck as I stitched the band on, and I was NOT taking that neck band off to possibly have the same problem happen again.  So it was a little funny looking in front, but I kind of felt like no one was going to notice but me.  I love it when I'm right.

Here is little miss Too Cool for Halloween in her "Dorty Dress" and "Sbockly Shews."  (Please note the upside down sunglasses.  She put them on herself.) Unfortunately, although I have watched the Wizard of Oz movie with her, she only knows Dorothy as Elmo's goldfish friend, and probably wonders when she's going to see that fish in a blue gingham dress.

In all, a very successful Halloween sewing season.  But I'm nowhere near finished yet.  I have so many projects to do in the next six weeks that I wonder if I'm going to have to start taking crystal meth to finish it all.  I hope not, though, because I really like my teeth.

Stop to smell the flowers

So the day finally arrived where I got to showcase my "handiwork" as it were with my daughter's flowergirl dress!  The bride's aunt made the sash with the rosette; she is a seamstress by trade and expressed a desire to have control over that element, and since I was worried that I would even get my zipper to stay put, I was more than happy to hand over that little element of the project!  I think the final collaboration turned out aces!!
 

Don't you just love her rosette crown?

 She was - without a doubt - the hit of the wedding party.  The bride looked like a supermodel who walked straight out of Bride's Magazine, but she said everyone's first comments to her at the reception were, "You sure do win the prize for having the cutest flower girl ever!"

I am BEYOND tickled.  I mean, Lilah is my best craft yet, so for people to enjoy her as much as I do is awesome!

The whole ensemble

This isn't the best photo, but you can see the whole dress and shoes together.  The slippers worked PERFECTLY.  I'm sure she was the most comfortable guest at the wedding.

In all, making the dress was relatively easy.  The pattern was very simple.  The directions were easy to follow.  The fabric wasn't as hard to work with as I had feared.  But the zipper...

I'm going to need a zipper insertion intervention.