Huddle Up.

I'd be struck dead by lightning if I told you fine people that I am a big football fan.  I generally consider myself fortunate to know in which direction everyone is supposed to be running.  And even then they change that up on me in the middle of the game.

Rude.

Even tailgating - which one would assume I would be a master at given my propensity to plan parties, bake too many baked goods and drink - is only fun for me in small doses...those doses being between October 1st and November 14 - so that I neither have to be too hot or too cold - and only if I'm close by to a really for real potty - because I really, really, really hate port-a-potties.

But I do love the idea of football.

I think for me the big problem was that my love of high school football games - the socializing, the cheese nachos, knowing people on the team in real life - didn't translate when I went to college.  I mean, when I went to college, I knew a couple of people in the band and I knew everyone was very excited about football games, but I just never...got into it.  I tried.  But I didn't understand.  I never really learned the rules or nuances of the sport.  The crowds were intimidating...I could go on, but I'll spare you.  Plus, I didn't grow up in a sports-watching household.  I mean, not sports that use balls as the main form of entertainment.  There was plenty of Roland Martin's Outdoors on Saturdays, but that was about it for sporting.

I think I'm more excited about football now because I have a daughter, and I want her to be well-rounded.  Her dad loves college football and I want her to share that with him.  I want her to learn to make awesome tailgate foods and dress in team-appropriate colors and know far more about what's going on in the game than I ever have.  *Not that it's too late to learn my own self, I just have to find someone who is willing to field my endless questions about the action on the field.*  But mostly I think having a child changes things because I can dress her in game day appropriate clothing and it's cute, not cliche.

Things like this:

Now, these little dresses are to celebrate some tigers around these parts, but I have ideas for so many other schools with which I am locally and personally affiliated!  Imagine a purple gingham with purple border, monogram or name on the chest and this guy on the hem for Furman:

Or how about a black gingham dress with garnet border and "Go Cocks!" embroidered on the hem for Carolina fans?

Or, my personal favorite (which Lilah will soon enough be sporting):  Black and white houndstooth with crimson border and an elephant on the hem for my own alma mater, The University of Alabama!!!

The best thing about this style of dress is that you order one for your little one now and she can wear it for YEARS.  She can wear it as is in the heat of the first games and over a long-sleeve turtleneck or t-shirt with a cute pair of leggings, it's perfect when the autumn chill sets in.

And some of these ideas can be translated into little boy's wear, too!

How about a football alphabet t-shirt for your pint-sized quarterback?

Or a regular football with the battle cry of your favorite team!

The possibilities are endless.

So get ready for kick-off by visiting the etsy shop for your football fashions!  Got a special request, or want something for yourself?  Shoot me an email and let's make something fun happen!

These are a few of my favorite things

So, I'm sure you'd never guess that as a child I ADORED back to school shopping because it meant supplies.  Papers, pens, folders, notebooks, crayons, backpacks...I think if someone had just locked me up in an Office Depot, I'd have been happy for years.

Who am I kidding, that is still true.

Plus, "back to school" meant shopping for new clothes (whether you actually needed them or not) and so it was always nice to get a few new, "special" pieces to wear when the school year started.  Now, these were almost always Fall or Winter items, because as you know, "back to school" traditionally started after Labor Day and they didn't really ever change that when "back to school" started happening earlier and earlier, seeing children bounce off in the un-airconditioned yellow school busses when it was still hitting 100 most days of the week.

Did that stop me from wearing my new, "special" pieces to school?

No.

I was the damn fool walking around in a SUPERCUTE sweater and jeans when it was still heatstroke degrees outside.

*sigh*

So imagine my glee when my favorite applique shop put up some of their new "back to school" designs this week and I saw things like this:

And this:

You can WEAR your dang school supplies!!!!

I know school starts soon for most of y'all, but if you're looking for something cute for your little ones to start the year, let me know!   We can even do short sleeves so that your kids don't have to suffer the heatstroke that I did when I was stupid young.

Lilah's not in school proper, but I think she NEEDS a crayon shirt with matching ruffly skirt.

Don't you?

Fast-Forward

Maybe it's just the 100+ degree days, but something lately has me daydreaming about fall.  The smell of mums that remind me of homecoming and snuggling under blankets with 15 of your closest friends to keep from freezing at the football game.  Opening the door and getting a crisp reception from the air rather than the too-friendly greetings of humid summer.  Marshmallows cooked to just almost burnt over a pit fire.  Rusts and golds and fire reds decorating the trees that signal the growing season has come to a close.

Ah, Fall.

I thought of all those things today as I made this little pillowcase dress for Lilah.

I know that butterflies are typically associated with summer, but the colors of this fabric absolutely beg for fall complements, so when I chose the thread for her monogram, the idea of this being something she could wear into Fall became set.

Doesn't that orange just make you want to go sit at a high school football game with a styrofoam cup of crappy concession stand hot chocolate?

It's perfect for now to wear alone, but paired with a long-sleeved golden shirt in the fall, she's all set to get her burnt marshmallow on.

And if daydreaming of Fall sounds pretty good to you right now as you swelter in the 90+ degrees at 9:30PM weather, you're in luck:  I've got just enough of this awesome butterfly print left for one. more. dress.

Cost is $30 and includes a monogram or name of your choice.

UPDATE:

Congratulations, Emily, on scoring the butterfly dress :-D

Inspiration: Sweden

I love clothes.

("Well, duh," you seem to say.)

Mostly, I love clothes in theory, because my whole life shopping for myself has been somewhat of a nightmare.

I grew up in an awful time for fashion.  Things were big.

Really big.

See what I mean?

I had THREE pairs of those pants, people.  THREE PAIRS.

And I only weighed 100 pounds.

The word ridiculous comes to mind.

So I never really learned to buy things that fit.  I was always wearing a hand-me-down or a fashion faux pas and it took me until VERY recently to just say, "HEY - it's ok if my pants fit me.  It does not mean they are skin tight."

*Actually, I may have gone to the other extreme and tried a pair of jeggings, but hey, you were warned that I don't have great sense when dressing myself*


But sometimes, I try on things I like and that actually look pretty cute.

And when I'm really lucky, I try those things and they are from a store known for it's AMAZING prices.  Like one of my favorites, H&M.

Aside - Does anything bad come from Sweden?

H&M.  Ikea.  Alexander Skarsgård.

Apparently not.

But we are talking about clothes.  Skirts, to be precise.

A few weeks ago I went into an H&M on a return trip from my parents' house.  I really liked this little skirt:

But I wasn't *in luuuuuv* with the patterns available.

And after a few minutes of checking it out, I realized, "HEY!  I can make that!!"

So I did.

Cute, right?  This little blue and coral poppy print was much more what I had in mind for s cute and sassy summer skirt.

Using some 2.5 inch wide elastic, I was able to match the H&M Skirt's most prominent feature.

I'll admit, this ended up just a hair shorter than I planned - but that's because I made the whole thing out of one yard of fabric, and without a real pattern, so I lost a little bit in my "trial and error"-ing.  Overall, I am very pleased with the results.  

I wear this with a coral t-shirt and some super strappy camel wedges.

And no one yet has yelled, 

"STOP!  HAMMER TIME!" 

Inspiration: A Princess Bride

I'm not usually the kind of person who gets swept up in the media mania of the minute.  As a pre-teen, I was one of the few girls I knew not completely in love with one or all of the New Kids on the Block.  I was too busy being in love with Patrick Swayze.

But since I love just about every facet of weddings - from the paper items announcing the engagements and ceremonies to the delicate stitches of flower girl dresses - I absolutely could NOT miss the wedding this morning of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

I had stayed up insanely late working on a dress for myself for once - which will be another post, naturally - and had decided I would just wake up whenever I happened to wake up and watch anything I missed on replay.

So my eyes popped open precisely at 4:57am.

I went straight to the sofa to watch the coverage, waiting - like most every other woman watching - to see Kate's dress.

I was so totally not disappointed.

I just love how classic the dress is, and how simple.  I'm a big fan of clean and classic and simple everything, so this dress is right up my ally.  I especially am in love with the neckline - she needs no jewelry except the earrings that were gifts from her parents and her wedding band.  I'd love to know the significance in the designs of the lace - And oh my heavens - how about that petite little bouquet!

There are already designers creating knock-off versions of the dress, so I doubt it will be very long before you can wear your very own modern princess dress at your wedding, but I did a quick search to see what patterns exist that are close and found only this one from Vogue

This dress is quite beautiful, but is much heavier than Kate's dress.  In fact, because of the opaqueness of the lace and the more collar-like neckline, this dress is actually far more reminiscent of another princess bride, Grace Kelly.

I just love this return to class.  Less is more.

I can't wait to see how Kate's dress inspires all of formal wear fashion, and I'm considering a couple of projects definitely inspired by the Princess' classic choice.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Hopping Down the Bunny Trail...

...Hippity,  Hoppity Easter's on its way!

I had quite a few little things to do this year for Easter, and lo and behold I even got to do a couple of personal items.

Let me just stop and consider for a moment how it feels to actually have accomplished projects for a particular holiday well in advance of said holiday:

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

Wow.  That's a nice feeling!

Anyway - so with Easter Sunday coming tomorrow, I wanted to share with you all the cute little bunny things I had a hand in creating this year.

First up are a couple of things I did for the grandkids of the woman who took my place at my old job when I left to have my daughter.  I am used to working on plain old t-shirts, so working on anything "nicer" was a little nerve wracking, to say the least!  But everything turned out great, I think!

These feature the most popular design for me this year, which was the Bunny Alphabet by Planet Applique.  It was just so versitile; it didn't just have to be placed dead center in a t-shirt, as evidenced here.

How precious is this this little Bunny B?  And I never ever would have thought to place it on the skirt of the dress near the hem; it's a great way to get around having a shirt with an emblem already embroidered on (if you don't know if your design can cover it) or if you want it to show.  It's also great to consider if you have a shirt with a stain you'd like to cover that doesn't happen to be right in the center!

We can't forget big brother's shirt!

   

I know these two made quite the pair with the Bunny outfits for the Easter rounds this year!

One of my friends, Kristi, has a daughter who is 3 months to the day younger than my own daughter.  Since her birthday was just two weeks out from Easter this year, Kristi decided to hold an egg hunt in a local park for the party.  It was awesome and the "2" bunny was perfect for the birthday girl's celebration shirt!  And it really shows how you could use this for more than just Easter - birthdays at a petting zoo?  Bunny letter shirts for the guests and a Bunny number shirt for the birthday partier!

And of course, Lilah had to have one, too.  I sometimes feel like that old saying about how the Cobbler's kids have no shoes...I'll be working on things to sell or for gifts and Lilah will say, "Is that MY shirt, Mommy?" and I hate be constantly telling her "Not this one, honey!" 

So I tried to make up for it a little bit by making her an Easter dress this year.  I scored this fabric - the paisley and the purple - at Wal-Mart for just $2.00 a yard, which makes the materials for this dress, including the zipper and the pattern (which I had gotten for $0.99 at Hobby Lobby), that I had to purchase right about $5.00 or so.  The pattern  - McCall's 6269 - was fairly simple, though I would recommend writing down your plans if you plan to do combinations of the views shown on any given pattern.  I had meant for the front to be simply a cumberbund style sash and got confused while I was cutting and ended up with a sash in front and a sash in back because the front bow wouldn't tie prettily.  That was annoying.

But I'd say it all worked out in the end!

So Happy Easter to all you folks who celebrate it!  I'm looking forward to the new projects Spring-time brings!

T-Shirt Weather

I love living in the South because you never know what season it's going to be unless it's August.  In August, you are assured it is summer because it is always 9 billion degrees outside.  But outside of August, the weather can go from sunny and 79 one day - like yesterday - to drizzly and 55 - like today.  But it is technically spring and so I can TECHNICALLY talk about it being t-shirt weather and I will do that because I have a LOT of t-shirts to share!

First I want to show you a trio of shirts I did for my friend Whitney's girls and niece.  She requested something summery and I immediately had in mind this great little flip-flop applique.

 

For three little girls who spend a lot of time at the beach, I think these are perfect.

 

 

And Whitney was kind enough to grab one of these cute little tops for Lilah so that I could make her a summery appliqued top, too!  Although the flip flops turned out amazing, I had just gotten a new applique the night before and couldn't resist the opportunity to try it out, and I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results!

This very traditional looking monogram is so cute in applique - I imagine it would be perfect on a baby's bag or done smaller on a burp cloth.  Or how about wrapping a bride's shower gift in a bag that has her new married monogram already appliqued on it?  Great idea for a honeymoon shower, for sure!

Whitney's daughters scored a couple more t's, but these were just straight on monogram jobs.  This one I had to create myself, because I didn't have a pattern and Whitney wanted it to match a shirt her niece has.  Every time I see it, I can't help but think of Dotted Swiss.  I know it doesn't look a thing like Dotted Swiss, but I immediately click to a sense memory of feeling those little knobby bunches of fabric on a dress I wore as a kid.  To this day, I can't pass by a piece of Dotted Swiss fabric without running my fingers across it like a Braille text.

 

This little piece of precious is a onesie for baby sis, to replace one I gifted her when she was born and has already grown out of.  The previous onesie featured a very traditional, script monogram, so for this one I kind of wanted to do something a little more fun and modern.  This font is called "Sparkly," and I just love it.  It's a little "wacky 60's sitcom" to me, and since I feel like my life is a bit of a wacky sitcom most days, expect to see me find an excuse for it on other things soon.

This is far from all the T's I've been working on lately.  As a matter of fact, I have some VERY special T-shirts to which I want to devote an entire post - I just have to find all my pictures first!

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.

Zip it!

I got my sewing machine back from the repairman on Thursday with the promise that it is GOOD now.  I love it when a repairman looks at your problem and declares that they have no earthly idea what could have possibly happened to make the problem occur.  My husband swears I have some sort of machinery breaking abilities.  I told him to keep it on the DL, because I might have X-Men-like powers and would soon be recruited by the government as a super weapon.

I decided to test out the machine and get Lilah's flower girl dress finally FINISHED.  Well, it needs a good pressing and some stray threads clipped, but it has exceeded my seamstress abilities and I am just calling it done, though it is far, far from perfect.

The main problem I had with the dress is the D@mn zipper!!!!  Why?  Why is it so hard to install a zipper????  I read the directions.  I even watched and read a couple of tutorials (this one was especially easy to follow) and I STILL couldn't get it in right.  The little overlaps totally are hanging way above the neckline, and the zipper area itself is far from perfect, since many places along the zipper didn't get caught in the sewing so it could come right apart at any second.

But she's only got to wear it for a couple of hours.  The parts that are so messy will likely be hidden by her sash, and the neckline...well, I'll just try to neaten that up as much as I can.

One day, maybe I'll know how to sew and sew well, but for now, I'm just glad to get my first attempt at a "formal" dress done.

The wedding is next saturday, so I'll save a picture post for the full dress/sash cute child combo :-)

Now, onto trying to finish MY dress...which also has a zipper.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again??

Flower Girl

Recently, Lilah was asked to be a flower girl in a wedding at the end of this month.  The bride is really laid back, and said just to get her any old cute dress and it would be fine, but when there was extra fabric leftover from the bridesmaids' tops, we knew we had to try and make Lilah's dress to match.

Luckily for me, I already had the perfect pattern:  New Look 6448

 I had purchased this pattern about five years ago when Ben and I first got engaged and were discussing wedding plans.  I knew that I wanted a friend's twin daughters to be our flower girls, and I knew their mother sewed like a champ, so I wanted to go ahead and have the pattern picked out so I could save the time later on.  And of course, as it happened, we had such a small wedding that there was no flower girl and so this pattern has just been sitting in my pattern box since 2005.

Until now! 

I'm choosing the view shown above by the sleeveless pink floral dress with the dark pink sash and, the greatest thing about the pattern is that for this view, there are literally six pieces.  That's it!  Six pattern pieces!!  Six pieces is right up my alley!

What is not up my alley is the fact that I have to put in a zipper and the super delicate silk of which there is not enough for second chances.  So I have to be so, sew careful!  Do you feel the pressure???  I have also decided - in my infinite wisdom and propensity to create projects where I need none - that I am going to sew a little pair of slippers out of the scrap fabric so I don't have to buy a pair of ivory shoes that she will likely wear just this one time and then grow out of before warmer weather and other dresses that would match them.

But - as long as I don't totally mess it up - it is going to be STUNNING.  It is ivory dupioni, and the sash and matching jacket (which she'll only wear if it's cold) is going to be a pale, peachy/coraly satin.  It is going to be lined with a simple ivory colored batiste.  It is going to be amazing.

*If I don't mess it up.*

Currently, Google is my best friend as I look up tips and tricks for sewing on dupioni. 

Anyone have any tips for sewing on delicate fabrics?  "The Google" says I'll want to be sure I use a supersharp needle and make extra reinforced seams. 

I have a feeling I'll be ok, right up til I get to that zipper. 

*shakes fist at sky*

An Easy Sew

Well, today I am irritated because my sewing machine continues to give me trouble when I use the embroidery carriage on it. For some reason that I can't seem to determine, my topstitches aren't grabbing the bobbin thread and so the needle bounces up and down, poking holes but depositing no thread - except occasionally - and then usually ends up fraying and breaking if I don't stop it while cussing it out like I'm an old sailor.

So I thought that because I'm so troubled by my super expensive machine, I'd post about happier times and a pattern I found to be super easy to sew together in a hurry.

Let me tell you - for kid's clothes, I LOVE a New Look pattern.  For one thing, they are always cheap - usually $2.44 - $3.96.  Unless you happen on a McCall's or Simplicity for 99 cents day at either Hobby Lobby or Hancock Fabric (around here), then you are usually stuck paying between $5.50 - $8.00, and when you pay that much for a pattern, why not just go buy something cute already made, right?

I've only made this pattern once, but I really liked it.  I did the dress that is pictured on the model, but I left off the pockets.  I just didn't want to deal with them.

I used a navy plisse for the top and bottom trim and a fabric that I got on clearance for the main dress body.  Some people might think that floral looks like something you'd find on your memaw's couch, but I love it.  I even made a little swing top out of it using navy and white gingham accents and it is probably my favorite thing I've ever made.  Maybe I'll get a picture of that up at some point!

Frankly, my Dear...

The wife of my husband's good friend from college recently gave birth to their second child, a little girl they named Scarlett - after the famed heroine of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind.  Although they currently reside just outside of Washington, DC, since Miss Scarlett's dad is from South Carolina and both her parents attended the University of South Carolina, I decided that - along with her namesake - this makes her at least 3/4 southern and as such in need of a traditional southern baby gift:  The monogrammed outfit.

I do not know why or when this phenomenon burst onto the scene or why it happened to take such a strong hold, but one thing is certain:  Any child of any social standing is to have at least one monogrammed a-line dress or john-john in order to be considered part of proper southern society, period.  Perhaps it was because the affluent parents could boast that they were well-off enough to afford a new wardrobe for each child in the house by plastering each baby's initials and proper names all over the fronts of their little seersucker and gingham outfits, but I just happen to think it's powerful cute.  Judge for yourself!

so cute with the itty bitty bloomers!

Close-up view of the monogram on the bodice.

This was by far one of the most difficult patterns I've ever dealt with.  Not being a master seamstress (I definitely consider myself like, 1/2 a step above a novice!), I had no idea what some of the directions meant.  That is when I take things into my own hands and just make up stuff to make the fabric bend to my will.  While that can be fun sometimes, sometimes you just want to be able to read the directions and mindlessly follow them, you know?  And when you're making a gift, especially, you just want it to turn out &$*!-ing amazing, right?  So this project ended up frustrating me to the point that instead of having it finished and ready to send the moment that Miss Scarlett joined us here in the outside world, it took me a whole month after her birth to get from being stuck on that stupid collar piece to getting the dress tidied up and finished being sewn together.  And it frustrates me to know that there are ways I could have done it neater or better, but as it was, the child was going to be 18 before I got it finished if I got too picky on it, so I just had to let go and send it with all my good intentions as a substitute for master seamstress skills. 

To make sure that there was a little more of a nod to the baby's name, I also personalized this onesie to send along with the dress -

"I'll think about that tomorrow"

Hilarious, eh?  I couldn't resist.  The thought of a brand new, tiny, still pink baby bearing these carefree words sent me into a fit of giggles, and once that happened, nothing - not even a finicky font that wanted to pull through the delicate weave of a baby onesie - was going to stop me.

And so here was the gift as a whole that was finally mailed and received shortly after Scarlett turned a month old this past week.

Did you ever have a project that you just got a mental block on and couldn't push through?  How do you work through those times?  Does it help you to go to another project and then come back later, or do you prefer to stew over it until the solution is bullied out of your brain?  I'd love to know your tips and tricks, because this month I'm making a flower girl dress for my daughter, and though the pattern is simple enough, there is *gasp* a zipper involved, and I don't know if I'll be able to make it without much cursing and seam ripping of delicate silk fabric.

Heaven help us!

Baby Thunderstorms = Craft Floods!

I'm not sure how it's possible, but it seems like I always know at least 4 people in a year having a baby.  Now, this seems like a pretty high number to me already, since I don't really KNOW that many people to begin with, but the baby showers this year have been off. the. charts.  I have known about fifteen women having babies this year, and it's a pretty good mix between first babies and subsequent babies, so to say that a baby boom is in full force for 2010 is I think almost an understatement.

Being a practical person, I generally like to give gifts to expectant moms that are useful.  A giant box of their preferred diapers and/or wipes.  Crib sheets.  A gift card to round out the odds and ends right before or after baby arrives.  But I always like to give something personal, too, because I like to give people something they might not buy for themselves but would like to have.  That is why I love when I find out my friends are having little girls!  That means I get to bust out the old embroidery carriage for my sewing machine, and in true "proper Southern lady" fashion make something special with a monogram for the baby-to-be.

The machine is getting lots of use lately, since not only is there a baby boom in full force, but it seems it is ALL girls!

Here is one of the recent gifts I made for a sweet little baby named Amy.

gingham and a mini floral print - so sweet!

I love this little pattern, and I make it A LOT.  My own daughter, Lilah, who will often be featured modeling the results of my sewing, has two tops using this pattern!  It's so cute, almost like a pillowcase dress, and fully lined, which I love.  You can make it reversible if you like, but I prefer to just use a nice soft batiste for the inside.  I love this fabric combination in particular, with the lavender floral and gingham most definitely representing the sweet little English Rose that will be wearing it!  That's right - this little outfit went all the way to the UK!  A dear friend of mine became an auntie again this summer, and so I made something special for her sweet little niece as an attempt to repay her family for the beautiful hand-knit sweaters they sent when Lilah was born.

But one must remember that there ARE cultural differences between ourselves and the English, and let's just say that it's a good thing I explained the significance of the monogram in southern American children's clothing!  I hope that Amy's mom didn't find the monogram too garish to allow her to wear once or twice this summer :-)