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Race the babies

30 Jul

So my life is now a gambling game.  Can I finish this (whatever needs to be done) before the babies are born.  Today I finished a project which I began only 4 days ago.  I think it’s the fasted dress I’ve ever made from purchasing fabric through completion.

Sunday I discovered the need for a new dress.

Monday I bought the fabric.  ( Usually it would then sit for weeks/months/years, but this time I didn’t dare wait.) 

Tuesday I cut out the pieces. 

Wednesday I sewed most of the day.

Today (Thursday) I unpicked the sash I had sewn wrong, resewed it correctly, and attached it to the dress.  Done!!!

Presenting Cherry Pie’s new Sunday Dress.

  

Isn’t it beautiful?  I love the fabric and the pattern (which I successfully altered to fit her waist.  Woot!)

The pattern is from the book Sew Serendipity by Kay Whitt.  

 
And check out this professional top stitching 😉

  
Also, all the seams inside are clean finished despite the fact that I do not own a serger.

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Now that Cherry Pie’s dress is done, there isn’t anything more I really care about finishing before the twins arrive.  I’m super ready for them to be outside me instead of inside.  

Per my last ultrasound, one twin is 5 pounds 9 ounces and the other is 6 pounds 7 ounces.  That is 12 pounds of babies wedged between my ribs and hips.  Yes I am ready for them to be out.  Unfortunately for my crowded kidneys and me, the doctor figures we can wait 3 more weeks.  So I’m hoping the babies are less patient than he.  The good news is they have both turned head down (They were both transverse for quite awhile.) 

  

Snow Day, Sew Day

2 Mar



Every year my mom buys a whole bunch of flannel. 

By a whole bunch, I mean that she buys several bolts of flannel, as in, she could start a store with the bolts of flannel she has in Rubbermaid tubs upstairs.  It is awesome.

For Christmas, my sisters and sister-in-laws and I are invited over for pajama day.  We cut out pajamas and sometimes get them sewn up as well. Mom does crafts and reads stories with the grandkids while we have a great time chopping up those yards and yards of flannel.



This year, I got all the girls’ Christmas pajamas cut out, but not sewn.  Those almost pajamas languished in a pile for more than 2 months. 

Then last Friday afternoon the snow began falling.  It continued to fall all night and all the next morning.  Saturday morning I fixed breakfast (funnel cakes) and cleaned up the kitchen.  Then it was time to fix lunch (hash browns scrambled eggs, and country gravy–I was in a breakfast mood still).  After lunch I took a nap (pregnant ladies get to do that sometimes. ) When I woke up the snow was still falling.  

So I got out my sewing machine.  I popped my 6 hour A&E Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) in the DVD player.  I pulled out that stack of Christmas pajamas and got busy.  By the time Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett were married and kissing the bride, I had finished four flannel pants, one fleece pants and matching fleece hoodie, and one nightgown.  

I still had one nightgown left, so I put I my Focus Films version of Pride and Prejudice (Kiera Knightly and Matthew McFaydden). That was a mistake.  While I can sometime watch this version and get enjoyment from it (sometimes I need a P&P fix and I don’t have 6 hours), Kiera just can’t hold up in a back to back comparison.  The timing of every line is off and the whole thing is over acted.  

I just put my head down and finished that last nightgown.  

Finishing that big project was so satisfying, that I got sewing fever.  Church was canceled on Sunday because of bad road conditions and I had to fight the siren song of my sewing machine all day long.  But I triumphed over that temptation and my machine had its day of rest.  

Then today, I whipped the cover back off and sewed again.  Peach Pie and Pumpkin Pie each have an 18″ doll that they got for Christmas three years ago.  (They aren’t American Girl Dolls, they are a Target knock-off version.)

Well the dream of these two girls hearts has been to have matching pajamas with their dolls.  I saved the scraps from cutting out their nightgowns and Voila!  Today their wildest dreams came true!!



I was a little worried when I got out the pattern pieces.  These doll clothes always take more fabric than I think they should.

If you look closely, you can see that I quilted the yoke on this nightgown. I used the AG pattern for Kristen’s nightgown, which you can download here.  I just left the cuffs off the sleeves and turned the neck piece under so the nightgown would be the same as Peach Pie’s. 

Pumpkin Pie is happy too.  Hooray for being twiners with your doll!

One good thing about these dolls is that they make thinking up Christmas presents easy.  What shall I get for the girls for Christmas?  Doll clothes & accessories!!



Last Christmas, I made this beautiful red wool coat from an old wool blazer and a little girl’s plaid wool shirt.  Isn’t it gorgoeus?!! I had so much fun sewing it.  



I enbroidered the button holes by hand because they were so small that I was afraid my machine would just bung them up.  The covered buttons came right from the shirt.  



Sewing doll clothes is so much more fun now than it was when I was a girl, because the clothes look good and fit the doll when I am done!!  This apron dress was made from scraps left over from a dress I made Peach Pie.  It isn’t as close a match in style as the nightgown, but it’s not too bad.  That tiny ric rac around the apron was murderous to sew.



I didn’t have another thrifted  wool piece to make PumpkinPie’s doll coat, so hers is made from fleece.  It worked well enough and is pretty, but it isn’t luminous the way the wool is.  Yes, I made the tam-o-shanter and muff, too.



This dress does not correspond to any of PumpkinPie’s wardrobe.  It is just purple, which was her favorite color for a long time.  Also, the flowers were a good scale for a doll dress. The coats and this purple dress came from Addy’s Pretty Clothes patterns.  The tam and muff are Samantha’s.  In my opinion, Addy and Josephine have the prettiest dresses.

So much fun!! I want to make more!!

Feliz Apron Dresses

22 Oct

Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Pie have had their dresses for awhile…possibly almost a year. Peach Pie finally has one too.

Feliz apron dress from Sewing Clothes Kids’ Love.

I am in love with this pattern and this book.

12 days and counting

7 Jul

Season 12 of Project Runway begins July 19 at 8pm. Happy Sigh.

Tags:

Baby Talk and Dollies

17 Jan

IMG_5643Baby Dumpling is saying lots of cute things right now.

When she sees someone else eating something she wants, she reaches for it, saying, “num num num num.”

When she’s happy, she toddles all around the house saying, “gabby gabba gabby dagabbada.”

She loves to rock baby dolls.

It is always fun for me to see how each of my children are different and like different things.  That old nature versus nurture debate always interested me.  I definitely think that some things you are born with. Only 2 of my 5 daughters really like playing with baby dolls.  Another prefers puzzles, another is always creating elaborate games and props to go with them, and the other girl is always talking (loudly) about what would you think of this or that?

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The dolly that Baby Dumpling is holding is one I made 2 years ago.  We had a big blizzard that trapped us in our house for a week, but we still had electricity.  An unsual occurrence here in southwest Missouri where a big storm is often more ice than snow.

The girlie pies and I made 3 dolls using the Prairie Flowers Doll Pattern & Tutorial from By Hook or by Hand.  It’s a very thorough tutorial with lots of pictures.

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We used freezer paper to trace the pattern and ironed it right onto an old sheet to make the doll’s bodies (We were snowed in, I had to use fabric available!)

The sheet turned out to be a mistake in the long run because the fabric has torn across the doll’s arms and legs and at the necks.  What do you all use when you make dolls?  Perhaps the sheet would have been okay had it not already been so old?IMG_5652

I crocheted little caps for the dolls which we tied fringe all the way around to make their hair. I sewed the wigs to the doll’s heads with invisible thread.

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Two of the girls chose for me to embroider their doll’s faces and one chose to color the face.   IMG_3356

It was fun to let each girl choose the fabric scraps for her doll’s shoes.  Peach Pie’s doll is the one with the belly button.  Pumpkin Pie is the one who chose to draw her own face, different from the pattern.  IMG_5686

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We used an old American Girl Doll pattern reduced to 70% for the dresses and they look so pretty! (Specifically it is Josephine’s brown dress but with short sleeves.)  They each chose the fabric for their doll’s dress as well, and here is where I had to bite my tongue.  I wanted the switch 2 of the dresses to match the shoes, but the girls didn’t take the shoe color into consideration at all.  I told myself, it’s their doll, let them choose.  But it was hard.IMG_5684

I never mind snow days when we still have electricity to run the internets and the sewing machine!

Scripture Cases

8 Jan

For their 8th birthday,  we give the kiddie pies their own set of scriptures.  I promised Pumpkin Pie a case to carry them in, and about 2 months after her birthday, I finally made it using this fun scripture case tutorial from PolkaDotChair.

I made one for Cherry Pie, too.

I was making cases for a Bible and Triple Combination, soft paper bound, which together are larger than a mini-quad (what Melissa at PolkaDotChair was making a case for).  I like my cases to fit pretty closely so the books aren’t wallowing around in there.  Also because my kids have a tendency to hoard bits of trash and I didn’t want much room left for bits of paper.  If you want to make your own case for scriptures like ours and don’t want to do the math, here are the dimensions I used.  (Also in case I decide to make more and want to remember the math.)

Denim:
1–  9 3/8 x 8 inch for the flap
2– 6 1/4 x 8 inch for the front & back
1– 4 3/8 x 20 inch strip for the gusset
2– 2 1/2 x 16 inch strips for the handle

It took a little bit more than a fat quarter for the lining:

2- 6 1/4 x 8 inch for front & back lining
2- 5 1/4 x 8 inch for front pocket
1- 9 3/8 x 8 inch for the flap lining
1- 4 3/8 x 20 inch strip for the gusset lining

Seam allowance 1/2″ everywhere except the handle- do 1/4″ seams on the handle.

The first case I made was too tight.  The gusset was 1/4 inch too narrow.  I ended up unpicking all the seams and resewing them smaller so that there would be more room in the case.

**This is one of the secrets I’ve learned that has made me happier with my sewing.  When it isn’t right, I take the time to fix it.  It’s totally worth it.  If you hate unpicking, check your seam ripper.  If it is so rusty, it looks like you stabbed someone with it and left the blood to dry, spend $4 on a new one.  Totally worth it.

**Secret #2 top stitch.  It makes everything look more professional.

I adjusted the measurements for the second case and it turned out perfectly.  (The measurements above are the adjusted ones.)

Scary Sewing

24 Apr

A friend of mine’s daughter got married last week, and at the last minute, she needed the shoulders of her wedding dress altered. Apparently everyone she asked told her to come to me.

I was happy to help. It was good to find that drooling over all those sewing blogs has actually taught me a few things. 4 years ago I would not have had the courage or the ability to alter a wedding dress.

When I agreed, I knew there was a good possibility that I’d have to remove lace and then re-attach it as I worked.

What I didn’t expect was that there would be beads and sequins which had been attached to the lace flowers after the lace flowers had been sewn to the tulle. So I had to unpick beads (carefully knotting the threads so the beads from the entire dress didn’t come off) THEN unpick the lace.

Most of my time was spent unpicking the sleeves so that I could take 2 inches out of each shoulder. It is tricky to unpick tulle and not create big holes. I also shortened the sleeves, but the scariest part was altering the sleeves to fit the new, now smaller arm hole. For a little while I was thinking that if I don’t repent good enough, I’ll be sent to a place where I have to sew layers of tulle into sleeve holes all day for eternity.

Re-attaching the lace flowers and the beads was actually the fun part. Luckily, I’ve watched my Aunt Jeanie do bead work before, so I knew to use my sewing needle to pick up the beads I wanted instead of trying to pick up the beads with my fingers. That little trick makes the difference between torture & fun when it comes to beads.

I used a hemming trick my mom taught me to finish the sleeves, and they looked more professionally done by me than the original seamstress, if I do say so myself.

It all turned out okay: the shoulders of the dress stayed put and the neck line lay flat. I think I’d like to make a wedding dress from start to finish someday. I’ll probably get the chance. I do have 5 daughters.

As always when I pull out my sewing machine, the girls want to start projects too. I can never get them excited about sewing until I’m working on something and under a drastic deadline. Then they want me to find them fabric and thread their needles and untangle their thread and show them the next thing to do. Arrgh!

However, Cherry Pie made this for her teacher, all by herself, and I’m super proud of her.

You can’t see the words she stitched very well, but it says: “I ❤ Mrs. Blessing” I think she did a great job choosing fabric, buttons, and ric-rac.

Peach Pie also sewed some buttons.

Finished Projects this fall!

13 Dec

I finished 4 more pairs of slippers, for a total of 7 pairs of slippers this fall.

Made my own maternity Jeans.

I made a quilted tote bag for a friend (but forgot to take a picture-too bad, the fabric was BEAUTIFUL)

Helped 2 of my children sew little gifts for their teachers- one kitty-cat felt sunglasses case and one very fat Reindeer felt tree ornament. (also forgot to take pictures, doh!)

One large Totoro Pillow Buddy out of fleece. I watched this youtube video on how to draw Totoro and get the proportions right. My drawing was great (I think.)

my finished softie….well… My Totoro looks more like a bowling pin with bunny ears. Sigh.

Note to self. Remember last time I made a pattern for a stuffed object?

Same problem. I need to add more width to the pattern to account for the fatness of stuffing. Maybe I’ll remember that next time since I’ve made this mistake twice now.

Oh well, Cutie Pie will still love him on Christmas morning.

And do I feel awesome for finishing all this–while being pregnant and Primary President?

Yes. Yes I do.

Recent Sewing Projects and happiness :)

28 Oct

**Note I actually typed this post in AUGUST. I’ve just been waiting to get pictures of the skirts I made. As is my usual on top of things and preparedness, I didn’t have my camera with me during the wedding reception. sign. I’m a bad, bad blogger.**

I have found time to sew recently!

I made skirts for my girls to wear to my brother’s wedding reception. I used the Insa skirt pattern from the book “Sewing Clothes Kids Love” by Nancy Langdon & Sabine Pollehn.

I’ve really been excited about this book, which I got for my birthday almost a year ago. I was finally brave enough to try one of the patterns and it worked up very easily–even though the coral brocade was a bit murderous to work with.

I measured my girls and chose their size based on the measurement chart. I recommend this highly, Cutie Pie wears a 3T from the store, but I made the 18month size skirt for her and it fit perfectly. The only caveat I would give is that if your child is close to the top end of the measurement range, go ahead and make the next size up. Peach Pie’s skirt just barely fit.

I traced the patterns with a sharpie marker onto that clear vinyl stuff you get to put over tablecloths. It was easy to trace and worked great. I loved being able to see through my pattern as I placed it on the fabric. The only issue I had was that when I stacked my pattern pieces up, some of the sharpie transferred onto other plastic pieces. I layered tissue paper between the pieces before rolling them up to store until next time.

**You have to keep in mind when using the patterns from this book that seam allowances are not included. I didn’t think I would like it, but it makes it so much easier to tell what size the pattern will fit and for matching directional prints **PERFECT** So I’m loving that now. Plus, I could make the seam allowance whatever width I wanted. Also, I could totally see myself using a quilting pencil to trace the edge of the pattern right onto the fabric so that I had a sewing line and my garment turned out perfectly. I found the directions in the book clear and the patterns easy to follow.

Modifications I made: I did trim the underskirt shorter by about 2 inches so that it wouldn’t be longer than the tulle (which was my brilliant idea to add.)


Didn’t they turn out great!!??

I’m excited to make more skirts with cotton. The Train to Crazy made this pattern with cotton and look how cute!!

I love her fabric choices. Definitely must follow this blog! She has a tutorial on making odd-sized sheets. I’m sew happy 🙂 Also she obviously has a serger that works. **jealous**

I also helped my mom and sister-in-law, Cegan, assembly-line these vests for the boys. (this picture shows about half of the vests we made.)

Jimmy is exactly 10 years and 1 day younger than me, and he is probably my favorite brother. (shhh, don’t tell Matt, he’ll never work on my house again) I got to drive up with Jimmy to St. Louis on the morning of his wedding. We talked the whole way and it was so fun. I’m not telling on myself the brainless thing I did later that day. But it didn’t matter because the whole day was glorious and peaceful and happy. I’m so glad for Jimmy and my new sister-in-law, Tahnee–who seems amazing and is obviously beautiful and smart and has a good sense of humor (or she couldn’t like Jimmy.) They’ve started out right *smiley*

I also made a pointy-kitty for Peach Pie’s friend for her birthday.

You can download the directions and pattern free at WeeWonderfuls.Com. It is a fun quick sew, although I add about a quarter inch seam allowance all around the pattern because the seams are so close! It is a little tricky, but still just a 4-hour sewing project.

Happy Birthday, Cutie Pie

19 Oct

Cutie Pie is 3! She loves anything about animals, especially horses and kitty cats. Often, she comes down the stairs on her hands and knees saying “Meow, meow.” But if I say, “Hello little kitty cat.” She will say, “I’m not a kitty cat, I’m a Julia.” She also likes “Dora the Explorer” and Donald Duck. We were watching “The Three Caballeros” and she said, “That’s Uncle Donald.” I said, “You mean, Donald Duck?” “Yes,” she said,”Maybe I love him.”

All her siblings are in school, so she often asks me to take her to her school. She still has 2 1/2 years until she gets to go to Kindergarten. Sometimes I agree to take her to her school and we go to the park.

For her birthday she wanted Chocolate “Dapunzel” cake. (chocolate Rapunzel Cake) I couldn’t find any Rapunzel cake decorations, so I just made Texas Fudge cake and said, “Here you go, chocolate Rapunzel cake.”

She was completely satisfied.

Then, only a week (or 3) late, I finished her Kitty-cat slippers.
Didn’t they turn out so cute?!!

I used this amazing tutorial by “Made by Rae” for Dragon Slippers.

I felt kind of guilty for turning such an awesome boy gift into a girly version–it is so hard to find things to make for boys. But I will be making the Dragon version for Bubba. They only took about 3 hours to make–including embroidering the kitty faces. The only bad part is I still have 4 more children who are expecting slippers. They all needed slippers this year, and I was just going to buy them. But slippers cost $10 a pair–for the ugly ones– and that’s $50 for just the kids. I got enough fleece (I think) to make everyone slippers for $15.

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