My First Sewing Project

My first sewing project almost threw me in the loony bin. 

Seriously.

I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. 

We had just moved our family into my Grandma's house.

I was 8 1/2 months pregnant!!!

So you already know I'm crazy.  I really wanted her costume to look like 'Bo Peep', the one from Toy Story.  All the costumes I had seen looked cheap and poorly put together, and that would just not do!

I started by searching patterns.  I would find one that had a cute top, but not skirt, and vice verse.  But nothing exact.  So I had what I thought was a great idea...  I would buy what I wanted and just cut the pieces I liked together!  Wow.  Did I mention this was my FIRST sewing project? 

I sure did bite off more than I could chew.

Luckily, living with my parents gave me a few perks. 

I could run to the store alone and get the materials I needed without my kids bugging me.  Bust most of all, my mom knows her way around a sewing machine, so I had help!  I don't think the dress would have had a zipper if I didn't have my mom here!

I'm happy I started it 3 weeks before Halloween, because I needed the time to complete it.  Even though it was difficult, mostly because I had never read a pattern, OR used a sewing machine before, it was worth it! 

Here are the pics!

I made the skirt, the top, the bloomers and the staff...

I did not make the bonnet, I knew that would be too much for me to take on.  I don't know why I stopped THERE.  ha! 

And of course I waited too long to buy a Shepard's staff from the Halloween store, so I bought a Christmas decoration *because in the middle of October ALL the decorations are already out*.  I bought a candy cane, wrapped it in padding, then again wrapped it in blue ribbon.  It was cheap and cute enough for a 5/6 year old! 

So as you can see, I did not throw my sewing machine against the wall, or out the window, like I had sworn I would do so many times, and I continue to sew.  And love it.  Mostly.



Daaaaa Bulls

Briana is so excited about these tee shirt dresses I've made.  She has been wearing one every day!!

Today she put the Bulls one on, with some cute white leg warmers I made.  We decided it was missing something, so when the boys were napping, we got our craft on!

I had some tee shirt material left over from making the dress, so I snipped a piece off, stretched it out and stitched it together to form a head band.  Then using the technique I used the other day (blue headband) I created this!

I'm so excited about all these easy projects that look beautiful on her!  I'm such a lucky mama that my daughter is so proud of what I make and likes to show it off!!!



Just Because He is So Cute!

Today Charlie, my 3 month old, woke up in such a good mood I just had to take some pictures of him!! 

So I threw on his blue diaper cover, the baby legs I made for him and the hat I ordered from Etsy!

The rug is from IKEA



I love his expression!

 Okay, that's it for now, I just love showing off my lil boy!

Hey Chicago What Do You Say...

I found a link the other day that showed how to make a dress out of a men's tee shirt.  I didn't have it on hand when I started cutting and sewing (maybe I wouldn't have had to rip the dress apart if I had) but it turned out pretty well.  At least I know how to do it the next time.  I have a bulls shirt too!

Mens Tee

First I took one of Briana's long sleeve tees and used it as a template

This is the bottom of the shirt.  I saved it to make the skirt part of the dress

This is what it looks like after you ruffle the rough edge
of the skirt and sew it into the shirt.

Cubs shirt.  My favorite part is the Cubbie bear on the sleeve

I made the leggings from knee high socks

Briana is very excited to cheer on her cubbie's this spring!

A Dress For Lexi

Today I made a dress for my friend's baby Lexi.  I am so incredibly excited for how it turned out!!  I can't wait to make more!

The material I started with

It looks teeny because it is for a 4 month old baby!

I love the bright blue against the crisp white!

Sweet lil bow!

I am a little concerned it will be too tight around her knees because you know how babies tend to pull the knees up, so there might not be enough give.  But all in all, I think this is getting closer and closer to my inspiration dress. 

Inspiration Dress (shown in 4t)

Please see my etsy store if you would like to order anything you see on my blog!

***{EDITED}***

Today (March 2nd) I was messing around with some ideas and thought I could make a cute baby headband for little Lexi to match her dress.  I love how it turned out!

I used the same technique as the shamrock from Briana's dress...

I think I will start making these to sell on my etsy shop too!  So cute!

Brief Thoughts

Today I plan to start, maybe even finish a dress for a baby girl.  I'm very excited about the material I found because I think it will look so beautiful on her!  This is Lexi modeling a couple of dresses I made for her last month...  The new material in the new style of dress will look great on her don't you think??

I can't wait to have pictures of her in the new dress!

Three Cheers for Inspiration

I was so excited today to figure out how to make a dress, just by looking at a picture.  Who would have ever thought I could do something like that? 

I had some left over material from Briana's costume and a dress I made for her, so I pieced together what I had to make that dress from yesterday's post.  It isn't perfect, but I didn't even look at the picture when I was making it, so {whoops} on my part!

This is the inspiration dress...



And after 2 hours of cutting and sewing, here is my dress...

 

Okay, so it's not perfect.  But I imagine the seamstress that makes those dresses has made hundreds of that one, and this was only my first.  The material I used wasn't exactly what I should have either.  But I'm still pretty proud and Briana loves it!

She had fun modeling...



I'm excited to try making it more too.  I've decided to get some really pretty Laura Gunn material for an Easter dress for Briana...

And for the boys I imagine I will make tie tees (of course!), here is the fabric I've chosen by Riley Blake...



I think I will stick with trying to make things without patterns.  I end up much happier and less stressed!