The Spring Dress

Happy Snow Day to all of you that live in the Red River Valley (and most of North Dakota). I'm convinced that we upper Midwesterners can handle disappointment better than any other segment of people thanks to our erratic weather. Remember this weekend and earlier this week when it was super, duper, nice outside? Remember when it reached 4o degrees and everything started to melt? Well, here is our house today:

Not so much melting going on. I guess Edie's dream of splashing through huge puddles of water will come true.

Anywho, way back when it was nice out I had the motivation to make Edie a pillow case dress. The fabric (a sheet) and the bias tape were thrift store find so the dress was practically free to make. I think I'll make a whole bunch of these for the summer. They are light and airy and super comfy. Oh, and Edie actually enjoys wearing it!

I also made her "baby" a matching dress.

If you'd like to see more, check out my post over on the photo blog.

Edie's Valentine's Day Dress

It's been awhile since I've had the ambition (or the time) to sew. I finally decided to get back into the swing of things this past weekend and sewed Edie a cute little dress... just in time for St. Valentine's Day! Other than the dress is being a little long, it fits her quite well. I will have to work on sewing zippers though... still can't quite get that right.

I managed to grab one full length photo of Edie that was in focus (she's a toddler, don't you know)... not the best picture of her, but you get the idea.

And to make up for that not very awesome picture, here is a cute one of Edie and her papa.

Ear Warmer

Just a little project found on Prudent Baby. Check out the tutorial here.

Halloween 2010

This year, our little Edie dressed up as a wee Owlet for Halloween.

Kris and I posed as trees.

The costumes were all handmade and pretty darn easy at that. Edie's Owlet costume was a inspired by this costume from AlphaMom, the base of the bonnet/hat pattern was found at Made by Petchy and her wings/capelet pattern was found (and altered a bit) on my fave sewing blog Grosgrain Fabulous. Kris and my costumes were even easier... fake leaves from JoAnn's Fabric hot glued on to thrift store finds.

I'm already brainstorming for next year!

Edie's New Winter Hat!

Last night, in anticipation of a huge (possible) winter storm, I made Edie her first winter hat of the year. It was my first time working with fleece and I must say it was a great experience. Plus, considering the price of fleece plus the amount kids lose their hat and mittens, I think fleece and I will become the best of buds.

The pattern came from this tutorial on From an Igloo and this one from Infarrantly Creative.

Brought to you by the letter Z

Over the last couple weeks, the letter Z has morphed into Edie's favorite thing. She loves to say Z. She loves to point at Z. She even knows when to say Z in the abc song and locate where it occurs in Dr. Seuss' ABC book ("I'm a Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz as you can plainly see.") So, I made Edie a Z shirt to celebrate her love for the letter Z.

Z!

Bee Bonnet

Check out little Edie's newest bonnet. I fell in love with the honeycomb fabric awhile ago, and I finally had a reason to buy it. With (our annual friend adventure) UsFest this weekend and fall around the corner, I thought it was about time to make a new bonnet. So, introducing the bee bonnet!

Next, I hope to make this cute little jumper for myself. I found some grey and white corduroy at a garage sale this summer, and I think it will make the most adorable dress for fall.

Frock by Friday: Wednesday, Saturday and Done!

As promised, I finished my Frock by Friday™: The Anda Frock and I'm blogging about it for you today. It's been a super busy week around here, so, unfortunately, I didn't finish until Saturday morning. Oh, and I did sew on Thursday but forgot to take a picture (it was the mid section the dress). Anywho, without further ado, Wednesday and Saturday's pictures:

I'm some what pleased with the results, though there are few things I would change. First, I would make sure to shorten the pattern instead of figuring how to shorten the hem after the dress is sewn. It was a big struggle Saturday morning when I had to figure out how to take 7 whole inches off the bottom of the dress. Also, I wasn't crazy about my fabric choice in the end... I think next time I attempt this dress it will be with some nice, comfy jersey (t-shirt fabric). I also would make a few tweaks to the top of the dress.

All in all, I think it's pretty cool that I made a dress. The pattern was super easy and there is no doubt I could make the next one super, duper quickly (and a lot better). I can't wait until the fall when I can where this dress some orange tights and cardigan.

Frock By Friday - Monday, Tuesday & Fabric

Yay! Three days down and two to go in sewing the Frock by Friday™: The Anda Frock. Like I mentioned last week, I'm following the August edition of A Frock by Friday tutorial on the Grosgrain blog.

Here is my fabric choice. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of rayon. In any case, I bought 5 yards of it for $5 at St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store in Fargo. Not sure how old the fabric is, but I'd guess early 1970s.

So far, so easy. I only have a few pictures to share with you today. But, let me assure you I did do my Wednesday night sewing and I will share the rest of the pictures as soon as I complete the dress. As of right now, the dress resembles a '60s era MooMoo. I'm hoping the band around the waist will class it up a bit or styling will be key.

Monday: Cut out the pattern from 28 sheets of paper

Tuesday: Cut out my fabric... it was a little tricky since my fabric is pretty slippery.

Frock By Friday!

Since obtaining my sewing machine last February, I've been sewing up a storm. It all started with a few pillow cases and a bow. I moved on to some super bonnet making and, then, continued to make bonnets. I've now made 11 bonnets total, 6 just for Edie-Pants.

Last week, I sewed my first skirt (black and white with yellow pockets) and a few "hooter hiders" (or breast feeding covers) for a few new moms in my life. Next week I shall begin my biggest project to date... a dress!

There are so many awesome sewing blogs out there and I've pretty much subscribed to all of them in my google reader. One of my favorites, Grosgrain, does a Frock by Friday tutorial at the start of each month. This will be my first month participating and I urge any sewers out there to join me. I'll blog about my progress to keep me motivated.

Without further a do, next week's project the Anda Dress from BurdaStyle:

Bonnet & Dress

I had quite a successful weekend of sewing. Yesterday, I made a bonnet and today I made a dress.

It's fun to work on these little projects and slowly, yet surely, I'm getting better at sewing.

Pillow Cover

I'm using this blog as another way to motivate myself, can you tell? So, please forgive me in advance. I'm sure my fasciation with posting everything I make will die soon.

I made two pillow covers this morning. The first one, proved to be too small (I didn't measure my pillow well enough), so I made that one into a smaller pillow cover for a smaller pillow. The second attempt seems a little too big, but I blame the tutorial. Aside from that, and my slightly crooked line on one side, it looks pretty good. I even remembered to back stitch.

Check out the smaller of the two pillows:

A Bow

As some of you know, I was lucky enough to receive a sewing machine for my birthday. Actually, it was more like a green light (or, hey! it's your birthday you should splurge) to buy a sewing machine I've eyed for quite awhile.

Here is the bad boy I chose:

Sewing is one of those things I've always wanted to do, but never did it. In high school, I was too busy gossiping with friends to pay attention in Home Ec. And a few years ago when my dear friend Kari tried to teach me to sew, I felt way too overwhelmed a promptly gave up. This time, I have an investment and a little person to sew cute things for. Also, I'm going to begin small and learn the basics before I jump into a huge project.

So, after taking over an hour to figure out how to thread my machine (and, might I say, I can do it very well now) and another couple hours sewing straight lines, I began my first project: a bow. Yep, a bow. Kris had found this project on the cool website Instructables even before I had the machine in my possession. It was super easy to do (even though it took me forever), and proved to be a nice easy going first project.

Do your best to ignore the bad top stitching and so-so gathering. Can I remind you all that it was my first attempt? I'm just happy it sorta resembles a bow.

There you go. My first project. According to my cool friends on facebook, the following items are what I need to make in the coming days (weeks, years, decades):

camera warmer using a special Arizona grass green yarn

a nice, comfy robe

a large magic carpet so Kelly Kerzman, Amber and Amanda can visit us

Edie some cute little outfits

multi-colored toque

ovely set of new curtains

UsFest apparel

a three-year-old sized strait jacket

Snuggie

a memory card wallet

a house cozy

flannel pjs (x2)

some confidence

spaghetti and meatballs

something RAD

a set of leg warmers (x2)

an extra long blanket

some booties and a sweater for a kitty

baby booties for a set of twins

baby blanket

a really warm pair of feeted pants

a cape (with a large E logo)

a pair a pants that don't drag on the ground

curtains

a diamond-encrusted codpiece

old lady sweaters with sequins (x5)

an apron

(Thanks for all the great birthday wishes everyone!)