Wednesday, August 31, 2011

What have we been making?

Monday, August 29, 2011

1st Day of School

How is it that I have a child in school already!?!

And to make matters worse, he is "old" for his grade...wow do I feel old today, and SAD! 


and so i am left with just the two girls today...until D starts preschool next week!


Daddy so proud :)


His room doesn't have "desks", they use tables!


Yes, I was that annoying mom snapping pictures of him in the school!


For some reason I chose today to start working out at 5:45 AM...hmmm, I may need a nap as I'm not used to that!

Wow, do I wish I had nice handwriting! :)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Color Block Dress

Last week I showed my Dolly's rainbow dress, this week is a colorblock dress tutorial for MOMMY!!

Here is an easy comfortable dress, whether you use it to run to the kids' soccer practice or to the beach as a cover up! It's SO easy to make!

Supplies needed:
  • Remember how over the past few years shirts have gotten longer (which I LOVE by the way), well if you are like me, then you have a drawer/closet full of those too short shirts left hanging around. Grab one!
  • You'll need a small amount of accent fabric,
  • about a yard of skirt fabric.
*I used approximately 3/8" seams throught the dress

Instructions:
1.  Cut your tank top at the height that you want the dress to be, accounting for seam allowance. I cut my dress 4" below the arm hole.

2.  Cut your middle band. I cut mine at 3", finished band ended up being between 2 and 2.5". You need to cut two pieces for bands, add a seam allowance so that the band is the same width as the tank top.
3. Sew the side seams of the middle band together.
4.  Attach the middle band to the tank top.

5. I purchased 60" knit and used the full width for the skirt. Cut in half and sew the two 30" wide pieces together to form the skirt.

6.  Set your stitch to as long as it will go and stitch a gathering stitch around the top of the skirt. Gather and pin to the skirt.

7. Stitch the skirt to the middle band using a knit stitch or zig-zag stitch to allow give to it so the seams don't break when it stretches!

The middle band should match width to the tank top, and the skirt is gathered as its attached to the middle band.

Use another dress that you like the length of as a guide to determine the length of this dress. Add an inch for hems before cutting. Or, try it on and measure how long you want the dress to be.
Always remember the simple rule: Measure Twice, Cut Once...maybe even try it on pinned prior to cutting...I did not do this, and ended up with my dress about an inch too short! HA! It was the perfect FINAL length, and therefore I didn't hem it :)  Luckily knit doesn't frame, it lays great, and so off I go!

*If you want to hem the bottom, then fold up 1/2", fold over another 1/2" and sew the seam for a nice clean edge!
had you seen my face in all the pictures my 5 year old so graciously took of me...you would have cut the head off of the picture too :)
** Check out the fabulous blogs I'm linking up with, I've listed them here: http://itssewforyou.blogspot.com/p/linky-partys.html
Including: http://todayscreativeblog.net/

Monday, August 8, 2011

Upcycled Rainbow Dress

This was posted on Someday Crafts during her maternity leave...but I wanted to make sure I post it here too! This has to be hands down my daughters FAVORITE dress this summer! It barely makes it out of dryer before she is wearing it again!

My little girl loves rainbows right now. She usually refuses to wear anything I make her, but was begging for a rainbow dress, so I happily obliged!

This was such a FUN and EASY dress to make, and my Dolly loves it!

Supplies:
a tank that fits the child well
several old shirts/tanks for the dress

*Use a zig zag or stretch stitch around waist to avoid broken threads

I started with a pile of my old shirts and tanks and laid them out in order to get a feel for how it would look. This isn't your traditional primary color rainbow, but a bit of warmer tones!
  • I started by cutting the pink tank top 1" below the arm hole.
  •  I cut the next layer (orange) 2 1/2" and made sure the length (sewn together) matched the tank
  • Pin right sides together and stitch
 
Yellow, green, and blue were all cut at 4" and a width of 2x her waist. Some of my tanks weren't wide enough to do the width in two cuts, so there are multiple seams in each row!
  • Stitch these together
  • The Bottom Purple ruffle was cut at 5" tall and the width was 2 1/2 times her waist
  • Fold over for a clean seam on the bottom and sew the three edges together (two purples and the blue)
  • Sew a gathering stitch along the top yellow layer and pin to the orange band.
  • Sew together and you are finished!

These lengths worked perfectly for a 4T dress that hit my daughter just below the knee

Now go out and enjoy your day!

** Check out the fabulous blogs I'm linking up with, I've listed them here: http://itssewforyou.blogspot.com/p/linky-partys.html
Including: http://todayscreativeblog.net/