Catching up!

I'm still here, I promise!  I was sewing this summer, but we were out and about a lot during the day, and I was exhausted by the evening.  I couldn't quite get motivated to sit down and blog.  We definitely made the most of the summer before the little guy started kindergarten.  Life is so different once they start school.  No more sitting in our pjs all morning if we want to.  :)  I was also busy this summer, because I was winding down at work.  Yes, I left my job in August to be at home with the kids full-time.  It was something I'd thought about for a while, and I finally took the plunge.  With kindergarten, preschool and the kids' various activities, I've been keeping busy, but maybe I'll have a little bit more time for creative pursuits.  Maybe...

I thought the best way to catch up on the blog was to do one big post about all my projects from the summer.  Some of these pictures Most of these pictures are from my phone, but hey, if I waited until I could get my good camera out and photograph them, I'd probably never get this post published.  :)


1) Fourth of July dress and shorts
I made this Fourth of July dress using this pattern from Violette Field Threads.  Mixing fabrics is a little outside of my comfort zone, but I think I like this combination.  A friend told me that it reminded her of Matilda Jane Clothing.  Totally.made.my.day.

Are these kids a crack up or what?  Timing is everything, right?

I also made the little guy these shorts.  I used the sketchbook shorts pattern from oliver + s.

 

It doesn't look like much from the picture, but these shorts have pockets and a faux fly.  I also found an Eddie Bauer button to put on it, so I'd like to pretend that it looks like something you could buy at the store.  But better, because it was made with love.  :)

2) Bibs and crayon folio 

A friend of mine recently (well, not-so-recently now) had a baby.  So, I made up these bibs for the new baby.  (This started out as four bibs, but it'd been a while since I'd made these for the baby girl, and I kind of messed up the first one.  Oops.)

And then I had to give the big sister a little something, too, so I made this crayon folio.  It's the same pattern I used to make the ones for the little guy's birthday party last year.

3) Ruffle dress
At the end of July, we had a little photo session for the kids, and I debated whether I wanted to make a dress.  I decided at the last minute (of course) that I would make this dress.  I saw a dress with this white and yellow combination on another blog, and thought I'd give the color combo a try.

This is a picture from my phone:

This is one of the pictures from the photo session:

What a difference photography makes, right?  

4) Tie dye dress
Remember when the little guy and I tie-dyed a bunch of t-shirts last year.  One of them was an XXL t-shirt that I wanted to cut up and make a dress for the baby girl.  Well, it took almost a year, but I finally did it.

I used this pattern from Lil Blue Boo.  I think it turned out really cute, and it fits really well.  Only thing is, it ties in the back, and she complains about it being bumpy when she's sitting in her car seat.  I have to untie it and then re-tie when she gets out of the car.

5) Disney dresses
We went to Disneyland for the little guy's birthday.  I made these dresses for the baby girl for our trip.  (I didn't make anything for the little guy, even though it was his birthday.  The irony is not lost on me, but girls' clothes are just more fun.)

All three were made from the same pattern, a peasant dress pattern I've had for a while.  I used the tutorial for the Belle dress from crafterhours.  The other two dresses were just about using the different color fabrics.  Baby girl wears the Minnie dress all the time, because she's obsessed with polka dots.

6) Pillowcase dress
The pillowcase dress was the very first pattern I bought when I got my sewing machine two years ago.  I finally got around to sewing the dress.  My friend Jenn from Fat Cat Crafts wanted to make a pillowcase dress for her niece's second birthday, so we got together and made pillowcase dresses.

Pillowcase dresses can be addicting, though, because I think Jenn made several more after this one.  :)
(Notice the messy couch in the background?  Just keepin' it real.)

7) Toddler backpack
With the kids starting school, I started working on these toddler backpacks for them.  I tried two different patterns.  I made the little guy's backpack from the pattern in Little Things to Sew.  It required some hand sewing, which took me several weeks to finally finish doing.  So, then, I thought I'd try Made by Rae's toddler backpack pattern.  They are both cute, but I think I prefer Rae's pattern, because it doesn't require hand sewing, and the piping is really cute.  The little guy's backpack is a little small for kindergarten.  You have to have one big enough for an 8.5x11 folder.  So, I have to enlarge Rae's pattern and try again.  I only have a picture of the baby girl with hers.

I love this print, but baby girl is obsessed with Hello Kitty, and she points out all the Hello Kitty backpacks she sees.  I might end up caving and getting some Hello Kitty fabric to make another backpack...

8) Apple picking dress
I had some fabric with apples and pears on it and thought it would be fun to make a dress for when we went apple picking.  I even used the apple picking dress pattern from oliver + s.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the buttons on by the time we went apple picking, but you know, that's ok.  It was too hot that day for a long sleeve dress anyway.  I put the dress on her a few days later when I thought it was cooler, but it was still pretty warm in the park at 10 in the morning.  Yeah, we're still waiting for fall here.

(The bucket hats I made got a lot of wear this summer!  Almost time to plan next summer's hats.)

Wow, that looks like a lot when you put it all in one place.  I had plans for other projects that didn't quite happen.  Oh well.

My big goal for the next few months is to start on baby girl's three-year-old wardrobe.  I've been purposely not buying many things in 3T, because I want to make a portion of her wardrobe.  I know, big goal.  Aim high, right?  ;)  Stay tuned...