Cupcake pincushion

This is one of the new patterns that I recently purchased! I bought this little pincushion kit from Portabellopixie website. It came with the materials to make the pincushion and the pattern. I absolutely love this little pincushion! The instruction booklet that came with this pattern is phenomenal! It is a 20 page full color booklet with pictures and illustrations for every step of the way making this pincushion.

My dd was really excited watching me make this. She couldn't wait for me to be done with it. As a matter of fact.....I haven't got to hold it since I finished it! This was a fun little project that took me about 2 hours (with lots of distractions) start to finish. The pattern comes in two sizes, a "high calorie" size and a "low calorie" size. The kit had the supplies for the low calorie size. I could definitely see making the "high calorie" size too. Especially since I am not sure when I am going to get this back!! What a great gift for fellow seamstresses too!

Twirly girl

Here is my other sewing gem for the weekend. After completing the first Studio Tantrum - Redondo skirt, I was excited to make another. Here it is! This time I used two batik fabrics left over from a project long ago. (I almost completely used up these fabrics, just a couple of scraps big enough to make her American Girl doll a pull on elastic skirt...a project yet to come.) . We have lots of purple t-shirts, so I didn't make a coordinating top (although, the original project for this fabric was a top for her older sister which probably fits her by now...). I got a couple of twirly shots this time!

So, I received a bunch of goodies in the mail yesterday! I had ordered some patterns for the girls (and some fabric to make those patterns....). I'll show you those soon, I promise!! Gotta go, I am being beckoned by her majesty!!

Another swimsuit!

Here is the other swimsuit that I finished this weekend. I got my older dd to wear it and run in the sprinklers! We are having beautiful weather right now! This is a Kwik Sew pattern. It is a tankini, and I made it in a size 7.

I only did a couple of alterations to the pattern. I added the ruffle at the top edge to the bottoms. I lined the top front and lettuce edged the bottom hemline (I used wooly nylon in the serger top and bottom loopers and regular serger thread in the needle). I also fully lined the bottoms. I added an inch to the waistline of the bottoms and the top bottom edge. She isn't petite like her sister. In fact, I think in a few years she'll be taller than I am!!! :)

She got into posing for the camera:

I finished another project over the weekend, but that will have to wait until the next post! Gotta love the nice weather when all the kids want to play outside!

Swimming Anyone?

Hot off the presses, here is one of the two swimsuits I just finished up! This suit shown here is Kwik Sew 3165. I made it in the size 4 with many alterations to reduce the chest, waist and hips! (Size 4 was the smallest size the pattern comes in...). My dd is 4, but she only weighs 28 lbs and is a very petite little thing, hence many alterations to get patterns to fit her.

This suit has an attached skirt that covers up most of the bottoms. I made the bottoms out of a contrast coordinating material. You can see them peeking out in this side shot.

When she isn't running all around the skirt hangs just so you can't see the bottoms. The fit came out great. I always completely line my swimsuit bottoms (pet peeve of mine to see swimsuits creeping into little places they shouldn't be....or showing stuff that shouldn't be shown). Completely lining them gives the added bonus of hiding all the serged seams between the lining and the fabric to give a nice finished inside look. I lined the top front but not the back. I probably didn't have to line the top, but I made my older dd a suit last year where I decided not to line the top and every time she wears it, I wish I had lined it! So, lesson learned and I line the top front piece. I purchased both of these fabrics from Chez Ami. (If you have never visited over there, go now and see the cute kids fabrics you can buy!) All in all, I am very happy with this new suit!

I also finished my older dd's suit, but I haven't got her to put it on yet. I used a different pattern, but the same fabric, so it has a different look to it! Stay tuned. BTW, if you were following my rants about using my stash and not buying more fabric, you'll be happy to know I came to my senses and purchased a whole bunch more fabric and few more patterns!! :P Yep, absolutely no control....

Gone fabric shopping....at home!

So, I decided to dig through my box of fabric that is at the bottom of the pile and see if I even remembered what was in it and if I could find some inspiring fabrics inside of that box! Low and behold, I probably forgot more than half of what was in there!! I pulled out a few pieces that I thought I could find a project for..... This first one is probably my favorite, fanciest fabric. It is a white background with pink designs and it is a border print. It is brocade-ish, silkish, and I don't remember the exact fabric type, but it looks and feels expensive. I had always imagined a really pretty fitted dress for my dd's. The orange one is a cotton lawn and the green one is a cotton batik. Both would make great lightweight skirts or sundresses, or summer tops.....

Here are a couple of cotton batiks that I thought could possibly go for another "redondo" skirt, I don't have a whole lot left maybe only 1/2 yard of each.

Again, I thought these could go together for a layered ruffly skirt for my dd's....

And yet, one more option for a skirt.

So, I guess I had better stop scouring the internet for fabric to purchase and start digging into my own fabric storage!! It seems that I have many options for many things! This is only a few things out of that big box......then there are 4 more big boxes of fabric. I must stop buying fabric!!!!!! I know....it is an addiction. I am sure I will be posting soon my new fabric purchases!!! I just purchased a new pattern for another skirt for my dd's. :) Happy sewing (and fabric and pattern collecting)!

My promised pictures!

Here are the pictures of my dd in her studio tantrum skirt. She thought she looked fancy and loved her skirt! She wasn't all that interested in posing for pictures, though and so, these aren't the greatest!

She was telling me, "lets go already mom"!!

The rest of my day today was spent hemming a pair of rolled cuff slacks for my dh. Can I just say, that was a pain in the a$$!! I had to unpick the tacks then unpick the blindhem. Cut off necessary adjustment. Iron in new hem. Sew in blindhem. Iron in rolled up cuff. Sew in tack on the cuff. It took me an hour and a half!! Blah! Now I know why I just walk on my pants and never hem anything I buy in the store! :) Hope you all had more good sewing adventures this weekend!!

Studio Tantrum pinwheel!

Doesn't this remind you of a pinwheel? Here is my studio tantrum redondo skirt. I wanted to get my dd in it and twirling, but right now bolt is more interesting, she said she would wear it tomorrow and I could take her picture then! Hmmppff! So, for now you get a pinwheel! Anyhow, this was pretty easy to cut and put together. I didn't add the optional ruffles in the seams because I wanted to get one under my belt before modifications. It turned out cute and I already want to make more! I used the striped fabric for the top portion of the "curl" and the flowers for the bottom portion of the "curl". It is comprised of 5 "curls" that are then sewn together, then the waistband is added and the bottom is a rolled hem. I did the majority of it on the serger with the exception of finishing off the waistband (stitch in the ditch to catch the backside). It is a fun skirt and I am ready to go dig through my stash to see what else could work for another skirt! Later!

Happy 7th Birthday and a shirt!

Saturday was my dd's 7th birthday! We had fun, stuffing ponies, decorating their t-shirts, playing games and eating cake!

The kids had lots of fun stuffing ponies!

Time sure flies....pretty soon she'll be graduating college!

So, I had a very busy Saturday, but Sunday I got a little bit of sewing in! Finally!!! This is the shirt I had cut out awhile back but needed the right color serger thread. So, I got that last week and so this project got started! Now, if you remember, I didn't have enough fabric to cut the sleeves, so I decided I could piece them together and managed to eek out the sleeves with the fabric I had.....only I cut 2 fabric pieces for the sides of the sleeves...instead of 4 (I needed 2 pieces per sleeve...). So, I made them black instead.

Here is a picture of my black and green sleeve. I topstitched with the olive green thread.

Here I added an embroidery of a gecko (I got this from embroidery library). I changed the colors to be just an olive green and black to blend into the shirt.

Next on the agenda....either the raincoat or the studio tantrum skirt..........

Got my stuff

So, I received many packages this week!! I received my raincoat fabric and lining. I got my zipper for the raincoat. I got my studio tantrum pattern. With my raincoat material I got the fabric for my studio tantrum skirt. I received the olive green serger thread to sew up the t-shirt I cut out for my dh a while ago. I received the stuff my dd's bday (that is tomorrow!!). For my dd's bday, I decided to buy ponies (it is a horse theme party) to stuff and little t-shirts for the ponies which the girls can decorate with iron-ons. I got them from here. I ordered the little t-shirts from them (for $1.50/t-shirt I couldn't possibly be bothered to make 20 of them!). What I did do this week, was dye the little t-shirts so they looked cuter. I made some pink, some purple, and some denim blue (there will be a few boys at her party). They turned out really cute! I had never dyed anything before and was surprised how easy it was with nice results. I printed up lots of stuff onto iron-on transfer paper and cut them all out so the kids could pick what they wanted to iron-on to the shirts. I will post pictures after the party tomorrow to show you how they turn out. BTW, the horse stuffed animals I received are completely cute and good quality (for $5/horse), they come with a birth certificate and a little foam heart to put inside the pony. It is hard to believe how inexpensively some things can be made?? Unlike my dd's upcoming raincoat which cost me $40 in materials alone! Go figure! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I hope to get sewing on Sunday!!!

I've been planning.....

Do you ever have this great urge to be sewing and don't have the perfect project?? The other day, I decided to cut out my dh a t-shirt in an olive green siltex interlock knit that I had in stash. I felt I was being good finding a project for a piece of fabric in my stash and not succumbing to purchasing more fabric. I had 1 yard. After cutting the front and back, I really didn't have enough for the arms and neckband as drafted. So, I decided to piece together the sleeve adding the seam in as a design element and figured I could bind the neckline and use two pieces to form the neckband to bind the front then the back separately. Dilemma solved......except, I don't have olive green serger thread, so I ordered that today and am waiting for it to arrive!

Then, I got to reading a post by kathi on her raincoat and absolutely loved it! I had been looking for some laminated fabric to make this raincoat for my youngest dd and well, I found it!

I found some lining from the same Amy Butler line, here is the laminated fabric for the raincoat (same as Kathi's):

And the lining:

Did I mention that I found all of this great stuff at fabric.com? Yeah, and I used a 20% coupon and added a couple of other things to reach $35 to get the free shipping! Score! (Although, that is not what my dh calls it when he pays all of my fabric bills.....). So, the only part left to that project that I needed was a zipper, so off to zipperstop for my plastic separating ykk zipper. If you have never shopped zippers from them, you should check it out. I have always been happy! I even received a notice about an hour later that it was already shipped!! Now that is service! So, in a couple of weeks, my dd should have a great raincoat (and all the rain will be done here in sunny sun diego........). So did I mention I bought a couple of other fabrics at fabric.com? Here they are:

I bought these because I was thinking of a cute skirt for dd. I had this pattern in mind, so, of course, I had to go and buy it as well:

I actually had a hard time finding this pattern! I finally found it here at this site.

Oh yeah, and I got a package today with fabric in it!! It was from Chez Ami! I purchased these fabrics from their clearance sale they had for $3/yd (2 yard minimum). These two are swimsuit fabrics for the girls (and maybe me):

And this microfiber fabric, I thought I would make into board shorts or capris for the girls (they are cute little crabs):

And then to top it off, I bought some tommy bahama shirting from the evil fabric queen last week!! So much for not adding to my stash! Oh well, that is the fun of having sewing for a hobby! :)

Now I am off to get a weekend of skiing in!! (Bet you thought I was going to sew this weekend, huh??) :)