KCW 2013 Day 2

Oh snap. It's day two and I've already been side tracked. I've had these adorable pleats stuck in my head since I saw them done by Marta @do guincho and they just had to come out so I could concentrate on other things again. It went together super quick after I figured out what the instructions were saying to me. Maybe I'll talk about that more in future days...

Okay! Back to the serious work. It's time to get stuff done! See you again tomorrow :)

KCW 2013 Day 1

Have you heard of Kids Clothing Week (KCW)? Its been around for a little while now but this is the first time I will be participating.

The idea is that you set aside one hour every day for a week devoted to kids clothing sewing. In some ways its not really a stretch, at the moment all my sewing is kids clothing :) But I certainly don't get to put in an hour EVERY single day. So I am excited for this challenge, I could potentially get so much done this week!

But get what done? With all of my sew along's done and my kids clothing collections somewhat in disarray I wasn't sure where to start, nothing was "speaking" to me. I decided to be brave. I decided to spend this time working on a project that scares me, something that I am not entirely sure how to do- but I've wanted to for a long time. I don't know about you, I'm pretty sure it's human nature, but when I'm uncertain about how to do something or intimidated by the time or effort it will require I put it off. Sometimes I put it off so long it isn't even a possibility and then I am so disappointed with myself. NOT this time! This is how I will be spending KCW...

I'm turning one of the dresses I've designed into a digital pattern! The Nicole dress will be the guinea pig but if it goes well I could be entering a whole new world of kids clothing. I'm so excited for me, haha. I think it'll be wonderful having a hard copy of all my work and it'll be so nice not to have to reuse the same wrapping paper pieces over and over again. Did I mention I'm excited? Scared, but excited. Now I must return to my work, or maybe do the dishes, or maybe find out where Kent keeps finding those candies... I'll be back tomorrow with another update! Keep an eye out ;)

A Formal Princess

Well, my friends, this is it! This week is the final week over at Project Run and Play and I could not be more excited about it. The final theme is Spring Formal. It could be Easter outfits, wedding clothes, whatever- it's time to get fancy.

My first thought went to the kids Easter outfits but I nixed those. I felt that this years Easter clothes were more casual than usual and on top of that there was a week just for chevron! They were a much better fit over there. Then I got to thinking about how I have total freedom for this outfit, it didn't need to fit any occasion, I could literally make anything I wanted.

So I started brainstorming. How cute would it be to make a mini version of some celebrities gown? Oh yeah, I really liked this idea. Then I remembered most celebrities are hoochie mamas, not something that I wanted to recreate on my sweet little girl. I pouted over that for a minute until I remembered Kate Middleton. I absolutely love Kate's style. I think she is a wonderful example to young girls, she always looks stunning and is so modest. Now I was really happy, I knew just the dress I wanted to make. Last week I gave you guys a peek into the "making of" and now here it is!



Originally I wanted to do purple just like Kate but I couldn't find a purple that I was very excited about and when I came across this coral I nearly died. It had to come home with me. I liked that it was different but still very "Spring".


The thing that really takes this dress to the next level is the belt.

I'd like to be all cool and be like, "Oh, yeah I just threw that together, bada-boom!" But in reality it took me hours to sew all those beads on that belt. I love those aprox. 2,380 beads but I don't know that I'll ever go through that again. Oh my gosh though, I love how it turned out.

Oh, and don't miss how it moves!



I know that she is falling over in that last picture but lets be honest, that dress makes falling over look good!

Finally I love when a princess finds her prince. There's Kate with hers...



Recognize him? Ha.

Lorelai is way too young to go looking for princes and I LOVE this quote,

"I found my Prince Charming, I call him Daddy"

So here are just a couple more pictures for you.

That last one just melts my heart :)

See you all again really soon!

 Kate Middleton Photo Source.
Linked @

Kent Camo & Behind the Scenes

So today's pictures are mostly to convince you that Kent was not neglected by way of camo. He is a rare and elusive beast and difficult to capture on film, especially when his clothing helps him blend into his surroundings!
So here is what we've got..





Such a cute busy little guy. I love this traditional t-shirt. With his sudden growth spurt I have had difficulty getting the size right. I think I've finally got it. He looks comfy and ready to play. Just one last picture with his sister and he was free to go.

 Since this was such a short post I thought that I would share what I am working on at this very moment.

 Next week is the final week of this "season" of Project Run and Play. The theme is Spring Formal. I considered submitting the kids Easter outfits but I felt they were on the casual side and fit in nicely with the chevron challenge anyway. So I've come up with something completely different.

 To start this project I came up with a pattern in my head. Then I needed to build a muslin.

I wanted to get the fit just right with out having to mess with the actual fabric. I stay stitched my muslin pieces together then tried the dress on Lorelai. Then I pinned the seams in to make the bodice very fitted and allow the skirt to still flare out. I re-sewed the altered seams and double checked the fit on Lorelai. Next I trimmed the excess of the altered seams and pulled out all the stitching I had done. This left me with the perfect pattern pieces to lay out on my beautiful fabric, pin and cut. Good to go!   

That's it for now! Tune back in on Monday to see the final look :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Camo Ruffles Revisited

So this weeks theme for Project Run and Play's sew along is "It's all in the Details". I thought and thought about what my favorite detail is and then I slapped myself for being a dunce. Ruffles. I add them to so many outfits!

Remember these?

Top Left - Flower Girls               Center - Pink Hearts                   Top Right - Peterson Pictures

Middle Left - Happy Easter                                                           Middle Right - Mommy and Me Aprons

Bottom Left - Happy Easter                                                           Bottom Right - Ruffle Bum

Apparently I've got ruffles coming out the wazoo and its about to get a little worse!

Camo is kind of a big deal to my husband. He is really into Duck Dynasty right now, so camo is really on my brain. I for sure wanted to make a camo shirt for Kent for his Spring Collection but I had so much extra of this wonderful knit camo I decided Lorelai needed a little somethin somethin too. Enter Project Run and Play...



When Lorelai first saw what I was doing she said, "Camo isn't for girls!" I told her sure it is, you'll see.

As I was sewing down the ruffles she came back again and said, "Really Mom, I don't think camo is suppose to be for girls." I told her to get real, boys don't wear ruffles. Not at my house anyway, ha.

When I was sewing the beading to the first ruffle I asked her if it looked more girly. She said, "Um, sure."
I told her to stop doubting already! It would be cute.
She wasn't convinced.
Finally I said, "It will be cute, it will be girly, and when I am done we will go outside and take pictures with your bow and arrow!"
Boy, was she suddenly excited and totally on board!


That looks like a happy kid to me! Do you think the camo worked for this girly girl? See you Thursday for Kent's day in the camo spot light, if I can get him to stay still long enough!


I'm linked up today at Ladybird Ln.

Of Royal Birth

Hello again everyone! This dress is my sew along entry for Sew-vivor's second theme, Buttons.

A few weeks ago when I got Kent's alphabet fabric Lorelai picked out this princess fabric for herself. I LOVE this fabric.

When I started this project I didn't have any idea how it would come out except that I wanted it to have a scalloped hem. I found this tutorial through Pinterest quite some time ago and I've been itching to use it in a project and I'll tell you what. It is amazing! I think that the best tip was this:

Photo Source

"when you get to the place in between each scallop, turn and do 1 st. before turning into the next scallop."

The scalloping, ha! It doesn't seem like scalloping would be a word. Anyway, the scalloping took a really long time but was totally worth it. This dress is in my top 5 Lorelai dresses made by me. Once the scallops were done the rest of the dress came together right quick. When it was all sewn together I had Lorelai try it on.



Cute kid right? It was looking good but I felt like something was missing. These little princesses and their castles needed a little more bling. That was just as well, to qualify for the challenge her dress still needed some buttons somewhere. So I went to my stash and pulled out these jeweled  buttons I've been hoarding for over a year and sewed them on the bodice for a faux necklace effect. I know I am biased but I think it all turned out crazy cute. Don't take my word for it. See for yourself :)


It wasn't my intent but it turns (haha) out that this dress is prefect for twirling! I think it looks like a cupcake :) And back by popular demand, Lorelai Poses!

Thanks for stopping by!


I'm linked up at the Ladybird Ln. and The Train to Crazy

Easter Time

I can't believe  Easter has come and gone already this year. It always messes up my brain when Easter falls in March. I love making Easter clothes. My aunt always made me an Easter dress when I was a kid and it is a tradition I hope I never grow out of.

That's me on the left! This particular dress might not have been an Easter dress but you better believe I had one very similar, ha.
                              
Again, I'm there on the left. This was one of my favorite Easter dresses. It makes me look so long! For those of you who don't know me personally, I'll tell you straight up, I am s.h.o.r.t. haha.

Enough about me, I know you are really here to see what I have come up with for my kids. Without further ado, here they are!

 
I told Lorelai if she gave me beautiful smiles I would only take 10 pictures but if she was frumpy or did duck faces we would take at least 100. It was very effective incentive and I think she knocked it out of the park! I captured some new favorites. You might remember my Easter inspiration board from this sneak peek and I am so thrilled it turned out EXACTLY as I had imagined it. Brett thought it was missing something but Lorelai thought it was perfect and I agreed!

 Unfortunately we had to take these pictures after church instead of the day before like I had planned so Kent looks a little wonky from his two hours of serious play in nursery. He was also dying to get home and impossible to get him to stand for pictures. 10 vs 100? Forget it mom, you can't get any if you can't catch me! That is what inspired the Kent in the tree pic. The tree picture doesn't provide much detail and I really wanted to share this with you guys.
{Please forgive the visible tape. I am learning!) I can be honest with myself and say the shirt shows signs of being my first ever attempt at making a boys dress shirt, but that being said, I think I did a really good job especially since I didn't use a pattern. I know the things I would do to fix it and have big plans for Kent clothes in the future. It's kind of funny, Kent's outfit came off looking like it was from the 70's but I don't care he was still too cute to boot and I'm really loving those pants! The vest came out just as I imagined it and I am still lovin' on those buttons :)

I hope you guys enjoyed it all and had your own Happy Easter!

If you want to see more of Easter from Lorelai's lifetime you can check out this post here. Have a happy day, I'll see you back here later this week.

I'm linked up at the Train to Crazy & Ladybird Ln.

K is for Kenty

My two year old Kent LOVES letters. He sings the alphabet, recognizes nearly all of the letters: both upper and lower case, and knows most of the sounds they make. He amazes me. So one day not too long ago I was browsing around and came across this fabric by Tim and Beck for Moda I HAD to have it. It's not too often that I look at a bolt of fabric and think, "Oh, that's just perfect for Kent". so I really couldn't let this one slip by. Ohmygoodness I love it, haha.

Almost as soon as I determined that I MUST have the fabric I also knew what I wanted to do with it. I've used this pattern by MADE before and I knew the time had come to use it again. I love this pattern and it is super quick and easy to follow. Start to finish it took me only 1 hour to make the shorts and the shirt. Well, sewing wise that is. I used my soft fabric paint and freezer paper to make the K so that added a couple hours for drying time.

I felt strongly that when I took pictures of Kent in this outfit it needed to be at the library and I am so happy it wasn't too cold outside when we went to story time to make that a reality. Here they are, enjoy!

After story time we go to the kids section and check out some books. Kent runs straight for this little blue chair to stake his claim. The nice sitting and posing for me didn't last too long. This boy had to get his browse on. (He loves Cars) I managed to get him to stop and pose a couple more times. Oh my goodness do you see that face?? This boy is so goofy. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you liked our letters!