Feature Friday: My Moby Wrap

I had hoped to model this with the real deal angel baby but that kid is really taking his time and I couldn't wait to share about the awesome deal I got!

A few months into my pregnancy I decided that this time around I wanted to be a baby wearer (did you know that was a thing, ha!). There was a woman in my ward that had a Moby Wrap and that really seemed like the way to go. Only problem, they are about $50. That just does not fly with me. So I put the thought on the back burner until I came across a pin that led me to this blog post. It was super useful because all I really needed to know was how much fabric to buy (2.5yds).

Now some more waiting. You see, I wanted to get the good fabric and the good fabric is $15 a yard and never goes on sale. Then this past Sunday I got this glorious text message...

Wooo! It only took some minor arm twisting and I convinced Brett to take me to Joann's. I found my favorite fabric, confirmed that it was NOT on sale, it wan't, it never is, and I BOUGHT it. Gleefully. It was only $15. I hurried home and made my wrap. 20 minutes later I had this happiness. $15 vs. $50 happiness is the BEST! I can't wait to try it out on my real babe but in the meantime we had fun with these fine models :) Enjoy.
Brett humored me but Lorelai was truly excited to try it out.


Thank you Bitty Baby for standing in during our time of need.

Nesting, It's Really Getting to Me

This little angel baby I've been growing will be making his appearance this month! That's so soon and the nesting instinct is kicking my trash! Is it so wrong that I want to feel ready for baby? No, but it kind of amuses me how frantic I feel about it recently. I kind of blame the fact that my niece was born recently. I think that really threw my hormones in a panic. Haha.

It's been good though, I dawdled a bit wondering if anyone would be throwing me a shower but when it looked like that wasn't going to happen I went out and bought diapers and wipes and some cloth diapers (my ultimate go to burp rag, I'll post more about that a little further down the road). Then I realized I needed more space for these things and the space I had in mind was full of craft corner over flow. Something needed to be done. I fully believed my shelves could contain it, I just needed to get organized.

Em must have felt my vibes all the way in California because at just the right time she pinned this pin and it was just the kick in the pants I needed to take my fabric corner from this...

To this...

What you can't see in the first picture is that a lot of my fabric and ribbons are spewed onto the ground at the end of my bed which is where my crib is needing to go. You can see now we are good to go!

First, I pulled all the fabric off the shelves and stood there a little overwhelmed. Then, I went to the comic book store and bought some little boards. I used these to make my own mini fabric bolts and you can see what a difference they have made. We went from 8 shelves of helter/skelter fabric to just over five beautifully organized shelves of fabric.

There were some fabrics left over that were gigantic. Way too big to be rolled around the comic boards and that's where those cardboard boxes came in handy. Brett brought home these perfectly sized boxes and I used them to fold and hide away those large cuts of fabric. They also came in handy for my batting, my 'in-progress' yarn projects (Up there on the right), scrap fabric and I even used one to store Brett's project! I love them, I slapped on some labels and now they are perfect for hiding away those odds and ends.

Next step was to control the yarn. Brett kicked all my yarn out of its home when he put the DVD player up there on that top shelf. I don't have a lot of yarn (compared to an actual "yarn crafter" sewing is my main game) and I really felt that the best case solution was to get it all back on that top shelf. I bought a little wire shelf and put it over the DVD player and added all my yarn back in as attractively as possible.


Clearing out all that crazy fabric left me with an open shelve under the yarn so that it where my serger thread migrated to. Separating it from my ribbon shelf has been wonderful, no more spools or thread or ribbon making suicide jumps anymore.

After that was taken care of I had Brett come into the game again and he drilled a couple of holes on the shelf so that I could add some dowels to hold my ribbons! I like how it looks now but I'm not sure that it will be the ultimate ribbon solution but for now it is working and I'll reevaluate in a couple of months.

It is so much nicer now! The pathway is clear, I can see what I have at a glance, and that's one more thing off my crazy nesting mind :)
I know we all love a good before and after so this is just for you!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Feature Friday: Our Superman Carseat

Not a lot of talking going on here today but I am really excited to share my latest project. Baby boy is coming soon and he is going to need to get around. Now, I realize this wasn't necessary but it was within my abilities and I just doggone wanted to. So here is the car seat I bought..

Here is what I turned it into..

A little side by side for ya..

What do you think? I love it. So, very much, us. I think little man will be riding in comfort and style! Have a great weekend, my friends!

A Happy Hair Week

Feature Friday: Newborn Espadrilles and a Onsie Dress

Welcome to Baby Month Everyone! As you know our little boy will be making his appearance this month so I warn you now, the month of August is going to be themed. I realize I am having a boy but since my baby niece was just born we will be kicking off Baby Month with a little girl project.

I think I've made it clear that I love onsie dresses. I think they are genius and I don't understand why more companies don't mass market them. I've had a couple baby girl baby showers in my life recently so I've had to whip up a couple. Most recently I made one for my sister in law but I held off giving it to her because it didn't feel complete.

Then came the morning of her c-section. I was kicking rocks around Pinterest when I came across this pattern. It was love at first sight and I immediately dropped the $5, downloaded the pattern and got to work. I especially like the fact that there are four different pattern sizes included and the instructions were very easy to follow. Haha, except for one line that completely messed me up. I think that was my own brain pooping out though because when I picked it up again a couple hours later it made perfect sense and I blew right through it.

I'll tell you this though, crocheting with embroidery thread is not for the faint of heart!

No more suspense, here they are!

Plus, the darling onsie dress..
I hope Rachel let's me try this on Baby Sadie soon! Happy weekend everyone :)

Where's the Hair?

Not a lot of hair going on this week. I kept forgetting my phone at home and not getting a picture before Lorelai got on the bus. I did manage to capture two of my all time favorites though.
1. Donna Donuts: Named for my aunt Donna I wore Donna Donuts many a time growing up and I am very excited that Lorelai's hair has reached a respectable donut length.

2. The Braided Crown: This is a hair do I often save for church. I love it, I always think it looks so elegant. People often comment on how complicated it looks but the fact is if you can do a regular french braid this isn't very difficult. Have a hair happy week! I'll be back next Wednesday!

Feature Friday: The Perfect Purple Swimsuit

You may remember that a few months ago I made Lorelai a bright yellow swimsuit and posted about it here. I was totally inspired to make more swimwear because, guess what, it's insanely easy and goes together very quickly.

I wanted to challenge myself and make a swimsuit for someone other than Lorelai. Making a suit for myself was actually what came to mind first but finding my size cups totally intimidated me. I thought making a suit for my sister would be a good in between step and since she has been staying with me it was the perfect opportunity.

Bekah and I have done a bit of shopping while she has been here, the girl is growing like a weed and is always needing new clothes. It seemed like everything she was interested in, if it wasn't Pokemon or Minecraft, it was purple. I was pleased with this because I had the perfect purple swim material already hanging out in my stash!

Now I sewed this swimsuit completely off the seat of my pants, I didn't use a pattern just loosely based it on a swimsuit she already had. I started with the most intimidating part.



If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook this will already look familiar because when Kent saw this he said, "I like those ears, Mom." It was hilarious and I had to share.

Sewing in the cups was intimidating but actually not very difficult. Once the bra area was done I was good to go and the rest of the project went together lickety split. I finished Bekah's swimsuit in time for her to wear it on our trip to Water World and I was so glad she was so excited for it.

Just for you we got in a couple of pictures before we got to all the water slide fun!

Look at the legs on this chick! You'd think she is six and a half feet tall.


Look at this next picture. The whole time we were at the park I kept wanting to say, "I am just so proud of that bra piece!" But we were with my dad and husband and I thought that might get a bit creepy so I'll brag here: I am just so pleased with how it turned out!"

Lorelai won the Favorite Daughter Award this morning when she said, "I should put on my swimsuit you made for me and we can both wear awesome swimsuits!" Snaps for Lorelai! So just for fun here are my swimsuits together :)

I can't get over it, I'm in love with swimsuit making. I'm tempted to get another one sewn this season but I really think the next swimsuit I make will be for me and since I am having a baby next month I should probably wait until I know what shape I'll be next summer. Really though, I'm having a baby next month. I've probably got bigger fish to fry. Ha ha, see you next week!

A Hairy Situation

Lorelai. Cut. Her. Hair.

Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic.

Tuesday night, after she went to bed, Lorelai cut herself some bangs. I saw it the next morning and was furious. I actually grounded her, actually used the word, grounded. Fortunately for Lorelai and my sanity she cut them long, in her eyes and I was easily able to fix them up. So here are the 'do's for last week and you can somewhat see the drama unfold.

Tuesday:
Wednesday: The bangs have been cut but I plastered them away with hair spray.

Look at this next face. It's saying. "Why are you taking a picture of my hair, I'm in trouble for this?"

After the Fix:

Friday:

It looks alright so I'm mostly over it. I should get comepletly over it. I probably will. Ha. Happy Wednesday everyone.

Tutorial Tuesday- Faux Braid

I am so grateful for the love that The Plaited Dress has received. I thought I would take a quick moment to share how to make the faux braid.


I used the technique in a dress I constructed from start to finish but it doesn't actually require a lot of sewing skill. For example, if you have a baggy t-shirt you want to give a little shape you can easily add in this braid to give it shape and interest. It's all about details!

To start you will need:
Fabric (or garment you wish to "braid")
Pencil
Ruler
Thread
Hand Needle
Scissors

Let's begin!

On the wrong side of your garment you will need to draw a grid just like this. For my dresses I used half inch squares. You can make bigger squares and make a bigger braid if you like, it's all up to you. Also, you can make as may rows as you like. For it to look like a real three strand braid you need to make at least five rows like I have done in this diagram here.

Also, in the diagram you see some blue diagonal lines. Draw them in this same pattern. This indicates which way you will be threading your needle through the fabric.


On your fabric it will look like this.


You should use pencil but for your viewing ease I used green washable marker.

I also used contrast thread for you to see more easily, but you should use matching thread. For this project I would have gone with white thread.

Once you have all that down thread your needle with a manageable length of thread and get ready to go!

Begin on the far right with the top most diagonal. Work your way down the column on the squares with diagonals and then make your way up the column directly to the left. Making sure to only go over squares with diagonals.

Insert your needle from top to bottom at point a. and then come up again at point b. Like this...

Do not pull thread all the way through, leave one to two inches at point a. like you see in the picture. Insert needle again from top to bottom at point c. and come up again at point d.

Remember, the diagonal is telling you the direction your needle needs to go.
Now gently lay your needle down. Grab the thread left near point a. with one hand and also at point d. with your other hand and pull them tight together so a. b. c. and d. are all squished together.
Tie a square knot and cut both ends of the thread.

You will repeat that step over and over again until you've made it all the way across your garment.
You will need to rethread your needle.
After a few knots it will look like this.
When you have made it all the way across it should look like this..
And your beautiful front will look like this..
Great job! I hope this helps you add a fabulous detail to your own project. If you have further questions please ask me. If you end up making your own braid, please share a picture with me. I can't wait to see what you do with it. Happy "sewing" my friends!

Triangles Are My New Thing

Hanging around the internet looking for fabric I stumbled across this fabric at girlcharlee.com. I didn't know what I would use it for but I knew I had to have it. So it came in the mail and sat in my fabric stash for three months.

Then it hit me! I knew what I wanted to do! So it sat in my fabric stash for another month.

Finally, the first day of school was fast approaching and I thought it would be the perfect first day of school outfit. My brother and sister had been here for a few days and I was still catching my stride so it just didn't happen in time for the first day of school. 

I get these ideas in my head of how I want a project to turn out and sometimes, like with this one, I want to use a new technique but that technique also intimidates me and I just let it put off the project. I wish I wouldn't do that. I wish I wouldn't because it always feels so great to conquer it and think of all those lost months!

Oh well, it's done now, and I can't wait any longer to share it with you.

Here is The Plaited Dress.

There you have it! My new favorite dress. I think I need to make some more!

Morning Energy

It's funny to say that I have so much energy in the morning considering I am 34 weeks pregnant but it is true. For a year and a half I was throwing newspapers from 1-5am. Shockingly enough I wasn't getting enough sleep and it was seriously affecting my day. Since I quit back in March I've slowly been coming back to myself and I really felt the difference when Lorelai started school last week.

I woke up the morning of her first day and I had so much energy I made breakfast and found there was still extra time so I sat Lorelai down and did her hair. I love doing her hair and it was one of the first things I let go when I was tired all the time. I've been having so much fun with it that I decided to share here what has been going on.

Last week's successes:
First Day of School

I was so thrilled that I already owned this yarn that perfectly matched her shirt. Crocheting this flower went lickty split and I love it.

So does Lorelai, she likes things with pizazz ;)

This was a Lorelai request. She really wanted a zig zag part.

Spirit Day!


Future hair posts probably wont be so picture heavy. I imagine over time I will get use to all the energy and the novelty will eventually wear off but for now I am having fun and you get to enjoy it too.