Intervention

I think I may need an intervention. My name is Kelly and I make way too many Antonia's. There I said it. If you readers promise not to call Intervention, I promise not to make any more Antonia's. How about that? But while you are here, let me show you how I spent the last week....

I got together with friends and their daughters the Saturday before Christmas and painted t-shirt fronts with the kids. The kids did a few and the adults did a few. And then they left me with a big ol' mess. The end. Okay, not really.

So we decided to make a few Christmas ones and then let the kids pick a second design. Since 4 out of the 5 kids picked a reindeer, I set them up with just 4 colors to chose from. You know sometimes with kids, less is more. I should have given them 2. When you see the shirts, you will know why. But it was fun and the kids had a really great time and when they saw their completed shirts they were stoked!

So I got to mix and match the rest of the shirt parts (which is the fun part for me!). So here is what we got, in size order.











I had a hard time deciding on the fabric for these. I only had a few Christmasy fabrics to chose from. I found the solids and then found the red and blue stripes. And then in my remnant pile I found the green and white stripes, which incidently is a Target baby blanket. I was almost out of the green and white and it was my fave, but I managed to stretch it into 2 shirts.

So Wed. night I finished these so that the kiddos could have them for Christmas.

And then Sunday I picked out fabric for the other designs and sewed them all up in one marathon. These were my favorite to do because I could literally pick any fabric and trim and ribbon I wanted! I sat for 2 hours on the floor of my sewing room playing with fabric trying to get the right combos before cutting and sewing! I am only slightly insane.

In size order again.....

We have Baby Ally's, with a band at the bottom to be more like a tunic than a t-shirt. I checked with her mom first to make sure she had pink or brown leggings. Because dang it, this shirt needs them and I was prepared to make her some.

Look closely at her sleeves. They are cut off another t-shirt...



Kate's



And look at this trim on the sleeves! Ruffle FOE (fold over elastic). Matches perfect!



Then there is Addi B's.



And she gets 2 different trims. One in between the sleeve pieces and one at the sleeve end.



Next in Nin's.. She painted this one herself. Hello Kitty! I cut up one of her old shirts to use as the sleeves and she was a bit disappointed at first but then I convinced her that since the old shirt didn't fit they were better as sleeves. The lace trim was already on the bottom so I just left it! Look how cute it is!!





Last is KK's. I tried a new sleeve band on the bottom but somehow my math didn't work out and they are a little short. She doesn't mind though that they are more like 3/4 sleeves.



5 little shirts all lined up





How is that for insane? 10 shirts in 4 days?

Family Christmas Cards

I had grand plans to make the girls some adorable dresses for Christmas this year complete with matching tulle underskirts. Yeah, that didn't happen. I got too busy sewing other gifts, had sick kids, got behind on laundry.... You get the idea. So I made some simple little skirts with a red satiny top layer and a tulle underlayer. Using my serger I just gathered the top edge of the tulle and them gathered the top edge of the top layer and then serged them together onto the waistband. Elastic, hem and done.

Hubby's friend came by and took some pictures for us.

Pretty purses

A pretty purse that was an order from a friend. I also threw in a makeup bag and a little change pouch since I have extra fabric left.

Help! We are being attacked by Jellyfish

Ok, not really. I mean, we are in a landlocked state. These are our costumes for the birthday party we went to this past weekend. I loved them, the girls thought they were a little much.





Aren't jellyfish supposed to be scary?

Big kid clothes

I have been sewing everyday since last Saturday so I finished off a lot of projects. I started with itty bitty baby clothes just because they were cute, then moved on to big kid clothes.



First up is another tunic for KK. I made her this pattern before in a sweatshirt fleece with hearts and she asked for one to match every pair of leggings she has. A little much, but then this cute french terry came in the mail from a Cyber Monday order I placed so I got the pattern out again....


Pattern:

Ottobre Design 1/2010 #30

Size 128






Next up is a birthday present for a little girl we know who is turning 4. She is having a costume party this weekend (wait til you see our costumes!!) I wanted to make a skirt and matching shirt. So I set out to find my Farbenmix Redondo pattern but ran into the Insa first. And it just so happened to be traced in the size that I needed. It was fate! I can't decide if I should use the Cricut and make a tree stencil to add to the shirt. And now that I have put it off so long I am afraid I have run out of time.....



Pattern:

Skirt- Farbenmix Insa

Size 116

twill top layer with a ribbon hem and a denim under layer.





Pattern:

Shirt- Farbenmix Antonia ( I know, I know. I use this all the time...)

Size 122



Together

Itty bitty baby sewing

This past weekend all I wanted to do was sew baby clothes. No, I am not pregnant, (much to the dismay of just about everyone) but baby clothes are impossibly cute and very easy to sew which pleases the instant gratification side of me.

Since I concluded that the camo romper was a bit small for Theo Rama, I made him another. This one is a cute baseball themed fabric and I even managed to line up the waistband at the zipper this time!!

Pattern: Ottobre Design 6/2010 #13
Size 86 still, but a bit bigger all the way around with a little extra length in the legs.





For a gift for a pregnany coworker. Not sure when the baby shower will be now I have something ready to go! Yay for being ahead of the game!

Pattern:
Romper- Ottobre Design 6/2009 # 4 in size 62. The smallest this pattern comes in which is about a size 0 to 3 mo.



Dang it, I forgot to sew the collar on before I put the zipper in...



The onesie to go under it is also Ottobre. 5/2006 #1. In size 62 also.



I know I say this all the time, but this has to be the cutest baby outfit ever!



That's it for itty bitty baby sewing.

Wanna see my sewing room

Last weekend I spent hours cleaning my sewing room. Folding fabric, sorting scraps, organizing patterns, sweeping, dusting, the list goes on and on. I spent so much time leaning over the air hockey table folding fabric that my back ached! I have some before and after pictures. Now, I know they are kind of crummy, but I took them on my cell phone. So just pretend I am some wildly popular photographer who takes excellent pictures and we will all get through this.

My sewing desk is a door that we purchased at Lowe's set on top of 2 old cabinets that a friend was giving away after his kitchen remodel. Hubby used a drill and cut 2 donut size holes in the top to stick the cords from the machines down so that they don't hang off the front of the table. In the left side cabinet, I have all my sewing tools in the top drawer, like measuring tape, rulers, scissors, seam rippers, etc. On the 2 shelfs underneath I have a bin full of zippers, elastic, magnetic snaps and plastic snaps and a bag full of ribbon. On the bottom shelf is projects that are cut out and waiting to be sewn

In the other cabinet I have threads in the top drawer. Lots and lots of thread. And on the shelves are 4 bins, 2 on each shelf. The top bins are patterns, one bin of brand new patterns and the other bin full of patterns that I have made and use frequently. The bottom shelf bins are used to store trims, like elastic trims, piping, FOE or fold over elastic which I have a million yards of, size tags, clothing care labels and clothing labels, like the nerd tags!

On top of the desk in the corners I store rubbermaid bins full of ribbon. Yes, I have a ribbon problem. And tubs of buttons, more patterns and a Longaberger basket full of receipts. I never claimed to be an accountant. And an accountant would probably stroke out looking at my "receipt saving system".

But first, here is the 14 pieces of fabric I picked up on Black Friday. About 27 yards worth. Stretched end to end, it would cover almost 1/3 of a football field. Look at me throwing out sports talk! All folded up though it doesn't look like much.



On to the room!

Before

Looking at the sewing table


Again, looking at the sewing table


Fabric stacked in and on top of rubbermaid bins



After

Looking at the sewing table



I ruler folded this fabric some time ago, but isn't it pretty! Flannel on the top shelf with a 300 yard roll of elastic, and the rest of the shelves are cotton wovens divided by color. On the right side of the pink shelf is file folders of pattern tracings from all my Ottobre magazines seperated by issue.



Remember the rubbermaid bins that were here? Replaced by the rack I use at the farmer's market with finished garments and my scrap boxes.



All the fabric that was on top of those rubbermaid bins is now on the shelf on the right. All knits, each shelf is divided by what kind they are. Interlocks, jersey's, ribbing and sweater knit/velour. The shelf on the left is all my purse making fabric, mostly home dec stuff from JoAnn's. It still needs to be ruler folded, but I just wanted to be done at this point. Oh, and the fabric in the rubbermaid bins, is still in the bins, on the other side of this closet. I didn't really have any shelf room for it. It may end up at Goodwill since most of it is stuff I got at gargage sales in "buy the whole bin" kind of sales and I am not too fond of it.



Well that's it! So few pictures for all the work.

Headbands

The girls and I needed a project the other day so we decided to tackle the tutorial at Lil Blue Boo.

http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2010/11/no-sew-fabric-flower-headband-tutorial.html

They were so excited! We only made ours with one flower each instead of 3 because they seemed too heavy. We made up 4 flowers and four headbands, 2 for each girl. Aren't they cute!!







Here is KK's that she wore on Thanksgiving!