Baby Buntings

Sort of.  The new Ottobre magazine came and just flipping through it I was immediately drawn to this cute little baby coverall.  Sort of like a bunting but not as substantial.  I wanted to make it right away.  Problem is, I haven't had a sonogram to know if I am making girl clothes or boy clothes!  So I decided straight away that I was making both girl and boy.  I figured I could gift the one I don't use to someone!  Second problem was that I had no suitable boy fabric.  Shocking I know, considering the unbelievable amount of fabric that I own.  But it's true!  I wanted to use french terry and have plenty of girl options as I make the girls plenty of hoodies but my boy options were pretty much a solid color.  And those were black, aqua and chocolate brown.  I searched the internet high and low for a few days but didn't find anything! 

So I decided on the brown and then tried to find matching ribbing, which I had none!  Even JoAnn's didn't have any as the chocolate brown, which is actually a velour, was part of a line a few years ago and they discontinued the color and replaced it with something lighter.  While searching JoAnn's I came across some cute little iron on appliques of monkey's and my fate was sealed.  I came home with the appliques and then decided to use bright kelly green ribbing to match the appliques. 

I almost can't decide which one I would rather use!

The only thing I don't like about the pattern that I didn't realize until it was too late is that the hood isn't lined.  So there are serger seams down the middle of the hood which may be okay for bigger kids, but I just feel like the hoods should be lined.  Which I took care of in the second one!

I really like how the zipper is diagonal across the body of the suit!

My girls begged for me to put the monkey on the butt!

And so I have completed the first baby outfit for number 3!  And a spare! 

Nin's birthday shorts

Nin's birthday was yesterday!  My big girl turned 8!!  We bought most of her presents but I decided since I had been promising all summer to make her some shorts that one of her presents would be mama made shorts.  And you know what, we didn't even let her open any of her presents!!  Aren't we mean.....  She gets to open them at her party tomorrow.  Plus we let her open one last weekend, so don't feel too bad for her. 

The shorts I made last summer don't fit anymore and I had used the largest size range on that pattern so I had to find a new pattern.  Browsing the Farbenmix Flickr group I decided I wanted the Unella Blomma pattern.  It's a shirt and short pattern, but I mainly just wanted the shorts. I have a nearly identical shirt pattern in one of my Ottobre catalogs that I have made 3 or 4 times. 

A couple months ago I went out and bought lots of mama fabric.  Lots and lots.  Probably 8 or 10 different pieces.  I wanted to make myself some new skirts and capri pants.  But then I got pregnant and got all sick and tired.  So I thought it was pointless to sew pants for me since I won't be able to wear them in a few months.  Even if I wanted to sew, I was too sick and too tired to do it!

So the point is, I used some of this mama fabric to make Nin these shorts.  Now, I bought 3 yards to make myself some pants and these shorts took about 1 yard so maybe next summer I can make myself some shorts.  If I am being honest with you, that won't actually happen.  I don't wear shorts. 

Pattern:  Farbenmix Unella Blomma
Size 146/152- they do seem a bit big but I have to wait until tomorrow to try them on her!
Embroidery:  Tinimi- strawberry fairy

After I made KK the strawberry dress, poor little Nin was so disappointed because she loved the strawberry fairies.  So I felt like I should use them on something for her.  Plus, when you pay $16 for one embroidery design you kind of feel obligated to use it more than once...

The shorts have these tucks and pleats all over them.  Two on the waist front, 2 on the yoke in the back and one on each front pocket.  I don't know, are pleated shorts a thing of the past?  Or are they acceptable for 8 year olds?

Cute little tags that I ordered from a Night Owl's Menagerie co-op.

Ribbon detail on a back pocket.  I saw another pair of these shorts with ribbon on the back pocket and thought it was cool!

 A happy sun!

And since I was all tuckered out after making these shorts, I went to Target and bought a plain pink shirt to match! 

Here she is in the whole outfit.  I know the pictures are horrible but I had about a 2 minute window to take these!

Not too big, they fit perfect!

Baby clothes

I recently made 2 baby outfits for a friend who was giving them as a gift!  I am pretty sure I have never turned down the opportunity to make baby clothes!

The first outfit is from one of my favorite pattterns ever!  The New Conceptions Baby Essentials pattern!  It has a button down shirt, a cross over shirt, pants and shorts!  There is also a hat and bootie pattern which are very cute as well.  I have never made the booties but have made the hat several times..

Then I used the shirt and pants pattern from my favorite Ottobre magazine, 1/2009!  Really, I needed to get this outfit done and I already had it traced in the correct size.  I finally used up most of the stripe facbric that I purchased from Girl Charlee last year.  I bought 2 yards and when you make baby clothes it sure doesn't get used up very fast!! 

On this one I decided to put an applique in the center to jazz it up.  It turned out really well!  I just hope they stuck woth the name they had picked out ahead of time...

In this pic the pant cuffs are rolled all the way down.  They are meant to be folded up in half like the sleeves!

Close up of the applique!

Strawberry breakfast feliz

My mom works for a local university and every year the President and his wife hold a breakfast for all employees.  It's called the Strawberry breakfast because it features a buffet of delicious strawberries and all the toppings you could imagine!  Whipped cream, powdered sugar and chocolate to name a few.  In addition, they have all the traditional breakfast foods. 

Last year my mom invited my 20 year old brother, but at the last minute he didn't want to get out of bed to go so she decided that she wasn't inviting him anymore!  So KK is next in line!  But I decided at last minute that she can't possibly go to a strawberry breakfast without a strawberry dress.  So I went shopping for the fabric and downloaded the embroidery files and set to work making this thing 2 days before she needed it!  Now, I didn't have a lot of time and I hade a million other things to do but I needed to make time for this!  I guess I spent about 7 hours on it over 2 days, including staying up until almost midnight one night! 

Hubby thought I was crazy and at points I was beginning to doubt myself, but I got it done!  I did have to leave off one of the embroideries since I just didn't have time, but I think the dress is spectacular!  I have made several Feliz's before but none with this much detail!

Pattern: Farbenmix Feliz
size: 140- the largest size, boo!
Embroidery- Tinimi

Front

The best part about this dress?  The ruffles!!!!  After one look at it, KK said, I love how it's so big and fluffy!  The ruffles started with 440 inches of material that was 3 in. wide.  That is 36 feet!  Good thing my serger ruffles!  Here is the back before putting it all together..

And the twirl factor is pretty awesome...

This girl twirled all day!

With my mom!

Here is Nin's party dress version!  She wore this for probably 3 years until it was so short it was inappropriate!  We passed it down to another little girl though.

A brown and pink version....

And a Christmas version...

Farbenmix Amelie

I recently purchased some new Farbenmix patterns and one of those was the Farbenmix Amelie.  It is so simple and can be "girlied" up in so many ways!  And you know my girls, pretty much anything with pink, sparkles, ruffles, frillies and glitter is great. 

Neither of them need any clothes at the time moment, so this tunic was for creative purposes only.  Meaning, it wasn't needed but I just wanted to make it so badly! 

Pattern: Farbenmix Amelie, size 140
Embroidery: Huups, this one in particular.

This sucker has 3 different embroidery sections

The hood

I had every intention of making matching gray capri leggings to go with it.  But, I ran out of the gray cotton lycra I used for the top.  So she just wore black leggings.  I promised I would make her some when I ordered gray cotton lycra next.  But let's face it, by the time I get anymore back in stock, she will have A) outgrown the top and B) forgot I promised to make her gray capri leggings.  ;)

Hairbows R US

Every now and again when I come down with Crafting ADD, (it's a real disease, I'm sure of it) I like to spend some time doing different crafts.  This week I was at home for 2 days with a sickie who slept quite a bit so I brought my ribbon upstairs and set to work making some hairbows. 

I had stitched up quite a few hair stitchies on my embroidery machine so I wanted to make some bows to match.  Because that's what I do when I am bored.  I make random hair stitichies when I have a few extra minutes and then when I want to make hairbows, I have a large stash to choose from!  I know, I know, I lead a fascinating life don't I! 

Orange

Lemon squeezy

Owls

Apple

Cowgirl

Princess

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  The girlies are all decked out in green today and will be tomorrow too!

S'more baby clothes

Like what I did there!  Ha!  Now that the embroidery machine is back up and running I have been making appliques on most of the clothes I have made.  I have to catch up for lost time!! 

I made baby Avie another tunic from Ottobre 1/2012.  Since this one was to have an applique and I somehow got it in my mind that I wanted it to be tiered, nothing else would work.  I initially looked for a dress from a recent Ottobre that was already tiered.  Either it was too late at night or my mind was playing tricks on me since I couldn't seem to find the dress I knew I saw earlier.  I even remember the colors!!  Since my mind was already set on a tiered, envelope neck dress, I just modified the tunic pattern I just made her.  Which, honestly, would have been easier to do that then spend an hour searching all my old Ottobre's. 

I really love this little dress!  It is very sweet and girly and fun.  And, I even made matching leggings.  They are capri length with ruffly FOE on the bottom edge that is a perfect coordinate to the top!  Seeing how I have like 9 million yards of FOE on hand at all times, I was sure to find something to match!

Since I can't make Avie something without making TheoRama something, I kept the green out to test out the new gator alphabet applique that I got as a gift at Planet Applique.  Very cute indeed!

These little appliques are a great way to use up scraps.  For example, the green and white stripe above is from a Target baby blanket that I bought about 3 years ago.  Now, it's probably going to take 50 more years for me to use up all my scraps, but we all have to start somewhere! 

Fat Tuesday

Although the girls didn't know what Mardi Gras was, I made them shirts anyway!  They happily wore them to school.

The best part, is that I used 2 shirts we already had on hand so I didn't have to sew anything! 

A custom order

The reason I had to get my embroidery machine working is because I got a custom order for a baby outfit that included a tutu and a onesie with the little girls initial on it. 

What a fun order!  I cut 3.5 yards of tulle to make a little tutu.  Aack, it was so cute!



Then I started with the onesie once I got my machine running! I wanted a dark pink oneise to match the tulle I used in the skirt. But I couldn't find one, so I just decided to dye one. I bought 2 just in case!!





Then came the zebra applique.



And I also made 2 bows to match, because I just couldn't stop myself!! I ended up using the headband bow because the little girl doesn't have a lot of hair!



What a fun project!