easter finery

Several months ago, Mom offered me a pair of ruffled yellow gingham pillowcases, and I was happy to say yes!  I had given them to her for Christmas probably 15 years ago, back when her bedroom was yellow and hunter green.  She had repainted since, was cleaning out, and I was having visions of making matching little girl night gowns, like the one I made for Gemma last year.  It's a darling little pattern!  So, I started them a few weeks ago, fully intending for them to be nightgowns . . . go ahead and laugh, but as I finished them up, John and I agreed that they could pass for dresses!

We aren't usually the type to get new dresses for Easter every year, mostly because we've been so blessed with hand-me-downs that I usually pick out something special and spring-like for each girl and that's that.  There's something quite sweet about matching, though.  It was when I settled on the Beatrix Potter buttons from my button jar that my mind was made up, I think.  

Back when Mom and I were fabric-shopping for our wedding, we bought a yard of lovely lace (or is it embroidered netting?) without any concrete plans for it.  It ended up saving the day on the morning of the wedding when my dress was too low-cut in front, so a piece of it is still in my wedding gown.  Then, I took out two more little cuts to fill in the necklines of the bridesmaid dresses Heidi and I wore for Derek and Liz's wedding.  I'm not sure what brought it to mind again, but I decided to put the remaining bits to some use.  First I cut strips from the plain netting end and stitched some simple puff rosettes for our girlies' shoes.  (We're slowly transitioning to minimal shoes for our children, and I decided that leather ballet slippers would be preferable to anything with a heel for this summer!)  Then, on Saturday night, I cut some more strips, this time including the embroidered edge, and zig-zagged them together on my machine until they were long enough to make into bows.  Somehow my finicky hot glue gun cooperated, the zig-zag seams hid just perfectly and they are just the sweetest bows I've ever made!  Gemma had already "made" a bow with her friends for Easter, though, so I wasn't about to deny her the pleasure of wearing her own handiwork.

This may be the best photo of the two of them together . . . Ruthie had a little Easter Basket to take home from her Sunday School class, and Gemma did not, so she was very very interested in sister's.

And what's an Easter photo without Thumper, our new pet, enjoying his Sunday carrot?  :)

So, nightgown dresses, haha!  One more thing!  Since the original tutorial is only written as a size 4, I had to draw up my own pattern pieces for size 2, and I'm more than happy to share them if there's interest.  Let me know!

Pillowcase Nightgown!

Well, we can check this project off!  Except that I loved it so much I may make some more sometime. . . :)  A couple of years ago, I pinned this free tutorial, where the author made some precious nightgowns from upcycled vintage pillowcases.  Then a friend at church came upon a lone flannel pillowcase in blue toile and thought of her toile-crazy friend gave it to me!  

At first, I used it as a bassinet sheet on Ruthie's bed in our room, but I'd always had this project in mind for it!  When in September I finally was at an Ikea which had the right size blue toile duvet cover I'd been eyeing in stock, our room suddenly got an abundance of toile, so I didn't feel too badly about cutting this up. I'm so happy I did!  The tutorial only gives a pattern for size 4.

The directions were pretty straight-forward, but I would note one thing:  one of the first instructions is to cut the pillowcase straight across, 21 inches from the opening, and then to cut the pattern pieces from the remaining fabric.  I had a feeling that my pillowcase might have been a little smaller than a standard size, so I held up the pattern pieces first, and, sure enough, I only had enough fabric to cut 20 inches off.  It's certainly not too short, but I'm so thankful I checked!

The author also leaves the finishing of the back and neck kind of up to you.  I ended up using a bit of lacy hem tape along the back slit and doing a rolled hem around the neck, and was very happy with the result.  Since my beloved ancient machine doesn't have a button-holer, I just used a heavy-duty sew-on snap.  

Of course, the advantage of using a pillowcase is that the side seams and hem of the skirt are already finished for you.  This took me three short sittings, and was really easy and fun!  I just love how pretty my big girl looks--and feels!--in it.  :)

Gemma's birthday, cont'd

I mentioned that Gemma was rather overwhelmed with birthday gifts from her loving extended family :) but I thought it would also be fun to share the little something I made her for turning 3.  It's a little bath set for her baby, who has been named "Bio Bio Bio" once and for all, I believe.  :)

Poor Bio Bio Bio . . . she got dropped in a parking lot last September, and I believe that she had a rough encounter with a car.  We're just thankful that we found her after the fact!  When Gemma first saw her, she put heart stickers on her eyes, but now she has come to terms with her dolly's permanent injury.  If asked, she repeats what we explained to her: "Baby's eyes are a little broken, but she can still see!"  In public, people frequently ask if Baby is an old family hand-me-down, but she has just known that much love from Gemma in her two years of ownership!

I had some leftover terry cloth, seam bias binding, and fleece, so I put together a wee hooded towel and sponge.  These little projects just delight my heart!

I packaged them up with an empty baby bath bottle which was a hospital freebie.  The writing is coming off, but Gemma doesn't seem to mind.  :)

Whenever Gemma takes a bath, she likes to have Bio Bio Bio bathe in the upside-down bathroom stool, so I staged her this way for you.  :) Besides that, we just bought her a new pack of undershirts.  How many things does a kid need, right?  She and her sister's birthdays are both so close to Christmas, that it just makes sense to keep things simple, at least while they're little.  Maybe we'll start a tradition of taking them someplace special instead of buying them something special as they get older.  But for now, it was nice at least to spend some time making her something.  :)

Fabric Scrap Tutu

I'm filing this post under "sewing," even though the sewing truly is minimal!  A while back, my sister Heidi (aka Hockey by Gemma Grace!) pinned this idea on her adorable "muskrats" board:




Well, a blogger came up with her own copycat tutorial and Hockey picked up some cute fat quarters to recreate it.  She ended up leaving them at our house at Christmas, and I in turn brought them to my mom's in July to use her pinking shears on them!

Though I liked the pointed strips of the original pin, I ended up following the tutorial pretty closely and decided they were fine as-is.  :)

Little one was getting sick when I took these photos . . . poor thing . . . 

"How are you going to keep it from fraying when you wash it?"  Excellent question . . . I'm intending it to be a dress-up tutu and am going to try hard not to have to wash it!  But I suppose you could spray some fray-stop or something on it.  

Another fun thing is that I cut the elastic out of one of my cami's to make it more nursing-friendly, so the entire project cost me nothing!

She loves it, Hockey!  Thanks for the idea and the supplies!

Ugly Horse, faithful steed

Back before Christmas, I mentioned working on a gift for our little nephew...with Ruthie's birth, it didn't get done in time, but I finally finished it this spring for his birthday! And I present to you some poor-quality iPhone shots of Ugly Horse!

Mom made us all stick-horses as gifts when we were growing up, and I was excited to continue the tradition. I had a vintage wool skirt in mind for the head, some frisky red cotton for his mane, and planned to embroider his eyes, nostrils and mouth. All very exciting. :)

Then I made my primary mistake--drawing up my own pattern for his head. I thought I'd give him a nice thick neck like a real horse...

And then Christmas morning came! Aunt Heidi came into town with a homemade stick horse for Gemma in tow. She followed a pattern for hers--

When Gemma opened it, I had to catch my breath. So Victorian! So girly! So beautiful! Why hadn't I followed a pattern? 

I went to Joann to find some fun materials to make a bridle and reins, and they helped some. I stitched them together with a snap on the underside so the bridle can come off, which makes me happy. And that is the tale of Ugly Horse...at least it was for a boy!

Dolly's Diaper Bag

It's finished, and ready for Christmas!

Most of the ideas came from this blog post, found via pinterest (of course!).  I loved the little aqua doll diaper bag, and then discovered upon further reading that it wasn't homemade at all, but a purchased scrap book caddy!  So, I rushed out to Michael's and found the exact same one, for about $4.  I also bought the little "magic" bottles for $2 (is it tacky to talk about money so much?).  

For the dolly diapers, I only had to buy velcro!  The pattern and directions are from this blog.  I just changed  the directions slightly to add a strip of the loop end all the way across the fronts, to make them more adjustable.  I cut up an old t-shirt for all the white, and used fabric scraps for the three colorful diapers!

It also has a changing pad and wipes case!  Yay for scraps, once again!  I begged the fleece scraps off my mother, after eyeing $7 fleece remnants at Joann Fabrics.  I already had scrap terry cloth for the changing pad, which I also just made up as I went along, adding a the heart and ribbon loop to make it more detailed.

Aren't they sweet?  These two little items were the quickest and most fun to make, I think!  They aren't perfect, though, so don't look too closely!

And, finally, with some leftover organic cotton I knitted up a blankie for Gemma's baby.  The little book is from the $1 section at Michael's, and I added the title to it . . . so she can "write" in her baby's book while I try to work on her sister's baby book!

I am just so excited!  These little sewing projects have been the most fun things to sew ever, I think!  The next project . . . is for a special little boy!

Are you making any Christmas surprises?

Birthday Surprises in the Making!

Ooh, I am so excited right now!  Gemma Grace turns 2 on Friday!!! And I just finished sewing her main gift:  

A carrier for her baby!

I don't know if she'll really "get" it until baby sister is born and she sees me wearing the new one around, but hopefully that won't be long from now, anyway!  

At first, I thought I would just copy our carrier and maybe consult some Mei-Tai tutorials online, but I ended up purchasing a pdf pattern from etsy and I'm so glad that I did!  It certainly saved me time, and it likely saved me a lot of headaches.  The instructions were very clear and easy to follow and I couldn't be happier with the result!

Source: etsy.com via Gretchen on Pinterest

Since I was using fabrics I had on-hand plus an extra buckle which I clipped off Gemma's changing table (the changing pad has a buckle, too, and we didn't need two!), other than the pattern, all I had to purchase were the little bar slide buckles for the shoulder straps.  I was kind of sad that I couldn't find plastic ones to match the main buckle, but the metal ones work just fine.  Total cost for this project was just about $8!

And I just can't wait to see Gemma trying it on!  Now to finish her Christmas diaper bag . . . 

34 weeks!

It really is going by quickly, and I feel like there's so much to be done for the baby!  We're having company tomorrow?  Oh, well, I really need to find the perfect sock baskets and tidy up the nursery!  That's my crazy mind talking . . . I need to wash the boppy, swing cover, diaper bag and such . . . and stock the diaper bag . . . and shampoo the car and install the infant seat . . . and write the birth plan and pack my bag . . . oh, and Thanksgiving and Gemma's birthday are happening sooner than all of this, and probably Christmas, too!  Well.

I did at least get the burp cloths for the new one finished yesterday!

Four with pretty fabrics . . . 

And one with ribbons.  :)

I embellished these prefold diapers back in the spring to turn them into pretty burp-cloths, and I guess I wanted to show you!

 

 

I made them for my sister-in-law from new diapers and materials I had on hand.  They ended up taking me longer than I expected, but that's probably just because I was trying to do all five at once!

 

 

 

Source: petitelemon.com via Gretchen on Pinterest

This tutorial on pinterest was a big help, and the trim-only cloths were inspired by the Path Less Traveled Market blog, back before I knew about pinterest (probably before it existed, really).  :)

Fun?  I had 10 burp cloths for Gemma Grace, which was just about perfect, but I've since lost one of my favorites (the fluffy, diaper-like ones!) and a little someone likes to use the princess-y ones for dolly blankets, so I think I'll embellish a few more!

And sister-in-law likes them, too!

Upcycled Cardigan!

Autumn is coming, which means that it must be starting to feel cool somewhere.  :)  Anyway, even when it's super warm outside, I just stay in and make tea and pretend that it's cool.  :)

Soon, though, it truly will be sweater weather!  

I guess I actually did this little project back in March.  Hrmm.  But now that fall is nearing, I'm excited to wear it again!  

It started as a soft, comfortable pullover in a really fun shade of green, and it was actually a hand-me-down from my friend Jenni five years ago.  When I first saw all sorts of tutorials on pinterest for turning pullovers into cardigans, I was too afraid to cut into anything of my own.  But when I stopped and thought about it some more, I realized that a five-year-old hand-me-down probably needed some updating.  Thanks to breastfeeding and pregnancy, this sweater hadn't fit well as a pullover for a while, and at the time I was hoping that it wouldn't for a while more!  And it would be more versatile as a cardigan.  So.  

I ended up choosing this tutorial, found via pinterest.  It called for hem tape (which I had!), a little sewing, and it seemed very simple!  It was!  I'm so happy with the result . . . turning it into a cardigan even obscured the pick on the front which I'd been ignoring for at least a few of those five years.

Here's proof that I did this project back in the spring . . . I wore it with pink pants for my sister-in-law's baby shower!  Her twin girls have been good and born for almost two months now!

I also decided to finally use this cute little flower tutorial which I had pinned quite a while earlier.  (That's what happened to the sleeve on that tee-shirt of John's which I used for Gemma's bubble skirt!)  Instead of putting it on a headband, I glued it to a pin-back which I had leftover from a little corsage project last December.  Tee shirt, button, felt circle, pin back . . . yay for another free project!  Isn't it cute?

Now that it's (eventually) getting cool again, I have another black pullover from Jenni's sister, Gemma, which needs a makeover, I think.  ;)

Gemma's New Skirt

 

These were my favorite pajamas in college.  They are the softest, comfiest cotton, and in such a fun pink print!  I wore them until they ripped, then patched them (look closely!), and wore them until they ripped again . . .

 

Before getting married, my mother tried to make me throw them out, but I think John overheard the conversation and intervened.  :)  I did promise not to wear them as a married lady, but I wasn't ready to trash them yet.  And now I'm glad that I didn't! 

 

Source: every-little-day.blogspot.com via Gretchen on Pinterest

I've been thinking about making Gemma a skirt from it for about a year now, but it's really best that I waited until she was a walker!  After finding this fun pin on pinterest, I chose skirt tutorial #13 . . . the Layer Cake Skirt from Prudent Baby.  :)  It was easy and fun! 

 

I do like how the tutorial suggests using three different fabrics, but I only used the one this time.  And even though it says to cut 44" long strips of fabric, the pieces I got from the pajama pants were only 34" long, and they still made the skirt plenty full for a little girl Gemma's size!  It only cost me $.99 for the elastic waistband . . . and after I'd purchased that, I wondered if I could have just reused the elastic from the pajamas! 

 

So . . .

 

Isn't it sweet?

 

 

How do you get in?

 

 

We've had so much rain this summer that the grass has been surprisingly green.  :)

 

 

Need I even bother saying it?  The skirt is pink, so of course Gemma Grace loves it, too.  :)

 

 

 

Adventures in Up-cycling

Thinking about Gemma's fall wardrobe has spurred me on not just to do some thrifting, but some sewing, too.  :)  There are some fun tutorials I've been excited to try, and have finally gotten around to doing!  So far, it seems like tutorial-sewing is much more fun than sewing from a pattern, not only because they're usually free :), but also they have such great pictures!  And, I suppose in order for a tutorial really to work without a pattern, it can't be that complicated to begin with . . . 

Source: rufflesandstuff.com via Gretchen on Pinterest

I really liked this jersey-skirt tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff, so I decided to make Gemma little bubble skirt from one of John's old tee-shirts!  This shirt was in near-perfect condition but he hadn't worn it in our entire three years of marriage.  (Don't worry . . . I got his permission first!)

You might notice that the shirt is missing a sleeve . . . that's because I used it for something else that I never got around to blogging about.  Maybe someday.  :)  But for now, here's the finished product:

It seemed silly to cut into the body of the shirt in order to get a large rectangle when I was just going to put a seam back in it, so I modifed the directions a bit in order to avoid that seam.  This complicated matters a bit . . . but it eventually turned out.  The major problem is that since my old, old Singer doesn't zig-zag, the seam to attach the skirt to its waist-band rather undermined the stretchiness of the waistband.  Oh well.  Gemma can still wear it, but it won't stretch over her bulky cloth diapers, so I have to put it on before her diaper.  

Source: cally-cruze.blogspot.com via Gretchen on Pinterest

My next little project was these easy-peasy baby legs!  Skirts and baby legs . . . aren't they a fun combination for fall?  I actually picked up the green and gray knee socks from Target back in April when they were on a St. Patrick's Day clearance for $1.25, and then I bought the polka dotted ones more recently for the same clearance price.  

In case you didn't look at the tutorial, all you really have to do is cut off the feet and do a zig-zag around the raw edge while you stretch the fabric to bring it to a finished, curly look.  I experimented with the foot-ends of the socks trying to see if I could achieve the same effect with my straight stitch, but it didn't work.  I just ended up folding the edges under and stretching the fabric while I hemmed them.  

You can see that the hems aren't perfect . . . but they're good enough.  :)

Gemma loves these!  Well, she loves dress-up and pink, anyway, and she likes wearing the baby legs on her arms, too.  :)  They were so easy and fun to make that I picked up a pair of striped knee socks, too, and made Gemma a third pair.  And then I decided that I should stop.  :)

It turns out that not only are funky knee socks on clearance at Target right now, but brightly colored jersey-knit bubble skirts for toddlers are, too.  Yes, and they're only $1.50 right now.  At least Gemma's skirt was free?  And, despite the brightly colored baby-legs, I still haven't bought into the trend of dressing my children or myself in neon and sequins.  Whoa, boy.  Every time I walk into Gap, I just gravitate toward the baby clothes because that's the only section where the colors aren't shocking and overwhelming!  Grey is a bit more subdued.