Swimsuit update

My friend Charity sent me this cute picture and a note on Facebook.

"Your adorable suits make fabulous hand-me-downs. My niece is on the left (this year) and Ellie is on the right (3 years ago). Thanks again!!! "

So fun for me to see where these little suits end up.

Original post about this suit can be found here.

Easy Knit Hat for the New Year

Daughter #2 and her friends all wanted "matching" hats.  Which translated into a chunky knit hat that folded up at the brim and double pom poms attached. My daughter chose black for her hat.  Why, you might ask?  Because she is into neutrals and she knew that no one else would want that color.  (And believe me when I say there was a LOT of drama involving the color choice picks--aren't 13 yr. old girls awesome?)  She isn't a pink girl at all. 

So between me and another of the mom's we got them all done.

Here is my daughter in hers.

 

Details:

• Loops and Threads Charisma in Black--2 skeins needed because of the pompoms.
• Pattern based on this basic knit pattern.
• Cast on 60 with size 11 circular needles.
• K1 P1 ribbing pattern for approx. 4 inches.
• Seed stitch pattern for the body of the hat.
• Pinterest inspiration here and here.

Scrappy Owl Applique T-shirts

This year I am the camp leader for our young women's group at Church.  We have camp the last week of June and it should be a fun time.  (We're staying in cabins this year as opposed to tents last year and I couldn't be happier)

The theme of the camp is "SOAR" and each ward congregation is assigned a bird and a young women's value--we are owls and knowledge (and the color assigned to knowledge is green).

So in keeping with the theme we made our camp t-shirts last Wednesday night.  I found this fun owl applique on Pinterest.  I had to enlarge it and actually did two different sizes for the girls to choose from.  Then I brought my scrap bags and let them choose their design.

I always like to see what the girls will pick.  We'll be the same but different.  The girls had no problems seeing how fun their owls would look with crazy combos of fabrics.  The women, on the other hand, were trying to be too matchy-matchy and it wasn't producing the look they really wanted.  We had to have a short little lesson with them on "unmatching" fabrics.  They just couldn't envision the scrappy look.  In the end we had some awesome little owls.




Here's a couple up close and personal.
Each with their own particular personality.









As one of the girls said...We are going to have the best shirts at camp.
I'm just happy that they got excited about the project and are happy with their results.
And yeah, we're going to have the best shirts at camp.

Details:

• Shirts from Michael's (or Jo-Ann's) when they go on sale. I found ours earlier in the Spring for $1.97/ea.  
• Variety of cotton fabric scraps (including white for the eyes and some browns for branches)
• Black fabric marker for the eyes
• Pellon WonderUnder for $2.49/yd. from Jo-Ann's (use a coupon if you can)

NOTE:  I took all the shirts home with me and topstitched the ironed on pieces.  For mine and my 2 daughters' shirts that we did ahead of time to use as examples, I sewed each piece as I went along.  I prefer that method.  So if you have enough time or aren't trying to get 12 shirts done in about an hour and a half, I would recommend you sew each piece as you go and not try to topstitch it all down at the end.

Whooo Whooo! Enjoy your weekend!

New church dress

My youngest daughter has needed some new Church clothes.  I am tired of her wearing the same ratty-ish t-shirts with her skirts.  (I have plans to make new white tees for everyone.) This dress I made from some of the thrift store fabric pieces I found within the last month or so, and since it is blue she was more than happy to let me make her a new dress.



Details:

• Pattern Simplicity 3513
• Made this pattern before--you can see the dresses here.  I think the turquoise blue one I've kept because it is just too cute and I can't part with it yet, even though no one in my house can wear it.
• Michael Miller thrift store fabrics for about $6
• Made size 10 with added band on the dress hem.
• Didn't put elastic in the sleeve hem.  Made a little band to gather the sleeve onto instead.

• Added piping to the neck facing for added interest and contrast.

Time out for some swimsuits

Maybe, just maybe, we are done with Winter around here.  It has been difficult do get in the swimsuit mode with snow still lying on the ground.  We are done with that now and it appears the weather is going to stay warm.

I spent a day or two sewing swimsuits this week.

My 2 youngest were invited to our 5 yr. old friend's b-day party.
Whipped up some pink/purple suits for her.  Should make the princess loving Miss F. happy.

Cut a 3" wide piece for the yellow attached skirt and then hemmed it with a double needle.

Hubby's youngest sister is having her first baby later in the summer--a girl.  They live in Texas, so of course they are going to need some swimsuits for her.

One of these for my SIL and the other for my friend's baby shower.

Both are size 1T.
Black skirt was about 2 1/2" cut strip--then hemmed it with a double needle.

Cut a 1 1/4" strip for the neck ruffle.
I like to have the ruffle almost double the length that you are attaching it to--makes it nice and full.
I attach it with a multi-step zigzag stitch.
This allows it to stretch with the suit and not pop some seams.



Front above and back below.  We love the little ruffle bums.
I also cut these strips at 1 1/4" wide. (Size 2T)
These were more like 1 1/2 the length of the bum.  I wanted it fuller, but it still works.



Another little purple paisley-ish version (2T)
Those little ruffle embellishments just change the look of the suit so much.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.
I'll be back on Monday with a Prom dress update.
They were sewing yesterday, will do some today, and again tomorrow.
We are down to 1 week and they have to get it done.

Blushing Squares {A Finished Quilt}

The weather is wrecking havoc on my picture-taking these days.  We are finishing up an entire month of  hazy, snowy, cold January weather, which doesn't look to be changing any time soon.  I've been holding off taking pictures of my finished projects because they all turn out "blue" and weird-looking.  But it turns out that if I don't have any pictures, then I can't blog.

So, with the wind howling and the snow falling around me, today I am showing my "blue" weird-looking photos.  Hope you'll not be too critical. 

Without further ado, here is my finished Blushing Squares quilt.  

 It's been done since early December.

You'll have to click on this post to see it in all it's pre-winter prettiness.  I wanted you to see the light-colored border around each block but our yucky weather is not picking up any of the color details very well.  Boo!

 Once again, Lynn's quilting is amazing.

I gave her free reign and she did not disappoint.

 I had planned on using the remainder of the awesome bold pink stripe sheet that I used here for the back, but in the end used this (sorry, you can't really see it) tiny pink gingham sheet instead.  The other one would've required me to piece the back and I wasn't really in the mood.  Sometimes our choices are between two equally good things, huh?

The binding is some Amy Butler coriander that I reclaimed from a project of Leslie's wwaaayyyy back in the day. I'm not ashamed to admit that I totally cut up her skirt and used the fabric.  It was still in perfect shape!  Thanks, Les.

As for the recipient, originally I thought I might sell it, but a certain someone I know and love is having a girl in early summer, so I think I'll save it for her.  Can I get a cheer for baby gifts being done early?!  Hooray!

Hope your city is less "blue" than mine today!

Emily

Previous posts about this quilt are Here and Here.  Seems I've been working on this quilt for a very long time...

Robin Costume--as in Batman and...

So when all the kids were deciding what they wanted to be this year for Halloween, my middle daughter told me she wanted to be a superhero.  I wasn't really on board, because sometimes I just get tired of sewing all the things THEY want.  And we have lots of costumes that she could use, so I tried to persuade her into something else.  I even told her I would make her a cape out of this luscious dark green stretch velour and she could come up with something using that.

However, when little Mr. C. decided to be Batman I kind of decided that it would be fun if someone was Robin.  And daughter #2 (who is 13 and C. is 6) jumped all over that.  Really?!  O.K....  And then when I realized that I had all the colors and fabric I needed already in my stash that made me even more excited.  'Cuz I really am trying to reduce the amount of fabric I have.  Hubby isn't convinced, but really I am trying.  Trying being the operative word.

So here is what we came up with.
This is old school Robin--circa 1966.

Details for Robin:

• Basic t-shirt pattern--red body and green sleeves. Finish neckline with neckband.
• Copied Robin emblem from here and made from t-shirt fabric and WonderUnder.
• Black oval is about 3.75 inches wide and 2 inches wide. "R" is about 3 1/2 inches tall.
• Green leggings pattern combo of McCall's 6360 and 6173 (only because I didn't have the right size in one and did in the other).
• Black swim shorts that we already had for the bottoms.
• Cape pattern based off of Butterick 4319 (just added a collar). Closes with just a hook and eye.  You could use ribbon if you preferred.
• Mask template from here.

Linked up HERE

Pretty in Pink

This is the first of five baby quilts I'm trying to finish up.

It uses the leftovers from my blushing quilt.  

I like it's simplicity.

The backing is a sheet from one of my thrifting expeditions.  

Given the fact that it is a perfectly awesome stripe AND it's already super soft, it might be my favorite sheet to date!

The blocks are a mix of everything in my scrap bin.

 I LOVE how they all blend together so beautifully!  

Who says designer and non-designer fabrics can't live together in perfect harmony?

Lynn quilted it with some simple wavy lines and a flower detail in each block.

 After a spin through the wash it is incredibly soft!

Finished dimensions 40" by 48" 

Fabric Tuesday

Let's Dance!

Here's another little project I made "for display" at my fabric store.
Kwik Sew 3887

B. is so happy to have some leotards to use for gymnastics or dance or whatever else she decides.  We don't officially take classes anywhere, but she puts on shows for us in the living room.  She wasn't particularly thrilled to learn; however, they had to go to the fabric store first, especially when cousin S. would be getting hers sent to her and she could use them right away. 

Actually Emily is saving them S.'s b-day in October.

 

  Love this green print

Showing off...

she loves to rub it in that she is the only one in the family who can do the splits.

_________________________________________________

--Trivia info compliments of  the Chronology game. 

"In 1859, Jules Leotard, a French wire walker and trapeze artist,

began performing in his one piece, tight fitting garment. 

It came to be known as the leotard." 


So did the unitard get named after his little sister, Eunice?

Sorry, just kidding!

Easiest little fleece hat ever

Wanting to get rid of a bunch of fleece scraps in my stash I borrowed this pattern from my friend Sarah.  She had made these cute little hats for party favors for her daughter's b-day party back in January.  B. L-O-V-E-S this hat and wears it all the time--even in Summer.

It worked out great to use up small scraps of fleece that weren't going to be good for much of anything else because of their size.  These hats whip up in less than a half hour--for sure.

We embellished them with little crocheted flowers that L. had made using all her scrap cotton yarn.  They turned out so cute. 

Out of the scraps I was able to make 14 hats for our Church's local Self-Reliance Fair that is being held today.  That should make a few little girls happy.

NOTES
Kwik Sew 3833
Pattern calls for only 1/4 yd. of fabric for this pattern. 
You will probably be able to make 2 hats from that much fleece.

Berets for Fall

I've made this beret pattern before, but just did it again recently using varigated yarn for my 2 oldest girls.  I couldn't resist some pretty yarn I saw at Jo-Ann's and decided to try it out.   (Sorry, but I can't remember what yarn I used and I threw away the tag.)

Used the Taos Beret Pattern found HERE. 
Really easy and quick to knit. 
My girls love berets and so do their friends. 
M. told me that the orange beret suited her personality perfectly. 
She's got that right.

**The only change you need to know about is that if you knit the larger version you need to place markers every 22 stitches, not 20.

More suits finished

I finished a couple more swimsuits for some friends' girls.  Used a new pattern on this first one.  I've made one shoulder suits before, for little girls, and I've had to come up with the pattern on my own.  However, Kwik Sew makes this pattern in women's sizes.  I was able to use it (3780) for this preteen's suit.  We just added the skinny strap for her comfort.

 

One of the things I love about this pattern is that there is no back seam--all flat and one piece.  This will help me be able to do the same for the little girls' pattern I have.  I'm also loving the orange lining.

I also made 2 of these racerback tanks.  This was apparently the fabric of choice this year. I used Kwik Sew 2962 which is the women's version of the girls' racerback 3785. 

I've found that girls' size 14 and women's size XS have almost exactly the same measurements.  So for my #2 daughter who is almost 12 and her friends we have been moving towards the women's pattern styles now.

Kwik Sew 3785

Same suit as above just adjusted to add a little skirt.



Here is the detail to the skirt hem.