Sometimes ambition leads to disaster...

Or potential disaster. Wub is not awake to tell me she hates this 'cause the neck is "too chokey"

I was going for a modified shawl collar/hoodie feel. Kind of failed. If by some miracle Wub doesn't hate it I will still probably rip out the collar and replace it with an actual hood because I'm not 100% pleased( or even 85% which is my benchmark for passable).

My double needle unthreaded it self on the last stitch and I'm too tired to see to rethread. 

If it takes me a further hour to fix it tomorrow can I count it for KCW twice?

By the way I've had this fabric in my stash for almost as long as I've been sewing. I kept trying to come up with something to do with it that would do the print justice. I do love the placement on the dress and hopefully with sleep and a try on by the six year old I will be able to look logically at a fix for it. 

Also by the way this is the same Old Swan pattern from earlier this week. 

___________________________________________________

Everything Looks Better in the Morning

 

 

And when Wubby is wearing it.

Buttons, Buttons, Who's Got the Buttons?

Remember when I said I was trying to psychically control Wubby into NOT being Elsa for Halloween? Remember how creepy that sounded? Right?

So my psychic controlling was to make an Elsa dress that was reversible

and the other sides was...

wait for it...

...Anna!!!

See? I'm not a creeper I'm an over achiever! And it worked because she wants to be Anna for Halloween. SCORE! (To be honest I would have been way happier making a White Tiger or Iron Fist or Ice man costume but you can't win 'em all. I did get to make her a cat costume for Book It Day
and that was salve to my wounded soul.)

I used The Cottage Mama's Party Dress pattern as my basis, which is a free pattern you can get for signing up for her newsletter or by joining her Facebook Group. It was pretty easy to make reversible by using her alternative construction method and a little wrangling on the back closure.

Because I couldn't figure out my embroidery machine and because it is a costume I ended up painting the "embroidery" on the Anna side of the bodice.

  The Elsa part was made by overlaying the sparkly fabric over the blue sateen sheet I used for most of the dress.

Both ladies needed outerwear. I used The Go To Cape pattern and a mink/sherpa blanket for the Anna part of the costume.

For Elsa I drafted a bolero jacket and sewed it up from a scrap of satin and some more of the sparkly fabric I found in the remnant bin at JoAnn's.

Everything was all done it just needed, you guessed it, buttons. I have to admit buttons are my nemesis. I usually put off sewing them on until it's a dire emergency if I don't. Part of the reason I love my new sewing machine so much is that it sews buttonholes and buttons like a dream. There may be a way to sew shank back buttons on by machine but I didn't want to risk it. Especially with them having to be back to back because the dress is reversible. So we sat and watched Cut Throat Kitchen and I sewed on eight very sparkly buttons.
Green for Anna

and blue for Elsa.

With my carpal tunnel fingers (There really should be a common term for fingers that don't work right anymore, like fish stick fingers or something.) it took me nearly an hour and half to sew, which qualifies it for KCW sewing. Woo hoo! SCORE again!

I still need to sew one buttonhole and one button onto the Elsa cape but I am out of white thread so a trip to the store is in order. However, I do have a really sparkly pin I can use, just in case....

What's wrong with me?

Don't answer that.

 I have literally dozens possibly over 100 patterns that I could choose to sew for Wub. It's KCW and I had plans to make her a Molly School Girl Blouse to go under her Un-iform Jumper* and with the maxi skirt I'm planning for Thanksgiving.. I have this beautiful mustard  with white polka dot fabric (in the same stash I won from Simple Simon and Co)s that I felt would be a great complement to the golds and oranges or in the case of the Un-iform gold and mint. (Long story promise to share sometime.)

 So when I dug it out the fabric pile, turns out it is mustard colored, just mustard mixed with a little wasabi. Not quite what I had in mind. Well, I have do have the Sweet Dream Pyjamas printed out and this great GW find from about a month ago. Cat in the Hat pjs?  Wub always needs more pjs.**

 I could always make her another Maggie Mae or the Molly in a different color. Or I could just draft a completely different pattern and make her a dress that way.

 Sure, I only have today off and I really need to get my butt in gear and start sewing if I hope to be done before dance class...but why not? Oh, and while we're at it let's draft a collar with a stand because we enjoy a challenge.

 So that's what I did. I call it The Old Swan Dress. It's a fit and flare shorty dress with a big ole' collar. I used a tutorial from Melly Sews to make the continuous placket and another tutorial from Little Kids Grow for drafting the stand and collar.

And pockets

I'm not sure what's up with the blurrity blurr on the pictures but you get the idea.  Anyway LOVE this dress. So much that I think I'm going to make her another one (or two) on Saturday. I need to adjust the stand and the collar ever so slightly in the next go round and then I may scan it and offer it up a freebie pattern. If anyone is interested leave me a comment. Wub is a RTW 7-8.

Tomorrow is going to be reserved for UFO's My UFO pile is so humongous if I post it all I'll look like I'm showing off. In reality it's mostly buttons and buttonholes though.


*

The Un-iform. Just needs a few finishing touches like buttons,

and for me to accidentally dye it pink then completely change the color by dipping it briefly in Rit Color Remover.

 

Turned out pretty rock and roll anyway.

** No, she doesn't.

Kids Clothes Week Day One

So, I don't really like Frozen. As in I will start ranting about how awful it is to anyone who will stand still long enough to hear my 100 things that are wrong with Frozen spiel and I think Olaf is stupid. Also Kristoff, Anna and Elsa's parents Anna and Elsa themselves and Hans. And those rock trolls..whu?

I even have a song:

"Do you want to make a movie?
It doesn't have to have a plot...
We'll just sing catchy songs
and make some pretty snow
No one will notice that it's not...
Making sense at all here
if we just sing one more song...
Do you want to make a movie?
Okay...why not?"

That being said, do you know who does love Frozen? Three guesses and the answer is Wub (of course)
I tried desperately to psychically control her into being something besides Elsa for Halloween (I sort of succeeded, more on that later.) And although I may be the kind of monster who can hate Frozen, I am not the kind of monster who can step on sweet little six year old's love of "the best movie ever." *sigh*

So I found Frozen fabric at W for $5.00 a yard and bought one yard of each of the Elsa and Anna fabrics. The flannel got made into a night dress almost straight away but the cotton was just waiting  for the right project.

I want to make Wub a maxi length skirt with a high enclosed waistband and a lapped side zip out of this luscious Joel Dewberry fabric I won from Simple Simon and Co. It's going to be part of her Thanksgiving outfit. But before I use up the last of prescious bit it I wanted to practice both the zipper and encased waistband.
Et voila!

 

 

It twirls like a dream. Fairly straightforward sew. The zipper is 85% perfect. (and I'm okay with that) I know you can encase a gathered waistband, pin and sew it in one go but my butterfingers would not let me pin all the layers together. I pinned the skirt to one side of the waistband, sewed it together then folded the other side over. pinned and sewed. A few buttons and I'm quite happy with the results. 

I do think I may take a couple of darts in the waistband to make it fit smoother. Or not it is just a play skirt. I also think I want the  Thanksgiving skirt to have a sash as opposed to a button closure. We'll see. 

So, zipper, enclosed waistband and Frozen fabric. I certainly do love this little girl.

Homemade Black Eyed Pea and Kale Falafel.

12 oz pkg frozen black eyed peas thawed and drained
1 cup kale roughly chopped
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup cilantro
2 Tablespoons fresh mint
1/4 flax seeds
1/2 large onion roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
2 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Oil for frying

In a food processor or good blender combine flax seed, red pepper flake, and cumin and give a few pulses. Add the remaining ingredients except the flour and baking powder and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed.

Remove to a separate bowl and add the the flour and baking powder. Mix to form a crumbly dough that will hold together when lightly pressed. Form into small patties and fry until crisp and browned on both sides.

Chloeisms

Chloe: Let's pretend Mommy and Daddy are monsters.
Zoe: If you're Mommy and Daddy are monsters wouldn't that make you a monster too?
pause
Chloe: Okay, let's pretend we're in the Kid Club and Mommy and Daddy have been grown up napped.

Ruffle Fabric Love

 It's been awhile but I made a commitment to not sew until the house was in order. After Mom died the house didn't just get away from me, it ran screaming wildly down the road and into the next state (maybe two states)
 I fully plan on doing a walk of shame/proud of my accomplishments post with before and after pictures of just how bad the den/computer/dining/craft/sewing room was when it's finally done but that is for another day. And although the den is not yet where it needs to be we've made HUGE headway. So I took a small break from de-hoarding and sewed up two things.

 I won this incredibly beautiful ruffle knit fabric from Simple Simon and Co. (Along with an AMAZING haul of other gorgeous wonderstuff)   It's original intention was a Coastal Curtsy Skirt from No Big Dill. Although that is an absolutely darling idea, I don't sew from myself and as soon as I saw the fabric I knew it needed to be a tank dress with gold trim. (And probably several other things because there is a ton of it.)

 Then Wub started taking dance classes and I realised she really, really REALLY needed a pair of ruffle shorts for dance class.

 So I folded about nine inches over on one side of the fabric and carefully pinned it in place making sure to keep the ruffles falling in one direction. Then I downloaded and printed off The Girls Knit Tank Top Pattern sizes 3-8 and FREE) from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. I used size 6 which was pretty roomy on Wub who's a RTW 7. I lowered the neckline slightly by following the size 4 neck curves. I also added 5 inches to the bottom to make it dress length.

 Then I found a pair of leggings and traced them to make the pattern for the shorts.  

 I was actually making these simultaneously can you guess?

 I was trying to be as careful as possible with the cutting and pinning because I didn't want to cut away bits of ruffle in awkward places. I was also really cautious with pattern placement because I wanted the ruffles to line up really well.

  The shorts were super easy. I matched sewed the seat and front seams first using a zizag then matched and sewed the inseam. One thing did do was pull a little bit of the cut ruffle out past the edge of the seam so when I sewed it together the raw edge would be on the inside. Because the fabric has such good recovery I didn't bother with a waistband at all. I may regret this after dance class next week but if I do I'll add one then.

 For the dress I followed the directions in the tutorial just making extra sure to pin the ruffles down in the right direction. It turned out super cute. She's going to wear it to a bridal shower tomorrow. Can't wait to show it off for real.

 And the "scarf" is just the leftover strip of fabric from the edge. I still have so much fabric leftover i could make her several skirts or dresses. I'm thinking about trying to dye some of it because even though I love the palest pink color of it, how many antique pink dresses/tops/skirts etc. does one girl need?

 So back to sorting, pitching and donating *sigh* but it was lovely while it lasted...

KCW It was just going to be a quick pair of racer shorts...

And then I found this in my stash...

So I went a different route. 

Pattern KID shorts size 7 racer style with pockets from MADE.

Bow Front Shorts for KCW

Today I made Wub a pair of bow front shorts using a pair of pants of mine that had a tear right across the bum left to right. Obviously no good for me but Hooray! super cute for her.

I used the KID short pattern from MADE. (Dana is an uber genius who actually taught me how to sew pants.) This is a great pattern so many options. I made size 7 girls flat front and modified it to add the bow detail. I almost got it right  except I ended up having to hand sew the front waist band. (boo) {That and in a fit of early morningness I accidentally sewed the back  inseam (sewed, zigzagged and topstitched) instead of the back crotch seam. Thankfully someone had shown me this video and the undoing went almost as quickly the doing.}

I have enough of this fabric left to make another pair of shorts. I'm going to make the Racer version with either pink or blue bias trim. 

Oooh! and I just realised this fits into the theme parameters because I used my old pants. Woot!

Kid's Clothes Week Kick Off

So, really, who knows how far I'll get but here's day one.

To be honest I did not sew all of this tonight I just finished it up. It also took less than an hour to do so but I'll so totally make that up tomorrow. Oh boy! is there gonna be some sewing tomorrow!

This is the Molly Blouse from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop. Absolutely my go to pattern for a button down blouse.  Modified the collar because I always do and left off the piping because I always do. Even though I love, love, love this pattern I have to say that the collar pattern piece just does not work which is why I always redraft it. The other reason I redraft it is because I love a lot of collar options. Later on this week I'll be posting a blouse. Same pattern, same fabric, different collar and finishes. 

The fabric is Robert Kaufman Tossed Seuss with a Seuss blue collar and cuffs. I finished it up with some big Seuss red buttons. 

The pants are The Scientific Seamstress Easy Fit Pants which are super easy to sew even when you add extra steps like.

Not a bad start. Fingers crossed I'll be able to stay the course and post something every night. 

And if everything goes the way I want there may be a nice surprise for everyone on Sunday night. 

The Beautiful Birthday Girl

I have to say these are probably the best birthday pictures I've ever taken. Probably because both of us were relaxed and happy.

 

She was just singing and smiling.

 Here she is reading Horton Hatches the Egg to Horton The Elephant.

 Appropriate for a girl born on Dr. Seuss' birthday

Every year we buy her a new charm for her bracelet. She gets to open it on her birthday morning.

This year it was a teapot. Next week she'll be having  a friends/girls tea party at the bakery

There's always one photo that she looks mildly demented. This year it's this one.

Her cake was pretty awesome and ridiculously delicious. Sextuple chocolate cake (she is six) with home made chocolate pudding filling, whipped cream icing and chocolate ganache. Plus a gravity defying bottle of chocolate sauce. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

Happy Birthday Little Miss Six.