Three-Eighths Circle Skirt

 The week after Beckers was born, my sweet sister-in-law Rabi (nickname) came to stay with us and help out for a while. At some point while she was here, we came across a pretty skirt on Pinterest. As kind of a 'thank-you' for helping us out, I made a similar one for Rabi.

  I intended to make this skirt fuller, like the original, but since I was using a twin sized sheet, there just wasn't enough fabric. I started out trying for 3/4 circle, cut it down to 1/2 circle, and finally ended up with 3/8 circle. Luckily, it turns out that Rabi prefers slightly less full skirts anyway. =)

I added belt loops and a sash, and it closes with an invisible zipper. I also slipped in something else... can you see it peeking from the side seam above? Inseam pockets! This was my first time sewing those... I knew they would be easy, but they were even simpler than I expected.

  Those pockets hide really well... I had to do quite a bit of finagling to get them to show enough for a photo. =) The waistband is stitched down in the ditch... something I am truly terrible at, but that turned out decently with my stitch-in-the-ditch foot. I used a hem facing, and the side seams and pockets are finished with the serger. I discovered that my serger will NOT serge through zipper tape, after sewing the zipper in perfectly, and had to rip it out, serge, then re-sew.

 
  It turned out a little tight, always a risk when I don't do the measuring myself, but not so tight that it will go unworn. And I am pleased to report that Rabi really likes it. =)

  In the works right now is a skirt sloper for myself... while I've drafted many skirts for myself, I've never sewn one with darts. I'm hoping to get it finished soon, but with so little creative time it's taking a while.

  Thanks for stopping by,

Enjoying The Baby

  As you may have guessed, I haven't been doing much creating since Beckers arrived. I've been far too busy cuddling little limbs and kissing tiny, soft cheeks.

  And of course when I do sit down to sew I only have a few minutes before somebody needs my attention. =)

  I wanted to pop in though, and show you the lovely gifts my friend Karen sent our way. For Beckers, she created this lovely smocked bonnet:

 Isn't it beautiful? And it's just darling on Beckers:

  See the tiny, hand-embroidered roses? They are so perfectly sewn.

  I love it! =) And Karen didn't forget about the older sisters either... she sent two darling books for them, and some lovely scented soap for me.

  I forgot to take a photo, but it was all beautifully packaged and just perfect. =) And to top it all off, Karen sent a separate box of fabric for when I have time to sew again. =)

  And now I must go cuddle my children.

  Especially this one, who is growing far too quickly for my tastes:

  Oh, and I love having them in coordinating clothes. Booper is wearing her scalloped skirt, Gaiw is wearing her simple contrast band skirt, and Beckers is wearing her Little Geranium, which fits better than I'd dared to hope. =)

Thanks for stopping by!

Morning Glory Tinny Flip

Perhaps you've heard of the Flip This Pattern series over at Frances Suzanne. It's a fun, year-long series with guest bloggers who take a specified pattern (this month it's the Tinny pattern) and make it their own. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was working on a pattern flip... I'm joining the sew-along, and I'm barely squeaking in!

 

  

  Obviously, the arrival of a newborn slowed things down dramatically in the sewing department, but I also got confused and thought the link-up ended next week. And of course there were multitudes of sewing mishaps and failures, not the least of which was a serger that I had to re-thread thrice to get rid of tension problems.

  Anyway! Here's what I changed: I divided the skirt into 8 sections and added a pink triangular insert between each section, along with some yellow piping. I made a mistake here and had to go back and add 8 white panels down the center of each section to make the skirt large enough, but it still has the look that I wanted. The pink panels each have boning in the hem, which didn't curve them out as much as I had hoped, but do help stiffen the hem and add to the 'flower' look.

  I added a handkerchief-style overlay to the skirt, two fluttery green layers bound with a darker green bias, which is top-stitched with pretty pink wavy stitching. I made some of the green bias tape into piping add added that in the petal cuffs-turned-leaves, which are tacked to the sleeves with tiny little pink flowers. The bodice is all of green, like a stem, but the thing that took me the most time on this dress was the collar:

  I embroidered a butterfly on the butterfly-style collar, and learned 12 new stitches in the process... it was a lot of fun, and I really love how the lower half of the butterfly turned out. I learned all of the new stitches from this incredibly helpful and convenient stitch and picture dictionary. I was originally planning to add piping in the collar too, but decided against it at the last minute. I was hoping to add a butterfly on the other side of the collar as well, but I found out that the link-up ended a week earlier than I'd thought right as I finished the first side, and didn't have nearly enough time for all that embroidery.

  So there you have it, my morning-glory inspired Tinny flip. It was awaited with anticipation and delightedly put on the moment it was finished by this one:

 

 

  What do you think? Do you this is a successful pattern flip?

Thanks for stopping by!

Beckers Has Arrived!

  This little one:

  Was born yesterday! She arrived on her due date, early in the morning. I went into labor around 2:30 in the morning, and only 2 hours later she was born, in the car on the way to the hospital.

    She doesn't do things conventionally.  =) But here she is, tiny and adorable! She is beautifully healthy, and sure of what she wants.

 
  Labor started in hard, no gentle contractions leading up to it, but I waited until just past 3 am, shifting positions to see if the contractions would slow down or soften, before waking my husband.

  Once I was sure they weren't stopping, we called my mother-in-love so she could come watch Booper and Gaiw. Then began an incredibly long hour while she made the long drive from her home to ours. While we waited, Joshua fueled up our car and put our bags in it, and I tried to relax.

  By the time my mother-in-love arrived, the contractions were a bare 2 minutes apart, and very intense, so we left immediately for the hospital... a 50-minute drive from our house. Not 20 minutes into the drive, the contractions started coming right on top of each other, the second beginning before the first ebbed. "My water just broke," I said, before two more contractions piled in. I think I moaned, and Joshua asked if I was okay. "She's coming really fast!" was all I could manage, trying to fight the urge to push, so he asked if he needed to pull over. I squeezed out a 'yes' and by the time he pulled off the road, all of 20 seconds, Beckers' head was halfway out. He called his mother, then an ambulance, and caught Beckers with one hand while directing the ambulance to our location. All of the pain disappeared, and there she was, in my arms, all messy and tiny and perfect.

  It only took 10 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, but it seemed like forever. I wrapped Beckers in the skirt I was wearing to keep her warm, and fed her. The paramedics were impressed by how calm we were. They cut the cord and brought us to the hospital, where everything was checked and was perfectly normal and healthy. We stayed in hospital overnight for monitoring purposes, and were released today... a huge blessing, since I am not fond of being in the hospital.

  Welcome to the world, tiny beautiful Beckers. We love you. =)

PS: Beckers is wearing her Itty Bitty Baby dress. It's a perfect fit. =)

 

In Progress...

   I haven't sewn much this week, due to an unfortunate encounter with a virus, but I thought you might like a peek at what I'm working on:

 
  This is a fun pattern flip that I'm working on. It will include embroidery on the collar, piping on the collar, cuffs, and skirt panels, binding on the skirt overlays, boning in parts of the hem, 33 pieces of fabric, and 8 pieces of interfacing. I'm hoping it turns out at least somewhat like the mental image I have.... There's a lot more green than I initially thought there would be, and a lot less white. I want to have it finished by the end of August, but we'll see what happens! =)

Thanks for stopping by!

Crib Sheets, A Nursing Cover, And An Ironing Board Cover

 Since Beckers hasn't arrived yet (just over a week until the due date!) I managed to get some things sewn that we've been needing.

  First up, crib sheets! We now have 3 beds with crib-sized mattresses, and until a really sweet surprise baby shower on Saturday, only 2 crib sheets. I could have just bought some, but I wanted to sew some, and it was just a tiny bit less expensive this way. Here they are:

  I also received two really cute sheets at that surprise baby shower, so now I don't have to worry about getting laundry done immediately when a sheet gets dirty. =) These were really simple, just 44X68" rectangles, with 8" squares cut out of each of the corners. I serged the sides together where the squares were cut out, serged all the way around each sheet, then folded up a small casing and put elastic in.

  I originally wanted to make them out of flannel, but I couldn't find anything for less than $3 a yard, which would have made for some overly pricey crib sheets. I ended up cutting up twin sized sheets for these. I painted hearts on the brown and dots on the grey with pink fabric paint... those ones are my favorites. =)

  Another need for a soon-to-be-nursing mama: a nursing cover. I have one that I used with Booper and Gaiw, but it is uncomfortably small and the slightest kick led to awkward exposure. My new one is nice and large:

  This was also fairly simple, albeit with quite a lot of hemming. It's just a hemmed rectangle with straps at the top and boning inserted in the top between the straps. Thanks to Tia Eva for the boning! I mitered the corners, a new thing for me, and they came out surprisingly well considering how quickly I put it together. =) I love this fabric... it's another I wish I'd bought more of, since I can no longer find it for sale.

  And the final thing I put together this week was an ironing board cover. My ironing board (a miniature one, I need to get a real one at some point here...) was a hand-me-down, and the white cover was really nasty looking, but Tia Eva gave me some fun sewing-themed fabric with kittens on it, and it was perfect to use as a new cover. I just cut around the old cover, serged all the way around, and threaded some narrow elastic through the serging. I was kind of surprised at how well that worked. =)

  Simple projects all, but very useful. =)

Thanks for stopping by,

Little Geranium for Beckers

My final project for Kid's Clothes Week was a Little Geranium Dress for Beckers. I used Rae's free pattern, but she also has a multi-sized Geranium pattern with a whole lot more options. I made one change to this dress: the contrasting hem band. I love it. =)

    I found the assembly of the back of this dress interesting... I wouldn't have thought of just leaving a bit open under the button/snap placket, but with a gathered skirt like this it actually works.

  Again, I hand-sewed the lining down, and since I didn't have enough fabric to cut the lining out of the floral, I used plain white:

  I used plastic snaps for the first time, since regular snaps and I don't get along well (ever wondered why I usually go with heavy-duty ones?) I ordered the snaps from here, along with a pair of snap pliers, and I was really impressed with how quickly they were shipped.

  They were also incredibly easy to install, and cute to boot... I used little heart-shaped ones. =)

  From what I've seen these snaps do sometimes pull out over time, but it doesn't damage the fabric when they do, and it's really easy to stick a new one in. They were so quick to install that I kind of want to come up with projects just to add them! =)

  And that is the last of this fabric for a while! I just wish I'd had enough to make a matching diaper cover, and bloomers for the older sisters.

  I have a couple more things I'm hoping to finish before Beckers arrives (2.5 weeks until the due date!): a new nursing cover, the pieces of which are cut out and partially sewn at this point, and some new crib sheets. We'll see what happens. =)

Thanks for stopping by,

Simple Denim Skirt With Contrast Band

  Here is the second thing I made with these denim and floral fabrics (the first was the scalloped skirt for Booper, here):

  This skirt was really simple.... just two rectangles plus pockets and some elastic.

 
  The hardest part on this one was the pockets! And even those weren't difficult. =) Gaiw loves the pockets, although it will take her some more practice to get the hang of putting her hands in:

  And now I'm just going to barrage you with photos of Gaiw, since she doesn't get much face time on this blog, and I don't have anything else to say about a skirt this simple. =)

Love the round little belly

Spinning... very slowly. =)

Half of a smile

She likes her belly too... and any other belly. =)

Coordinating sisters

Figuring out how to work the pockets...

I think this photo is hilarious... the crying little Gaiw and the peeking Booper. =)

 

   One more thing to show from this fabric, and for Kid's Clothes Week, then I'm done. =)

Thanks for stopping by,