Plaid Top

So school is rapidly approaching (Breanne and Janey will both be in school this fall, can you believe it?!?), and while I've bought the girls each a few things, I also have had some fabric hanging around waiting to be made into shirts. This is the first of what will be several, if I find the time.




I kind of love the way it came out, especially the bias casing in the middle. I made my own pattern to make it, but really, it was super simple all in all. I'm working my way up to a non-peasant-top neckline, and who knows, maybe even buttons with button holes will be next. We'll see. :)

P.S. Don't ask what skirt she's wearing with it, this girl definitely has her own ideas about style. The other day I was voicing a concern I have about her being made fun of because she wears homemade clothes. Then when I asked her to put on something to match her new shirt and she came back with this skirt (second try, even, the first was worse... haha), it hit me that maybe I don't have to be super concerned about what I make that she likes to wear... just how she puts them together. Funny girl.

One of These Things

is not like the others...

Cailin Defined

I could be wrong (doubt it), but I'm pretty sure this is pretty much the definition of adorable.

Just the girl, not all of her crazy antics lately.

J&C's Room Stuffs

So since we got back from Utah, I've been on a bit of a sewing break. Just a little bit burned out. To try to get back into things, I decided to finally get something up on Janey and Cailin's window. I found these white sheers at Walmart for 3 bucks a piece (they're actually voile shower curtains, but they were WAY cheaper than anything in the curtains, and make pretty and sweet little curtains) a few months ago, but I knew I wanted to do something with some color too, to get a little bit more color on their walls. Enter Hancock's $4/yd upholstery fabric that I found the other day, and basically this tutorial, and you get this:




Yep, entire window coverings done for less than $15. I like it a lot, though I think I may cinch up the valance just a little bit more--does it seem too long to you?


Also, while I was taking pics of these, I realized I never showed off the little girls' name letters, which I finished a few months ago. Here are those as well:




Do you think I need an & in between the names? I'm leaning towards yes.

Maybe someday I'll take pics of the whole room, but I swear, their room always has some sort of mess going on. *sigh*

P.S. Thank you all so much for your kind comments on Breanne's hair. I ended up fixing up the back just a little bit more (it doesn't show in the picture I posted, but I needed to cut the hair underneath just a little bit--weird wavy hair stuff), but I really am pleased with how it came out, and Breanne loves it. And all of your kind comments about it. :) You guys make me happy.

I Can Do It On My Own

So I've decided recently that part of the problem with being a DIY-er is that it makes me want to make/do everything on my own. I see something in the store, and think, "Hey, I could make that!" or see someone doing something, and think "Hey, I could do that!" Sometimes this works out for me, and sometimes the results are a little more questionable.

The last few weeks, Breanne's been asking me to cut her hair. I was hesitant at first, but then watched some tutorials, looked at some pics online, and today decided to just go for it. I think it went ok, what do you think?

Breanne's hair before:


And after--the back:


And the front!


And for the record, Breanne loves it. I think I need to learn more about cutting wavy hair--even though it's cut straight, in some places it doesn't really look like it, because of her natural waves. Where did I get these curly-haired kids?

4/5

4/5 of the dresses in a blurry picture that makes me look super happy (seriously, there are NO happy pictures of me during the wedding festivities... I had no idea I had an angry face all the time!)... but hey, you can see them in action! I'm so happy with how the dresses came out--I'll definitely be making more clothes in the future. But probably not yellow. Or circular. For at least a few days. :)



And in case you were wondering, I ended up hand-finishing the sleeves (while watching Arrested Development, excellent use of time, if you ask me), and I put embroidery-floss hand-crocheted belt loops on there to hold the sashes in place. Both worked out great, I'd say.

Would anyone be interested in tutorials of any of these things I'm making these days? I feel like I'm finally at a point where I might have something to show--lined zippers, fully lined dresses, hand-crocheted belt loops (felt hand puppets, whatever else I've made)... anything? I don't want to take the time to make a tutorial if it won't help anyone, but if you're interested, speak up please! I know everything I've learned has come from the internet/my own head and trial by error, so I'd be happy to share what I've figured out, if you want it. Let me know.

Circle Quilt

So remember how I made 28 circle skirts for those flower girl dresses? (Yes, 28. 3 skirt layers, each lined, to make 6 circle skirts per dress, except for Cailin's, which was only 2 layers, so 4 circles, which totaled equals 28 circle skirts cut.) Well, for every one of those 28 skirts, there was a circle I cut out of the center to allow for the waists of the girls wearing them.

Well.

I couldn't just let 28, approximately 3.25 inch radius, perfectly good circles go to waste... so of course, I made a small circle quilt for the bride and groom. It's just a throw blanket size, but I love how it turned out.

(the back, pretty basic, but I like it, too)

I know, I know, it looks really girly, but these were their wedding colors. I just added a couple more fabrics with the pink in them to balance out the yellow. (Yes, that's pink in there, it was just raining outside when I finally took these pictures, all of an hour before we gave the quilt to the couple.) Also, this was the first time I've ever had a project professionally quilted--I seriously love the loops--what do you think?

(As usual, I'm linking up to AmyLouWho's Sew and Tell... finally a quilting post to put up on her quilting blog!)