A Summer Shirt

It's a lot easier to take pictures of my girls than myself! It is kind of hard to see the detail of the shirt in this picture because the fabric is so busy. {The fabric reminded me of a dress I saw in a Boden catalog recently. Maybe one day I will be able to afford their clothes!} To see a better picture of the shirt, click here. I saw this shirt/pattern on a new-to-me blog, presser foot. I love their idea of doing a project a month where everyone sews along. I am a little late with this project, but wanted to try it. The pattern is McCalls 5388. I find it's more challenging sewing for myself than the girls because I am more particular about the fit. For example, initially this shirt fit like a maternity blouse. I'm done with maternity clothes. Not quite the look I was going for! I took it in a few inches and added a belt, so hopefully now it looks like I have a waistline. If you end up using this pattern, know that it runs big. Make the size top that you would buy in the store. Your measurements will tell you to make a much larger size--don't do it. It is satisfying to update my wardrobe with $5 and a few hours of work. For my next project I'm going to try and copy a linen skirt from jcrew that I don't have a pattern for... should be fun!

a summer skirt

Do you like the model pose? I tried. I'm having fun sewing a few things for myself these days. With no time--or money--to shop lately I'm trying to update my wardrobe a little bit in the hour or so I have to sew in the evening. It seems that while I love to be stylish, comfort has really taken over. Something about changing diapers and doing puzzles all day that doesn't really allow for a fussy or fancy wardrobe. I love wearing skirts in the summer and I have one knit skirt that I love, but it has bright flowers all over it. Not exactly something that can be worn different ways. I got this book about sewing knits a while ago and thought I'd finally give it a try. While in theory it should have been easy, I had some major tension issues with my machine. I'm thinking a serger is a must for sewing knits--maybe I'll have to put it on my birthday list. While it's not perfect, it turned out well to enough to get lots of wear this summer. It's comfy, can be worn with flip flops or flats and cost less than $10 to make. Now if only it would stop raining and warm up so I could wear it! Isn't it supposed to be April showers? I think we've had rain for 5 days straight!

sisters dresses

simple. matching. not pink (i love it... but i think ALL of gwen's baby clothes are pink!) inexpensive. easy to sew. polka dots.

I've sewn a dress from this pattern before. There are only 3 or 4 pattern pieces to cut (depending on if you use sleeves or not) and that's about all I can handle these days. Maybe appropriate to wear at a certain special event coming up next month? I can't believe graduation is here already...

knitted booties

proof that I still have some energy left for creativity. Another project from this book.

Easter tees

given just a little bit early. These were meant for the girls Easter baskets, but I sometimes get a little too excited about gifts and give them early. Especially when a lazy sunny afternoon prompts a matching photo shoot. I used my favorite tutorial for appliqueing and finally tried making a fabric yo-yo. They are easy and addicting. I'm already thinking of different ways to use them. The peach bunny fabric is scraps from the lining of Gwen's Easter dress that my mother-in-law sent and the bunny's tail was made from the dress fabric. We've got a bit of a robin's egg blue and peach theme going on this Easter. Now if Spring would just stay, we could wear our bunny shirts outside to play!

a shirt for mama

To get me through the in-between phase where maternity clothes are too big (and exhausted--I don't want to look at them again!) and I've only got a handful of pre-pregnancy shirts that I'm feeling comfortable in. Nothing fancy or particularly stylish, but it fits the mom uniform for the time being. I bought the pattern a year ago planning to make the dress, but time and the practicality of wearing dresses (thanks Gwen) put that one aside for a while. This shirt could probably be sewn in one evening. It took me more like five because I seem to only be able to sew for 10 minutes at a time and I either get too tired or someone needs me. (Kind of like when I was trying to take this picture.) And don't mind the funky sun shadows... we were just basking in the balmy 37 degree Spring weather that day.

knitted socks

With a new babe comes a lot of nursing. And a lot of nursing means a lot of sitting. All this sitting allowed me to finally finish the second sock to this pair! This is the first time I have knitted socks and worked with sock yarn. Socks take forever to knit. Sock yarn resembles embroidery floss and the needles you use are the smallest they make! But now that they are done they are soft and comfy, perfect to keep my feet warm during these last few weeks (hopefully) of winter. I used this pattern and they were simple to knit. But did I mention they take forever? Maybe if I start another pair now they will be done by next winter.