No Pattern-No Hem Sun Dress

This was an easy dress to piece together and perfect for this crazy, hot weather we've been having.  I love the look of a scalloped edge!  I used a scalloped rotary cutter blade-- made the pockets and hem easy-peasy.

The gingham was from Walmart and I'm not confident it will hold up well.  I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't melt in the dryer. :)

Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress: Valenine's Style

Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress Pattern

This pattern only goes up to a size 8, but I tweaked to be around a size 10 for my tall 7-year old.  The fabric is Everything But the Kitchen Sink and something else, but I can't remember what-- maybe Marcus Brothers Aunt Grace?

Here are a couple sweet deals that have helped get me in a Valentine's kind of mood.  Thought I'd share...

I bought the fabric in Vicksburg, MS at Stitch 'N Frame.  You can sign up for their on-line newsletter and be entered to win a $50 gift certificate to their store or online catalog! 

Oliver + S is coming out with their first pattern book in March, but you can preorder it for a great deal on Amazon (over 40% off the cover price).  I've already got my order in and I can't wait to get my paws on it!

Portabello Pixie Part 2 or Shirring Madness

After my good experience with Portabello Pixies' Apron Dress from their Claire pattern, I decided to try another view from the same pattern-- an innocent and simple looking peasant dress. Before I knew what I'd gotten my self into, I discovered the instructions called for SHIRRING and it was too late to turn back. I've NEVER done shirring before, but have seen posts about it on some of the blogs I follow. It always seemed a little intimidating and now I know why! The actual technique on paper is fairly straightforward, but putting it into action proved a little more tricky. Tutorials I found online were helpful, but my machine was... not so much. After days, that's right, days of fiddling around with bobbin tension and different elastic threads and thread tension and stitch length and my beloved ironing board dying, I finished the dress. Hooray! Even with the trouble I had getting the shirring to come out right on my Brother machine, I still really enjoyed the process and think the finished product is really neat.

I did alter the pattern a bit. It called for a ruffle along the bottom, which I left off and for multiple rows of shirring around the waist. I decided to just do one row partially because of the trouble I was having getting the shirring to work right and partially because I thought it would be over kill on that small bodice.
The fabric I used is from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line.

First Day Experiment

Lucy has been asking for something like this, for the first day of school:

And me, thinking, oh that would be easy to make! came up with something like this:

I can't say I'm loving how it turned out. There are a lot of things I would like to change, but seeing how on top of things I've been lately, this will probably get put on a shelf and forgotten... hopefully before the first day of school.

Hello, Again

There's something about summer in Arkansas that just sucks all of the creative juices out of me. I think it's 110 degree humidity. We haven't been doing much more than hanging out at the pool and hitting Sonic's half-price drink hour. But, with the faint ringing of school bells to pull me out of this summer's swelter, I wanted to get a few things made for Lucy's back to school ward robe.

Here is the first of a few projects I've got in the works. This dress is a Sandi Henderson pattern that I've been wanting to try for such a very long time. This pattern was so nice to use. The markings on the pattern are somewhat minimal, but the instructions are presented in a color, brochure style that are very easy to follow. I really hate buying a designer pattern and feeling like it is poorly made. But, Sandi's patterns are great-- sturdy, high quality, something you could use again and again with out fear of tearing. I used Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane line and I love how it turned out! The weight of the the Nicey Jane fabric is heavy enough that it will work well into the fall.