Happy Halloween!

Another post from the file of "finally using fabric I bought ages ago."  This precious Riley Blake orange fabric was purchased last year for a Halloween dress, but never got around to getting made. Which, by the way, I'm glad occurred because it didn't result in another pillow case dress.  As I said previously, I'm getting bored with those.

So I made this adorable peasant dress from Sew Like My Mom.

I was going to put black pockets on the front, but the pattern is so adorable, I didn't want to cover it up! This was actually a pretty easy dress to make. She also has a short sleeved version on her site, so I can see more of these coming along in the future. :)

Then, I found this precious remnant of alien fabric at Hancock. So I put my pillow-making skills back to work and made these.  I had a hell of a time getting this to work. First I realized I didn't have enough alien to make a whole pillowcase body out of it. But my smart hubby suggested I make it half-and-half, and it came out so cute! Until I used the piece I cut for Berry's pillowcase body to cut the strip for Monkey's.  Oops.  So I had to Frankenstein both of them together a little bit, but you can't even tell (and I thought it was appropriate since it is Halloween and all!).  So they have alien with green on one side, and green with alien on the other! They have both been sleeping on them and I've even seen them flip the pillows over to get a taste of the other side!

I even used a bit of white quilt binding to make that cute stripe between the two fabrics. I think it just adds something to it.  AND! I got to use my overlock foot a TON, so that was fun!

I have a BUNCH, and I mean a bunch, of remnant Halloween fabric. I'd like to make some pillowcases to donate to the hospital for sick kids who have to be there during the holidays.  Hope I can get it together for this year!

Animal Hang Out

Monkey has this thing for stuffed animals, and they are everywhere in his room. There was just enough room for him in the bed to sleep at night - the animals took up the rest of the space.  Then they somehow ended up on the floor for a very long time, and a select few graced the bed. 

He won't let me get rid of any of them, and there was just no where else to keep them. So I did a Pinterest search and came up with this great sling idea!

Saved the day! They are off the floor, Monkey has room in his bed, and he can still get them whenever he needs to.

Sleep Tight My Angel

There are three things that Berry loves in her life: her lamb (Mamlie), princesses (fen-cen), and Dora (Do-wah!).

I had picked up a remnant of Dora fabric at Walmart months ago; whimsical blue background with Pegasuses (Pegasi? what's the plural of Pegasus?), Dora and Boots with tones of pink and purple. I had plans to make her a pillowcase dress with it, but I'm getting bored with pillowcase dresses, as easy as they are to make.

A couple months ago, Berry had been begging for a "Dora bed" (read: sheetset) so we broke down and got her one. I decided this fabric would make an excellent pillow case, as I had been wanted to try out pillowcase making for a while.

So today, as a birthday indulgement for myself, I finally did it. It was as easy as anything (once I got the machine to cooperate...it kept wanting to jam for some reason).  I even used one of the fancy stitches that the machine came with.  I hope she likes it!

Hunting Fairies

I finally took some pictures off of the camera after almost two months and found a few gems that I'd forgotten about.

Another elastic waist skirt for Berry (these are becoming way too easy to gen out).

Complete with fairy wings and crowns in her favorite: purple.

Here it is in action!

Monkey spent at a week at "camp" at my mom's, and while he was there he made me this awesome plant stake! I know it's not one of my crafts, but it is a craft and oh so loved!

Monkey was also starting to notice that I was making a lot of clothes for Berry and he wasn't getting anything. He pointed this out to me, so I asked what he wanted. He replied, "a hunting shirt". To him, hunting means camo. So I had the challenge of 1) finding knit camo and 2) figuring out how to make a t-shirt.

Making the shirt wasn't that hard. Finding the camo he wanted that was just right was the harder part. The fabric ended up being this poly kind of knit, so it stretched a little, but it wasn't traditional t-shirt material. I don't really care for it, but he doesn't seem to care.

The problem I had with sewing this fabric was that I made a strip of bias tape to use for the collar (so proud of myself for this tape/collar combo!) but it didn't stretch very well when it went over his head. He wore it one day and some how ripped the tape right off the collar in one part. So I ended up cutting out the collar (partly to make a bigger neck hole) and replacing the tape with fold over elastic for the collar.

It looks ok, but I ended up cutting the hole too big so now it's a little loosey goosey. Oh well.  Here's a shot before all that drama occurred. (Excuse all the crap on the floor. I obviously wasn't concerned with floor cleanliness when I took this!)

I will have to say that I won't be afraid of making another t-shirt! When I do, I'll be sure to use traditional knit, and will likely do another tape collar, and it will hopefully stretch a little better over the head!

Ann Taylor LOFT Knock Off

Berry and I were in ATL a few weeks ago, catching one of their great 50% off sale price sales. I found this really cute magenta knit skirt that I thought would be so fun to knock around in on the weekends.

(photo from loft.com)

It was $18. I tried it on and looked at it and looked at it. I just knew I could make the same skirt. I mean it's just an elastic waist. I made Berry's elephant skirt, which is essentially the same concept. I could not bring myself to spend $18 on something that I knew I could go home that minute and make for pennies with materials on hand.

So I did!

I used some of the navy ribbed knit I had left over from the Infinity Dress (which I still need to blog about) and whipped it out. And to my surprise, I had bought (and forgotten about) a remnant of magenta knit I'd bought for about $2! I mean, EXACT same as the skirt in the store!! So I whipped one out in magenta as well. I haven't worn the navy one yet, but I love the magenta one. The fabric curls up at the edges, so I didn't even hem; I just let it slightly roll. Too cute!  Next time I wear them I'll be sure to get pics and update, so you can see my handiwork!