Little Sundress

Did I mention the baby is a GIRL!?! Can I just say I am THRILLED? I went out the other day and bought a little girl outfit...not for a shower or a relative or a friend...for myself...I mean for the baby. That's who it's really for...right? (I have to keep reminding myself that she's not a doll.)

I'm still giddy about it.

Now I don't have to feel guilty when I want to sew little girl's dresses like the one I finished this afternoon:

(I'm making good use of the fabric you sent me, Kacey! Thank you again!)



Here's a little detail and the pattern for the pocket is below:

I think it would be cute with a little rick rack around the edge of the pocket too.

The dress is from this darling vintage pattern found in a bag full of patterns for a buck at a thrift store. Yep, THRIFT store. Love it!

You know, sometimes I think, "I don't really sew. I just collect patterns." But when they're THIS cute, and THAT cheap, how could I resist. That's what I told my husband anyway.

If you want one too, McCalls has a similar pattern (M5649) and if I remember right they're on sale at Jo Ann's next weekend.



Here is the pattern I made for the little pocket.

As far as instructions go:

1. Cut out the pocket and a strip of fabric 2 inches by 18 inches.

2. Fold down the top pocket edge 1/4 inch to the back. Then fold it over another 3/4 inch to enclose the raw edge on the backside of the pocket. Stitch close to bottom edge of fold.

3. Fold over one long side of the strip 1/4 inch and then fold it over again 1/4 inch to enclose the raw edge. Stitch along edge of fold.

4. Repeat Step 3 for both of the short ends of the strip.

5. Using a LONG stitch length, sew 1/4 inch from the raw strip edge and then AGAIN 3/8 inch from the raw edge.

6. Pin both ends of the strip to the pocket keeping right sides together and raw edges even. Pin the middle of the strip to the bottom middle of the pocket again keeping right sides together and raw edges even. Pull up long stitches to gather the strip so that it is the same length as the pocket edge.

7. Stitch together about 1/2 inch from the raw edges.

8. Fold ruffle out and pin pocket to dress. Stitch along edge of pocket to secure to dress.

New Paintings

I'm getting things going on Liam's bedroom redo little by little. I finished these two paintings just in time for his birthday, and I am pleased. (If you like them and have a little ambition, the line drawings are below so you can do a little paint by number version yourself. Just click on the pictures to get larger images.)

You might recognize the rocket from Liam's birthday invitations. If you are a "Who-vian" (the British Equivalent of a "Trek-y"), you might recognize the robot as the reoccurring Cyberman villain in the Dr. Who series. Because I don't own the rights to the cyberman likeness, I ask that anything you make with the following line drawings be for personal use only.

I'm always curious to see where others' inspiration comes from. Maybe you are too. If so, keep reading.

My initial idea came from this series of paintings by Yuko Lau on art.com. Here are a couple. Cute, huh?

Liam's Third Birthday Party

It was a whirlwind, stormy party weekend, but it was also a lot of fun even in the carport!

I made our traditional pinata with the ol' flour, salt, and soda recipe which resulted in this:

followed by this:

The Traditional Mad Rush for Candy

I also made these:
(You probably recognize them from, here, here, or here.)

These of course resulted in this and later big black goatees:

(P.S. The cupcakes were really simple. Just chocolate cupcakes frosted with chocolate frosting tinted with black food coloring or blue buttercream frosting and then rolled in colored sugar and topped with a piped white frosting star. I've also seen large star-shaped sprinkles if you want to further simplify. On the other hand if you want to complicate things, you could color your own sugar with food coloring drops and a plastic bag. I opted for semi-simplicity (that term sums me up pretty well) and got my colored sugar at Funfinity, a candy making and toy store. Strange store combo, but somehow it works. I'm sure you could find the blue at a normal grocery store. You may have to go to a cake/candy supply store for the black.

I'm thinking the black ones would be fun to do again for Halloween or an Over-the-Hill party.)

Related Posts:
The History of the Liam Birthday Pinata (AKA Past Pinata)