Shirred Skirt

Last week I participated in the Kid's Clothes Week Challenge with ElsieMarley.com, and I can't wait to do it again next year. I tried a few new things, bought my first PDF sewing pattern, made a lot of plans for projects, finished some, and did a lot of sewing after the kids were down for the night. Sewing with....my brand new serger that is! It arrived, and I've never been so excited to see a box, a massive box, that I stared at for days until I got the courage to do more than just timidly glance inside. Now I've threaded it, unthreaded it, rethreaded it, read the manual over and over again, and finally conquered my fear, and I LOVE IT! I feel like I'm not just pretending to sew anymore. I'm a real sewist!

Now on to my real sewing:

I finally tried shirring using this tutorial which I found thanks to Rae who I virtually adore. (Virtually, because we've never actually met or anything, but she rocks. I know you dear reader understand. You've been there too. You're probably headed there now.)

I even performed my first rolled hem! (Performed...like open heart surgery...or not.) Squint and you can see that orange thread at the bottom of the purple ruffle. Right there.

The finished project. A collaborative effort. Inspired by the skirt below a while ago. It's been in my begging-to-be-finished pile for a while.

My niece picked out the fabric from JoAnn's, and I think it just may be my niece in fabric form. They belong together. I got a kick out of her being as excited about the skirt as I was. Will does a great job of being supportive, but it was fun to see my own joy mirrored in my niece's face.

One more thing. Ready to squint again?

See that little flower in my niece's hair? Want one too? I made mine using this pattern from Purl Bee. Simple and adorable.

Peasant Shirt

My little girl turned ONE this last week! What kind of sewing mama would I be if I didn't sew her something for her birthday?

Here she is in her new peasant shirt made of white swiss dot found at JoAnn's.
This was a fun one to make. Very straight-forward and fulfilling. For once, I didn't over-complicate it.

It's another self-drafted pattern and still has a few small kinks in it that I'm trying to work out. I'll let you know how that works out.

(P.S. You'll be seeing this shirt again as part of her Halloween costume. This year we opted to go with out a theme. Too much work this time around.)

I Have a Problem

I think I may need to see a professional about this one. I am a compulsive fabric buyer. There, I said it. I just realized that I have five, count 'em, FIVE large bins of fabric under my bed. How did that happen?

Let's do the math:
"Oh, I'd better buy an extra three yards. Just in case" X 15 + "Love that." X 10 + "It's only a dollar a yard!" X 30 + "Oh, you don't want that! Send it my way!" X 12 = 5 BINS

That's not counting the cabinet in my kitchen filled with half-finished/almost-started projects or what may be hiding in the two boxes next to my bed with extra supplies from finished/abandoned projects that just need to be returned to their proper places.

Oh...I am so grounded. No more fabric purchasing until I have cleared out one bin at least. (Minus the fabric I may need to complete so-called "half-finished/almost-started projects" and Halloween costumes.)

You are all my witnesses.

Thank You!

I won the serger! Thank you all for your kind words and support! Our video now has over 1,500 hits! I'm still floored by that!

Hopefully with a serger, you'll see a few more new outfits like this one around here:

When I made this top originally, I mentioned I might be giving away the exact same shirt to some friends having babies. Well, I never ended up doing it, but then I just loved the way this version turned out and had to make two more! So I guess those babies will get outfits after all.

And that my dear friends is the reason why I've used almost all of this striped fabric.

The back is pretty dang cute too. I saw a lot of it as I tried to take pictures. Man, this little girl is fast!