I got to test a pattern!

If you actually read these posts on my blog you will notice on the right hand column a button for Seamingly Smitten!!  I absolutely love this blog!  Jenny always comes up with the cutest patterns for herself and her children! She is very friendly and always very complimentary!

Anyways - she has started marketing her own patterns.  She asked for pattern testers a few weeks ago and I was a bit bummed because I was going to be out of that town that week and would not be able to cooperate!  I was so very excited to see though this morning that she had another pattern that she was wanting testers for.  I jumped at the chance this time and got chosen to be a tester!!  WHOO HOO!!  I was so excited that I completed the pattern this afternoon - LOL!!  I thankfully had all the materials on hand and it was a very simple and fast pattern!  I completed the project from start to finish in 2 hours (and that was with the usual interruptions that happen when you have 3 kids in the house!)  I had not been feeling really well (probably exhausted from all the many travels that have been happening lately) but this really put a jump back in my step and helped me cheer up!  (maybe I was having sewing withdrawals - it has been 3 weeks since I have been able to sew because of everything going on!)

Anyways!  This was a super cute pattern and it worked perfectly for Alyssa!  Her size fit her perfect!

So here's the end result!!  What do you think!?!  (oh the fabric I chose was a seersucker with ladybugs and daisies.   The ruffle trim and the tie are a lightweight denim).

And my mom bought all the stuff for me to make Alyssa's princess dress for her 2nd birthday coming up!!!  I can't wait to see the end result.  I have in my head what I want to do!!  I hope it turns out as adorable as the picture in my mind! LOL!!  Of course I will share on here the end results!

I am also starting to think of what to do for Easter dresses!!!  I don't have long to get that done either!

Spring Refashion - From Onesies to Shirts

Aren't all of these tops just too cute?!?!  All of these, plus a few more that are not pictured, were originally onesies that I refashioned into shirts!  This project included 9 onesies and took about 2 hours to complete ALL of them!! (which means it took about 10 to 15 minutes for each one!!  VERY EASY!!)

On all of the onesies I used my rotary cutter to cut off the onesies just above the bottom binding, as seen in the picture below.

There were a couple that were long enough at that point so I just did a rolled hem at the bottom edge with my serger and called it good enough!  I didn't get pictures of these since they were just a simple cut and hem.

But most of them were a bit short so they needed a length added to them.

On most of those I did a lettuce edge at the bottom of the cut off onesie and then added a gathered ruffle (made from strips of old t-shirts of mine).  I top stitched the onesie to the ruffle to give a cute layored effect.

There were a couple that put a double layer of ruffles behind the onesie!  I really liked the look of these!

On one of the onesies I sewed the ruffled extension to the bottom instead of layering it (mainly because I was being lazy at that point and did not want to change my serger thread from the pink that was in it for the other shirts...and this shirt had no pink).  But I still think it turned out cute like this as well.

And then I had one onesie that I instead of putting a ruffle at the bottom I used the bottom of another shirt that was too short to extend the length.  And I cut out the flower detail that was at the top of the other shirt and sewed it to the top of this shirt.  It turned out to be a fun little shirt!  (I also used the method of doing a lettuce edge at the bottom of the cut onesie and sewing the extension behind it for the layered effect)

I love now quick and easy these came together!!  In two hours Alyssa had 9 new shirts that fit!!!  :-) (and look adorable as well!!)

Spring Refashion - Pink Jumper and Sweater

Ok - so I told you I had a LOT of refashion projects in the works!?!?  Well I completed one this weekend that Alyssa was able to show off at church yesterday!  :-)  I was very pleased with the results of this refashion!

Here are the originals:

1) This was a sweater of mine that went with a dress that I have.  I absolutely LOVE the dress but have never liked the sweater!  The arms are just too tight! So, I am going to be doing another sweater for my dress :-) and decided to size down this sweater for Alyssa.  Here is the before picture of the sweater.

I used a sweater of Alyssa's as a guide and cut down the bodice.  For the sleeves I took the sleeves of her sweater and measured them from the bottom of the sleeves of the pink sweater so that I could keep the bottom hem of the sleeves and not have to redo them.  I was able to keep the bottom hem of the front of the pink sweater since it had the cute curve and just altered the hem in the back.

Here is the finished sweater on the hanger.

2) The second part of this project was the jumper.  Here is a picture of the original items.  I used a pair of overall shorts that no longer fit in torso area. (One reason why refashions are working so well for Alyssa right now is because she is getting taller but not "wider". Her size 12 to 18 months still fit width-wise, they are just too short!).  The other item is a cute shirt that she wore with leggings on our cruise last summer.

(I went looking through my cruise pictures for a picture of her in this outfit.  I did not find a picture showing the full outfit, but I still wanted to share a picture...just to show how much she is has grown in less than a year!  This was last June!  :-(...excuse me while I cry for a minute)

Ok -back to the refashioning!  On the overalls I just cut them off right above the snaps.  I placed it on top of the pink top to figure out where it matched up on the width so I would know where to cut.  I then sewed the pink skirt to the bottom of the overalls and then serged my edges for a clean finish.

And you see the white and brown ribbon detail on the shirt in the above picture?  I cut those off and put them on the pocket of the overalls.  I then took one of the brown ruffled sleeve details and put it across the top pocket of the overalls.

Here is the after picture of the jumper!

And here is Alyssa modeling her outfit!!

We were out shopping yesterday afternoon and were having fun modeling cowboy hats!  This outfit looks very cute with a pink cowgirl hat!!

Getting Ready for SPRING!

It's hard to believe it is that time of year again.  Time to put away the fall/winter clothes and bring out the spring/summer clothes!  I have started working on this in our house this week.  But since I have discovered the art of "refashioning" it is even more exciting because there are so many projects that I am thinking of.  I have some of the boys jeans that have holes in the knees that I am ready to make into shorts!  Alyssa has so many pants that she has outgrown lengthwise but still fit in the waist (and in most cases still a bit big in the waist, LOL) that I am ready to make into shorts!  She also has some very cute spring/summer dresses that are now to short but I am ready to make them into fabulous skirts!!

So, not much actual sewing taking place this week but there is an awful lot of planning!  I am already creating quite a list and will have plenty to keep myself busy!  But my kids are sure going to look cute!! :-)  (and I have got to find some time in there somewhere to make me some cute new spring/summer outfits because those are my favorite things to sew!!  Oh and don't worry Alyssa will be getting some new outfits sewn for her along with her refashions!)

But that is what is going on around here this week!! Hopefully I will be able to post some pics and a bit of my list of my projects and maybe it will help inspire you to get creative in your change from fall/winter to spring/sumer wardrobes!!  :-)

For the Love of Pink!

Well I made a top today!!  I wanted to make a top out of some hot pink satin that I had left over and thought I would start on it today.  I did not think I would actually get it finished today!!  This was such an easy top!!

(OMG! please don't look in the mirror in the picture!  I need to stop sewing and clean my room!)

I actually started out making a top using this video tutorial.  I was at the point to folding my longer piece in fourth's and then cutting the curve.  When I unfolded the rectangle, this is what it produced.

Umm..that's not right...obviously I folded it into thirds and not fourths - UGH!!!  Well, I didn't have enough fabric to make another piece so I had to come up with something different.

Well I remembered I had some satin blanket binding that was about the same color as this fabric.  So I quickly figured it would look cute to square off this piece to make it the same length as the other piece I had cut and just have it squared (I guess that's the right term) all the way around.  And since the blanket binding was wide it would also make nice wide straps as well.  And this binding was a lot easier to work with than the bias tape would have been!

So I sewed my sides together.  Instead of hemming the bottom I just did a serged edge in black thread.  I really liked how that looked when I did it!!

Then I cut a piece of blanket binding the size of my chest measurement, plus a little for the lap over.  I marked the quarter points on it and pleated my bodice piece to match up with the binding.  I placed the binding over the top edge of the bodice and topstitched around the bottom of the binding, making sure to catch the backside of the binding as well.

I measured out my straps and pinned them where I wanted them on the shirt.  I decided to use one of my decorative stitches on my machine to tack the straps on, and decided to go all the way around the top of the binding with this decorative stitch.

This top is really cute with a black cardigan, and of course a belt!  :-)

It is also very cute without the belt but just tucked into a pair of black slacks, but I didn't get a picture of that.

I couldn't believe how fast this shirt came together!  I am going to have to write this "pattern" down and try it again someday!!

Another dress for Vegas!!

Ok, remember that blue knit fabric with the white stars all over that I told you about yesterday??

Well, I decided what I wanted to make with it last night and tackled it this morning after our school time!  I decided to try the one hour dress tutorial that I found online.  It took me a little under 1.5 hours to make it!  It was very simple to make and now that I know what I am doing I know I can do it again in an hour or less!

Here is the finished dress in the two belts I thought I would try to use with it.  I couldn't decide what looked best but I am really leaning towards the black belt.

I definitely want to try this pattern again!  But when I do I am going to make some changes.  I followed the tutorial pretty much to the letter this time around but next time I am going to do a few things different.

1.  The tutorial says to make the left shoulder (as you are viewing the front of the dress) side 3 inches in length.  Well I felt this was too short after I finished.  In fact if you look at the picture of the dress on the tutorial page it is obvious that dress has more than a 3 inch length on that left shoulder.  I believe it needs to be the same 6 inch length that you gather the right shoulder side up to.  Thankfully the dress looks ok with kind of a aysmetrical look of the two shoulders being different lengths, but I really think it would look better if they were the same length (more like what they are in th picture on the tutorial).

2. I will not make my neck hole as wide.  This came from my A measurement I had that you make from shoulder to shoulder.  I need to go a couple inches smaller next time and I will be happier with the neckline.

But all in all I am happy with the dress.  It really does have a bit of a different look when worn than it does on the dress form.  I just don't know how to get pictures of myself in the dress to get a good picture to put on here.  I tried and it didn't work...I am a sewer, not a photographer.

Note:  This is definitely a dress that needs a belt to make it look right!  I would never wear this dress without the belt, LOL!  I felt like I was in a moo-moo! LOL!

But the dress is very comfortable!  I love the material and feel I will get a lot of wear out of this dress this spring and summer.  I am ready to go fabric shopping and find some more material to make another one!!

A Forgotten Treasure Found

I was going through my stash of fabric this afternoon (which is several boxes I must admit, LOL) and I can't believe what I found!!  OMG!!

Back before kids, actually right before I found out I was pregnant the first time (with the baby we lost) Daniel and I went with some dear friends of ours on a valentine's getaway to a bed and breakfast.  My friend and I decided that we wanted to make pretty dresses for our valentine's dinner while we were out.  We were planning on finding a nice restaurant to go to.

Well when we got there we got an unexpected snow (we live in TX so really any snow is unexpected).  It was super cold and roads were not very good.  So we decided to just eat somewhere in the little town we were staying in and none of the restaurants they had were nice enough for us to wear our dresses (I guess we could have but we would have been way overdressed and besides, it was really cold!)

So I never got to wear that dress :-(  I found out the next week that I was pregnant, and even though I lost that baby I got pregnant very soon again after that and then had Seth...and then Aaron...and then Alyssa.  You know the story...no time to go out and, besides that, the dress no longer fit!

Anyways - I bored you with that story to get to this one :-)  When I was going through my fabric stash I FOUND THAT DRESS!!  I guess I had put it with my fabrics thinking I would never fit back into it!  Well, as a lot of you know I have lost quite a bit of weight!!  So I decided to try it on today and IT FIT!!!  Actually it was a bit too big :-)  But I did a couple of alterations on the side seams and now it fits really nice :-)

Here is the dress after the alterations (I found that photographing it outside did a better job of showing the true color of the dress!)

 Here is a close-up of the bodice showing the beautiful detail of this embroidered fabric.  I fell in love with the fabric as soon as I saw it.  (we went shopping in the Chinese district of Dallas through the many cool fabric shops to find our fabric).  I didn't get a close up of the bottom of the dress but it is the scalloped edge of the fabric.

 Here is the back!  It's obvious I had not mastered invisible zipper seams at that point - oh well.  At least the zipper is the same color as the dress, LOL!!

So I think I have changed my mind on the dress to wear for the rewards banquet in Las Vegas that I am attending with my hubby.  I think I am going to have to wear this dress instead!  :-)  Don't you agree??

Oh and here are some other fabrics I found today that I want to maybe play with before the Vegas trip.  The blue fabric with stars is a stretchy knit!  I have a couple of ideas of what to do with it, just have to make a decision.  I guess I will be doing some playing with the dress form tomorrow! :-)