All in One Shorts Style!

This is a better view of the back of the All in One made in a shorts style! Zoë was not excited about taking this photo! My sweet Zoë! This is a size 5/6.

White pant All in One!

Here is my All in One pattern again! The bows are a little too big for this size and I made this one as a pant all in one instead of a short/capri all in one with no ruffles. This pattern is so easy! I just need to fine tune a couple more details with the pattern and it is finished and ready for a PDF!! How exciting!!

(And "Buzz" had to be in the pics as well!!)

Almost There!

Almost there! In yestrday's post I said I would make my All in One outfit with a print fabric and some ruffles at the bottom of the pants leg.....I did neither! Too many children demanding too much of my time so I had to cut my sewing time short.....but that's Ok because they are the reason I sew anyway!

I really wanted to post a pic of a finished All in One with ruffles and flowers but I am so excited about this outfit that I just could not wait. I ended up using a very thin thin flannel that I had in a drawer. I was using too much of my good fabric. I am not quite done though, I have to perfect some more details with the pattern but I am happy the way it is turning out.

Running over some "bumps"

I made another one of my All in One outfits. I am running into some bumps with this one! But that is not going to stop me! Praise God!! I am putting this aside to make my girls a white halter dress top to go with the white pants I made them last month. I want to take a picture of all the children in white! Those pics always come out so nice especially the sepia ones!

Designing a Pattern!

I have the SEWING BUG!!!!! This morning I have been designing and creating an All in One Outfit! This is my third time sewing one this morning. I am, of course, breaking a lot of the "sewing rules" but it came out so cute!! The details are not complete but pretty close. The back is elastic around the back and the front is a halter style. And the best part about this outfit is that it takes less than an hour to make and I have made it super easy! I hope to fine tune it this weekend and show another picture of a print fabric and I am going to add some ruffles at the bottom of the pants.

All of this designing and creating is inspired by Nanette from Nanoo Designs who has her Annette reversible dress pattern on You Can Make This!

My Next Project!

My next project is to actually put my dress top pattern on a PDF and sell it on ebay and or put it on YCMT! This is totally inspired by my friend, Nanette, who has her Annette dress pattern for sale on You Can Make This!


There are a couple other patterns I would like to design and sell: my drawstring purse/tote/diaperbag, and two more children's clothing items that I have been thinking about. I just need to make the time to do this right!

Yay, Nanette!!

My friend Nanette from Nanoo Designs has her Annette dress pattern on

I have posted about this pattern before and love it! It is so easy to make and it is reversible! And you can easily add your personal touches to make it your child's own style!

Little tidbit: My daughter, Rose, is one of the models!! Click link above and go to What's New. The picture above is not the dress. This is just the link to You Can Make This!

WoW !!

My Girls!

I've already posted about these outfits but I did not have a pic with them wearing them so I decided to take their picture!

Contest/Giveaway!

What a "neat" gift from NeatReceipts! Get rid of paper clutter. The NeatReceipts SCANALIZER is a scanner and software solution that helps you organize your paper. Receipts, bills, medical forms, business cards -- everything. It scans, analyzes and organizes your papers and stores everything in a database on your PC. Click here to enter!

Outfits almost finished!!

This is my precious daughter, Rose. She loves to try on the clothes I make for them. She and my other daughter, Grace, are my "girly"girls!! I love that!!

This is my beautiful niece, Mia! Doesn't she look so cute! I am making four complete outfits: three for my youngest daughters and one for my niece who turned three in May. (This is her belated birthday present!)

I now have two all time favorite dress top patterns: one is my friend, Nanette's, Annette dress pattern and two is my dress top pattern. Both are so easy to make and so easy to add your own inspirations and creativity to it whether it is a ruffle at the bottom, a small outline ruffle on the top of the bodice, an applique, a pocket, or a flower. Whatever it is, it just adds to the beauty and simplicity of these patterns!

This particular pants pattern is also my favorite! It is so diverse! I can make shorts, pajamas, gauchos, or pants, add ruffles, cuffs, or just leave a small hem. I can make all these different bottoms for my daughters with just one pattern or I can use the same pattern and make some bottoms for my sons!

This is just a fun way to sew sensibly while making cute custom clothes for my family!

Busy Sewing!

I have been busy sewing! Friday night I went to my sewing group! I love that group. We are small but it is so fun to connect with others who have your interest! Thanks, Nanette!!

I started these dresses Friday night and finished four of them Saturday morning. I designed this pattern and it is SUPER EASY and SUPER CUTE!! I am thinking about creating an eBook of this pattern and selling it on ebay. We will see! My friend, Nanette, has an eBook coming soon to You Can Make This! (banner at top or to the right sidebar). Nanette's is the Annette dress pattern that I use all the time! Super Easy and Super Cute, too!!

Today, I will start the pants.

Sew Sayings!

A day hemmed in prayer seldom unravels.

Sewing Mends the Soul

One sewing project, like one cookie, is never enough !

Sewing again! Latest Purse

I have not had that much time to sew lately but we had my husband's family reunion yesterday and it is custom to bring a homemade/handmade gift. You sign each family's name on side of a number and later in the day the gifts are given away as the number is pulled, matched with the name. It is a fun time! These are the two gifts I bought for our family. The pink/brown purse was an adult gift and the butterfly/flower purse was a girl's gift! I really like the way the pink/brown purse turned out. I started with a simple square cutout but later tweaked it to a different shape. And I made the buttons with the same fabric. Nanette at Nanoo's showed me how to do this!

Make a Ruffled Jean Skirt!

I found this free tutorial on how to make a ruffled jean skirt out of old jean pants. I also do this for my daughters. I take an old pair of jeans or buy some at the Goodwill store and make the cutest ruffled shorts and pants!

Purse Totes Finished!

I finally finished my daughter's teacher appreciation gifts! Ok, they are two weeks too late! They will make it just in time before school lets out for the summer!! (tomorrow is the last day of school!)

I am ready for some new fabric! I have almost used all of my flip flop fabric and am ready for a new design.

Free Shipping!

* FREE SHIPPING* with coupon code WELCOME

I found this link to Hancock Fabrics where they are offering free shipping to first time customers. I had never seen this before. I am not a huge fan of Hancock Fabrics because I find there website is not so user friendly and I don't like the way they hand out coupons but in small print they say it is only for non sale items and they give these coupons out when everything in the store is on sale! It just doesn't make sense to me. However, I do still shop there on occasion and My Man did give me a gift card from Hancock Fabrics for Mother's Day. I am just disappointed in this store.

Online Tutorials

I was looking on online and came across some wonderful tutorials. Here is one on Sew, Mama, Sew Blog:

Fabric Flower Tutorial

Here is another one I found:

The Vintage Smock Pattern

Here is another great tutorial for Ruffle Apron from One More Moore blog:

Almost Finished (Backpack tote)!

My mother-in-law (MIL) came over yesterday to give me some "sewing time". Thanks, Mom Trixie and thanks, Pop, for playing with the toddlers!! I am making the Chelsea Tote Backpack out of the flip flop fabric. I am very pleased with how it came out. I only need to add the loop closure and I will be finished. This one is actually for my MIL. There were pros and a con about this pattern. The first pro is that adding a zipper to the straps was SUPER EASY! and the directions were very easy to follow with lots of pictures! The con would be the way it fits as a backpack. I am not too fond of the way it looks and feels on my back. I believe with some adjusting, though, I can get it the way I want it. Other than that, I really enjoyed this sewing project!

Easy zipper backpack strap or zip it for single over the shoulder strap.

Outside pocket with flap.

As a backpack.

Over the shoulder.

My Newest Purse/Tote Pattern!

This is my latest purse/tote pattern thanks to my Mother-in-Law! Thanks, Mom Trixie! I am so excited about it. I hope to have one made by next week.

This is the Chelsea Tote Purse made in a different fabric. I found this pic on LazyGirlDesigns Blog.

Sewing Tip

Wash and iron.
My mom is a perfectionist when she does something. Me, I am not! I like to dive into it, get to it and get it done, and voila I am finished. However, I have learned with sewing that if I want a beautifully finished sewing project that I must do it right from the beginning. So before starting a sewing project, make sure you wash your fabric following the washing guidelines of your particular fabric. I once spent several days making three lined dresses for my daughters only to have the main outer fabric shrink smaller than the lining on all three dresses. Arghhhhh! Oh how I wished I would have taken the time to wash and dry my fabric before sewing.

My other sewing tip is to take the time to iron your sewing project along the way. I love quick satisfaction when I sew and I like to see it finished so quick that I would skip ironing the seams before sewing and this makes for actually an uneven dress. When I finally slowed down and started taking my time and taking the time to iron did I start seeing my sewing projects look so finely finished!

Sewing Project - Purse/tote (part 2)

Sewing outer pocket


Sewing main panel


Turning inside out


Topstitching

Voila!

I am trying to finish these purses by this weekend. I am on my second one. I prefer making my drawstring purse. My drawstring diaperbag/purse is my favorite because it is so forgiving when I make my little mistakes. Now these three are more tote purses. My Mom came over to watch my toddlers while I sewed this second one. Thanks, Mom! And there it is. I still need to add a button.

Sewing Project - Purse/tote (part 1)

I have started cutting out the pattern pieces for the purse/totes. I hope to finish them in the next seven days. I went to my sewing group this past Friday night. Delicious food and great friends while we sewed equals a terrific night!

Sewing Projects!

I went to Hancock Fabric today and bought enough fabric for all my upcoming sewing projects. Thanks, Mom, for watching the children while I escaped to fabric land!
Here is my ribbon that I ordered.




One of my daughters has teacher appreciation week in May. She has three teachers so I decided to make them each a purse. This is what I will use. The flip flop will be main and the other will be the lining and the purse handle.


Now this print fabric actually coordinates with the flip flop fabric so this will be the reverse of the top/dress. The solid print is actually more pink. This picture does not show the correct color. This will be the pants that will match both sides of the reversible dress! Cute, cute! And then I will make some bows to match.

Bows - Easy to Make!

Here is a fun, quick and easy project to make as a hair bow or I have even made smaller bows and put on my daughters' tops and dresses. I just ordered some more ribbon to make more bows.

Quick Tip: The best price I have found on ribbon is on ebay: The Ribbon Spool. I don't make any money off that tip. I don't even know her but I do know that her prices are great and her shipping is fast. I just ordered 50 yards for $22 including shipping! Now that is a lot of bows for under $2 a bow. And they turn out super cute! But, if you are looking for the super super cute bows, then check out You Can Make This , they have awesome eBooks with lots of photos to make those extravagant bows you see on eBay!