Sandcastle Dresses for Dolly and Me!

The last of the new releases over at Ellie Inspired today is the Sandcastle dress and Mini Sandcastle dress for dolls. This one is Sarah's Fourth of July dress this year. I love that this dress also has an option for a full smocked bodice. I have some big plans for a Christmas dress with this pattern! I am hoping to start on it next month but I will see how times goes. The dress sizes go from newborn to 5. 

I love the traditional collar and elastic cuffed sleeves on this dress. The fabric we use dis nice and light weight for the hot summer summer days. To give the skirt on the dress a full look I added a pettie skirt underneath.  This girl loves her twirly dresses! 

I even made smocked pockets! Sarah loves them most of all. 

Now for the dolly size ones! I really love to make matching dresses and Sarah right now is loving her Bitty Baby so that was the first request! (This is another pattern of mine through Ellie Inspired!) 

Miss Elsa is coming with us to the fire works this year so a matching dress was a must I was told. I am thinking we need a new Doll Carrier from the LTTS book. I am sure Prince C would love one too.  

I was told Isabelle would be jealous if she didn't match the other two girl's so her dress was a must too! I made her's sleeveless and left the collar off as well.   

If you would like the new patterns you can find the here and here. They are 20% off today! 

Happy Sewing!! 

Sharon 

Miss M Elsa dress

While I have been very busy sewing this month you ladies have not seen much of what I have been working on. I had sewn another Elsa dress but this time for Miss M! She is my cousin's daughter who also happens to be the same age as my daughter. Sweet pea really loved to be able to meet her and have a new friend that is her own age and  girl too. Even better they both have so much in common. They both love Elsa (but really how doesn't?) and wanted to be her for Halloween this year. So after I had finished Sweet pea's dress I went right into making Miss M her Elsa dress.

I used the very same patterns and mods as the first but this one went together much quicker this round. (the Oliver + S Fairy tale dress and Ellie Inspired sleepy bear pj's sleeve) I even added a extra hooks on the cape so it can be made shorter walking, all my cousin's idea and it is genus! Now both girls can walk with ease trick-or-treat and still have a full cape for playing in.   

I do that these two little girls are very happy with the dresses and will have a great Halloween this year! I am almost all done with the three older boys costumes as well. The sewing part is done and now I am working on the all the fun little things that make a costume.




Happy Sewing!!




Sharon

Queen Elsa, Let it Go!

It's that time of year again; costume time! This year I am doing things a bit different though and I am making everything early! I have three done and two to go. The first one I am showing you done is Sweet pea's. She has changed her mind a million times (which is kind of my fault). Her first costume in the works was going to be Pinkalious. I had the whole costume planned out too, a smocked bodice, dyeing lace to make just the right shade of the pink ruffles on the skirt, hand painted wings with hand sewn pink "fluff" around then, well you get the picture. Any way she kept asking for the Elsa dress costume. I know there will be a army of them out on Halloween night so I really wanted her to be something different until I thought about it. (ok, ok she was singing "Let it go" endlessly too)  It's her costume and she doesn't care if every other little girl is dressed the  same. That who she really wants to be. She is only four so really why not? It is a day of fun for the kids and not mommy. So as my friends would "let it go, le it go" so I did. ;-)

I wanted to make her a "real" dress costume. I know it will be worn a lot. Second It had to be little girl like and not, well, improper looking to be polite. Which means a bit fitted but not tight and no slit and the front of the dress had to come up higher. Third, the cape has to come off for washing and play wear. I think we are both happy with the end result of this dress.

Ok now the how and how-to! I used two different favorite patterns I mine to make this look. The Oliver + S Fairy tale dress pattern, Ellie Inspired Sleepy Bear pj pattern and a self drafted skirt ad cape. I traced the bodice of the of the Fairy tale and drew a line for where I wanted the dark blue to be and the see though to start. I then redrew the top and bottom pieces separate and added a seam allowance to them. I cut out the main bodice with the satin and the dark blue see through fabric over lay on top of the satin.  (the blue is a pretty sparkly design to it) I also cut out a satin lining with the see though snowflake fabric as well. I did the very same for the back bodice.





Here is the back of the dress, I have the zipper going up to the top of the satin and then a loop and button for the top. (Do you see the nicely matched bodice at the zipper line?!?)

I have to show you the lovely lining! It slips on Sweet pea so nice and she loves the feel of it.



To give the see through fabric a nice finish I sewn it all with French seams. To keep the seam allowances tighter on the main bodice and the lining bodice I hand stitched them together carefully through all the layers after I sewn the bodice pieces together. The non gathered sleeves are from the Sleepy Bear pj pattern. I really, really love the fit of the sleeves from this pattern! I self drafted the skirt pieces, the cape and the crown.  

I cut the cape out the full width of the fabric and juts rounded the corners out and serged roll hem the edges. I then made a bias (I measured this to the length I wanted the finish top cape to be) with the see through snowflake fabric and gathered the cape onto the bias and stitched it closed. I then added hooks and loops to the dress and cape so that the cape can come on and off.
 

The cape is nice and full too. I so glittery! It looked like I killed a fairy in the kitchen while I was this costume!

The cape is also nice and flowing too. Perfect for playing Frozen.

She really loves the finished dress and didn't want to take it off. She thinks she looks just like Elsa. I am very glad now that I made this dress for her, we are both very happy with it. Now the only problem is Sweet pea is trying to convince me that Prince C wants to be Anna, hahaha, I don't think so my love. ;-)


Happy Sewing!!


Sharon

Autumn Grace smocked dress

I am done with my Autumn Grace dress for the Smock-a-long!! If your in the Facebook group you have already seen it but for those of you who are not here it is!! I cannot tell you ladies how much I enjoyed sewing this dress. It has been over a whole year since I have last tried my hand at smocking and I once again have been bitten by the smocking bug, thanks to Laura Johnson!!  

I love the simple style of the peasant top with the smocked insert and ruffles. I really love this dress!  

This is a close up of the smocked insert I made, yes I really smocked this!! (I can hardly believe it myself) I love the detail of the satin ribbon too. I did have to go back and tack in the ribbon on the smocking. I am not sure if it's because it's satin and slips easily or not but it was rolling a bit when she wore this dress and the tacking fixed that problem right up.

Sweet pea is as smitten as I am with this dress. It's her new "princess" dress she tells me. We have it hanging were we can see it at all times too. ;-)

I love the clever design of the back as well. This dress slips on over the head with elastic gathers in the back bodice to keep that nice well fitted look in the front as well as the back.

This dress looks like the pattern was made just for her! If you are looking for the pattern you can find it here on Craftsy for $4 right now. It includes the smocking instructions as well and the smock-a-long  is still going on till the October 1st if you want to join in.

Sharon

Apple for Fall, Another Sugar and Spice Dress!

Ah fall, it is almost here! The leaves are starting to change colors and cooler weather is in this weeks forecast. It is almost time to go to the apple orchard! Yummy apple pies, apple crisps, apple cinnamon rolls and apple dresses! Yes, even a dress! This is the first year I have really sewn "themed" dresses for Sarah but Oh How she really wants them so why not?! 





I used the same dress pattern as the last dress I made, the Sugar and Spice from Ellie Inspired. It's such a sweet pattern and has such a lovely vintage feel to it. This one went together quick than the last one too. I used all French seams on this one so it would be as lovely on the inside as the outside. Ok, Ok I am almost out of serger thread sooo I used French seams, but they do look really, really nice!  I used a chevron for the main dress with the grey trims and the red is scraps from my red chambray dress. I free hand the appliques on this dress too. Not too bad if I say so myself. 

These pictures were taken at the local historical covered bridge. It's so lovely here!  I guess it's is about time I "showed" you lovely ladies around. :-)

Not such a bad looking apple if I say so. It does look like an apple and that is all I was going for! hahaha

I have made myself a promise to make a smocked version of this dress as in the pattern instructions, I know it would be the perfect dress for church.  

Next up is another "knock off" skirt/shirt outfit for Sarah. I am using some very special fabric form my grandmother for it and I am oh so excited to start it! Until then,

Sharon  

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I know it's a tad early to really be thinking of sewing for fall but with all the sewing I have done in mass for my boys this past month my little Sweet pea was beyond jealous. After all I started sewing to make her beautiful dress so why on earth would I be sewing for the boys, so she thinks. Well her turn has come around again! This past summer while I was reading emails she seen this Zulily dress "pop" up many times on the side bar and ask me if I had made that dress for her. After the hundredth time of telling her "no mommy did not, it was for sale in shop online". She looked at me ever so sweetly and ask very nicely "mama could you very please make this beautiful dress, please??" How could I say no. ;-) I saved the picture onto the computer and told it would be made for fall.



So this past weekend I went to the fabric store, a quilting one and found the perfect dotted fabric for the dress but no gingham fabric at all. They said they do not carry it. What?!?! I think this is so very unheard of. How would a fabric store carry a staple fabric? Any way I lucked out and found some very similar gingham fabric at Wal-Mart of all places. It's not all orange but I think the yellow with orange still works. The orange on the gingham is the very same as the dotted fabric so that was a huge win and the fabric feels very nice too. So I am happy still.

I free hand made the applique' for this dress, no fancy embroidery machine was needed. (no that I don't want one, hint, hint hubs!!) I made/cut out a oval for the made and made a sort of rectangle for the stem. The stem is also a corduroy too. I think it looks very much stem like. I finished all the edges with a narrow zig-zag stitch. It was not too very hard make.



I used Ellie Inspired Sugar and Spice dress pattern. I had only a few wee mods to make this too. All I had to do was take 6" off the width of the front and back skirts each and add flat piping, 1" on the finished side, to the front and back bodices. Oh and add the pumpkin. I almost had forgotten how much I love to sew dresses for my little princess.

This dress was finished nicely with MOP flower buttons on the back. Nothing but the best for my little Sweet pea! Sweet pea you ask? She love it! Now just for fall to come and then we are off to the pumpkin patch.


Sharon

Come Sail Away With Me

My little girl is growing up very fast, too fast for me. The very first dress I ever sewn Sweet pea was a sailor dress. It is full of mistakes but oh how I still love that dress of hers! I have said for years that I would give another go at a sailor dress for her, one that didn't look, well, like it was sewn in the dark by two left hands. ; )

(warning! There is lots and lots of photos!)

This "Sail away" dress has whipped stitched piping in the princess seams (you know my princess love these seams!!) and has a dropped waist line with an invisible zipper in the back. The dress is not too fitted so it nice a cool for our hot weather here we are now having.  It has the sailor collar with a separate tie that goes under the collar. The sleeves are finished with a navy blue bias to match the collar and piping. Girly but not too frilly. I used some Out To Sea boarder fabric, perfect for a sailor dress and the white is Kona cotton.

I did make a fully lined bodice similar to that of the Fairy tale dress and it has full skirt on the lining as well, 84 inches so it nice full for twirling.

This will be her Forth of July dress this year, I am making Caspian his own little sailor outfit too! I can't wait to see him in his! My attempts this year is to make all five kids outfit for the four, yea I do know it's getting very close but I think I can pull it off, think.....

What pattern is this you ask? It's mine! Yep, I made a pattern and it came out alright! I am pretty happy with this dress and so is Sweet pea. A win, win for the two of us. I not sure if you would call this a size 4 of 5 but it does fit her very well. The collar was the most fun to get the fit right. I think I can still do some tweaking to it. 

After I do finish up on the Forth of July sewing my summer sewing will be done other than a pair of shorts for Sarah. I do have plans to make myself a top and dress for the new Deer and Doe dress.  I have been living in my yellow all week, it so comfy and cool. I did also get two more quilt tops sewn together and I almost have Caspian's birthday sewing done as well, which is a good thing seeing party is this Saturday! (I am cutting it close again!)

Well as far as her dress goes I am thinking of one day making this into a real pattern, maybe I will sell a few. ; ) I'll have to wait and see.

So what are your summer plans?

Sharon

Time For Summer, Sewing with Some Free Patterns

School lets out for the summer here in four short weeks and the weather is starting to turn lovely. With the older boys being out of school so soon I really would love to have all my kids clothes sewing done before then so what a better way than to start on than a lovely summer dress?! Sweet pea really needs some new dresses too, she has grown so tall over the winter. She is in love with dresses and who could blame her? I love to wear my sun dresses too, way better than pants. So first up was this Picnic Dress. I used a small scrap of fabric left over from her other Strawberry dress. (Oopps, I have forgotten to blog about that one! I will later this week!) It was maybe a yard with some other pattern pieces cut from it. I squeezed the pattern pieces on this baby and got all but one of the inside facing pieces out of this, yep I am that good. ; )

It his made out of strawberry briar rose fabric so you know she loves it! She was twirling around all da in this dress. I used some of the pink/white whipstitched piping on the bodice of this too. It was a easy quick sew, much like that of Oliver + S popover sun dress. The other great part of this dress? It was a free pattern from the Cottage Mama. You can find it over here on her blog too if you want to make one for yourself.

Here is the second part of her new outfit! Since she loves to wear dresses and plays pretty hard outside I thought it would be a great idea to make her some shorts to go under her dress this spring and summer. I notices that Oliver + S came out with a new free pattern, the Sunny Day shorts, they were perfect for this! I sized down one size since I used a knit fabric. I am in the works on making my four boys some pj's bottoms form this very same pattern too. The pattern size range is 6m to 12 boys! That's is terrific for me, all my kids can have a pair apiece. (The Picnic dress only comes in four sizes) I can see me getting a ton of use of the Sunny Day Short pattern already. I want to make Sweet pea some pj bottoms too but on her I plan on adding ruffles to the pants legs hem. I am going to make her two more knit pairs to go under her dresses once I can find my other box of fabric in the barn.....I know it's in there somewhere.....

She is pretty happy with this dress, I just might have to make her one more this next week.

Here is a close up of the piping, I just love this stuff! I need to order some more very soon. They come in all different colors.

I am also working on Caspian's 2nd birthday party sewing as well. (Yipes he is almost two?!?) I am making him and Sweet pea matching outfits this year. I could resist. Her dolly Ella will even have a matching dress. So plenty to work on for me this week! I am really enjoying it too. : )

Happy Sewing!

Sharon