After Midnight There Will Be Sewing

 While the little ones sleep I am sipping on a good cup of coffee and visiting my good friend, my sewing machine.  I love to sew at this time. The house is quite and no interruptions. Yes, it's a good time to sew. A great to create.

In the past couple of days I have made Prince C two pairs of the Sketchbook pants. I seen these cute shorts here and these pants here and came up with these two pairs of pants.

 I love how these look with a polo shirt and sweeter vest, which are both from Gymboree. Before I started to sew for Sweet pea almost all of her clothes came from here. {Thanks to hubby for showing me this store before she was born! Although I not sure how happy he is with that now. ;) }

 Pardon the wet spots on the Ivory pair, I had just washed off the blue marks and couldn't wait to share.

 Both pairs of pants have modifications made to them. To start with, I made two button holes and made a mock drawstring tie. (Which I wished had been a 1/4" lower.)  I did double stitching for all the top stitching on the pants and also reinforced the the middle seam with a top stitch to make them more sturdy. I decided to leave out the pleats and instead make gathers.

 I added a pocket to the back. Like the shorts pair I used the Explorer vest small pocket for a pattern. I just trimmed off 1/2" to make the pocket fit the 6-12 months size pants. I hemmed the pocket like the After school pants(O+S). To help tame the curves while pressing I ran a gathering stitch. It made for a much smoother finish. (The brown pair I did not do this and I am much happier with the way ivory pair finished.)

 I made the pockets with a straight seam instead of curved, with the double row stitching. As I did with the side seam too. I made the cargo pockets, but made them flat with a working button. I am a sucker for buttons!

 Over all I happy with the way these two pairs came out. They will be great for winter, I just hope Prince C will be able to wear them by then!

My next sewing adventures will take me to the Sail Boat pattern from Oliver+ S! Until next time...

Happy Sewing!!

Sharon

2+2 Top Fun!

 Another great pattern from Oliver + S! This one is made with Sweet pea's favorites of favorites-Strawberries!! If she could she would eat them non stop. So this top was well loved by her.

 I love the sweet tie on the front of this blouse and the buttons down back are just as lovely. I paired this top with the O+S Swing set skirt. I love how the O+S patterns can have the tops and bottoms paired different ways. Great way to make the most out of Sweet pea's wardrobe.

 This one was made with some of my favorite colors, she likes too. This is always a good thing. The shorts are the finch shorts from Clever Charlotte. These shorts look great with everything!

 I will have to make a few long sleeve tops for this fall and winter. Maybe a few boy ones for baby C too.

I just love summer sewing!

Happy Sewing!!

Sharon

Dr Suess Jelly Roll Pillow

 Well I did it! I finally finished Mr W's reading pillow!!It took months of sewing a bit here and there but now it's done.

 I used the pattern from the Moda Bakeshop site. You can find it here if you would like to make one too. The pattern calls for a jelly roll pack of fabric but I used {6} 1/2 yards of different fabric prints cut into 2 1/2" strips that ran the whole width of the fabric. It was just a bit more work but not bad. 

 One fish, two fish

Red fish, blue fish

 It makes a lovely reading pillow for the nice sunny summer day.

I used twill for the backing so it would hold up nicely to the hard ground outside and hold up nicely to little boys tuff and ruff play.

 All my kids love this pillow and would love one like it too. I can tell you that it will take a while to make four more. ;)

Happy Sewing & Happy Reading!

Sharon

Quick Cut Kit Review and Some Burp Clothes!

 While at Wal-mart the other day I seen these cut little Quick Cut kits to make a baby a burp cloth, hand blanket and bib. All very cute and very nice priced. So I thought why not give it try, Prince C could use some more burp cloths and bibs!

 The instructions tell you how to cut all the fabric pieces and how to assemble. The blanket has flannel, cotton, satin and minky in it. Very lovely for baby to hold. Very easy sewing as well!

 The burp cloth is the size of the old cloth diapers, great size for a burp cloth! Both sewn up very quickly, only a couple of hours for both. About a nap time worth. (Although I still haven't started the bib yet.) I am planing on using the cutting instructions to make a few more burp clothes. I might just use the bib fabric to make another too.

Here are two burp clothes I made up as well. These only took about five minutes to make from start to finish just using scraps of flannel I had on hand. I just cut out a a rectangle them rounded the corners. Pinned both sides together with wrong sides facings then serged the edges together. Easy Peasy!! Prince C loves the colors of these, very bright. I love simple sewing. :)

Happy Sewing!!

Sharon



Fall Fun Already?!?

 With Sweet pea having more than enough clothes to last her a life time in her size I decided to go ahead and start fall clothes for her. This is the Apple Picking Dress from Oliver + S pattern company made in a size 3T. It's a quick easy pattern to make when I don't have a whole lot of time on my hands.  I was able to work on both of them while little Prince C took his afternoon nap and the older kids played games together.

 I did have just enough fabric to make this dress too, nothing left over! I bought the little bit that was left marked down and have been saving for just the right pattern. I used a very light weight cotton fabric to make the bias tie. The light weight fabric makes the tie flow better, love it! The buttons I had at the house from an old blouse I had been saving. Best of all it's Sweet pea favorite new color pink!

 Grandma and grandpa bought this fabric by her demands request. (Every time Sweet pea talked to grandma on the phone she would ask where her Strawberry Short cake fabric was,lol.) and boy does she love this dress too! As soon as we got the fabric in the mail Sweet pea demanded that I "cut out my dress right now!" What a little monster I created. ;)

Next up some deep house cleaning, painting and some new floor to put in! Yippy!!

Happy Sewing!!

Sharon

Sweet Little Back Dress Tutorial

Remember this dress?

 This is one of the dresses that I made Sweet pea When she was 1 year old. Yep, it is the very same dress! I do still love the fit on her, the bodice is a bit shorter though now. I just love it when things that I made her still fit some time later!

 The bodice has beautiful pleats on it with a nice sash that ties into a lovely bow in the back. It also has a full skirt for twirling.

 My favorite part of this dress is the back. It has a V cut shape on it and buttons the whole way down the back. Very nice for dressing up in the hot weather!

 If you would like to make a dress like this one you can find the tutorial over here.

I can't believe how much our little Sweet pea has grown in a year half and still in some ways she hasn't at all. Thank goodness for tiny waisted toddlers. ;)

Happy Sewing!!

Sharon



2 Weeks

 I can't believe that little Prince C is already 2 weeks old today. My these two weeks have flown by. {maybe because lack of sleep ;) }

 He is so sweet looking while he sleeps. :) I do love to watch him while he sleeps.

 He has such a small nose. So cute. It looks just like his daddy's nose.

And those tiny weeny ears. I can't believe how small they are. My little man.

We have enjoyed him so much in our family these past weeks. The kids just love him so and so do we.

Sharon