polkadotbug

One for Me and One for You

I’ve been busy making a few aprons.  I thought I’d shoot for the mommy & me apron sets.  I did this for more than one reason.  First, because it’s really adorable and I currently have girl that still wants to be like me and second, because we’ve had a few requests.  I love to make the children’s aprons, but folks out there keep requesting adult sizes. 

Unfortunately Molly does not like to model.  How does everyone do it?  Every blog I go to has these adorable children in even more adorable clothing doing exactly what their mother asked of them. Poses and all.  I can’t even explain what Molly begins doing as soon as we put her in something I made.  That’s all I know is that it involves random body spasms, ridiculous faces, and overall chaos.

Like this.

So we had to succumb to taking the pictures without people wearing the aprons.  This is too bad because aprons look best when they are on.  Anyways, you get the drift.  They’re completely reversible aprons that match in girl and mom sizes in fun prints.

 

Here’s mommy with no me.

Look Out Elementary School

Well, there’s the big girl standing in front of her school this morning.  She did so well.  It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that I was pregnant with her and now she’s already in school!  I only cried a little bit, so I was proud of myself too.

Besides preparing to send Molly off to school, I have been chugging away at crafting things for the Art Festival coming up.  I thought I would see how much stuff I could get out of one yard of fabric.  I think I did pretty well. 

I started with a Buffalo Bonnet and matching fleece lined bib.

 

I finished by squeezing out one pair of reversible pants and a little matching purse.  I love this Kokka print with the big bold flowers.  They look just like the flowers that Molly draws with the huge centers.  The reverse side of the pants is Anna Maria Horner, from her Garden Party collection.

Let’s hear it for the boys!  I even went out on a limb and churned out a lounge pants/bib combo that’s made for a boy.  I didn’t do so hot finding designer fabric that I thought would be great for a boy, so I went to Joann’s. I got a neat dinosaur print and this puppy/dog house print.  I thought it was cute.  It is so different than anything I am used to working with so I did feel a tad strange.  These pants are also reversible with a very comfy gray knit on the other side. 

Hope everyone got the kids off to school without a hitch!

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P.S.  If anyone out there is interested in food (who isn’t?!) and wants to take part in a little challenge, my husband won last month’s Paper Chef food blogging competition and this month’s is underway now – the ingredients and rules are here.

Crayons to Go

I think these crayon rolls are the cutest thing.  I saw my first one in person when I went on my visit to Josie’s house.  She always makes the cutest stuff.  Now she has upgraded to crayon wraps complete with books, paper and other accessories?!  I just can’t keep up!! 

I found a lovely little tutorial for the rolls at Skip to My Lou.  They are so easy and a great gift idea.  Just throw it your purse or diaper bag and always have a little entertainment with you.  Not that you couldn’t just throw the whole crayon box in your purse but this is SO much more stylish and adorable.  Again, I was using up some of my Heather Bailey fabric.

On a completely different note, our little Abby will be turning 1 in a few weeks!  How quickly the time goes.  She has developed such a little personality of her own already and has also decided that she wants to be on her feet.  She’ll scream and yell at you in her little baby talk until you grab her by the hands and take her for a stroll around the house.  Funny because she doesn’t even crawl yet, just a little butt scoot.  I think she is going to skip the crawling step.  

Oh, and I even did a little school shopping for Molly this past weekend seeing as she will be starting kindergarten in September. AHH!!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Pretty Problem Pants

Hi!  I am here!  I feel like this is my special diary and I have this stong urge to write in it all the time, but can never sit down long enough to do it!  I liked this pic of Molly and I a lot.  We had the same color shirt on and Molly thought we were twins.  That's all I want to know is how I can transplant her hair onto my head.  It's absolutely perfect. 

I want to start by thanking everyone for my birthday wishes and healing wrist wishes.  My birthday was delightful.  The girls at work went all out for me and I came in to a desk covered with balloons, flowers, banners, etc.  My sister (whom I also work with) made me a wonderful ice cream sandwich cake. YUM.  Thanks Ang!  She doesn't even read my blog but I thought I'd throw that out there anyways.

My wrist is much better now.  It's still very sore but I can do almost everything.  I just need to go to physical therapy once a week so I can stretch out the tendon and massage the scar tissue.  Fun!

With the healing wrist I actually got around to a little sewing this weekend.  You can see the girlies in their matching pants.  I started with a pair for Abby and of course Molly wanted the same exact fabrics for herself.  I don't blame her because they are adorable patterns from Sandi Henderson's new Farmers Market line, but I only ordered one yard and I could've used a little more.  I love it so much that I guess I will eventually be buying a lot more.  I need a separate bank account for this addiction I've developed.  Why does everyone have to keep coming out with new amazing fabrics!  Of course I really don't have a pattern, so I did my classic "wing it." 

I must admit that they look pretty cute in the pictures but let me tell you the whole truth.  Anyone reading this who is not an expert sewer (a novice like me) should appreciate my blunders.  Abby's pants were sewn um... upside down I guess you can say.  Basically, what was supposed to be the legs turned into the crotch and the crotch ended up the legs.  This makes for a very "low rise" type of pants that only make it 1/2 way up the diaper and fall off continuously (doesn't help that the elastic was to big too also).  Elastic always gets me because I hate pants that are too tight and leave marks on their bellies so I overshoot.  Note to self... elastic stretches a lot.

With Molly's pants I made sure that I had the crotch/leg situation under control when sewing but I still didn't make the crotch big enough.  The I have been following has the front and back of the pants exactly the same.  Is this normal?  I realize that you need more room for the butt to fit in the back so maybe I should be looking into a different pattern?  Or should I just leave a really lot of room in the crotch area?  They looked really cute on Molly but she did have to keep pulling them up so her little butt crack wouldn't sneak out.  It was definitely a learning experience, although I still really don't know how to do it right.   

Oh yeah, the serged seams tore in the crotch area on Molly's pants before the end of the day.  I was told that I didn't have to sew the seams and then serge afterwards, that the serger would take care of everything.  Is this true?  Do I just have to reinforce the high stress areas? 

I hope you have some advice for me! 

Do Drink and Sew

I finally sat back down at the sewing machine tonight and actually finished a project!  Everything has still been packed up since we returned from our trip last weekend.  I really haven't been super motivated lately but this felt great to be productive again.  I even conquered a new dress style.  I saw something similar and really enjoyed it so I decided to give it a shot.  And once again it's a reversible dress in Heather Bailey fabrics.  Shocking. 

It's just like my classic reversible dress but it ties in the back instead of on the shoulders.  I must say that I don't know how to do the top trim where the ribbon slips through.  It came out a little sloppy.  Cute, but sloppy.  Good thing that the friend of mine who requested it hasn't a clue about sewing so she won't know the difference!  It bugs the crap out of me though.  I'd really like to know how to do it better. 

I also must share that I had a little help with my motivation tonight. 

Andrew prepared a fresh, icy, and delicious mojito for me.  What can be better than a refreshing ice cold mojito while you sew??  Answer: a refreshing ice cold mojito sitting pretty on Amy Butler fabric.  Fantastic!  It was even made with freshly picked mint from our herb garden.  I have it made.  That's all I've got for now.

Tons of Tutus (Tying Tulle Tonight)

Yet another Tina project for the market, if you can't tell.  I don't typically sit around tying tons of tulle knots just for fun.  The tutus are so easy to put together and turn out so cute.  It's great to see them all together when I finish.  Every newest one becomes my favorite. 

I was really surprised at the amount of tutus I sold at the last market.  I know they are cute, but I didn't think they would sell like they did.  I planned on having a lot more for this one, but my time is running short.  Andrew even helped with these tutus.  He cut the lengths of tulle while I pieced them together.  He thought he would attempt to put one together, but apparently it's difficult for large fingers to tie delicate knots of tulle.  Thank you Andrew! 

Just like a baby girl needs a bonnet, a young girl needs a tutu.  How's that for a sales pitch?  It just makes them feel so fancy.  I love how when Molly puts one on she immediately does a little dance.  The first tutu I sold was for a little girl on her second birthday and I was told she slept in it that night!  How cute is that!?  That's the greatest feeling, knowing that something you did made someone else really happy.  Oh the joys!   

Who wants to make a reversible dress?

Well everyone, I have finished the reversible dress tutorial!  You can find it here.  I hope that I have made it clear and easy to follow.  I am certainly no pro at making dresses (who knows if my techniques are even right), but I have made quite a few of this kind and they turn out incredibly cute.  I would really appreciate feedback if the tutorial has been helpful to you, or even if it hasn't.  I am definitely willing to answer any questions you may have if you get stumped along the way.  I hope you don't get stumped though! 

I am now thinking of a new reversible dress that I would like to give a shot.  I will definitely share once I get a chance to try it.  I think I see a reversible pants tutorial in the future as well.  The possibilities are endless!  I seem to be gravitated towards this whole reversible thing.  Maybe it's because I don't have a serger and I like the look of the finished reversible clothing.  That and the fact that you get 2 choices out of one product!

Ok, get dress making and let me know how it goes!