Shirred Set

So, remember the shirred dress that is really a top? Well, I finally got around to making the bloomers to go with it. My original plan was to have some adorable red ribbon ruffles on the butt to go with the red ribbon ties on the shoulders. The problem was that I didn't check my pattern before I started and I used the wrong one; so, no ruffles. It is still very cute though.

I ended up ripping out the shirring I did originally and doing it over again, and it is much better now. When I tried it on Dorothy the first time, two of my shirred rows started to pull out even though I had doubled back on them. The stitches were just too long to hold really well. I had read on some other tutorials that they suggested tying the two elastic ends together, so I still went over my stitches, but then I also tied them and they seem to be holding. Now, they also line up in the back, so it looks much better overall.


Dorothy shows off her new outfit.



Yup. Still two pieces.



She was moving around a lot, so it was hard to get a good picture to show off the outfit.

For the bloomers, I used the shirring technique to get the ruffles around the leg and it worked much better than casing the elastic like the direction say to. I did that last time, and they always looked a little funny. This time, I made the length about 1/2 an inch shorter, did a rolled hem, then did the first row of shirring just above the hem. I did the second shirred row very close to the first. It ruffles so much nicer without the added weight and bulk of the casing and elastic. I could get it closer to the hem too which is where I prefer it.

There are a few things I want to do differently next time.  First, I want to cut small curves for her arms.  This top is just a plain rectangle and I think it will sit better if it has just a little shape to it.  I will also put the straps on after the shirring instead of before.  The front straps are not even now, but they were before I shirred it.  Next time, I'll wait and see how it lays before adding straps.

I want to use this technique to make a dress and a long romper.  Hopefully, I will get both done soon.

Snack Bags

A couple of months ago, I bought these snack bags. I had been planning on making some, but saw these for a good price and decided to give them a try before making my own in case I didn't like using them for some reason. Well, they are constantly in the laundry because we use them so much.

I finally dug out some washable home decor fabric that has been sitting in my scrap pile for years and got to work. I made them just a simple envelope pocket. I hate sewing zippers, so I made these with snaps.


I kept the seams to a minimum by having a fold at the bottom instead of sewing two separate pieces together.  Yes, I know the fabric isn't the best looking, but it cost me $0.00 to make them.  I would have made them a little wider, but I used all of the width my scrap had.  I have another scrap of the same fabric and will probably be able to get a little wider bag out of it.



Snapped and ready to go. I'm hoping that the corners will lay better once they have been washed a few times and soften up.

These are just the right size for those bags of Cheerios or graham crackers I am always carrying. They won't work for wet snacks, like apple slices or grapes, but if they work out, I can make a few more and we will use a lot fewer plastic baggies.

Flower Fairies

I'm not going to make my goal of an entirely hand-made Easter this year, but there are going to be several hand-made items in each of the kids' baskets.  Last night I made these little flower fairies for Dorothy. They are just pipe cleaners, beads and artificial flowers, but they are sort of cute. I used the instructions on this page.


Here are all three. It took well under an hour to make all of them, and that includes the time I spent getting up and hunting down supplies I forgot to gather before I started.



This was the first one I made and I got a little carried away with her hair. I going to leave it for now, but she may receive a trim in the future. I have some more supplies and I'm wondering how one with really short hair would look. I might need to try that.



This one turned out the best of the three. Her hair is in proportion and her face looks nice. I vote that Dorothy will either ignore this one or lose her immediately.



This was my last try and I got a little creative. I had some small white flowers with blue tips, so I added one to the white mum I already had. It makes her skirt flip up in a funny way, but I sort of like it.  Unfortunately, her eye looks funny because the ink ran into the wood grain of her bead head.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this project both in how cute they turned out and how simple they were to make.

Lots of Little Things

I have several odds and ends to share today.


First, here are a pair of babylegs I made for our neighbors. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to make them, but I learned from a friend and I like her way best. The way she showed me gives a nicer cuff than sewing them straight.


See how nicely the stripes on the Irish pair line up? Yeah, it's not so great on the other pair and that's why it is hidden under the good one. Still, they turned out cute and hopefully will be able to keep some little legs nice and toasty.


I have a habit of buying an article of kids clothing on clearance with the hopes of finding something to go with it later. Later often comes, and even if I can find something, it is usually more than I want to pay. My solution is to buy inexpensive plain shirts and embellish them to make them look like they go together. I have also been known to whip out a couple of pairs of pants to go with odd tops I have picked up.

I did two shirts for Malcolm back in November, and I just need to accept that I am never going to get around to photographing the other one. Here is one example of making an outfit match:


So far, this is the only thing I have ever made that has impressed Malcolm at all.



Close up of the T-Rex.



How it all goes together. I bought the sweater and pants at separate times at a deep, deep discount. I bought this shirt and a red one just like it for $1 each. Kohl's sent us a $10 store credit on any purchase and the shirts were on special, 2 for $12. I used our credit and finished two outfits for $2! The red shirt has a brown corduroy squirrel appliqued on it.


Lastly, I have finally made a small amount of progress in getting my sewing room set up instead of having piles of things everywhere. A couple of weeks ago, Malcolm and Kevin hung up my thread racks for me. It is so nice not having to get up and hunt around when I need to switch thread.


The main sewing area. I have more thread, but need to finish getting it all on the rack.



The embroidery area.


Earlier today, I finally hung up some photos that were from Malcolm's 2nd birthday portrait session. Yes, it took me almost two years to get them up. No, I don't have a good reason. They look great and I wish I had done it sooner.


Not the best photo, but you get the idea. They are in between the door to the room and the closet. One wall of my room is a lighter green than the rest of the room (you can see it in the embroidery thread photo). I found these frames at IKEA and they were perfect except that the mats were also white and it was too much white. I had plenty of the lighter color green paint left over, so I painted the mats and I love how they turned out. It really helps tie them in.

Shirred dress...er top?

I have been playing around with a new technique; shirring.  It took some experimenting to figure out how to get it to work correctly with my machine, but I think I've got it.  Now to write down the settings before I forget and have to start over again.

I read the instructions for this dress and wanted to give it a try. Despite what the link says, it is a shirred dress, not smocked. I would expect Martha Stewart to be more accurate, but whatever. The instructions were simple and straightforward so I decided to give it a go.

After much trial and error, I finally made the dress pictured below:


Yes, some of you might recognize the fabric.  It is the curtains from the canopy of her crib.  We had to take them down a while back because she was trying to pull them in to the crib and we were afraid she would get tangled up in them.  When Malcolm was a baby, one of our rabbits, Ripley, liked to hang out under the crib.  What we didn't realize until later was that she was chewing the bottom of one of the panels so there are little bunny chew holes in one of them.  Due to those two things, there isn't much we felt we could do with the curtains, so they became scrap/practice fabric for me.

As always, it was a learning process. One thing I learned is that at this size a couple of inches makes all the difference between a long dress and dress that fits more like a shirt. Despite my careful measuring, this is a little too short for Dorothy to wear alone as a dress. Luckily, I was planning to make some matching bloomers anyway. It will still be adorable, but it isn't a dress. I have some other modifications I want to test out too, so I think I'll try for a dress and also a long romper with flutter sleeves. I can picture it, so let's see if I can figure it out.

If you want to try this, it is really easy, but here are my tips:

1. I had to wind the elastic thread on the bobbin with a little tightness. Loosely winding it did not give me any gathering.

2. The longer the stitch, the more gathers I got, so I used a basting stitch to get the most fullness.

3. I had to turn my tension to almost the lowest possible setting. More tension resulted in the elastic showing through on the front of the dress.

4. I was afraid the elastic would try to pull out if I sewed first, then cut, so I used a piece of fabric one and a half times the circumference of Dorothy's chest and it came out great. Next time, I will go ahead and sew the fabric together before doing the shirring. My shirring lines in the back don't quite line up and it is driving me batty.