Camping Weekend

Kevin took the kids camping this weekend.  Since I don't camp, I had the house all to myself, and I took the opportunity to finally tackle a few things in my sewing room. It's amazing how much I can get done when there are zero interruptions.

First up was finally finishing the tooth fairy pillow I started for Dorothy a long time ago.  It was all cut out and the embroidery and applique were done.  I just had to sew it together, stuff it, and sew up the hole.  Quick, but it would have been quicker if I had remembered to add the ribbons before sewing it up the first time.

A closer look at the embroidery.
It's a good things I finished this, because she lost another tooth the day they came home.  It works!  The tooth fairy found her tooth in the pillow just fine.

 

 Next up was a new t-shirt dress for Dorothy.  I love this style of dress on her and they are so quick to make.  I lucked out and found the blue shirt on clearance at Target.  It matches wonderfully with the fabric.  Too bad she didn't have this on Friday when she was to wear a blue shirt to school for a special event.  Why do I never have the "right" colors when stuff like that comes up?

 When she came home and saw the dress, she was really excited.  The skirt fabric is rainbows and unicorns, and it truly hideous in a way that only a six year old could love.  I bought a mystery box of remnants a while back, and this was one of the treasures in the box.  Never in a million years would I have chosen this fabric, but Dorothy loved it the minute she saw it.  The remnant was the perfect size to make this style dress, and I don't have any left over.  The dress is a touch long, but that is so she can still wear it next Spring.  The weather is starting to get cooler, so I'm not sure how much wear it will get right now.

 Here's a closer view of the "beautiful" fabric.  I'm glad she's happy and that I found a good use for this piece.

Lastly, I finished the last few of my 120 rainbow string squares for a quilt I'm making.  I still need to set the layout and piece together the top, then quilt it, but at least the squares are finally done!  It took a lot longer than I had anticipated to sew these strings together.  I hope it turns out as pretty as it is in my head.

I also worked on another dress for Dorothy that I had been putting off because the fabric intimidated me.  All I have left to do is hem it and trim the threads, so I'm hoping to finish it so she can wear it tomorrow.  That dress is more my style than the rainbow unicorn one, but she likes them both.

Kevin should take the kids camping more often so I get more done.

Unicorn Rainbow Baton Twirling Costume

Dorothy needed a new solo costume for twirling competitions because despite letting out the one she had, her bottom would not stay covered.  Since she is in the youngest age bracket, I figure that it is fine to play up the cuteness factor as much as possible.  I had some teal stretch velvet fabric left over from a previous project and knew that it would be a fantastic color on her.  Two of her favorite things are unicorns and rainbows, so why not?  I already had a unicorn design for my embroidery machine, so I just used that.

I cut out the base leotard, sewed up just one side, then embroidered on the unicorn before closing the other side seam.  That made it much easier to get the unicorn on the costume without stretching the material out of whack.  I hand sewed some beaded detailing and did that before I lined and finished the costume.  That way, the lining is smooth and the stitches are hidden behind the lining.

Despite cutting out the pattern with the length of a size six and the width of a size five, the leotard was still a bit too big around on her and I had to take it in a bit under the arms

I think the back turned out very cute.  You can barely see it, but I did some light blue rhinestone on the straps across the back.  There are also a few rhinestones across the binding on the front.  The are subtle, but added just the right amount of sparkle up closer to her face.

 Doing a "fade" for the end of the rainbow was more difficult than I anticipated.  I think it looks better from a distance.

 Close up of the unicorn.  The details of the legs, mane, and around the horn are all seed beads that I sewed on.  I'm thinking about adding a black rhinestone for the eye.  Outlining the unicorn in rhinestones seemed like a lot up close, but they just barely show up from a distance on the gym floor.


 Here are a few actions shots:

 During her solo where she placed first for Nov 0-6 State solo champion.

 At attention, waiting to start her basic strut.

During basic strut, which we need to put a little more time into.

The lighting was better in the practice gym, and I got a few cute pictures of her practicing and playing around a little.

 I had just enough of a scrap of fabric from the leotard to make two little bows for her hair.  I thought they looked sweet on her and really finished off the look.

 Sometimes, she stands up tall, and looks really confident and sharp.

This move always kills me.  She just looks too adorable when she does it, and really throws herself into the lung each time.

Dorothy had lots of positive comments from other twirlers and moms at the State competition.  I'm glad I finished it just in time.  She will Wear it at Nationals, and hopefully it will still fit for all of next season.  It's pretty stretchy, and there is a little room where I can let it out, so that should help.

It took forever to glue all those rhinestones on, but I'm so happy with how this costume turned out.

New Bating Suit

Dorothy has been in dire need of a couple of new bathing suits for a while now.  I have been squeezing her into a couple from last year, but they are getting pretty tight on her.  I finally finished one of the two I have planned, and she was able to wear it to her last swimming lesson (for now, they will continue with lessons in September).  I have everything I need to make her one more, but we shall see how long it is until I get around to it.  I decided I had better take pictures of this one right away; before I forgot.

 From the front.  I loved this bright, bold striped fabric, and bought it on clearance last year.  Not only is it cute, but she is high visibility and easy to spot in a sea of kids at the pool.  Unfortunately, indoor swimming lessons don't make for the best photos, so we took a couple in the yard before leaving for class.

 The back.  I love how the stripes turned out on the banding and that I was able to line them up in an alternating pattern across the upper back.  It really helps visually break up the thick stripes.  I also love how having the stripes on the skirt going horizontally, makes it look more ruffle-y.

This suit should fit for a nice, long while.  I made the top a smidgen long, because she prefers her tummy to stay covered.  I was worried that the bottoms might slip once they were wet, because they just fit around her waist, but they seemed to stay put. 

She was so happy to have a new bathing suit, and this one looks just darling on her.

Third Grade Class Quilt

I recently made a quilt with Malcolm's third grade class, and I think it might be my favorite class quilt yet.

I tried something a little different this year.  First, I read them The Quiltmaker's Gift, by Jeff Brumbeau.  Then, instead of giving everyone the exact same fabric squares to work with, I had five groups, with four students in each group.  Each group was assigned different color.  They got a container with a variety of fabrics in "their" color that they had to sort through to make their blocks.  Each color had various shades and patterns to work with.  They laid out the fabric choices on a piece of grid interfacing.  Once they were happy with their layout, they used a glue stick to tack down the fabric pieces.

Luckily, It was hat day at school, so in nearly every photo, their faces are covered.

 Some of the kids did random placements, and some had very elaborate designs.

 The purple group had some fabric with glitter on it which was extremely popular.  There were some big negotiations going on to decide who could have the glitter pieces.

 Many students did one layout, then completely removed the fabric squares and started over again.

 Here, she is making rows, but her finished block was very different.

Third grade was a good age to try this with.  They are old enough to be able to follow the instructions easily, and this gave them a little more freedom of choice with their blocks.  I love what the kids came up with and they all look great together.  If I do a quilt with Dorothy's first grade class next year, I think I will stick with giving each child the exact fabric squares they will need.

I took everything home to sew it together, then brought back the finished quilt for them to see.  Showing the completed quilt is easily my favorite part because of all the gasps and, "Whoa"s and the excitement of the kids.  I always hear them pointing out which block they made, and they are very proud of their work.

This class had lots of interesting question for me like, how I made the border of little colored squares, and how I decided which block to put where.  It was a good opportunity to explain the construction process and to let them know how much math I used to figure things out before even coming to their classroom.

After showing them the quilt, I hung it up in the hallway of the school and made a small bulletin board display with the photos I took, the book jacket, a couple of small write ups about how it was made and where the quilt will go, and some extra fabric squares.  I wish I had taken more photos to fill up the bulletin board.  Maybe next time.  It will be donated to Project Linus once it is no longer hanging at the school.

 Here's the quilt and bulletin board at school.  I forgot to take photos of the quilt at home, so I did all my pictures once this was done. 

 Slightly closer look, without all the extra stuff around the edges.

 Slightly closer look at the blocks the kids made.  The depth and texture just doesn't come across in photos.  It is quite stunning, in person.

The third row is sewn straight, it's just laying funny because of the edge of the bulletin board behind it.

These projects are always a lot of work, and partway through I wonder why I'm doing it.  The kids are so enthusiastic when I come back though, and that's why I do it.  I'm always pleasantly surprised how much they like doing these.

Hedgehog Shirt

I made Dorothy a hedgehog shirt to match a pair of capri pants for Spring.  I have a lot more things I want to make her for this summer, but this is all I have finished so far.  I took these photo after school, so she's a bit disheveled from some hard playing.

 Close-up of the hedgehog.  I made her a shirt with the same design last summer, but that shirt is too small this year.  I still really love the happy little hedgehog though, so I made another shirt, in different colors, for this year.

 The whole shirt.  The shirt itself is nice soft green, but it turned out lighter in my pictures. 

 The whole outfit.  The capri pants are from Janie and Jack, but I bought them at Goodwill for only a couple of dollars.  They are cute and nice and comfy for these spring days when the temperature fluctuates a lot during the day.  They are plaid with a couple of shades of pink and green with some white.

 Just a cute shot from the back.

Probably the closest to the what the color of the shirt looks like.

Hopefully, she can wear this a several times before it gets too hot for longer pants and all she wants to wear is sundresses.

Quilt Block Swap

I signed up for my first ever quilt block swap, and I just finished all my squares to send off.  Basically, I have three "buddies" and I make four blocks for each of them.  They do the same for me, and then we make a quilt with the blocks we receive.  We could specify the colors or style of fabric we prefer, but then it is left up to each person to decide what kind of block to make.  Here are the ones I made and will be mailing out. 

 Brave World:  I don't usually make traditional style blocks, so this was the first one I tackled.  It was really easy and went together quickly.

 Dolly Madison:  These were my second block that I made.  These were my favorite and I really like how they turned out.  I love different they look based on how dark or patterned the fabric is.

 Confetti Stars:  These were my first ever attempt at paper piecing.  When it went right, I really liked these, but I made a lot of mistakes while learning.  I think I finally got the hang of it by the end.

 Lone Starburst:  My final paper piecing square.  I experimented a lot with combinations of using random fabric and carefully planning which colors to use.  I like how all three turned out even though they are all very different.

 Buddy #1's blocks.  She requested blue, green, and yellow. 

 Buddy #2's blocks.  She left the colors up to me, but requested bold, modern fabrics.

Buddy #3's blocks.  She left the colors pretty open, but requested bright colors in jewel or sunset tones.


I have already received my first set of blocks.  Once I get the rest, I will put them together into a quilt.  I decided to go a little funky and requested orange, yellow, and purple as my colors.  We shall see how it turns out, but it should be very bright and happy.

Twirling Costume

I have made leotards and bathing suits, and I have trimmed pre-made twirling costumes, but I had never made a twirling costume from start to finish before.  Last season, Dorothy was asking for a "fancy" costume, which meant one with a skirt and she wanted off the shoulder sleeves.  Her solo costume from last year still fit (and there is a tuck that can be let out when she grows), so we worked out an agreement that she could have a separate costume for strut and modeling if she practiced every week.  For each week she practiced, I would do one more thing on her costume.  She practices without much complaint, so I made this for her:

 Not the best picture ever, but it gives a pretty good view of the costume.  The lavender fabric and white lace were both ones I have had for a long time.  The white was left over from a Halloween costume of mine (Christine, from Phantom of the Opera).  The lavender was a remnant I bought a long time ago on clearance to use as a cheap experiment to try making a leotard.  The nude power mesh was a spontaneous purchase when I stopped in a fabric store that was closing and everything was 75% off.  I need more practice sewing on power mesh.  It was really tricky.

 When I asked her to stand up straight, she would do this.

 When I would tell her to relax, she would do this.

 The flowers wrap all the way around, and you can just barely see the little white panel under the skirt on the hip.  I hand made all the flowers from satin ribbon, then glued rhinestones in the center and sequins on the petals.  Up close, it looked really sparkly, but on the floor, it was a bit more flat than I would have liked.

 On the white lace, there are large, AB rhinestones, and some very, very tiny lavender rhinestones.  There are a couple hundred on here, but I'm not sure it is really enough.

 It looked pretty cute on the floor though, and a couple of her (much older than her) teammates want one like it.

Finishing up her basic strut.



I probably won't add any more rhinestones to the costume, because she is growing like a weed.  Even though I can let this costume out a little, I have a feeling she is going to need yet another on before too long, and rhinestones are expensive.


There are some things I would do differently next time, but for a first attempt, I think it turned out fine.  It fits well enough, and she got lots of comments at the competition about how cute she looked.