Wee Wonderfuls

scenes from the craft room

We're gripped in end of school frenzy over here, as I imagine most everyone is. I've popped in to say that I sent an email out to the mailing list but it did not send. Another computer dilemma needing to be fixed. Love those. Anyhoo, the news of the day... there is another batch of Super X-Stitchettes in the shop.

other projects cooking in here:

phoebe's 3rd birthday

more sewing for the birthday girl

animation coming along awesomely

and part of a super great swap with the queen of cross stitch, jen. aren't these amazing!!

we were reminiscing about the good old days and how much fun swaps were. it reminded me I have an old flickr set of swap goodness. so many of these cool things are craft room staples now, my favorite pincushions, my sewing gadget basket, all that fabric! sigh. makes me so nostalgic for those early days. especially this little guy!

bear belly kisses

We've got art prints up in the shop today! We started out with these affectionate bears. They turned out so great. Love that fancy printer! I think these would be so sweet hanging in a nursery. We've done just a short stack of these and then we'll be on to the next print. They're here in the shop for $16.

and btw, yes, stop motion animation is what we're working on and THANKS! for the good luck wishes because we need them! what have we gotten ourselves into!!

switching gears

I'm not done with all my sewing projects for Phoebe but it's time to move on to another project for a bit. Tim and I have agreed to take a shot at movie making. Wish us luck!

day 5 - dots

It's actually warm enough to wear this dress today, when the wind's not blowing. This one was total instant gratification: a thrifted housedress + japanese craft book + 10 minutes.

don't mind the model, she's got a little cookie in the mouth. hard to catch her not eating.

day 5 - finally a bubble

I've been wanting to make Phoebe a bubble skirted dress for quite a while now so I picked up this pattern, Simplicity 2680, for kids clothes sewing week. I'd cut the dress out of my new very cool striped nani iro cotton gauze and was all ready to go but for some reason it seemed daunting so I put it off all weekend. Yesterday I had some time to sew but totally was not feeling it. I forced myself to just do the first step and that got the ball rolling. I was distracted, in and out of the sewing room, but I went through the motions and voila, it's a dress. I love this dress. I feel like it made itself despite my bad attitude. And man, it's soooo cute. The fabric was a perfect match for the dress and the pattern was easy and even my zipper went in okay. I think this is a candidate for the junebaby's birthday dress.

We've been the house of funk lately (and not in a good way) so I'm hoping we can implement my new going through the motions methodology to further successes. Let's turn this ship around!

day 4 - ball point needle

Yesterday I put the ball point needle in my machine to make a dress for Phoebe from some Heather Ross jersey fabric I've had forever. I used this pattern from the girly style book but made the longer dress version. So everything went together no problem. Between my serger and the ball point needle it was a breeze. And it looks nice on a hanger but on Phoebe it looks a mess. First, she hates the big floppy ties on her shoulders. Second, I'm not a fan of the v-neck. Third, it was super flared and way too long. This picture was taken after my first attempt at a fix which was to trim it to a narrower fit and then I added gathered bits with elastic thread on either side to try to make it a sort of bunchy 80s look. It's still way too long. So now I'm trying to decide between cutting off the bottom 10" or so and making it a top but it'd still have the v and the ties. Or cutting the top 10" off and making maybe a strappy top or using more elastic thread to make a bunchy bodice. I don't know. I hate to cut it at all because the fabric is so dang cute. Maybe it'll just be a nightgown.

I was inspired though by how easy it was to work with a knit fabric. I had some ribbed jersey in my stash so I made up two quick pairs of leggings. They turned out pretty dang cute. I might need to make a knit fabric run before day 5 gets going.

day 3 - forgot the sleeves

Here's the top I made from McCalls 6022. I followed the wrong path in the directions and sewed up the yoke sides before inserting the flutter sleeves so she's sleeveless. It's still cute but I would have like to have more Heather Ross on there. So Day 3 was a success, Day 4 was a mixed bag. I'll blog that later this afternoon.

day 2 - less clowny pants

Okay, I've figured it out. I'm going to do 7 days for the kids sewing week challenge but they'll probably not end up being consecutive. I'll probably be more every other day... botch something one day, finish something the next, botch the next thing, etc.

Yesterday I made some crazy poofy clown pants from this cute vintage pink fabric with flocked white flowers that I've been saving forever. I was sad to have to use the remaining fabric on a 2nd, less clown-like, pair of pants but I had my heart set on these flocked flower pants. For the 2nd pair I used the infamous Simplicity 4206 and they turned out swell! The first pants were from McCalls 6022. I have a shirt cut out from that pattern too. Hopefully it'll work out better for me. With pants I always feel like I sewed them together wrong. But is that possible? If they can fit legs into them you did it right, right? I think the fit is just more babylike on those first ones. These 4206 are more fitted which I like better but still a little wide. I'll probably make another slimmer pair and maybe add pockets.

Here's Phoebe modeing her 4206 pants with her you-go-away mom finger.

day 1 - looking wistfully at my pile

The kids clothes week challenge is getting off to a slow start over here. The kids, not their clothes, were the ones needing extra attention and care yesterday. But we've got a great rainy day today so I'm thinking a cozy recuperative movie (sewing) marathon is in order. Everyone else is off and running though! Check it out!

**oops! this has been sitting on the laptop since Monday when I thought I posted it. yesterday I did do some sewing, a lovely pair of clown pants for Phoebe. I'm trying them again today, day 3 already! **

bear bellies

Thanks for all the book love yesterday! I didn't realize how good it would feel to share it finally, even if it is only the sneak peek. One thing I learned while working on the book is that I'm not a big fan of top secret projects. Doing a book is sort of the exact opposite of blogging. I started a blog because I wanted to share my projects, see other people's projects, participate in "a-longs" and swaps, make friends, connect. Working on a book is about holing oneself up for six months and working your butt off all by yourself on something you can't share with anyone. Blogging is in the moment, out there for everyone to see, informal, spontaneous, not afraid of mistakes, organic. I'm happy to be back here full time and I'm very much looking forward to the book becoming part of my online home here. Ok, off to continue my prep for kids clothes sewing week.

Big belly bear hugs to you all!