Raglan T-Shirt

Partially inspired by the Spring Top Sewalong, partially due to the fact that most of my shirts no longer fit--I decided to finally sew a new top.  I used a pattern from my Sew U book (which I need to use way more) and altered the front bodice to have more room.

It came together quickly and will be easy to hem and take in a little post-baby.

I've already started plotting a few more t's to keep me from looking shabby this last stretch.

Handmade Teepee

We don't have much going on in our backyard and I wanted to have something fun for the girls to play with this summer.  There are a number of tutorials out there, but I remembered seeing this teepee tutorial years ago.  Like most everything I do, I used her pattern as a starting point and then changed it.

I wanted each section to be equal (rather than have a big opening like Rachel's version), so I cut my panels about 44 inches wide tapered to 5 inches wide at the top.  I thought a round opening would be fun so I just went for it.

I cut a few inches off the wood due to necessity (I may have wedged the teepee against our ceiling...).

I didn't want to sand the wood, but didn't want to hear about splinters all summer.  So I decided to use strips from a vintage sheet I had lying around to hold the wood in place.  I was a little short on the length needed so I added a strip to the bottom of the teepee as well.

I haven't pulled it outside yet, but so far the girls seem to like it and I think it's totally cute and girly. Hopefully hours of fun will be had in this girly teepee this summer.

Big Black Apple Dolls

I love trying to make something homemade for my girls for their birthdays.  This year I decided it would be fun to make them a doll.  I've always thought the Black Apple Doll was adorable, and have sewn a few in the past.  This time I wanted to make them a little more special.  I enlarged the pattern to give me a starting point and then got creative with the rest.

I'm totally in love.  Way more than the girls love them, but isn't that how it always is?

I stressed about the face and left it for last on both dolls.  That was silly to do.  What if I had messed up after I had finished the whole thing? 

I painted the eyes on and then stitched the eye lashes and mouth on.

The hair took forever.  My girls are young and I knew I needed to adhere the hair on pretty well.  So I stitched every piece of yarn on to the head.  I used pins to sort of weave the yarn on the head and then I tacked everything down.  I found the technique/idea here.

The peach doll has tiny suede moccasins..Ack!  I die over them.  My oldest doesn't like to wear shoes so I thought it would be fun to leave her doll barefoot.

Dotty Pillow

I have been in dire need of some fun pillows to offset my vintage couches.  The room was looking a little too seventies for me. 

I have a few more to make.  I love using hidden zippers, it makes the pillow come together so quickly.  Hello bees!  I like adding silly details.

Coat Rack

As with any new space, we soon discovered that the coat closet was not in the ideal place.  Most of the time coats were littering the floor in the kitchen or draped on couches.

  

After much online pursuing (and a good sale going on) I decided on these hooks .  They only went to three, but I wanted five hooks.  So I decided to get all 'no.1' hooks.  Who wants to be 'no.2' anyway?  I think I will re-number them in the future, but for now I think it's funny.

This should have been an easy project, but I ran into a few silly things (I highly suggest buying your own screws, the ones provided were poor quality). It's not a real project unless you've been to the hardware store more than once right?  Despite the setbacks, I'm glad to have somewhere to hang my coats!

Geranium Flower Girl Dresses

My sister's wedding kept me pretty busy this summer.  After finishing some projects with Tracey it was time to figure out what the girls would be wearing.  I looked online, searched in-store...nothing was jumping out at me.  Where have all the cute things for little girls gone?

I had been dying to buy/make Made By Rae's Geranium Dress and this was the perfect occasion.  I had no time for drafting my own patterns and the pattern sewed up like a dream.

 

I lined the bottom of both dresses.   I used the lower half of a formal dress for Ellie's (no hemming!), and happened to have a pretty peach pillow case that turned out perfect for Ivy.

Word to the wise.  If you let uncles play with their nieces you might turn around to your daughter alarmingly high from the ground.  Luckily this time it turned into a great picture.

I think a few more Geranium dresses should be sewn before Christmas (they are so adorable).  But lets be honest, what I'd really love to sew next is a Washi Dress for myself!

An Arthur Halloween

This year I decided it would be fun to dress the girls as Ellie's favorite book series by Marc Brown, Arthur.

Initially I wanted Ellie to be Arthur and Ivy to be D.W., but opinions came out and we switched.  An Arthur costume for Ivy and a D.W. costume for Ellie.  I found the outfits and made some aardvark ears for each.  I may make a pair for myself and Corey to wear on Halloween-we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Read.

Quick homemade costumes are always great.  We spent a fun morning out at a Halloween festival, great time to sport our costumes a little early.

This spring Corey graduated and we spent a busy summer with family planning for a wedding.  We're now in our own space and I'll be playing catch up on missed projects soon.