Announcement!

Welcome to the world, Alexander!

He was born at 1:55 this morning, 8 pounds, 4 ounces, 20 inches long!

Kids clothes week.

Well, letssee...  Day 1 I prepared the patterns and basted the embroidery transfers to fabric.  Day 2, I stamped the embroidery, cut out the pattern, embroidered one onesie, screwed it up, and picked it out, and then basted the pleats for the romper.  Day 3, I did all the embroidery, and today I finished preparing the pleats, cut out the lining, pressed all the pieces again, and prepared stencils for the extra onesies I have lying around.  Since they're 0-3 months, I need to get them done and home with Joanna!  Yeah, I'm doing more decorating commercial pieces this time.  But I've got more to do lately.  Tomorrow, I'm going to sew together the romper, and hopefully, tonight, I'll paint one of the onesies.  I love freezer paper stenciling!

KCW

It's Kids' Clothes week again. And I've... sorta been working on a few things. I started Monday, and prepared my pattern... including the embroidery. Baby Alex is getting one fancy romper to wear to church. And since at last measurement, he's going to be around six-seven pounds, this should fit for a little while. (The pattern says it'll fit to 13 pounds.) I also started a project that I've been wanting to do ever since I saw it on Delia's (of Delia Creates) Nesting series last year--the signed bum onesie! It was a guest post by Simple Simon and made both me and Mom laugh. I had some spare onesies, you see, and they'll only fit for the first three months. I also had some green embroidery thread and transfer materials. I figured, why not?

Anybody remember the My Child dolls from the 80s?


I thought (and still do think) that they're prettier than the more famous Cabbage Patch Kids.  And yes, they were the competition--by Mattel.  Anyway, I'm doing an Xavier Roberts signature onesie, but I also did a My Child one. Yes, that's the butt logo.  One thing I learned after having to spend time unpicking it last night was that you really need to interface or stabilize the knit fabric.  Otherwise, it stretches and deforms.  Thus this isn't as perfect as I wanted to to be, but I, um, made some small holes in the fabric unpicking the embroidery.


I happened to have the right colors of thread for this, too!  Don't you love it when a crazy idea comes together?  The other things I've been working on for KCW aren't ready to show off yet, but so far I'm meeting the challenge.  And birthday presents are still forthcoming!  (Including a review of Elle's Snow White Dress pattern... because it's now slated to become Nikki's birthday present.)

Found... and a much begged-for project

Found the scissors!  And they were in the ottoman... where I'd already looked!

Ever since Christmas, Gracie has been begging for a "green dinosaur" for her new baby brother.  Now, I have a lot of Georgia Tech fleece, so, because this is her "0 birthday" present for Baby Alex, I asked if I could use that.  Nope.  Only a green dinosaur would do...  But it could have bumblebee/Georgia Tech spots, spines, and feet.  And using the other two bee fabrics I have took some convincing!

There isn't a lot of fabric to this project because it's a small toy--just right for a small child or a baby.  Really, the spots and spines can be done with scraps, and there's maybe 1/4" yard of green fabric in the toy.


This is the same Dilbert the Dinosaur pattern I used for Gracie's psychedelic pink dinosaur that I made her for Christmas.  I've found that fleece is a fairly good fabric for stuffed toys because it's fuzzy, wears well, and doesn't fray along raw-edged seams.

It's a cute pattern, but turning the spikes is a nightmare!  It requires the smallest tube turner they make and a little bit of swearing... though it wasn't as bad this time.    And I have to admit, I didn't exactly follow the instructions this time.  I've made it before, so I powered through it.  I also changed out the felt eye for safety eyes and embroidered a smile on his face.

And of course, once it was done, he needed something. He just didn't look complete!  With the girls, I'd tie a bow around the toy's neck.  But this is for a baby, so I didn't want dangling ribbons for both a safety issue and the fact that it's for a little boy.

Lucky me, I have some licensed Tech ribbon in my stash that made a perfect collar for Alex's "pet"!

Lost and not found.... yet

Life with an active, curious toddler in the house means that I'm forever taking things away from her and putting them up higher.  Last week, I took my shears away from her... and now I can't find 'em.  Yep.  Gone.  They're not where I thought I put them, nor in my usual stashing-away-from-Nikki area.  And there's no way I'm blowing the money on a new pair when I have a perfectly good pair of scissors that were just sharpened last month.  I've cleaned out my living room stash corner, searched through the messy inside of the ottoman, and plumbed the couch cushions.  After the girls go to bed, it's time to check under the couch....  Wish me luck.

Has this ever happened to you?

Vintage clothing reality show

I admit it.  I've become a reality TV junkie.  Oh, mostly not the game shows like Survivor.  Well, Project Runway is the one of those I watch.  Not quite as fun now as it used to be--for one, Mom's not here to make fun of the runway looks with me anymore, and the quality of their contestants has gone down.  And yeah, I love Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms--which my entire family makes fun of me for!    (Except Gracie.  She loves the sparkles, and that was why she got the Rapunzel dress last year.  She wanted a "fancy dress"!)   Partly, it's because that's what is on television these days.  Mostly, though, I love things like Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, and Auction Kings where I get to see strange and marvelous things.  Guess it comes from addiction to the original--Antiques Roadshow! 

My latest, though, is L.A. Frock Stars on the Smithsonian channel.  It's about a vintage clothing store in L.A. named "The Way We Wore".  If they only had a kids' section, it would be perfect!  They specialize in designer vintage clothing, and the entire half hour is eye candy.  They also rent the space next door as a "design inspiration" space that's stuffed with goodies.  Oh, the stuff they showed off last week!  Lots of lovely, HTF vintage ribbon.  I was wiping drool away.  GIMME! 

Their prices, though, illustrate why if one wants vintage, one sews their own.  I suppose there are less expensive vintage stores.  Actually, I know there are.  But if I ever want to dress in vintage style, I'd need to make my own, anyway because of my non-standard size.  Considering all of the "designer" patterns that have been released over the years, though, with a bit of sewing skill you could easily make your own instead of dropping hundreds of dollars on one dress.

So have y'all been watching this one?  What do you think about the clothing they show off?