Let's hear it for the boy

After all the girly sewing I've been doing lately it seemed only fair to whip up something for my little man.

Behold: the Henry Shirt from Sewing for Boys by Shelly Figueroa and Karen LePage.

Owen helped to pick out the fabrics. Lately he has been heavily invested in all things robot. He's even declared that he wants a robot themed birthday party this year.

I'm particularly fond of the brown pearl snaps.

And someone seems to like his new threads.

Here's a gratuitous gappy toothed picture.

And just so you can appreciate decent pictures of my kids - this is what happens whenever I bring out the camera.

So, that's what's been going on around here. I promise to get back to crafty quilty things soon! There's even a plan for a new quilt design swirling around so hopefully I'll be able to post about that soon.

What's keeping you busy?

Girly girl

My daughter is four years old and has a bigger wardrobe than I do.

I suppose part of it is because I keep making her dresses.

In my defense, she apparently won't stop growing so new clothes are a necessity.

This is a very simple jumper but I made a few adjustments along the way. Most notably, I changed the way the pattern did the interfacing so that I didn't need to add bias trim around the arm-holes.

And I love that I had this button just waiting to be used! It's so sweet! And I also really like the button loop closure - so simple and easy to get the placement right.

Then there's this little number:

I didn't have enough of any one fabric to make the dress so I just used what I did have and mixed it up a bit. I even needed to add the red at the bottom to get the length right. But you know what? I really like it! I like that it uses more than one print and I really love the red at the hem.

Best of all - it's a great twirly dress so Bailey is in seventh heaven!

There are a couple more dresses and skirts just waiting to be sewn up and hopefully, Bailey will be properly clothed for a few months until she outgrows everything again.

Jammies!

Slowly getting back to some sort of normal around here. With a kindergartner and a preschooler in the mix, I figure sniffles and colds are going to be a part of daily life more often than not.

To ease out of my non-crafting state, I finished up these cold weather pj pants for the kids.

Owen picked out all of his fabrics. Spiderman, Lightning McQueen, and Mater. No real surprises there.

Bailey got the cute girly flannel that was on sale over the summer. Yes, that's a lot of pj pants but I did add a cuff to three of them so they should last through next winter as well. I hope.

I have a feeling this is the last time I'll be able to get away with making jammie pants for them using only one yard of fabric.

More sewing planned for later this week. And crochet. Did I mention I'm making a blanket? Yep. I'm crocheting a blanket.

New dress!

Miss B has a new dress!

Okay....three new dresses.

I just can't help myself. The pattern (Ofelia - Patterns by Figgy's) is wonderful. Simple and easy to follow instructions make for a quick and rewarding project.

Seriously people - it takes one yard of fabric and one hour of your time. How can you possibly go wrong?

Bailey picked out this fabric - bright and lots of orange so no surprises there. She loves it. I love it. I especially love that she can get herself dressed without any help (thanks to the elastic neckline and no buttons or zips).

One little note: go by the measurements not necessarily the sizes (as you should on ALL clothing patterns). Bailey is not quite four but this was made using a combo of the size 5 (width) and 6 (length) pattern lines. These are the pattern sizes that correspond to her measurements and the dress fits perfectly.

And yes, she's freakishly tall for her age.