Knit Racerback Dress

I made this Racerback Dress the day after I saw the post at Crafter Hours.  The tutorial was really easy to follow and I love that the pattern goes from 12month all the way up to size 7-8, so I can keep making this dress for a few more years.  It's a nice and light weight "summer" dress.  It looks adorable on her - she is pulling it behind her a bit in the picture, but there is a little more flare to the bottom of the dress than this picture shows.

Here's the back (my favorite part) - I used a different fabric for the small piece at the top of the back.  I wanted to add some more detail since the fabric of the dress is plain and a bit boring.  Thus the hot pink binding at the neck and arms.

I made this out of an old t-shirt of mine, so that was nice to not have to hem the dress (one less step is always nice).  I also applique'd a heart onto the front to add some more detail.

Felt dolls

I found this link on pinterest a couple weeks ago and knew it would be my next attempt at finding something to keep my 2 year old daughter quiet and calm during church.  But sadly, there were no patterns or a tutorial :(  But that didn't stop me.  I sat down and drew a similar shape of the doll and dress on my own referencing the pictures. 

I did do a couple things different.  I couldn't figure out how she did the eyes, so I just painted them on with fabric paint.  And I didn't do the cheeks.  Also, I made a swimsuit on the doll instead of underwear since my daughter is excited about swimming lately. 

I do wish that felt came in some better colors.  There isn't a good "blonde" or "strawberry blonde" in the cheap felt, so I let my daughter choose the color of hair for the dolls.  She chose bright pink and brown.  I was a little worried about the pink, but that one is my favorite now.  I won't be trying to make a "ball gown" again - it was hard to try and gather and hem the small piece of satin.

There are still a few more dresses I want to make, but my next step is to try and figure out how she did the house.  I may just try to cover a binder in fabric/felt and use that to carry them in.

Market Skirt

I've been on a sewing kick lately - 4 dresses and 1 skirt for my daughter in the last couple weeks...and something for my nephew's 1st birthday, but his momma reads my blog, so I can't blog about that yet. :)

I made one of these Market Skirts (free pattern and tutorial here) while I was pregnant with my daughter, and I thought it was easy to make and adorable, so I made one again.  I gave her a few choices of fabrics from my stash, and she picked this retro Strawberry Shortcake print.  I'm not big on "character" clothing, but this is the Original Strawberry Shortcake from my day - the 80's - and it's cute and not tacky like some character fabric can get.

Here's a close up of the pockets - I added some embroidery floss stitches for some pop - and I had cute flower buttons...thanks for cleaning out your fabric/button stash mom!

Oliver + S Ice Cream Dresses

I made this Oliver + S Ice Cream dress for my daughter in the 6-12 month size...almost 2 years ago.  I still fits her, but as a tunic style shirt.  But I loved this dress on her and decided to make it again.   The red fabric is eyelet - so the texture gave a nice pop.

My daughter is not easy to take pictures of, she doesn't keep the same pose for long enough to position her and then take the picture, so I end up taking about 30 pictures each time and then just have to pick the best ones.  She does make some cute faces, but also some really odd ones.  To keep her distracted during outfit/pose changes, I had to let her drink from the spray bottle. 

This time I made both options/styles of the dress.  This option for the dress wasn't supposed to have the pockets, but I liked it better with them.  And I liked how it tied in the top fabric too.  These dresses take several hours to make each one...but they are easy instructions and turn out adorable.

 She discovered the pockets!

Kid's Picnic Table

I've been loving all of Ana White's creations for some time now, but we finally made one.  The "bigger kids picnic table"

My husband cut and sanded all 17 pieces and then I spent Friday and Saturday morning painting them all.  We have been working on our back yard and finally have some of the patio done, so we can enjoy the nice weather we've been having here the last couple weeks.

This project was time consuming, but totally worth it.  There is a younger children's version on her blog as well, but that was made out of 1x boards...which are more expensive than 2x boards and less sturdy.  And we had a ton of 2x4's already lying around.  So all we had to buy were the 2x6's for the table top.  So this size worked well for my 2 and 4 year olds...and I can sit at it comfortably as well.  But it helps that I'm only 4'11".