Cute new dress

I have posted before about Dear My Kids patterns and I just finished up another one. This is the reversible tunic pattern, although I didn't make it reversible. I love that her patterns are so easy to modify. I tried it on my little one for size before she went down for her nap and she was very serious when she told me "I need a pocket on this before I will wear it. And it needs a button." She loves, loves buttons. It did call for a button on the back, so she was lucky. I think I will try and whip up a head band to go with it soon. I can't believe she's so particular about her clothes already.

   The pattern comes in tunic and dress length and one of the alterations I did was to add some more length to it. Dad wasn't satisfied with just above her knees the way she plays and pays no attention to her underpants showing or not showing. I also wasn't wild about the elastic in the arms, so I just made straight sleeves, which I like much better. I didn't have enough of the contrasting fabric to make it all reversible, so I just made an inner yoke to make it all lay right and look cute. They are very easy patterns to follow and very easy to change up to meet your needs. Love that.

   Can I say one more thing about my new sewing machine, which I LOVE? I never in a million years knew there were so many presser feet or had a clue what they could do. I put on the overcast foot and found out I could do nearly perfect top stitching. That is amazing. Love that. I am going to try the specialized foot for pin tucking next. I have always wanted to learn how to do that. Stay tuned. While I am adding one more thing... a big thanks to my Grandma Cozette who encouraged me to learn to sew and even bought my first machine a million years ago. She's a hard teacher who will not tolerate "good enough" in her sewing.  I have ripped out as many seams as I have put in, but I have learned so so much from her. Thanks Grandma. Love you.

I tried to make a skirt today too but darling daughter wasn't crazy about it. I guess it needs some modifying. She's just fun to sew for, even when she isn't crazy about my creations.. The big kid isn't crazy about me sewing anything for him to wear. He's so over that he told me. Sigh...

Sew busy

This week has been a long, long week. This poor kid has been sick, sick, sick.

He didn't move off of the couch except to bed from Sunday through Wednesday. He has bronchitis. Finally, today, he is feeling better. Except now he has a mysterious rash.

So, what did we do to keep busy while being house bound this week? Meg played and tried hard to antagonize her brother, which didn't work well. I sewed. In between bouts of coughing, orange juice fetching, temperature taking and everything else, I sewed. I had a couple of project I wanted to finish up.

First was this cute coat I did in a sew-a-long with Christine at From an Igloo. That was wonderful. It took me a while to finish because of the embroidery design. I knew what I wanted, it was just a matter of figuring it out. The pattern is from Dear My Kids. Her patterns are easy to ready and follow and run pretty true to size. Very fun project, finally finished. I picked up the fabric from Michael Levine's loft at the fabulous $2.00 per pound pricing. Also from Christine, I did these easy peasy no pattern knit pants that are under the skirt. I ended up cutting the skirt fabric wrong due to inattention (i.e. sick kids, phone calls and my sister having a baby) but the cut fabric turned out to be the perfect size for these cute leggings. I told Meg they could double as jammy pants. She's happy about that. And I learned a few things about sewing knits along the way.

House on Hill Road has has this Twirly Skirt Pattern up for some time. I have loved it for a while, but just now got around to making up a skirt from it. I love that people are so creative and so willing to share. I can duplicate almost anything, but coming up with it myself is just too much for me. I did make the extra ribbon embellishment to add to it, and I debated on it for a while. Too much? In the end, the wearer loved it, so I guess it was a good call. She just loves to twirl around in it.

Sew, what's next? I do have a brand new niece, Cambrie Linda. I am sure she is in need of something made with love from her Auntie. Then again, there's that mailing thing. I need an assistant, just for post office runs. We will see what happens over the next few days. Hopefully the Good Health Fairy will visit us tonight and everyone will be well and happy tomorrow. I surely hope so. Justin has a final to take.