Pirate Vest

This is the first  year I've sewn something for one of my boys for Halloween.  I'm just not a big Halloween-loving person.  (Last year, I did sew Tinkerbell for myself.) 

 

My little guy wanted to be Jake the Neverland Pirate (from Disney Junior).  You can buy costumes for this character, but it's so easy to recreate without any polyester!  Jeans, a white tee with a slit at the neck, and a vest whipped up from stash fabrics.  I self-lined it, so there are no raw edges exposed at seams.  I matched up all the raw edges and covered them with yellow bias tape (also from stash fabric).  The boots are adult pirate costume boot covers that I resized with a few snips and zips through the sewing machine.  A strip of red fabric for the head, and a store-bought sword complete the look.

 

My ninja's outfit is polyester, courtesy of Target.  :-)

First day of school shirts

I made both boys shirts for the first day of school, even though only one was actually going to preschool (much to the little guy's disappointment).  As I ran back in the house to grab my coffee (gotta have that for the drive to preschool every morning), big brother decided to get started with the photoshoot and snapped a bunch of pics of little brother.  Then they both scrambled in the car and refused to come out when I was ready, coffee in hand.  

So... photos were taken in the school parking lot in front of this lovely white truck (not mine).

The pirate-themed embroidery designs are from Designs by Juju, about which I have nothing but good things to say:  the designs are great, the customer service is great, the prices are great.  The fabric for the shirts is an old purchase from Chez Ami fabrics.  I still have a bunch (bought it on clearance $3.50/yard), which is great.  It's a great stripe knit for boys tees.  The ribbing is plain brown from JoAnns.

Both boys were really proud and happy with their shirts, so I'm just enjoying that and not thinking forward to the day in the not-too-distant future when they'll no longer want mom's shirts.  :-)

Baby outfit and late Jeudi de Jardinage

I made this little outfit for my sweet niece, Elizabeth.

I just traced the pieces of a cute outfit she had and did a little freezer paper stencil demonstration for my sisters, then added a little ballerina skirt to the stenciled dancer.

The skirt has panties attached for modesty.  She's sitting up now and who knows when she'll be crawling around!

Now I have to get this outfit in the mail quickly before she's too big for it!

I took these photos yesterday for a Jeudi de Jardinage post, but extenuating circumstances (naughty kids) kept me from downloading and posting them.

When I returned for several wonderful weeks of vacation, my flowers required, and still require, a bit of work.  I used some lovely blue ribbon to tie up some vines because they kept getting mowed when they fell outside the fence.  I've been meaning to do this for, oh, 4 months or so.  I put it off until I remembered to pick up some twine, but yesterday, I decided some blue grosgrain would work just fine for now.

My gorgeous red roses are growing like crazy.  I've bought some other rose bushes at big garden centers, but nothing comes close to this beauty I got a local nursery.  Mulching this bed and making it pretty has also been on my to-do list for at least 4 months.

Here are the fruits of my rose-growing labors.  They make me smile every day.  I have a pretty steady stream of red roses this time of year.  The sad looking houseplant on the plant stand is a source of much angst for me.  It was the first plant I bought when we moved to Florida a year ago.  I promptly killed it... almost.  It was down to 2 leaves but it is determined to come back.  It's still not looking exactly nice, but I'll keep watering it as long as it keeps making new leaves. 

My Peace Lily was looking really sad when I came back from vacation.  I think it'll pull through, though.  Despite the brown leaf tips, it starting perking up within a day of watering.

That's it for today.  I can't wait to show some more productivity from the sewing room.

Jammies

Early on Saturday, I'm dragging the boys in the car and starting the drive to PA to visit family. Between now and then, I have to finish packing, take the cats to the kennel, wrap presents and have a little party for my giant 2-year-old, clean up the house, consolidate houseplants for watering, etc, etc, etc...

So today, I made little boy jammies! A totally appropriate use of my time.


All of the fabrics are from good old JoAnn Fabrics, and each set took about an hour including cutting. The boys picked out their own prints and are super excited to have these. I didn't use a pattern but traced jammies they already have, adding a bit for growing room. My big boy's fit better because he was more cooperative with the trying on process than my crazy baby, who is very much the 2-year-old these days.



I asked for a model pose and got this. Such a ham!

Kid's Birthday Shirt

My big boy would like you to know he's 4 (see the fingers?).
I made his birthday shirt. For comparison on how big he's gotten, here is last year's.

I actually made the whole shirt this time, instead of embellishing a purchased one. I found two XL black and gray striped ladies' tops at Target for $2 each and snatched them up. (I still have a shirt and a half to fashion something cute for me!) To make the "pattern", I traced a shirt he has that fits well. The neckline came out a little big because I tried to reuse the ribbing from the original tee shirt and was worried about it not fitting over his melon head. I should have just gotten more at JoAnn's. Oh well. It looks cute over the red t shirt here. Maybe I'll redo the ribbing with a wider piece.

For the embellishment, I used the freezer paper stenciling method. I've never used that method before (first stenciling attempt here resulting in this) It was quite easy, and worked really well with all the tiny cutouts I made. Great tutorials for both freezer paper stenciling and editing an image for a stencil are here, on Dana's awesome site.


Obviously, I actually did the stenciling on a separate piece of fabric which I then stitched on top of the t shirt for more impact. With the exception of the neckline being large, I'm really happy with this shirt, and I know my sweet boy loves it. He wants to wear his "drum shirt" every day.


In other news, I finally sat down for 15 minutes tonight to make a buttonhole and hems to finish up my linen/wool pants. Can't wait to photograph them tomorrow!!

Shorts, cooking, and painting

This morning, I diligently took pictures of my newest complete garment, a pair of wool shorts. Unfortunately, I didn't want to drag my pint-sized photographer outside and didn't want to get out the nice camera and change the lens, and they came out very badly, so I'll be staging another photo shoot soon.

Until then, here's a quick look at the problem I had with pockets bagging out.


I simply unstitched the basting at the top of the pocket and pulled the front piece up about 3/8". Worked like a charm.


In other news, here's a lovely Florida tomato tart I made on Sunday night. Isn't it pretty? I got the recipe from a little booklet that was free with a local farm stand purchase of tomatoes. Unfortunately, my husband wasn't a huge fan of the spice mixture and texture, and the kids weren't crazy about it (and they're not generally picky eaters), so if I make it again, I'll definitely tweak it a bit. Kind of sad when your homemade pie crust and fresh, local produce culminate in a pretty, but not delicious ending.


Finally, here's a look at my kitchen walls. You may recall I had painted them bright green and then had second thoughts about the brightness. I ended up sponge-painting over all but the wall behind the cabinets with a lighter green. I'm happy with the results and am anxious to make the curtains. I'm not allowing myself to buy the fabric until I touch up the white trim, though. :-) (and that's my littlest ham, trying to find the perfect piece to complete his train track. He couldn't find it by rummaging, so I guess he had to get in and have a look.)