Musicbox Dress

Once upon a time I made Delilah a Musicbox dress - a pattern by Oliver & S - in a classic Liberty of London print.

It was too big to wear at the time, not that it stopped me from putting it on her. Check it out here.

NOW IT FITS PERFECTLY!

My little girl is growing up. Sigh.

Love when she makes funny faces.

Janimal

Sleepover Pajama Pants - Hooo Hooo!

Finally getting around to showing these pajama pants I made for Delilah.

They are the Sleepover Pajamas from Oliver & S. The top is cut and I started to sew it but haven't finished. Hopefully I'll get the top done before she's too big to wear these jammies!

What is brilliant about these pj pants is the hem. It's made to be folded up and tacked, and then the tacks can be let down later as the child grows. The finish of the bottom of the pants is lovely.

What really makes me happy about these PJs is that my sweet husband bought the fabric as a Hannukah gift. Cute, right? He went to Whipstitch Fabrics, because he knows whatever he buys there I'm gonna like. Seriously I love everything in that place. This is Urban Zoologie from Kaufman Fabrics. Love. I've got to get that top sewn!

Now to find the time to make that top...

Janimal

Delilah's Matching Dresses

Happy to blog today about some recent sewing projects!

But first....Where oh where have I been?

Ah, just getting to the end of pregnancy and have had lots on my plate. So blogging has not been a priority. I'm not apologizing for not blogging - I think my priorities are in order. But I do miss interacting with the online world quite a bit.

Here's who I have been interacting with. This little girl, who just turned 3. Poor dear woke up sick on her birthday but still agreed to wear a little 3 shirt I appliqued for her and was a sweet and cuddly little one all day. She is the cutest most amazing kid ever. Just sayin'.

I wish I had her hair!

Happily, she was not sick for her birthday party. I made her a cake with princesses on it and we enjoyed ourselves.

I have gotten some sewing done lately! I'm so very happy to show you this Popover Dress for Delilah for next Spring/Summer AND a matching dress for her to put on a doll. I have a prettier doll in mind, but this one was the closest available when I was ready to take a picture.

The fabric is Willow Grove by Alexander Henry and I just LOVE it! (Patterns are available for FREE download from the Oliver & S website)

I alspo recently made Delilah's Halloween costume. I'll try to post pictures after she wears it, in the meantime, here's a clue about what she wants to be...

Oh, the cute! I know that no one finds kids as charming as their parents. These days I am feeling especially in love with my daughter and just can't help expressing it.

I'll be back with more projects. Including a tutorial for some tab top curtains I made.

Take care all,

Janimal

Delilah and Daddy Coordinating Outfits!

I am in the final few weeks of pregnancy. Hard to believe!

After the little man makes his appearance, I am pretty sure I won't have much time for sewing. In the meantime I am trying to make a few more projects before my hiatus.

Recently I got to test a pattern for childrens' pattern designer Oliver & S. But this is a new kind of test -- not a new pattern test. But an OLD pattern test! They have several patterns that have gone out of print, but as new sewists discover this great company, they still want them. So O&S is looking into making the patterns available as pdf files to download. As a tester, I was sent an out of print pattern that was converted to a pdf to print myself and sew up.

I already own the pattern, the Puppet Show Dress. It's the pattern I used to make Delilah's Snow White dress, actually. Just a lovely little dress pattern!

So here is the test dress I sewed up! D is currently fitting well into 3T, but I made this dress is a 4T so she could get a little more wear out of it. Not too big though - check it out!

The fabric is "Innocent Crush" by Anna Maria Horner that I bought at Whipstitch Fabrics. You may recall I used this print to make my sweet husband a tie. So Delilah and her Daddy had coordinating outfits to wear Saturday night. Unfortunately, I didn't do so well capturing their matchiness. I do have one funny pic of a crazed looking D, with her Daddy and his tie in the background.

"You talkin' to me?"

I sewed this dress Saturday afternoon, and found myself scrambling to finish to put it on D before we raced out to a wedding reception. So instead of following the lovely hem facing finishing instructions in the pattern, I haphazardly folded the bottom and sewed a very rushed hem. I felt like a contestant on Project Runway trying to get a garment done before racing to the runway. I can only imagine what Nina, Michael, & Heidi would have said if they got a look at my hem.

I'll finish the hem properly and get some better pictures!

Thanks for stopping by!

Janimal

Apple Picking Dress

Hello friends! I am SO EXCITED to show off one of the new Fall Oliver & S patterns today. I was a pattern tester for this dress and I just fell in love with it. I've been dying to share it!

So here it is - worn by my very favorite little model!:

My happy little model likes her new dress!

Couldn't you just eat her up?

This pattern is called the Apple Picking Dress

The fabric I used is called "Delilah" by Tanya Whelan. I think the white polka dots on blue, with the dropped waist style, give the dress kind of a retro look.

It was fun to pick out buttons too. I think buttons can add SO MUCH to a garment. These buttons have just a hint of blue in the inner circle.

Delilah was modelling the dress on the old walkway in front of our house. Oh that walkway was getting old and was SO ugly. Construction is going on now - we took out the walkway and are putting in a front patio. A nice place for us to sit and relax while we watch our kids ride bikes in the cul de sac. My sweet husband is calling it our "partio"!

I need to sew a new outfit for Delilah so she can show off the new construction!

I have a tutorial in the works for the curtains I made for our new little nursery. I just need to hang them and take their picture and hope they look as nice actually up as they do slung across the back of my sewing chair!

Thanks for stopping by!

Janimal

O&S Sunhat

Long time no blog!



I got back in front of my sewing machine earlier this week and made my sweet girl a nice sunhat to wear for the Summer. I know I'm biased, but I think she looks adorable in it.





This was my first project from the Oliver & S book, Little Things To Sew.








The hat is designed to be reversible, but for my first version I chose to make both sides with the same pink polka dot fabric.





I did make one change with the instructions. The final step has the inner cap sewn on my hand all the way around using a blindstitch. I ended up machine stitching most of it and blindstitched just the turning opening. It looks perfect to me and I will probably do the same with my future versions of this hat.


She appeared to be pretty happy with it.



Won't it be fun to have hats to match her little outfits! I better get to sewing!


Thanks for stopping by. I have some plans of things to sew so hopefully my next blog post won't take so long.


Later skaters,

Janimal

Snow White Sleeves Tutorial

I had a few requests to share how I made the sleeves on Delilah's Snow White Dress. I'm happy to try and oblige! I used the Oliver and S Puppet Show Dress pattern. My method for the pleated sleeves could be used for really any pattern with a similiar sleeve.

Before we get started, here's a few more pics of my little girl wearing her dress. Here she is, SO happy giving Princess Ariel a hug.

And here's one of Delilah and I posing in front of Cinderella's castle.

Ok! Off with the tutorial!

I started off with strips of fabric in blue and red. The red strips were 2' wide, and the blue strips were 3' wide. I sewed them together. I eyeballed the pattern piece and made the strips several inches longer just to give myself some play room.

I used 3 red strips for each sleeve, with two blue strips. I then added wider blue strips to the outer edges. The center red strip will become the center pleat on the sleeve.

Each seam was ironed flat, then I folded the red fabric over itself to form pleats. So the inside of each pleat is all red. the blue all remains on the outside. They didn't meet exactly in the middle, I wanted the red to peek out a bit even when folded flat. I pinned it and ironed it flat.

The next step was to lay the pattern piece down on the pleated fabric. The center line of the sleeve piece was aligned to the center of the pleated fabric. I drew around the pattern with a fabric marker.

The next step was to sew a stay stitch line, just inside the fabric marker line, to keep the sleeve piece stable for cutting and to make it easier to work with.

From here I just followed the pattern directions. I cut out the sleeve, and inserted it in the dress. The pleats were perfect!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this tutorial.

Cheers,

Janimal

Delilah Wears Her Snow White Dress AND I'M PREGNANT!

Hello all! It has been a little while since my last post. Lately I have been really really really tired and haven't done much creative at all. Although I have been making something -- I AM PREGNANT! I may have mentioned before that getting pregnant for me isn't an easy task, but thanks to some talented doctors, we are expecting our next arrival 11/1/11.

Despite the pregnancy exhaustion, we decided to take a little family vacation to DisneyWorld.

Delilah got to wear the Snow White dress I made her to meet Snow White herself! Check it out:

Just walking around the park made Delilah so happy. Here she is in her Snow White dress again. Do you notice the spilled water down the front of the dress? Smart way to keep cool in the heat, actually!

It was SO completely adorable watching Delilah's reaction to the characters she met! We have TONS of pictures that I think will make a lovely picture book to hold some memories for Delilah to look back on. Here is one pic I really love of Delilah and Sleeping Beauty.

I can't even explain how wonderful it was to experience DisneyWorld through the eyes of my little one. I lived in FL for years and went to Disney many times, but going with Delilah was BY FAR the best experience there ever. It was truly magical. Awwwwww.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to get some energy back now I'm in my 2nd trimester so I can share some creative things - but please forgive me if I'm not posting again soon.

Take care,

Janimal

Puppet Show Dress by Oliver & S

Hello! Hello!

I am so happy to show off one of my favorite dresses I have ever made! We recently decided to plan a trip to DisneyWorld for our beautiful Delilah. Although we limit her TV time, she has a definite passion for Disney films featuring the iconic Disney Princesses. We're pretty sure seeing some of the princesses "live" at DisneyWorld will blow our little girl's mind!

So for the occasion - I am preparing her wardrobe. Check out her new Disney Princess dress...can you guess who inspired it?!?



Snow White of course!

This pretty dress buttons up nicely in the back:



When I decided to make Delilah a Snow White Dress, I bought a costume pattern. Upon further reflection, I opted NOT to use an actual Snow White pattern. I didn't want her outfit to be a "costume", I wanted it to be a dress. Not a long flowing gown (called for in the pattern) but a dress she could move and groove in. Not something to be used for dress up over clothing, but an actual garment of clothing, with proper closures and neat finished hems. So I referred to my favorite childrens clothing pattern designer -- Oliver and S.

This dress is the Puppet Show Dress. I was a bit intimidated as this was a 3 scissor pattern! (O&S ranks the difficulty of their patterns with a 4 scissor rating scale). But honestly, it wasn't scary at all and I am SO pleased with the result. And even better, Delilah loves it too.

I did make my own adjustments to add the red pleats on the sleeves.

Now off to plan more outfits for our trip!

(You know, we like this dress so much, D might just wear it BEFORE the trip. I'll share pictures!)

Thanks for stopping by, Janimal

Seashore Sundress Oliver & S Preview!

Greetings! I have something so exciting to share today!

If you have been here before, you know I am a BIG FAN of Oliver and S sewing patterns for children. They are fantastic. Each season I wait with great anticipation the release of their new patterns. I can't wait to get my hands on their new Spring patterns. But guess what?! I got my hands on one EARLY! They sent me the Seashore Sundress pattern early to be a pattern tester!!!

So check it out - my sweet girl modelling her preview sundress!



(Yes, it's a little big. I sewed this and took this photograph in January when it was too cold to wear. Delilah is growing like a weed so I've been making her Spring and Summer wardrobe in sizes that are currently too big in the hopes they'll fit when the sun is shining!)

I have to make a matching hair accessory of some kind. Oh and just picture some sweet little sandals instead of those socks!

Delilah, if you like your new dress raise your hand!!!



Before the patterns are sent off for a final print, they have real life sewists follow the patterns and give feedback from our perspective about how the garments fit on our kids, how the instructions were to follow, etc. How thoughtful of O&S to do this?! This is the kind of quality control that just makes me love them even more! I was PSYCHED to test this pattern. I hope my feedback was helpful.
Honestly, the pattern was easy to follow and I love how it turned out. What great details -- There are little pockets at the ruffled hem for Delilah to store her treasures in!

Delilah wants you to know this would be a good outfit for a supermodel to sport down a runway. Scuse her while she struts it out.



(If you want Delilah to model for you, she says she doesn't get out of her crib for less than $10k)

The fabric is Go By Bike by Erin Morris for Free Spirit in violet. My sweet husband bought me two yards from Whipstitch Fabrics for Hannukah! I love it when he picks fabric for me to make D clothes with - it involves him to make it a family project. He's made some odd choices before, AHEM, so I directed him to Whipstitch knowing he would get some good help there. I was SO pleased!

Now check my daughter with her crazy hair and expression to match. She is a character.



For the pattern test, I also made a smaller sized sundress using City Weekend fabric, Oliver and S' own fabric line which they so kindly sent me with the pattern.



This dress went to a sweet little girl in our neighborhood. But I can't show you her picture because she's not my kid, and I don't think it's cool to post other people's kids on the internet. Just trust me, she's cute. The dress looks better on her than on this hanger on my door!

If you are going to sew for children, you simply MUST try Oliver and S patterns. MUST! Later skater,

Janimal

Sailboat Top

I am continuing my love affair with Oliver and S patterns. I think I may just sew all of them!

My latest is the sailboat shirt. For Delilah (of course). It's a sweet simple top, with a topstitching detail at the yoke and hem, with buttons on the shoulders.





Delilah is sporting her comfy pink sweatpants. This top will definitely go better with some different pants or a skirt. But when I make something for her, I just want her to wear it, right away, NOW! So I pulled this over her head right away. Well, and I want to make a couple more of these for her for the Spring/Summer, and I had to make sure it fit before going off to cut up more fabric.

Ok - I have WAAAAAY too many pictures of her making this funny face.




This kid just loves to pull the funny face. I suppose we should stop laughing when she does it.




These action shot pics let me know she can move and play in the top -- success!



A girl's got to move and groove!

So I can now make some of these tops confident that Delilah can both look cute, AND be comfortable playing. Woohoo!

Although Delilah seems to like her new shirt, she didn't feel like her ensemble was complete. So she went indoors to accessorize.





The girl likes her jewelry! The fabric I used for this top is Frippery by Andover Fabrics.

And...in other Oliver & S news, Liesl, the talented designer behind Oliver and S, has designed some GROWNUP patterns! Sold under the brand "Lisette" for Simplicity. The O&S patterns have such tremendous instructions, and are SUCH a pleasure to sew with. That I could have patterns for myself with the same quality of design and instruction is just thrilling!

If you have any interest in women's clothing patterns with terrific instructions, these are for you. And I say that without even seeing them yet -- that's how confident I am after working with Oliver and S patterns.

Later this week I will post my tutorial for my quadruple stitched baby taggy blanket. So please stop back by!

Happy Stitching!

Janimal

Uncooperative Model

So I tried to take a few shots of Delilah wearing an Ice Cream Blouse I made her. She was not a cooperative model.

But still is really cute!

I tried to think of a funny caption for this one...but really had a hard time. That's a safety gate - we have the living room childproofed and gated off. So the best caption I got was.

"Let me in!"

Can you think of a better one?



I don't even know what she's eating in this next photo. Hope it was something healthy.



In this next one, you can see her cute pigtails. I am SO GLAD this kid is now liking wearing pigtails because without them her hair is such a little mullet.



This shirt actually was cut to be a dress, and i just didn't add the bottom panel and made it a shirt. So it's a bit long, tunic length. But hey, that means she can wear it a little while, right? I swear this kid is growing SO fast.

But she'll always be my sweet baby.

Awwwwww.

Happy happy!

Janimal

P.S.
Pattern is the Ice Cream Dress by Oliver and S. Fabric by M'Liss from Hancocks.