Momma's Got A New Bag!

Momma's got a new bag!

Here is my lovely new Birdie Sling (pattern by Amy Butler).





Recognize the fabric? That's the Ruby Star Rising fabric I used to make Delilah a dress back in THIS post. Ruby Star Rising was designed by a lovely local Atlanta artist, Melody Miller, and was released by Kokka. Isn't it just the coolest?





As for the pattern, it sewed up pretty easily. The body of the bag is lined with fusible fleece which gives it some body, and there are nice roomy pockets inside. This bag is HUGE! I took it out with Delilah and couldn't believe how much stuff I managed to fit in there.

I will definitely be making more Birdie Slings. The pattern was easy to follow and I think would be suitable for a beginner.

Sorry I haven't blogging lately. Just busy with life. I appreciate everyone who stops by when I do write a post.

Thanks for stopping by!


Janimal

Viewfinder Dress & Icycle Eating!

Hello again!

Here to show you Delilah's newest dress. I have been sewing quite a bit lately. So much, that I am kind of itching to try a craft project that DOESN'T require sewing. I'm putting on my thinking cap for what to do, friends.

Since Ruby Star Rising (By Melody Miller) fabric arrived at my house I've been trying to think of what to make from it. I am pretty happy with the dress I made Delilah (seen here and here) and decided one more dress for her should be in the works. So here it is, the viewfinder dress!

(Perhaps one of these days I'll find a better place to take pictures other than hanging on the side of my house!)

If you could see this dress up close in person, you could read the funny things written on each viewfinder lens. Too cute.

I'm sorry there is no live model to wear this dress right now. It's too cold! Just two weeks ago little Delilah was bundled up like this:

....she's eating an icycle! It's not quite icycle weather right now. But it's too cold to wear a summery Popover Dress. (I think the expression on her face = hilarious)

Ahh, the Popover Dress by Oliver and S. You can download the FREE pattern and instructions HERE and see my tutorial pictures HERE. It's such a lovely simple dress pattern, that is suitable for beginners.

To coordinate with the viewfinder fabric, I had trouble figuring out what to use. I thought about some patterns, some pink cotton, but nothing looked quite right. I ended up using a natural colored cotton/rayon blend from fabric.com.

To get my hands on Ruby Star Rising, I made purchases of it from Whipstitch Fabrics, FabricWorm, and Purl Soho. It was sold by other stores too - I believe there is a list on Melody's site. I think most stores have placed reorders so soon you could have some of this fab fabric too. (And I think I need one more print and color. Greedy greedy!)

In the near future I hope to show you some progress on my camo dress, and am working on a new creative tutorial to share. So please stop back by sometime!

Thanks for visiting!

Janimal

Ruby Star Rising Dress and Stinkeye!

Recently I showed you a simple dress I made using the fabulous ruby star rising fabric from Melody Miller. Delilah had to model it for you.

She makes the funniest little faces when I ask her to model for me.
I had grand plans to make a matching hair accessory and bag, but couldn't wait for those for Delilah to wear this dress. Though it was a struggle convincing her to take off her ballet tutu to put this on. She's REALLY into wearing a tutu these days!

It's a little big on her at the moment. But that's ok, because she's growing like a weed so maybe she'll get to wear this more than once!

Isn't she cute? Perhaps never mind on making the matching hair accessory. Delilah INSISTED on wearing this non-matching purple hairbow no matter what.

She was having all kinds of fun running around.

Now here's the pic that makes me feel badly. She woke up at 4am that morning, and wouldn't go back to sleep. I should have known something was wrong. Look how tired the poor dear looks here. Happy, but those are some sleepy eyes.

Despite the early wake-up, I dragged her little booty to music class that morning. And she got sick about a minute after this pic was taken. So I assume her early morning wakeup was due to an upset tummy, poor dear. (All's well though, she was fine after that morning episode and got a long nap.)

A little vent.......

I caught the stinkeye with accompanying whispers from a couple moms at music class while I was taking care of the cleanup. Despite being engrossed in taking care of D and the mess, I STILL noticed their attitude and caught some of what they were saying. What's up with that?! I didn't intentionally bring a sick child to class and I hightailed it out of there immediately.

Class hadn't started yet so D hadn't handled any instruments. She had no fever, and until the moment she blew chunks, appeared happy and was running around playing. Perhaps I should have known something was up, but I really had no idea I would be facing vomit in a public place later. Um, compassion fellow moms?

A little background......Actually I've met some nice moms at this music class, but also have gotten some negative reaction from some moms when I disclose I am a working mom. In our suburb, being a stay at home mom appears to be the norm. That's cool, yo. But it means I get sympathizing judgment and comments about working - "Oh, you work? Well that's ok. If you have to." - real quote accompanied by arm pat. I respect those who SAH, it's too bad so many people can't be respectful of people who make different choices. It doesn't bug me so much, I choose not to judge their lifestyle choices and I don't care how they judge mine.

But this attitude about my sick kid did irritate me.

Anyway, how about I sit right next to one of the stinkeye ladies at the next music class? And maybe say something like "Hmmm, it smells funny in here, like vomit or something!!" And talk about my career. Hehe.

Or perhaps I will take the high road and focus on the moms that are actually COOL in the class. Decisions, decisions.

Ordinarily if I caught someone being nasty (and their comments sounded nasty) I would call someone on it. But at the time, my child was my focus not those catty women. I should (and probably will) just let this go. They don't matter.

But every once in a while, cattiness just really gets to me. Since I was a girl in school I have always had a special dislike for catty people (not just women!). I have always been the type to be as direct as possible, and to not put up with or be friendly with mean chicks. In school I was the type to stick up for those being picked on. Gosh, I think I still am that type. I suppose there were enough mean girls in school that we are bound to encounter mean moms too. They suck.

So anyway, do I even have a point? I lost it somewhere. Oh yeah, mean girls suck. And its extra super lame to be mean to someone when they can't have a go at you back (like when your kid is puking on you.)

Ah, anyway, not my usual kind of post talking about all this. Thanks for stopping by and be nice to someone today!

Janimal

Ruby Star Rising Dress For Delilah

I have LOTS of projects in the works -- all put on hold because of the arrival of this:

Yeah Baby! That's Ruby Star Rising! A fabulous fabric line by Kokka designed by Atlanta artist Melody Miller. Local shop Whipstitch fabrics sold out within 48 hours! I bought some from them and also managed to make online orders at Purl Soho and FabricWorm. (By the way, FAST shipping from FabricWorm. Nice!)

I just HAD to make something right away! But it's so hard finding the right project for fabric that is SO awesome.

Of course, Delilah had to have a Ruby Star Rising garment of some kind.

So, here it is, the Ruby Star Rising Dress.

This print in the line is called "Ephemera", and includes bits and pieces that appear in the other fabrics in the line. Check out those awesome viewfinder reels and pretty teacups!

The back of dress is pretty cool too....

It took me a loooooong time to choose the buttons! I settled on these peach ones to try and maintain the retro feel of the dress. The lining is linen from Fabric.com.

I'm pretty proud of myself for matching up the side seams like this.

To get the other side seam matched would have required cutting into another yard/panel. This is pricey stuff, so I made do and I think it looks just fine.

Delilah really wants to model this for you, but right now, here is a more appropriate outfit for her:

SO much snow in Atlanta! She's bundled up like Randy from A Christmas Story. Not a good day to wear a linen/cotton dress. Hopefully she can wear this to a party next weekend (with some nice comfy layers underneath) so I can show it off on my cutiepie. That gives me a few days to come up with the right accessories!

She managed to sneak a snowball into the house! She

sweetly offered me a bite. Snow has no calories, you know.

The dress pattern is Madison by Bonnie Blue. This very simple pattern is becoming kind of a "go to" for me to show off my favorite fabrics. It's just a simple A line jumper, which showcases pretty fabrics without overwhelming my little model.

I have other garments to show you though! I actually do manage to sew other garments with design details! Please visit here again! Besides some shots of my little model in this dress, I hope to show you a couple other Oliver and S items, and post progress of my camo dress.

Please stop by again soon!

Janimal