love all.

once upon a time i read a study explaining why a little bit of competition can be good for a marriage. their test? pairs tennis. the couples that played on opposite sides of the net, well…let’s just say they had a better time then the couples who played as partners.

works for me.
a little competition. check. keeping the fire burning. got it.
except…jeremy and i maybe compete a little differently than many couples.
i mean, we used to play tennis. but with five kiddos it’s a little hard to find the time for that these days. so there’s less “DOUBLE FAULT!” and more “let’s see who’s got the bigger fabric pile!”
oooooh.
he sends me videos of his sharp new fabric scissors. bragger.
we trade sewing tips.

what can i say? it works for us.

hello, my name is shannon and i’m married to an upholsterer. so yes, my husband has a bigger fabric stash than i do. i’m so ashamed.

but it has it’s benefits—namely lots and lots of scraps. and the scraps you get from large upholstery projects aren’t tiny bits and pieces—they can be anything from 1/2 to 5 or 6 yards or more. unfortunately a lot of them are not really usable for clothing. but every once in a while i snag a piece that can be.

so it was with this purple fabric. i’ve had it sitting in my sewing room for probably three years or more. and a couple of months ago i got around to using it for ava.

it’s pretty heavy, and this is actually the wrong side of the fabric. but i thought the texture was so interesting i went for it. there are flecks of gold and light blue and dark purple running through. i threw the fabric into the washer and dryer before i did anything with it. i figured i’d make sure it could withstand that before i put the time into sewing something with it. surprisingly it came through with flying colors.

also, excessive use of the word through/threw in one paragraph. flag on the play.

i had just enough to make a long circle skirt, and of course the math is from dana’s circle skirt tutorial. i seriously must refer back to her math instructions like 3x a week.

but circle skirts are just so fun for twirling. what more could a little girl ask for?

i used a 1/2 yard of deep purple knit from jo-ann’s for the top. a simple boat neck and 3/4 length sleeves.

fun tidbit: when i attached the skirt to the top it was so heavy it pulled the knit waistband down much more than i expected. i ended up having to hack a good 3 inches off the waist band and reattaching the skirt! the perils of making clothing from upholstery weight fabrics.

the flower was a last minute addition—just circles cut from remnants of both fabrics, sewn together and glued to a safety pin. 

also—i’m super proud of the stitching on that neck. high five.

this dress turned out pretty and very feminine and super easy to wear—it just slips on over her head. and i love ava in a boat neck. plus it cost me about $4, so…yeah.

sometimes workin’ with what ya got can lead to good things! who knew?! :)

also…this child? almost impossible to take pictures of. she’s got no head in most of these, because…well, this: