30 days of sundresses!

third time’s a charm, right? well in that case i’m honored to be participating for the third year in melly’s 30 Days of Sundresses Series!

last year and the year before i did quick and easy sundresses for me—which is a rarity! i don’t often sew for myself, but i use melly’s series as a push to do some selfish sewing at least once a year ;) and this year is the same…but different.

a few months ago i had the chance to be on project run and play, and i came away from that experience determined to increase my skill set. rather than go for a quick and easy dress this year i decided to put on my big girl panties and make myself a Real Dress. with a zipper and everything.
i know! crazy!

and then, not only did i make one dress, but i made myself TWO! double crazy!



believe it or not, both of these dresses are made from the same basic pattern—a princess seamed pattern that i drafted for a gown i sewed for our anniversary back in october. i think princess seams are universally flattering—and if you’re a busty gal the best BEST BEST thing you can do for yourself is invest the time into perfecting a princess seamed bodice to fit you like a glove.

when i made the pattern back in october, i used THIS set of instructions as a starting point. you plug in your measurements, and follow the instructions carefully, and at the end you’ll have a basic princess seam bodice. i had to tweak it quite a bit, but it was a start. the entire gown was a leap of faith—which i discuss more in my blog post about it. dressing a not-standard-sized-or-shaped body can be the ultimate in frustration. but i made myself a gown that a) i absolutely loved and b) fit me perfectly and c) gave me the confidence to admit that i CAN sew for myself. if i can make a strapless fully lined and boned evening gown, i can certainly do a sundress, right? a Real Sundress? with a zipper and everything? yup.



for the first dress—which actually started as a potentially wearable muslin—i had to take in my pattern a touch here and there. then i extended the a-line down through the skirt, just going as wide as my fabric allowed. this fabric is upholstery fabric—a remnant snagged from my husband’s upholstery shop. i throw pieces i like for clothing through the washer and dryer as a litmus test as to whether or not they’ll work.



the dress got brown piping, simple straps and two patch pockets and boom—one dress done.
i almost called it day with this one—but i was all hopped up on sweet success and marched on to my original plans.



for dress two i focused on turning my previously strapless bodice into one with straps. then i gave it a straight skirt, and did some easy colorblocking—the bulk of the dress is in a navy bottomweight with a touch of spandex, then i cut the front center piece from a lighter turquoise. i think it gives the dress a flattering illusion type look (without being quite so sexy) and i couldn’t love it more.



the back has a semi-exposed zipper in a bright yellow. because, why not?



i feel so comfortable and confident in both of these dresses i almost didn’t totally hate the photoshoot. almost. ok, i still hate having to pose and i feel like i turn into the World’s Most Awkward Woman when the camera turns on me, but rest assured i love my dresses. 

so this year, i don’t have a tutorial or pattern for you. but what i do have is some encouragement: get yourself a well fitting pattern. it’s not that difficult. it may be easier for you—as it was for me—to draft from scratch. but once you have that basic bodice the sky is the limit. these dresses don’t look alike at all, but they started from the same pattern and took me about 2-2.5 hrs each to sew.

stretchy knits have their place, but sometimes a gal just needs a well fitting dress. and it’s not impossible. at the very least it’s worth a couple hours and a couple yards of fabric to experiment!

melly, thanks again for having me! your series gave me the push to create two new garments for myself that may well be my two favorites in my closet! xoxo

the one with no models: toddler underpants free pattern and tutorial

sharing a post i did back in january for house of estrela's Refashion Month! enjoy!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 it’s been my m.o. since i started sewing: just the fun stuff. fancy dresses and princess costumes and bowties. occasionally a bag or a stuffed animal.

i’d gloss over those tutorials and patterns for things like basic t-shirts and stretchy pants and jeans and gasp! underwear! who? why? why spend my time on making something i can buy at walmart when i can spend it making fluffy fluffy skirts???

and then i had a moment of clarity, as i prepared to drop yet another $7 pack of  3 pairs of “princess undies” in my cart. i was annoyed—the two little girls basically share clothes, gigi being a peanut and elliot being our typical thick toddler googie—and with potty training in full swing we were going through panties faster than…than i don’t know what. but just way too fast. and $7 every few weeks starts to add up.

meanwhile, back at the ranch…i had an ever increasing backlog of “upcyclable” items—shirts and dresses piling up in drawers and baskets that i figured i’d be able to reuse for a sewing project eventually.

::record scrattttcccchh:: duh.

i pulled that pack o’ panties outta my cart quick as a wink and set off home to make my own.
shockingly, i learned it wasn’t hard at all. (i can hear you experienced sewists rolling your eyes). once i drafted myself a basic pattern and tweaked it a bit, i had four pairs cut and sewn assembly line style in about an hour.

for freeeeeeeee.
which is my favorite number.

also shockingly—those homemade panties are dang cute. and watching their little bums run around in my handmade underpants was rather satisfying, even if it doesn’t get quite the same amount of attention from others that a handmade dress would. (hopefully. truth be told, i have rather exhibitionist daughters. :/  )
i also learned that sewing is sometimes useful for more than just sparkly dresses. it can actually save my family money, instead of being an expensive hobby. lol. i kid. really i’ve always tried to spend very little on my sewing, so it is a cost saving measure for our family. but this opened my eyes to the fact that taking the time to make some of the, ahem, “boring” stuff can really make a dent in our bottom line.

and i’m finally putting some of those knit t’s i’ve been hoarding to good use! upcycling/recycling either your own castoffs or thrifted/gifted items just makes good sense!
so, who’s ready to make their own panties? well too bad, you’re on your own for that. but if you’d like to make a pair that will fit a child between 2-5 depending on their size than i’ve got a free tutorial + pattern for you!

your only supplies are:

+ a pile of knits. somewhere in there try to have a thicker white cotton. i had a rib knit white tank, and this
was perfect as a liner for the crotch. (i just said crotch. on the internet)

+ elastic. i used both F.O.E. (fold over elastic) and regular 1/2” elastic that i have on a big spool. the F.O.E. does look nice and professional, but i found the regular stuff much easier to work with.

+ scissors, thread, machine, pins. what you don’t need is a serger. it’s nice if you have one, but you can do these perfectly well without one.

+ this pattern + this tutorial, over on my blog!

boom. crazy cute panties in multiples.

with cute little bums.

there you have it! go forth and sew more than just the pretties, and save dollah dollah bills ya’ll, and cover nekkid bottoms! (the world will thank you)



how dare i try and take pictures without letting them be a part? :)

can anyone lend me a baby?

in a few weeks, my oldest will turn 14. and my youngest will turn 3.
three.
i’ve come to terms with the 14…she’s growing, she’s a teenager. i have accepted that i am the mother of a teenager, and in a short while i will be the mother of many teenagers.

what i’m having a bit more trouble coming to terms with is that i’m no longer the mother of babies.

elliot, january 2012

this is no secret, i’ve talked about my troubles leaving this phase of life before. but now…it’s here. for someone who’s gone through the last 14+ years feeling like there would be no end to the “baby phase”, this is rather…off-putting.

gigi, june 2010

it’s a mental and emotional change—rewiring our parenting minds from things like sleep and potty training to, well…big kid stuff.
it’s a physical change—less stuff to lug, less people to carry, less physical effort in general involved.
and i’m finding that it’s also a literal change to our home.  i’m giving away/throwing away/donating actual physical THINGS that say “there’s a baby in this house!”

elliot

hooded ducky towels that don’t even cover the wet bottoms anymore, let alone wrap an entire body.

random tiny socks, smaller than my hand, lost and stuck in hidden corners

the last nursing bra shoved in the back of my drawer

one last partially used package of diapers

sippy cups (with their stupid stupid perpetually lost valves)

touch and feel books…i love those fuzzy lion manes and sticky frog feet more than my babies i think

and every time i load the dishwasher and make the choice to throw away that one random baby spoon somebody found in the back of the drawer and used for cereal because all the other spoons were dirty…it hurts.

elliot, summer 2012

it’s not the thing that hurts—the actual item going into the trash.if anything there’s almost a sense of relief associated with that—getting rid of clutter is one of my favorite pasttimes. no…it’s the loss of the “there’s a baby in this house!”, and then all the other things that that means i’m losing…

soft and slightly sour milk breath

gummy smiles

open mouth slobber kisses

chest to chest naps

milk drunk babies nursing the air

those first drunken wobbly steps

dimples on chubby knuckles, and wrists, and feet and…everywhere.

that squishy crinkly sound it makes when they walk with a diaper on

our house has no more pairs of those Sweet Pea bag-style jammies…i always loved them for easy nighttime diaper changes. and painfully, our house has no more baby talk. elliot has been an amazing talker from the get-go, but in the past few weeks she’s just taken off. words are pronouced correctly—not in that garbled way that’s music to a momma’s ears.

elliot, october 2012

words have become sentences and they in turn have become entire paragraphs and stories. she just said to me “these are my favorite shoes. i love them. i can put them on. but i need you to buckle them.”

those first giant steps

i know i could bookend this post with thoughts on all the fun yet to come. the new things we can do since we don’t have babies dragging us down anymore (ha!). but that’s not where i am this rainy morning. right now i just finished folding a load of towels, and obstinately put those last faded, torn hooded towels back in the clean basket. i’ll go kicking and screaming.

the best i can right now is maybe think of some things i won’t miss.

baby proofing (who am i kidding…i barely did any…)

passing clothes on, instead of packing them away for little siblings (ugh, that takes FOR-EH-VER)

giant pieces of baby “equipment” in every corner of the house (jumper, exersaucer, swing, car seat, crib…it goes on and on…)

annnd that’s about it.

i suppose i could say things like “oh i can sleep through the night”, but that was never a huge deal to me. right now i’m wearing those rose-colored glasses which are the root cause of things like “second babies”. 

in a way i hope i never lose this longing for babies. i’m thinking maybe i’ll be the awesomest grandmother ever? i think so. i just have to bide my time in this space of babyless-ness. where i do things like sleep. and cruise. yeah, i think i’ll be okay.