My daughter's dress is nearly done!

Wow, that was an easy pattern! No gathering at all, except for the sleeves! No zipper, no buttons, nada! All I have left to do is hem it. Oh yes, and iron out the fold creases.

I ended up trimming it with some iridescent ric-rac I bought ages ago. I wanted to go to Walmart to find something (I actually wanted some of that white daisy/pink centers trim)... but I didn't really want to drag my rambunctious 3-year-old down there.

Finished my daughter's jacket

I haven't worked on it in several days... I've been spending my little bit of free time working on my NaNoWriMo novel (whoops!) I finished the jacket this morning. It looks cute, and now I need to find a button for the front. I'll probably have to swing by Walmart for that.

I was at Walmart the other day trying to find some fabric that will coordinate with the dusty rose pink shade of the jacket... but I could find NOTHING! Everything clashed, it was awful!

So I dug through my fabric stash and found some pink fabric that has little cutesy hearts all over it (Valentine-type stuff). I got it at Walmart several years ago. I bought a coordinating print at the same time that is a sort of checkered white/pink print with a different style of heart on each square. I decided not to use the skirt pattern that goes with the jacket because I cannot find any nice tees for my daughter to wear with it, so I decided to go ahead and make her a dress from Simplicity 5234, using the coordinating Valentine prints. Hopefully it'll look good!

Now, to get started on that. There's a Spongebob Squarepants marathon on TV until 4:00 so I'm going to be VERY bad and let my 3-year-old be distracted by that (she is a major Spongebob fan).

First project for November: nice outfit for my daughter

On Friday night I decided I was going to make a dress for my daughter, made with pink plaid flannel and using McCall's 5745. I made it according to her measurements, and tried to add 5" on the skirt to make it go below the knee... and it looks huge on her! I was hoping she could wear it to my sister's reception, but it looks more like a nightgown than a dress. Way too casual.

I think it will be better for me to make her an outfit from Butterick 4972. For the jacket I am using some rose-pink sueded cotton twill I got on sale a few months ago... this fabric is so buttery soft!! There's 5 yards of it, she only needs 1 1/2 yards for the jacket. I'll save the rest for myself, haha!! I won't be doing the little lace applique on the back, as I can't find any the same color as the fabric, and I think there'd be a bit of a draft! My daughter isn't crazy about the bubble-skirt look, so I'll see if I can just leave the hem down and have it be a simple gored/pleated skirt. I don't know what fabric I'll use... I'll have to dig through my stash and see if I can find a pink print that coordinates.

(Editing Monday morning to ask myself: What was I thinking? I forgot how tricky those shawl-collar jackets can be!! If I can just get through this little bit of it, then the rest should be easy, ha ha...)

The skirt is done!

I finished the skirt last night. I survived! And I never want to see another bolt of tulle ever again! LOL!

Now, on to the bodice. It'll be a simple princess-seamed bodice made of white dupioni silk, and I found some pearl piping to decorate it with. It matches the color of the silk very well, and has a simple sort of elegance to it. (I love simple, elegant stuff). I think it's going to look really good! I just need to find the piping foot for my sewing machine!

Lacing tape

After about an hour of searching online, I finally found this stuff! I knew there had to be something like this available, something you could add to the back of a wedding gown so you could do lacing. (I've made loops by hand before, but it takes forever and it's a bit tedious to make sure they're all the proper size... I was wondering how I could make the process faster).

But, I finally came across some lacing tape that has 'loops' on it (instead of the metal eyelet stuff that Farthingales L.A. has). I went ahead and ordered 3 yards of it... I am really hoping that it is what I am looking for! The picture doesn't look promising, but that is showing the whole tape... it's supposed to be inserted so that only the loops show (and they're small).

2009 Halloween Costumes

Tonight was our church's Halloween party. I managed to finish everything in the nick of time!

I wore a farby Scottish Highland-type costume, made from 100% plaid wool suiting and green wool gabardine, using Simplicity 8855. (Yes, there is supposed to be a gap between the front edges of the vest! Just look at the pattern photo!)

I also made my 15-month-old son a "leprechaun" costume using shamrock fabric and Simplicity 3650.







My 8-year-old was a sort of "Renaissance maiden", using Simplicity 9836. I made the headpiece by using a bridal wire frame, and wrapped the flowers, stems and all, around it and held it in place with ribbon!



And my 3-year-old was dressed as a chicken, using instructions from the Martha Stewart website. It was more complicated than I thought it would be... we also didn't get the feather boas secured on well enough, and after half an hour of running around, they started to fall off! And someone gave her a bowl of chili, which she spilled down her front. *Sigh* The costume is pretty much ruined, unless we can put it back together and let her go trick-or-treating next week as a half-butchered chicken. Eew.

I'm almost done!

I've been working like crazy, and I almost have my costumes finished. I want to take a break for the rest of the evening... we'll see.

On my costume, I just need to put the buttonholes & buttons on my blouse, and hem it. (I finished the skirt this afternoon... and let me tell you now, gathering all that medium-weight wool makes for a bulky waistband! I should've hand-gathered it, or pleated it, if I had time... but I don't. So, bulky it is. I wish I had a small hoopskirt to wear under it, or wish I knew where my corded petticoat was!) Oh, and I need to sew the front of the vest to the back at the side seams and shoulders.

On my 8-year-old's costume, I need to hand-tack the shoulder straps of the vest into place, and add lacing on the front. And add ribbon bows to the front of the shoulder straps.... ugh, and make the headband. (I am dreading that part!)

I need to hem the pants on my 15-month-old's costume, and add elastic to the waistband. When I hemmed the shirt earlier today I added some decorative machine stitching to the bottom, in the shape of shamrocks, but it looks rather pathetic. Oh well.

And I need to dye the tights for my 3-year-old's costume! And I need to stuff the shirt with fiber-fill, but I don't know where my big box of it is (or even if I still have it??? Maybe I threw it out when I moved!)