Sundresses for Haiti

Do you sew? 

Do you want to?

You may have thought that sundress season was nearly over, but not quite.

 

Kathy from Art Projects for Kids is hosting a Sundress drive for a group of orphans in Haiti.  The sundress pattern I’ve used before is one of the first things I made for Sophia and even though the first one didn’t come out perfectly, it was pretty simply, is wearable despite a few small mistakes and would make any child in need happy to have. 

 

You can find the link for the sundress drive here and the link for the FREE pattern here.  If you have any sewing ability I’d encourage you to try this pattern for a good cause.  The girls are around size 5, 6 or 7.  Keep in mind this doesn’t have to cost you a lot.  There are plenty of clearance fabrics at JoAnn stores around the area and I’m sure it won’t matter to these girls what the fabric looks like.

If you don’t sew, the girls also asked for sunglasses and underwear.  Kinda funny, huh?  Plenty of kids here complain when underwear ends up in their Christmas stockings and these girls would be thrilled to have a few extra. 

Anyway, all you have to do is e-mail Kathy once you have something to send and she’ll e-mail you a mailing address.  You can find her e-mail address on the left side of her blog.

If you decide to make one, please e-mail me a picture!!  I’d love to see how far this project can reach!

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Pregnancy can be a real pain…

I can tell I’m “done” being pregnant.  Obviously, baby is not done, but my head and body have had it.  I spent Sophia’s entire 4 hour nap yesterday (yes, I am VERY blessed!) working in the basement, reorganizing, moving things around (including a headboard and heavy sewing machine), putting a table together.  You know, all things probably against medical advice during pregnancy, but whatever.  Things need to get done. 

Then, I spent the rest of the night dealing with major hip pain and limping around the house.  SO annoying. 

Last night was not great for sleeping.  I am having no problems getting comfortable, other than the hip thing still bugging me, but when I wake up it seems my tiny daughter is having parties in the middle of the night at my expense.  She won’t hold still and I can’t sleep.  So, at 6 when Dan left for work and I was in tears (how could he leave me for work of all things?!) I decided to get over it (what can I do about it anyway?) and go sew something.  And my blessed, little angel Sophia is STILL sleeping – it’s 9 on the dot.  That means, I was able to finish a whole shirt and make a cup of coffee AND type this post.

So, corduroy was on sale a couple weeks ago and I stocked up – I didn’t realize you could buy patterned corduroy and I LOVE this shirt.  I kind of made it up using bits and pieces from other patterns and adding the details I wanted for myself. 


I LOVE the butterfly buttons, even if they are kind of a pain to get through the button holes.
I also changed the bottom of the shirt a bit so I didn’t have to have SO many buttons.  I feel like everything I make has at least five buttons and I decided that three was my limit today.


And, I thought I’d try my hand at elasticized sleeves.  This one looks great – the other one…well, it seems I will be, once again, using the seam ripper. :)



All in all, I really like it, but I would much rather be sleeping in like Sophia is right now.  I could have made this a different time and my eyes are burning behind my glasses.  And I just realized that my coffee is decaf, so I guess that won’t do me much good. 

Another thing that has been a pain this pregnancy is that I was diagnosed with Gestational Thrombocytopenia, which isn’t a HUGE issue, but has been a bit high-maintenance.  It basically means that my blood platelet count isn't where it should be, and now it’s dropped to a point where I won’t be able to have an epidural.  That either means a drug-free VBAC or that I’ll be put under for a C-section and won’t get to meet baby right away, a thought I find pretty devastating.  The danger with the condition is, were it to be undiagnosed,  I could bleed out during delivery but as long as they keep a close eye on the situation, everything will be just fine.  I actually just got a call this morning that my care will likely be transferred from the midwives to the OB’s so they can monitor it better.  As of now, I just have a lot of weekly blood draws and extra appointments. 

Dan reminded me that I probably shouldn’t complain since I haven’t been sick, pretty much at all, I’ve not had to deal with a special diet, like someone with Gestational Diabetes, and don’t have any other major complications, plus as far as everything looks we have a perfectly healthy baby.  He’s right, but hormones don’t always see logic.

Please keep baby and I in your prayers.  She’s fine and will be.  I’m just emotional and annoyed, but could use prayer for a better attitude. :)

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One pattern, three ways

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel like I only have  a few weeks left at the sewing machine – my belly and my back say so.  Which, is sad, because now that I’ve found something that keeps my interest and is both fun and practical, I’ll be all distracted by a newborn.

Wow…that made it sound like having a newborn is sad, and it’s NOT – it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m very excited.  I just wish I had discovered this interest a long time ago. 

Anyway – I got this pattern a while ago and started working on cutting out the right size layouts, etc. for Sophia’s size.  At first, I was pretty annoyed at how long using a real pattern took, but I quickly realized that the best part of a “real” pattern (purchased and edited by a professional) is that the product turns out pretty perfect if you follow the directions.  It also gives you a starting point that lets you apply your own creativity and make the shirt/dress, etc. into what you want.  And that’s what I did!

First, I made the pattern as intended – long sleeve, with buttons and button-holes at the neck and I like it.  However, the idea of buying the patterns was to make good use of them and use them a LOT, and I wasn’t big on the idea of Sophia having 18 different Sailboat shirts.  This one seemed really fancy, somehow…I think it’s the buttons.  Maybe it will be a holiday shirt.





After the first one, I decided to make a cozy t-shirt, but I didn’t want long sleeves, so I went out on a limb and chopped off half of each sleeve, then lined the bottom with grey.  I also closed it with snaps instead of buttons, because I’m pretty sure the buttons would make it too fancy to be called a t-shirt.

This one was a little tricky because I wasn’t attaching any sleeves, but Soph has a great brown sweater for fall that will look great over this.  The main fabric was intended for a baby dress, but it didn’t go so well so I ditched it and went with this instead. 

 

Oh, and the best part of these three shirts is that the total cost, including buttons, was $12!  Goal accomplished!

There are a few more shirts I’ve finished, a handful of skirts and dresses cut and ready to go, and a two projects that I’ve made up on my own by combining the two purchased patterns I own, but that’s enough for now, don’t you think?

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What I’m working on…

For fall, Sophia has two pairs of pants, a sweater and a jersey cardigan.  Obviously, not enough to get her through the fall and winter.  So, I decided to do my best to create a super cheap, super cute fall wardrobe for her with clearance/sale fabrics, making the most of each and every yard and getting creative with the patterns I have.

So, I’ve finally putting those patterns to use and have made Sophia FOUR shirts in the past week!  Needless to say, my back is sore.  I normally have pretty good posture, but not when sewing.  I bend over too much, and with a big belly hanging down, it’s not easy on my  back. 

I’ll post a picture of those as soon as they’re completely done (all are done, except for buttons), but for now here’s my newest pile of goods – soon to be a few skirts, a jumper, a shirt and a nightgown. 



All for about $20.  The best part is that after all of that, there will be leftover fabric that I can play around with. :)  Stay tuned!

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We have good weekends

That was something Dan said to me last night on our way home from the pool – my new favorite family activity.  He’s right – most Sunday nights we both have the same thought, that we all had a great weekend together.

This weekend was no exception.  There was a LOT of swimming – I got a free 5-day pass to the YMCA and the one in Shoreview has a fantastic wading pool, fountains and all.  Sophia and I went Friday, and we all went both Saturday and Sunday.  I’ve been wanting to get her more used to swimming and she’s loving it.  It’s fun to watch her confidence grow so much in just a few short days.  The wading pool is a pregnant woman’s dream.  It’s not so deep that your belly floats to the top (infuriating!), but just enough to have some fun with the babe and stay cool.  I. am. in. love.

My girl is MADE to be poolside.  She can’t stop talking about “fwimming” and the pool particularly enjoys sunning herself afterwards.  Love it!


Sunday, we had our second annual trip to JAX Café in Northeast Mpls with Dan’s parents.  It’s a fun way to celebrate the birthdays of Dan’s brother and my father-in-law’s mother, both today.  It’s so, so good, and we do have pictures, but it was really sunny and they didn’t turn out so well. 

We took a trip to the cemetery to “introduce” Sophia to Dan’s dad.  I expected that she’d either be a little confused or completely oblivious, but she totally latched onto the idea that her “Papa” was there, even running back to the correct headstone when we asked her to.  She also did a little bit of tree hugging while we were visiting.


We also ended up at Target Fri., Sat. and Sunday (am I the ONLY one who does this??) and had a thrifty triumph by paying only $0.13 for a giant order from Shutterfly!  LOVE when that happens.

Oh, and then there was all the sewing.  I really can’t believe I fit it all in, considering all of the other activities we packed into the weekend, but it went pretty well. 

Thursday night, I started with this for Sophia – turns out it makes a perfect swim cover for her orange bikini!

This was originally intended as a shirt for Sophia, but it’s going to work much better as a 6-12 mo. dress for the babe next spring.  I LOVE the V in the back, the petal sleeves and the stitching details along the neckline.



I’ve been planning on making this dress for the baby – you know, since she likes purple so much (!).  I really like the vintagy feel of it – I think it’s the width of that makes it looks old-fashioned to me, but my favorite part is the cute purple button I found to close the back.


And then there are the dresses for my little friend, Evie.  She’s been begging me to make something for her for MONTHS and I was finally able to come through for her.  We settled ona dress – I showed her the blue fabric and she wanted to match it with pink.  I originally thought green, but she informed me that “Olive green is my LAST favorite color,” so pink it was.  And since there was extra and I had a matching pattern, I went ahead and did a coordinating one for her American Girl (also named Evie).

The dresses for Ev and Sophia were the same pattern and I’m thinking I could do them in my sleep by now.  Unfortunately for these girls, my favorite one is the one for the doll, but oh well!

The sewing machine and I are taking a bit of a break.  I have plans, but they can wait.  After all, tonight the Bachelorette is on (can’t miss that!) and tonight and tomorrow night we have to take advantage of that pool before our time is up.  There is fun to be had…sewing can wait!

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Sew-a-thon weekend

 

 

 

My Little Miss has been waking me up quite early the past few days.  Yesterday it was 4:30 and I never got back to sleep.  So this morning when she told me to “wake up” I told her “NO!” and said she had to go back to sleep.  After all, it was 5:30.  Bad Mommy – she had a nasty diaper and I didn’t figure that out until 6:30 – Whoops!  After some rocking, reading and singing she got to go back to sleep but I did not. 

Oh well, it’s amazing what you can get done when you are up very, very early.

This pile of fabric and I are best friends today.


I have a stack of projects in my mind that I’d like to get done this weekend.  I finally gave in and paid for a pattern – I can’t wait to use it.  Oliver + S, of course, because they are the cutest.  It also helped that the pattern can be used for 6-12 mo. all the way up to 3T, so it was well worth it.  BUT, it’s my first time using a real pattern and not just a printable one off the internet or one that some sewing genius describes in a blog tutorial. 

Since I paid for it, I figured I need to keep it in good shape, but that means a lot of tedious work.  You have to trace the pattern onto parchment paper, then pin it to the fabric, then cut it out and THEN you can start sewing.  So this is what I’ve been up to so far this morning:



And this is what I have so far.  Either staring at all this fabric and small pattern lines is making me dizzy, or I need more sleep than I’m getting.  Sophia is still sleeping – I’m super jealous, but maybe I can get a bunch of these things all cut and then all I’ll have to do is sew them.  That’s starting to seem like the easy part.



Oh, one more thing.  It’s quite possible that I have found the perfect costume combo for my two girls for Halloween.  Whaddya think?

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Great weekend and Happy 4th

We had such a wonderful weekend spent as a family!

Saturday, I got to have a nice morning coffee date with a good friend, while Dan and Sophia had lunch at his grandparents.

Sunday, Sophia wore her new dress, which I finally finished.  It’s more of a shirt, since it’s a bit short for a dress, but that works for now, it’ll be great under sweaters in the fall and maybe her little sister will get to wear it for a dress in a couple years. 

We were also expecting to go to fireworks on Sunday, so in an effort to push back Sophia’s nap, we went to the Mall of America after church for some rides, french fries, ice cream and some clearance shopping.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking and wore heels to church.  By the end of the trip to the mall, I was walking around with NO shoes on, and had some achy legs later and too tired to stay up late enough for fireworks.

Instead, we spent the evening at the wading pool, which was SO MUCH fun!!  Soph wasn’t a big fan at first, but then Dan just plopped her down in the water and she had a great time.


Happy 4th of July!!

We met some friends to watch the parade in Eagan.  I grew up going to 4th of July parades, and was hoping Sophia would enjoy it.  She did not disappoint!  It was so fun to watch her, and she even carried her flag around most of the time!

 

Next, a family BBQ and while we caught a movie at the cheap theater, Sophia went to a farm with Grandma and Grandpa. 

It was a fun weekend, but we’re tired and EVERYONE is going to bed early tonight!

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