Baby Sundresses!

I am really loving this new Oliver + S Tea Party Sundress Pattern! I do have to admit, I've made 3 in total and I started out with the real pattern and then slowly made each subsequent dress less and less complex, but still, it's so fun! The colors don't show very well in the pictures...the pink is more pink and the lavender is more lavender but you get the idea. I still have to hem dres number 3 but I actually extended the lining of that one and made it reversible with buttons on both sides. Yay! Of the two that are finished, the pink went to my new niece Faith and the lavender went to the aforementioned "Baby Hicks," who we now know as Katelin. :-D I had the pleasure of meeting them both in the span of one week and what beautiful babies they both are! Well it sure has been fun sewing for all these babies! I hope to do more soon! Here are some more pictures. Supposedly you can click the pic for a larger view but I was having some trouble with the links when I posted it. Clearly they are not perfect but if they were they wouldn't have been made by me! :-D They were made with love nonetheless!

Finally! I Can Sew With Knits!

I have been desparately wanting to sew something- ANYTHING- successfully with a knit fabric. I have tried and given up on 3 prior attempts. I feel like I just won an oscar though because I need to thank the academy of amazing and helpful sewers who by way of blogs and other online postings helped me finally complete this one!

Inspiration: I have started reading several sewing blogs and Christina from Assorted Notions, whose blog and sewing both are SO much fun, posted this entry: http://assortednotions.blogspot.com/2008/02/i-couldnt-resist.html where she discussed a similar pattern to the one I used. She linked to Toya's dress made of this same fabric here:

http://trinilove.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/vogue-1027-summ.html and I knew I wanted this fabric and wanted to make this dress. I didn't expect to find the same fabric but on another link I found the mother load of adorable knit fabrics, http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/shop/index.php and couldn't believe my eyes when they had this lust-worthy fabric! I already had the pattern onhand from when I first wanted to try knits. It is Threads Simplicity 3678, view A (http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=3678)

Construction: As I continued on my quest to learn to sew knits, I read all kinds of FAQ's, how-to's and troubleshooting posts. Anne from Gorgeous Fabrics replied to my email questions with some super helpful links (

On www.besewstylish.com I wrote a post, dated Jan. 11, 2008 on sewing with knits.

There's also an article on Threads' website:

http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00013.asp

Look through the videos and see if there is one on knits there too.)

and i liked reading through timmelfabrics.com 's sewing lesson. When I was still ending up with skipped stitches, I found the tip that I needed to be sure to hold the thread tails and I think this reallly fixed things. I also switched to a ball point needle and polyester thread. Either way things went much better and YES!! I have finally learned how to sew knits!! I can't wait for the Sew U book to come out in May but until then I am pretty happy with myself. It's comfortable and covers my knees, which are two things I'm looking for in a dress for our trip to Italy next month. Even with a jacket over it I think it will be cute. Oh, here is a close up of the bodice, a photo which I suppose could also be named, "Hello Girls!"

My First Quilt! For Baby Hicks

Well my friend Patricia is expecting her first child and had her baby shower recently. I have never been that interested in making a quilt until this event. I made it based on the Lap Quilt in Bend the Rules Sewing and had read about a way to cut the quilt back bigger than the quilt top so that you can just fold the back over and use it as the binding. I used pastel green and yellow flannel and in real life the bright yellow doesn't stand out quite as much. They are planning to be surprised about the sex of the baby so they chose the green and yellow color scheme. It was fun! And it turned out pretty well but of course, not perfect. I also made them a receiving blanket and burp cloths. I hope to try out other baby items for other upcoming showers!

Cup Cozies

MLK Day found me off work and at home, crafting. I thought I'd make my co-workers cup cozies since we all drink coffee and tea in the office. We have paper cups but we don't have the cardboard holders so I thought these would come in handy. They're reversible and washable. And I got 17 done in one day! Click the pictures for a larger image. I followed this tutorial (http://www.flickr.com/photos/14892851@N05/sets/72157602905225307/) to get the basic idea but I actually used a seam gage to trace a pattern around a Starbuck's cardboard holder and made one end smaller (just like the actual cardboard one is) so I could tuck it in instead of sew it end over end. The fabrics are Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, etc, quilt weight cotton. I don't know which one I'd keep for myself- I love them all!

Conquering Couching...Almost

So I have been thinking of trying couching a ribbon onto some fabric for use in my coasters. I tried it tonight to decent, if mixed results. In general these did not come out perfect. I also used a fleece liner inside so the part I left open to turn it inside out sticks out a little on each one. Oh well, such is life, it was still fun to couch the ribbon on. I am sure next time will be even better but in the mean time, I really like these!

Reversible Coasters

This project is from a book called Bend the Rules Sewing. They add a ribbon in theirs but I just wanted to try my hand at some of these so I went without. I am hoping to have some friends over for a sewing day to make holiday gifts and other fun things so I wanted to try out some of the projects and this is one of them. Yay Coasters!

Yay Bolero Jackets!

In a stubborn yet heartfelt move I decided to sew bolero jackets for my bridesmaids to match their dresses. Having never set a sleeve before, it was an adventure but with a great pattern from Fitz Patterns and some advice from my Mother-in-Law-to-be, they turned out better than expected. I say better than expected because I tried to fit each girl individually for it, adjusting the pattern myself rather than using a multisize pattern. So happy I finished them on time AND they fit! What a relief! Here is a picture taken by my Husband's (!) sister Kathy.

UPDATE: To "Big Mama" who wrote "Those bolero's are fabulous! Do you happen to know of a good websitefor bolero patterns? I'm trying to make one myself for a wedding I'm innext month." I didn't receive your email address with your post so I couldn't reply to you. I got my pattern from fitz patterns. Here is the link: http://fitzpatterns.myshopify.com/products/0505-alice-bolero-sewing-pattern. Good luck!