Reversible Vest

I don't know where it's coming from, but I have been very productive this Christmas season. I decided Nolan needed a vest to go with Savannah's Christmas skirt. I found a wonderful pattern here, it includes full size pattern for sizes 12 month-10? I can't remember what it goes up to. They were supposed to wear their outfits to church today but Savannah has a fever so she couldn't go.

Ok, so the pattern was very simple and of course I changed it slightly. Here is what I did:

It was not meant to be reversible but was easily done. Skip the welt pockets, instead of folding the hem to the inside stop all bottom seams 1/2" from bottom, when you go to do the hem just fold up the bottom of the lining 1/2" and press, do the same with the outer vest then pin together and topstitch around the whole bottom to enclose the hem. Do your buttons and button holes normally, then put buttons on the other side of the buttons you already have, I would use flat buttons for more comfort while wearing.

Just a few more must do changes, make sure you clip all curves before turning right side out otherwise it won't lay flat, and topstitch around entire vest at 1/8" including arm holes. This helps it lay flat and adds a really nice look.

The sizing was perfect.

Christmas skirt part 2

Christmas Skirt

I finished a few things I was working on for Christmas including my quilt! Then Savannah's school said Friday is red/green day. I couldn't think of anything cuter than a handmade Christmas skirt. My mom gave me the fabric, leftover from a quilt she made. I had not planned on getting to use it any time soon. This skirt was super easy, and took me 2 days. In be-tween skirt

Take into mind I changed a few things, and wish I would have changed a few more (I will explain)

The pattern given is for a size 12, Savannah is a 4T. My measurements were:

20" waist

Main fabric A-Cut 2 @ 21"X 11", cut 1@ 21" X 5"

(so the main skirt is changed to 11" long, and the waistband is 5" total but you fold it in half)

Main Fabric B- Cut 1 @ 11" X 5"

Accent fabric, cut 2 @ 21" X 5 1/2"

(bottom band was changed to 5 1/2")

Interfacing 11" X 2 1/2"

For the elastic casing in the back I sewed a line 3/4" down from the fold, then 3/4" down again from the first line. I would cut both elastic strips at 10" (half of the waist measurement) It was very small at fist then I had to go fishing for the elastic and leave an awkward space in the back.

When you attach the skirt to the band she does not specify if you stretch the back out. Best thing I figured was to gather the length of the back part of the skirt to 11" or half the waist + 1" for seam allowance, then ease in the waistband (you will have pleats)

If you finish your raw edges you don't really need the binding for the inside waistband.

Unfortunately you need the zipper to get it over the hips but I would measure your elastic and make a mark that far down from the top of the skirt. Sew up from the bottom 1/2" seam allowance and stop at your mark, then attach the zipper as you normally would.

I didn't like the look of the long section on the bottom so I folded up 1/2" from the bottom raw edge, then matched that fold line to the seam line made when attaching the bottom of the skirt. Sew this together from the right side of the skirt to make it look better, stitching 1/8" down from the seam. This encloses the raw edges on the bottom also.

Happy Halloween

For some reason the photos that I have been trying to transfer from my phone to my computer are too large. But if I email them to myself as attachments it works. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time to do that and my Internet has been down for a few days now. 

Here are my cuties dressed in their costumes. Savannah's were a Snow Queen (generic not the Hans Christian Andersen) and Crumbs Sugar Cookie Lalaloopsy doll.

Nolan's costumes were "Bapbam" and Lightning Mcqueen. A quick rundown of their Halloween festivities: Trunk or treat (preschool and Church), Nolan's costume b day party, and then trick or treating.

Savannah Loved getting her hair curled for her Lalaloopsy costume.

Adding another thing to our plate, Savannah is finally old enough for Cherubs choir at church. They play handbells and were surprisingly good and adorable, and they sing. We are all currently practicing for the Christmas Live event at church. It is a living walkthrough of the bible from Genesis to the Resurrection and it is awesome. Savannah will be performing with the choir, and Jake and I are Mary and Joseph again.

I know I'm all over the place this morning. Nolan turned 2 on Halloween and he is just as sweet as ever. There is always a reason to use a snow shovel.

 I found this awesome superhero fabric at the Collingswood quilt shop when my mom and I did the NJ quilt shop hop. I just made this skirt for Savannah and it has been such a big hit. I made another to sell and I have enough fabric for one more skirt (Christmas present?)

what is happening

So I have been trying all day to transfer some photos from my android phone to my mac, and it looks like they are going through fine, then I get this (Pic) Why is this happening. Grrr... I hate electronics.

Sweetheart dress

Look at the beautiful quilting job the quilter did. She had made a few suggestions when I sent it to her, but I never expected anything this beautiful. The binding is made, I just need a little help with the trimming and learning how to attach it. Will it be done in time for Christmas? I sure hope so.

And as promised, here is the sweetheart dress that I adapted from the romper Savannah wore on her 2nd birthday.

Ok, so here is the deal with this dress. (Why it took me almost all summer) I decided that it makes more sense to sell my patterns than sell the dresses themselves. I just do not have time to make bundles of dresses for my Etsy shop. So as I was making the dress I was trying to write up the pattern to be home stitcher friendly. The way I cut the pattern, I had no choice but to add a partial placket to the back for buttons, but I wanted it to somehow be elastic so The dress could fit different body shapes. I stewed over this for at least a month because I do not want to add the partial placket in the pattern. Back to the drawing board with that one. But I am able to sell this one, so it should be up soon.

Still having problems with pictures on the macbook, I loaded them all on and sent a few from my phone but it took me hours just to get this far.

No pics, broken laptop.

No pictures this time.
Hi, My toshiba laptop, that I have only had for 4 years just crashed. It's a good thing I just backed it up recently. I have been having problems with it for a while, and seriously I only used it for pictures, blogging and printing for eBay, it was too slow to do anything else with.
Jake and I have been doing research for weeks on what to get next, since we have had such bad luck with PC's, and I need my own iPad for eBay selling but we also need the laptop for watching video's in Maine (no Internet access). He got me a used Macbook, it came in the mail last week, I go to turn it on and "blip" screen shuts off after 4 seconds, turns out it had an issue that was not mentioned in the listing that if it wasn't touched for 4 seconds it would shut down. After a while lot of frustration and not having a computer for over 3 weeks, we returned that one and tried again with a different seller (that other company will be getting a very bad review) My new/used macbook is perfect, we decked it all out in pink accessories. I just did a tutorial on youtube to learn how to use it and haven't gotten to transferring the pictures yet.

I have to get the pictures on here soon because my quilt came back from the quilter! And I finished the sweetheart dress that I have been working on for months now.

Savannah started preschool in September, it has been a lot more difficult and stressful than I had anticipated. I am not dealing with the stress well and my memory has gotten even worse (if that's even possible) I think I'm borderline Alzheimer's. This is literally my first "day off" since September something. I was supposed to go to MOPS today but Nolan is sick (a blessing in disguise) so I get to stay home for a whole day! and don't get me wrong, I'm super stressed because he is sick too, but it is nice not to have to rush out of the house all day.