Another finish

Chiffon....

I'm so sorry but we can not be friends anymore.

 

I was recently asked to make a couple of costumes. I've already shared one and I thought I would share the other. The second costume is actually a underskirt to a costume dress she already owns.

They requested a chiffon or similar skirt to wear under this that would not look like a second piece. After some thought I decided to use a jersey knit and elastic waist to attach the chiffon to. I figured that way it will be stretchy at the hip/waist for movement. 

Then after some tricky pinning and trimming I hemmed the two layer of chiffon as one. This was to be used as a dance costume as well so it also had to have a slit because I was told she starts the dance on the floor.

I chose to make the slit on the same side as the one shoulder, seemed more balanced to me.

The reason chiffon and I can not be friends..she is a shady one. After all my careful laying out and trimming and hemming. Looked perfect day one. After hanging a day the chiffon relaxed and because I hemmed the two layers as one, one layer was longer than the other creating a bubble skirt look. Not cool Chiffon, not cool. Had to CAREFULLY unpick the offending hem and re-do it in one section.

This is the final result on the little star:

Oh Toodles!

How to make a toodle belt

I don't know about you guys, but my little guy is in love with the Mickey Mouse Club House.

So much so that he does not call the plastic craftsman tools on his work bench "tools" but toodles. The other day the little man requested a "toodle-belt" for his toodles. So I happily obliged.

 

I had some flour sack towels laying around that I thought would be perfect. I figured I share a quick and dirty tutorial on making a toodle belt. No flour sacks? No problem use some scrap canvas, jean or home decor fabric. Just be sure it is wide enough to cross the waist of the little fella (or girl!).

Costumes

I was recently asked to make a couple of costumes for a little girl who is all about theater and singing. She is doing this song called " I Speak Six Languages" and wanted a school girl type costume. If you google school girl costume all you find is the stripper-esque adult version. EWW! So NOT appropriate for a 8 year old.  Anyhow I came up with this:

I did not have a pattern so I just made my own. The little girl requested turquoise plaid and being that it is for stage, it had to have the turquoise sparkle tie.


Updated to add:

This is what the final result is when she is wearing with with the bling on it!

 

A Simple Easter Gift

 

Every year for Easter I make special baskets for my Niece and Nephew.This year, my older brother is engaged and his fiance has two daughter's. This year I get to make for THREE girls -- SQUEAL!!! :) Being that I have a boy I rarely get the opportunity to sew for girls so I opted to make each of them a cute chevron skirt for their basket.

I just got a new machine and it did not go as smoothly as planned but by no fault of the machine.

 I bought the Brother SE 400.

Which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. It so unbelievably quiet compared to my old machine not to mention smooth as butter. It is reasonably priced and I (so far) would recommend it to others. Embroidering on knit though...there's a learning curve. That is where I ran into problems and had to buy a replacement shirt.

The three (yeah, THREE) lesson's I learned here:

1) Always use larger than your hoop size stabilizer

2) Make sure your fabric is taut and not hanging loose on one side.

3) Never get up during embroidering to look for a camera.

In the end the outfits turned out lovely and I hope all the little ladies love them!

I love how they are all chevron and match but are still unique. 

      AND by the way..the whole GFC thing...   Follow me on Bloglovin' instead:)     Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Family Portrait Day

 

 

 

So today was family picture day and we decided to go somewhere new and went to Portrait Innovations. I can not say enough about them, I loved it. Our photographer, Elizabeth, did a great job and there were really only a couple of pictures that we did not like (and she took almost 80!)

 

Here is a few of my favorite shots::

To see if you have a Portrait Innovations by you they have a website you can check out their website HERE.

They also have special deals all the time that you can print out on their website. 

My ONLY complaint is that they only take appointments 2 weeks (exactly) in advance.

The good bits:

The photographer was quick and got a lot of good shots; very important quality when trying to keep a active toddler focused! They print the pictures right then and there--no waiting around weeks to get them! You can do as many wardrobe changes as you want. You know you do not want 9 poses in the SAME outfit! They are reasonably priced and our package even included 3 hard cover books for the grandparents:)

I am not being paid and did not receive any special discounts that are not publicly available from Portrait Innovations.