Spring Swimwear

E grew out of her swimsuits I made for her mid-summer last year. Crazy kid! I whipped up two from my fave KS pattern for her spring swimming lessons. Love this pattern- super simple, fits beautifully and the fabric I get from Chez Ami is superb. I pull the leg elastic in a couple more inches than the pattern calls for- all in the bum area. No wedgies!

I pay only $3-$3.50/yard during their clearance sales and can get 3 suits easy out of 1 yard. The lining is a little spendier from Sew Sassy but it’s really nice and I can get 8 suits or so out of 1 yard (runs about $8/yd). I always line the whole front of her suits. It gives the suit a bit more structure and softness in the front and eliminates the odd panty piece that isn't sewn down in front. The swim elastic runs about $0.45/yd and I use a little under 2.5yds per suit. All in all these suits give a heck of a lot of bang for the buck and I’m always quite pleased when I see her out and the beach in the summer up against much of the RTW swimwear out there.

Suit #1:








Suit #2 (This fabric was from fabric.com). This fabric is more like your average swim fabric out there…super stretchy and less stable. She usually is up a size in the KS pattern with the CA fabric but I could have made her usual size with this fabric. It’s a bit loose in areas but the elastic keeps everything in place. I LOVE the print…if I wore any suit but black this fabric would have been for me! I lined the whole suit since the background was white and it wasn’t very thick or stable.

She was clowning around here…loves making her crazy faces :D



See how I matched the horizontal stripes? Yay! Next time I’ll pay more attention to the chevron of the vertical stripes in the back seam. I’d like a smooth V up and down and hadn’t thought much about it until it was sewn up. She was just ending a somersault here.



Lastly a fun pic- she’s quite good at her kick overs now…going from her bridge and kicking back over. She’s even started to pick up going seamlessly from a backbend-bridge-kick over! Still needs a nice cushion underneath though since every few she loses her balance holding her right foot up.



Nice to have a computer again for blogging and sharing pics- thanks again Cassie and Alex! :x

Gifts for Romi

This was for Miss Romi's birthday a few months back- I didn't have a chance to show it before my laptop died...










I loved the Paddington fabric and I figured my sis would too! I got it from another sewingmama awhile back knowing I'd be making it into something fun for her :) I made E a bigger and more laborious one when she was little and she still uses it weekly. Love these for going out and about! Hope Romi gets lots of use out of hers in the years to come!

I also sent these along a few weeks later (not as keen on the green ones but Lyzzy said they fit great so I am happy!). Love the yoga waists for round baby bellies!






More catch-up soon!

Still Here!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Our computer died a couple months ago and I loathe to start cluttering my sister Cassie's borrowed laptop up with all my pics :D I should be back in business soon and have a few things to share and catch up on. I haven't been sewing too much in the past couple months though so it's all good!

Be back soon ;)

Christmas Sewing Part 2

This year E still fit her fancy dress from last year so I decided to make a fun and casual holiday outfit instead. The bows are from another sewingmama :) She got a compliment on the bows from a guy (yep, a guy!) at Target..."I like your bows, Miss!" in a sort of english accent. I usually don't have to prompt her to say thank you, but she looked at him oddly and I ended up having to prompt her and she said 'Thank You' and smiled...then turned and asked me, "What does 'Lock your bonus' mean?" Lol...but she thanked him for saying it! :D She wore the dress a few times this season- to the Christmas Eve service, to a cookie party, out and about a few times. I hope it still fits next year (crosses fingers!)...she grows like a weed. She's grown 2 inches since August! Our 6.5 yo is now a hair shy of 51" tall- crazy! I was wondering why all of her pants were getting to be capris :P

This first pic is when she first discovered I made a matching dress for Lyzzy:







The ribbons on the obi are another Target dollar aisle purchase:



The other plays we saw this holiday season were Hansel and Gretel by the Old Log...what a fun performance!

We were front and center and got to get in on the action when the cat (there was a cat in this one) sat between E and J, and then the wicked old witch came and found her there, beat her back on stage and then asked J for assistance up onto the stage...took a bit of wrangling (intended) and with one final shove he got him (the witch was played by one of the regular guys- so funny!) back up. The witch turned round and gave him the eye, saying "Watch where you put your hands there, sonny!" or some such thing. E loved it! We always love the Old Log performances...I think I've only seen one where I was 'eh' about it :)

The other was just after the New Year...Cinderella at the Children's Theater- it had our favorite characters who played Frog and Toad awhile back as the ugly stepsisters- those two guys were hilarious!

I didn't much care for the girl who played Cinderella- she overacted and had quite the shrill singing voice. The Prince wasn't very lovable either IMO and his quiet voice was overpowered by Cinderella. The kids hardly care...there were mice puppets, a beautiful coach, the sets were divine and the costumes and other dancers and singers were great. All in all it was one of our favorites even with the performances by the 'main' characters- in this play the stepsisters and stepmother definitely ran the show! We still have a soft spot for Frog and Toad and of course our very first play there with E- Aladdin. Those are our top 3 :D We can't wait for Mulan this spring!

That should do it for my Christmas posts...I hope to have E write her cards early this week after she's feeling better. Will be nice to move on from all the holiday hulabaloo, much as we love that time of year :)

Christmas Sewing Part 1

This was my gift to my niece Romi...the red apron is for her mom :) We included some pots and pans, utensils and whatnot as well- I hope she enjoys them for years to come! The print fabric is a Japanese canvas from Crybaby's- it's quite fitting for them (ok...mostly her mom!).


Modeled by E, it will be much longer on Romi and will fit her for quite a few years by looping the waist ties through the neck in back:




The other apron kindly modeled by dh:



The pretty package- I found this ribbon in my stash...I pick some up now and then in the Target dollar aisle:


These following few pics are the night of the Nutcracker Ballet...E wore the same dress as last year:


Pardon the crazy grin on E :D


We went to the O'Shaughnessy at St. Catherine this year to a production by Ballet Minnesota:


It was a good night, although we both agreed that it wasn't the best we'd seen. Quite enjoyable though- always fun to see the variations in productions and much of it is 'new' to E each year as she grows. That being said, we like going to a ballet each Christmas season, but I wish that there were other performances. It's all Nutcracker. We've liked it so far as it's been new to us but I'm definitely ready for something else!

Part 2 to come.

Gymnastics Part 2

E has come a long way in a month- she started by 'log hopping' and is now doing wonderful cartwheels! She's working on her handstands as well as going over right into a backbend. She just started doing a backbend from the standing position- pretty scary! :)

I made this late Nov or early Dec out of a rose patterned velour. Same Jalie ballet pattern modified. I absolutely love the attached shorts although I plan on doing a regular leotard soon. I completed one in Dec. but it ended up tiny due to it having absolutely no vertical stretch and fit a small sz 3, not my sz 7/8 girl :) I'll add in lots of ease and try again soon.



Had to overexpose this so you could see the pattern:





I didn't edit these next few pics, sorry for the red eye and whatnot! We had a great Christmas this year although we've had more than the usual share of sickies going around. Here's just a couple pics:

J's new furry fleece pj pants...he's in love :) They are his new fave- he puts them on right when he walks in. They're ultra soft and warm which is quite important as we like to keep the heat down at home. Mine are of the same fabric...I'd do a few things different next time but they're quite comfortable too! My pair sports a yoga waist in aqua which you cannot see from the photo :P Please forgive the late night pics...heh.



And E's favorite present from us:



I'll follow with another post :)