Category Archives: Kids

Catnap Dress Contest

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Lizzy House had the best idea ever to hold a dress contest for her fabric line Catnap.  Participants chose to either make an adult dress or one for little girlies.  I opted to sew myself a full skirt sleeveless dress, perfect for wearing to cat tea parties:

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The pattern is Simplicity 1873 by Cynthia Rowley, Style B.  I had to merge two sizes in order to get the perfect fit and I added an inch to the bodice length.

dress-3Nope, these aren’t my kids.  I went to a girls-only party at EmmmyLizzy’s so I could hang with these darling ladies in their Catnap dresses!

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More pictures and one tip for sewing pleats after the jump!

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Filed under Challenges, Clothes, Fabric, Kids, Pattern, Techniques

Reindeer Fabric Palooza

One night last spring I was drunk and bought 4 yards of holiday Fair Isle printed jersey fabric.

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The first time I’ve ever gotten a rib-knit neck right on the first try!

That’s a lot of fabric for not having any projects in mind.

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Drafted a t-shirt pattern for my husband!
Jorna tank for me.

I decided to spread it as far as I could into as many holiday outfits as possible for several of my favorite people:

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flashback tees for my boys.

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My niece and nephew!

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Jorna Junior!

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Jorna Juniors!

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Fancy Pants Leggings by Titchy Threads

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happy holidays.

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Filed under Clothes, Fabric, Holiday, Kids, Pattern

Vroom Vroom! Another car quilt

A simple, fun commissioned quilt for a newborn boy!

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The pattern is inspired by a design from this book HERE.

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Cars are from Riley Blake’s Peak Hour and were appliqued using my sew and turn method.I’ve made two of these quilts before and they are blogged here.

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Filed under Fabric, Kids, Quilting

Kids Clothes Week Wrap-Up

It’s been a while!  My family has been hustlin’ and bustlin’ across the Midwest almost every weekend.  Thankfully, Kids Clothes Week launched their summer session last week and I took the opportunity to plant myself back in front of my machine.

If you joined the KCW community, you can see my profile here!

My favorite project was this Jorna Jr. made from a stretch woven blue polka-dot knit.   You can buy your own Jorna Jr. pattern here!

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I refashioned an old sweater dress I had into this little A-line Jorna Jr.:

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This one now belongs to my niece.  And I also made her these shorts from the Parsley Pants pattern:

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And I made my 3-week old nephew these baby knit pants.  They are only a fraction as cute as my actual nephew, but I think these will be super comfy.   I used this pattern.

 

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Have you done any garment sewing recently?  Which are your favorite patterns?

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Jorna Jr. – a toddler’s dress pattern

Just three weeks after the launch of my Jorna pattern, I am so happy to announce the Jorna Jr!  Same silhouette but made to fit 2T – 5T young ladies.

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Includes two length options. This is a comfortable knit outfit, perfect for those hot summer days. The tank looks adorable with leggings or pants. The dress begs to be twirled! Great for everyday wear or use as a stylish swimsuit cover!

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At just $6 for the pattern, and utilizing just 1 to 1 1/2 yards of jersey knit, this is a cost-savvy way to dress your dearest in comfort and style!

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AND since it’s so much fun to matchy match, why not look into my MOMMY-DAUGHTER option?!  For just $12 (a $3 discount) you can get BOTH the Jorna and the Jorna Jr. pattern downloaded ASAP.

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Thanks for reading, and happy sewing!

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Filed under Clothes, Kids, Pattern, Shop

Mornin’ Kiddo Quilt

Another kid quilt, for another friend of the family!

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I call it “Mornin’ Kiddo!”

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Very much inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts

I sort of feel this quilt tells a story…

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Wake up in the morning, head to the kitchen for a cup of coffee…

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Grab the newspaper (kids like coffee and reading about Vietnam, right?)…

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Look out the window into the woods…

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And see some wildlife! Hedgehogs are on the back…

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Pieced back

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Filed under Fabric, Kids, Quilting

Rose and Mint Baby Quilt

Here is a sweet little baby quilt I made for a friend of the family.  A Swoon block with Kona Ivory in the background with a spearminty and light pink border.  Candy pink binding and rounded corners for an extra girly touch.

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Fabrics from the Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley line.

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Really proud of this filler quilting

I have to say, I think this is my best free-motion quilting yet.  You can see the block details better from the back…

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Climbing flower vine in the borders…

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Filed under Fabric, Kids, Quilting

Ornaments!

Here’s a little round-up of the ornaments I’ve made this year that you can easily make, too!  It’s not too late!

One of my new favorite things is to hand-screw little eyelet screws into toys to turn them into whimsical ornaments.  This idea started with our desire to get a bunch of caveman ornaments to represent our youngest son on the tree.  (Our oldest son was nicknamed “baby Acorn” in utero, and there are TONS of acorn ornaments to be found! At least there were until we bought them all in 2008.  Youngest son didn’t get nicknamed until he was a toddler when he became the Caveman.  Not so many of these ornaments on sale, so time to make our own!).

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You can do this with most plastic or wooden ornaments without any power tools.

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I use a stabby shank tool and first perform an icepick lobotomy on the toy.

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Hand-screw until you can’t screw anymore, and then bring out the pliers.

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These bros stick together. And congrats! You found the pickle.

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More cavemen ornaments. These were awkwardly flesh colored, so hubs spray-painted them gold first.

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Happy caveman eyes Baby Acorn.

 

On of my other favorite ways to make ornaments is to buy pre-cut wood shapes from a hobby store (like JoAnn’s or Michael’s) and to decoupage!  A couple of years ago I did this with artsy papers.  This year I did it with some pictures!  I find the best way is to adhere the paper (print images on computer paper rather than photo paper) with a glue-stick onto the pre-painted wood surface.  Than go over the paper with a Glue/Sealant (Martha Stewart makes a nice one).

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Drill a hole into the shape, string a string, you’ve got yourself an ornament.

I took this process in a different direction with my 4-year-old.  He painted the shapes and then glittered the hell out of them.  Later I went over them with the sealant to lock in the glitter a bit.

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An easy gift addition for grandparents and teachers!

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Filed under Crafts, Holiday, Kids

A Halloween Recap…

Even though I didn’t add to the Costume Party this year, I still made many costumes…

Oldest son went as a Cheetah…

And I was a “Safari Guy” on the lookout for Cheetahs…

Hubby was a hunky Paul Bunyan. (He pulled this together all by his self)… With Son #2 being “Babe the Blue Ox” !  How cute is this?

Made this for my niece Kylie!

It’s “Boo” from “Monster’s Inc”…

And for my friend Irene… a chicken costume!

Bok bok!
Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and are happily looking forward to  joyous Thanksgiving!

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Quilt Appreciation!

Remember these quilts?  They are happy in their home with two adorable, grateful boys.  Their mom said it’d be cool if I posted these pictures.  It’s so nice to see these little people be so gracious and loving of their quilts.

Brothers driving cars on the roads.

Love this! “No, Mom! I’m not tired! I’m still playing!”

Very heart warming for yours truly.

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Filed under Kids, Quilting