Let's do some catching up.

First off, I really haven't been in the sewing room a whole lot in the last couple of weeks. This is the time of year for canning and I have done my share to make sure we have our food storage for the year. It has been time well spent. So...here we are catching up on a few projects that I just haven't gotten around to sharing.

I had two new nieces born this summer and both needed blessing dresses. Sweet Abby's was requested to be a daisy dress just like the one I shared before. The other one was a little harder. Little Audra was intended to have a different dress but my plans changed...

Her dress began to form in my head. Then as I was trying to recreate it into fabric, it just wasn't coming together. Sometimes that happens to me. I hope I am not the only one. So two days before I needed to get it in the mail or it wouldn't be there, I scrapped the dress and started over. Call me crazy! I know I was thinking it. But this one came together and went in the mail.

A while ago I came across this white linen skirt at Goodwill. I fell in love with the sheer, embroidered hemline. Even though it was a size 4 (sorry...no longer fit into that size) I bought it anyway. This was the time to refashion it.

So here we have our before picture. (I don't do many "refashion" projects)

Since it was linen I decided to keep it simple. This fabric really didn't need much to make it pretty. I had a simple, short sleeve and added a daisy trim to the neckline.

The gathered skirt was already hemmed for me with the adorable embroidered hem. Gotta love that!

And here we have our after shot. A simple, white, linen dress.

A Daisy Dress...

As I said, there are many dresses and outfits lately. Somehow, the babies seem to come in spurts. My second new niece was born on the 7th. From what I hear she is doing great. I better get on her dress.
So this dress was a special request from a cousin. She is a great friend of mine and I wish that we could live closer and spend more time together. But I guess the once in a while will have to do for now. It is a special dress that my husband's grandmother used to make for all of the granddaughters. She would sit and make each daisy individually and crochet each little daisy together. It really can be quite the project. We all know that as time passes, grandmother's get older and their dexterity may not be what is used to be. So Slyn called me and asked me to make it because Grandma just wasn't up to it. I promptly agreed. Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day.

Now, some details. It is made with yarn, obviously. I started with a yarn that I already had and thought that I had enough. I won't ever do that again. I ran out of it in the middle and when to find more...it is discontinued. So I took what I had left and found something that was almost the exact same. I sure lucked out on that one! As I said before, each daisy is made individually on a small wheel. I think that I counted approximately 130 or a few more to make this small of a dress. I am not even sure how well it fit. Slyn...you better let me know so that I can adjust for the future.
Each daisy is then crocheted together to form the body of the dress. The sleeves are made seperately and sewn on. The neckline is a simple chain stitch. When we lived in Idaho, close by my husband's grandmother, he requested that I learn how to make these special dresses. We hadn't been married long and he knew that I liked to be creative. I also know that as grandmother's age, sometimes these types of things can get lost. He also asked me to learn his favorite candy that Grandma makes...another post...
It dawned on me as I was making this sweet dress that these things are already starting to go by the wayside. And part of it is my fault. Yes, I am one of the only ones that has learned to make them and my own daughter didn't even know that I made one for her a a small baby. It is currently tucked away in a special box and hasn't been out since she was a baby. We have moved too many times and it just hasn't come out. I better work on that one.
This type of dress definately needs a slip. So I quickly made one to go under it. I wasn't super pleased with it. It just didn't come together like I wanted. Hopefully it was okay. I do love the lace that edged the hem. Thanks again for sharing in your special day. It was a really fun project. It was fun to relive the time that I spent with dear hubby's grandmother at her side.

Another baby outfit...this time a boy.

You would think that I have a baby in my house with all I have been working on for babies lately. I just had a new niece born early this morning. Her dress is coming soon.

This little tuxedo was made for my nephew that lives in Las Vegas. Dear Hubby and I got to visit him at about a month old. It was really fun! We left the kids home with Grandma and some friends and spent four days just the hubby and myself...and the new baby. The tuxedo is made from my favorite satin. It is from the Casa Collection at at JoAnns. What I love about it is that it is easy to work with...not too much sliding around (that happens with satin you know). I also love that it is 100% washable. Perfect for my sweet babies. Because you know that they are either going to spit up on it or something else and will require washing.

I used a different satin for the stripe down the leg and the vest. I just love how these little outfits turn out. Although this one was a bit large for the little man. It is just so hard to estimate their size when you get started long before they are born.

And you can't have a tuxedo without a bow tie.

This time I made a long tailed jacket to go with it. I have only done this once before. Before another gets made my pattern is going to get a little tweeking. It turned out fine but just not what I was thinking.

Las Vegas Baby Girl

Not too long ago I had a "need" to make a blessing dress. I had to go in search of a baby girl to make this special dress for. And that little girl got her dress. Now, just a few months later, I have three baby girls to make dresses for. I am loving every minute of it and every one is just a bit different from others I have made.

This first dress was made for a friend of my sister-in-law. I have made a dress like this before and she fell in love with the mental picture that my sister-in-law gave her. So another dress was born. It has a simple bodice with a cap sleeve and no collar. It buttons up the back and made from my favorite satin. This satin happens to be my favorite because I can always find it on sale and it is totally washable. You know, just in case that sweet baby spits up on it or has a diaper accident.

I was pretty much finished and the dress just needed something more so I added a satin ribbon at the waist with a bow and a touch of pink.

The skirt has two layers of tulle layered over it with silk rose petals enclosed. They are free moving and add just that nice look for a complete dress. Love it! Thanks for the baby girl to sew for.

Two more dresses will be coming soon. I have two more nieces on the way.

Sick Kids = No Sewing

Oh what a wonderful day! Okay, just kidding. This week I had grand and fun plans (it is spring break...isn't that what you are supposed to do?)...that all went down the drain. It started Monday evening with a child with a fever. Then after canceling my day on Tuesday, dear sweet hubby came home 20 minutes after leaving for work saying that the clutch in his pickup went out and he needed my car. Well, in a way sick kids was a blessing. I had already arranged that I didn't have to go anywhere. But here it is Friday night, kids are getting better and still functioning with one car (there are worse things...I shouldn't be complaining). So, most mothers know this already...sick kids=not much sewing time.

So today I share a dress that I had the pleasure of making a few weeks ago. I have had a craving to make a blessing dress for a while. All my sister-in-laws were having boys and all of my local friends were also having boys. I really was praying for a girl for someone. When I found out that a friend from high school was having a girl I promply adopted her. And I am very pleased with how it turned out. I had it finished and hanging in the sewing room for a few days before packaging it up, just because I liked looking at it.I asked my friend for some direction about what she leans more toward (is she a frilly kind of mom or more simple and elegant, that kind of stuff). I bought this piece of fabric that I fell in love with a while ago and so we decided that I would use this piece and surprise her. Like I said, I am still very pleased with how it turned out.

I started with this sheer, embroidered overlay (the piece I loved). I was trying to figure out how I was going to put it together to create this dress. It had a beautiful scalloped edge that I was leaning toward using but it just didn't seem right. So I went with a wide satin band at the hem. I really love it more than the scalloped edge! The skirt is gathered and lined, due to the sheer overlay.

For the bodice I chose these sweet puffy sleeves with a sleeve band and a very simple bodice. I had it plain at first and it just wasn't right. Am I strange that my work just doesn't feel right? So anyway I went in search for something to add as the finishing touches. These simple, sweet flowers were just right. They match the embroidery on the skirt and everything. I think it was meant to be. I just love how it all turned out. Now the sweet little lady is six weeks old and adorable!

Now, just because I am strange...and I like simple things in life. I want to share my newest addition to the sewing room. A thread rack!!! You have no idea how exciting this is. I found it on the damaged shelf at JoAnns. It had one peg missing and one had broken. I really didn't have a problem with that...I have a handy hubby. I paid no more than $2.50 for a $15.00 rack. Love that! And my dear sweet hubby fixed the two broken pegs and hung it on my oh so bare wall. Thanks hubby, I love you!

Babies...

These two were kind of hard for me to put together this time. I had a vision for the little shorts one and the product isn't quite what the vision was. But I think it turned out cute anyway.

Babies happen to be pretty plentiful in my life, not my own of course. It just so happens that most of them are boys and I am really craving a little girl to make a blessing dress for. So anyone out there that might need one...my creative juices are flowing with no little girl to flow for.