Easter dress

Ever make a dress and realized you are not pleased with it? So you take it apart and redo it. Or even worse, put it in a pile to come back to and sadly you never do. To much disappointment I made a dress for my youngest for Easter and was never satisfied with it. And because it was the night before I let her wear it anyway. It was not bad, it was just not what I imagined it would be. Determined to not let this one sit in that pile I decided to redo it. With a few tweaks, this dress ended up being one of Piper's favorite summer dresses. Simple. Twirly. Comfy.

And this kid, she is our sparkly yet feisty, full of life, full of joy and loud giggles 3rd child. Only this one could convince a grandmother to buy fake nails like this. Could you turn down this face?? And yes, we let her wear these nails to church.

pink chalk fabric

Ordered some fabric from one of my favorite online fabric stores Pink Chalk Fabrics. They are celebrating 6 years and I got a cute party favor (pink measuring tape). Not sure what I am going to make with this fabric. I just wanted to show you what I got.

baby blanket

I love making baby blankets for baby showers. This one may be one of my favorites. 1 1/4 yard of flannel and cotton. Easy and sweet!

fabric shopping and peach tree blooms

Have I ever told you I love fabric like most women love shoes? I love going to the fabric store and just looking. But I am also a woman so I like shoes too! But back to the fabric. I love when I walk into the fabric store and I see fabric I like and it is sitting right next to other fabric in the same line of designer and color. Makes visioning a dress or skirt much easier than walking around for an hour doubting your choices. That is what happened when I saw these. This fabric was just sitting there asking to be a dress and skirt. So I had to get it.

I used one of my favorite patterns Simplicity 2171 easy and so many different ways to use it.

The skirt is from a pattern I got off a great website called MADE. Click HERE for the link to the skirt pattern. She has so many variations too.

This was a spontaneous photo attempt. It was very overcast. Maybe too overcast. But when the peach trees are in bloom you cannot delay. It is a short window. So I bribed the kids and got these sweet pics. I am glad they love each other. Well, most of the time.

Memphis skirts

Last summer my crew went to Memphis to visit one of my best best friends. We do not get to see each other often. So this trip was much needed. My family loved being there for a week. Do you have a friend that just gets you? That would be her. She sews. She also taught me how to smock. I love talking to her about things we want to make and things we actually make. While I was there, she took me to one of her favorite fabric stores. We bought some fun fabric to make her girls and my girls skirts. We ended up having too much fun and not enough time to sew. So, I came home with the fabric to finish what we had started. Here is one of the skirts I made.

Piper is my skirt girl. She loves skirts and dresses and all things twirly.

She is also my little shadow. While I was drawing out some ideas, she too decided to do the same.

Corduroy

Don't you love when you come across fabric that is on sale and pretty? When I came across this corduroy, I did not feel guilty buying all that was left on the roll because it was on a great sale. I remember asking myself why is this still here? Is something wrong with it? Nope. Nothing was wrong. It was waiting on me. After sitting in the closest for a while, I decided it was time to pull it out for the fall. First, I made a dress for Karis, my oldest. It fit terrible thanks to a not so great pattern I will never use again. I did not want to waste my efforts and the fabric, so I decided to redo it to fit Piper, my youngest. The lining is a little weird on the inside because of it but who will be looking on the inside? Thankfully, Piper loved it!

A friend loved it too, so I made one for her daughter! Also a requested clemson bowtie onesie and a cutie girlie onesie for babyshower gifts.

I did not want to leave Karis empty handed so I made her a twirly skirt also out of some cute corduroy. I used the NEWLOOK A6258 pattern (I think I got it at Walmart). Thankfully skirts are safe with her and she loved it!

wedding dress label

My younger sister got married in November. It was a beautiful wedding and so much fun to be with family for the weekend. Before the wedding however, are lots of fun showers. Sadly, I was not able to make it to all of them. Buying gifts off of their registry was fun! But after going to a few showers, I wanted to make her something special. So I made her this wedding dress label. I did the embroidery by hand so do not look too closely. She received it with happy tears!

Here is the history of the wedding dress label: "In the 20's and 30's, couture gown designers starting designing personalized labels for their clients, and attaching them inside the gowns. Now brides can use this special touch to make wedding gowns truly their own. When the tradition of labels for wedding gowns started, it was seen as the last time a bride would use her maiden name. So the bride's full maiden name and wedding date was sewn into the gown. More recently, brides began choosing to put their name and the groom's name on the label with the wedding date. Today, anything goes--from nicknames, monograms, or symbols--whatever the bride feels has the most meaning for her. These labels are sewn into your wedding gowns lining at the hem, or inside the top of the gown, where a typical clothing label would go. They can be sewn in any color, but are most commonly done in blue for the traditional "Something Blue." They can even be sewn as a pocket to hold something special, like a good luck charm, or other precious item that you want to have with you on your wedding day. After the wedding, the label becomes a memento for future generations to have the name and date from the day the dress was worn. This is a special touch for a dress that will be handed down. And if you decide not to keep the dress, the label can be removed, and kept as a memento of the gown-perhaps to be placed in your wedding scrapbook, next to a picture of the dress. Whatever you choose to have stitched on the label, it is a wonderful way to make "The Dress" truly your own. History of the wedding dress label ©Monde Design"