Flutter Sleeve Dress

I love how the fall season likes to make an unexpected grand entrance. And, of course, we always welcome it. You know there are cool days ahead, but there are some that are cooler than you expect. Time for pumpkins and everything pumpkin. I know, you were thinking pumpkin spice latte, but I was thinking of pumpkin cheesecake and Trader Joe's pumpkin butter. My favorite. The mornings have been getting cooler and I love walking out to crisp, cool air. This past Saturday was the unexpected grand entrance. It was suppose to be almost 70 degrees. But I think it reach a very crisp and breezy 60. By the evening, it was in the 50's and chilly. We were also at a beautiful fall wedding, on a farm where there were pumpkins everywhere! With October showing up so quickly and these cooler days, I realized I needed to get started on sewing some dresses for my girls. Each season I think, "should I sew or just go buy??" Thanks to Pinterest and Zulily I keep pinning all these ideas for sewing. So, I went on my sewing Pinterest board (SEW CAN DO THIS) and found a dress that I have wanted to make for a while. It reminds me of a Matilda Jane dress. It sent me to an Etsy shop for a Antique Fair Flutter Sleeve Dress pattern. With a few easy clicks, I bought the pattern. And I am so happy I did. It came with a long but easy to follow tutorial with pictures for every step. So I went shopping for fabric! I have had my eye on this Amy Butler fabric for a while. I spent way too long trying to pick the perfect coordinating fabric to go with it. I always second guess myself after I buy it, unless it's off a website where they have matched coordinating fabrics for you! I love those websites! Hawthrone Threads does that for you, check them out! My other favorite place (because it is close by) is Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC. And this is what I bought there:

A sweet lady in my church who could no longer sew and knew I did was so generous in gifting me her sewing stuff- fabric, lace, buttons, zippers, everything. The buttons were a favorite! Before I buy buttons, I like to dig through my stash and find some jewels in there. And I loved these with this dress.

Here is the finished product. I think this is my favorite by far! Confession: I hung this dress visible downstairs so every time I walked by it, I could look at it. I don't have a lot of things that I am good at. But when you practice at one and see your improvement overtime, well it is just rewarding. I feel so proud of this one. Especially when I think back to the first dresses I've made.

Here is Piper at the wedding with her best friend. Piper loves this dress too. It twirls.

bow ties anyone?

Don't you just love little bowties? I made these bowties for a friend and a cute whale applique. All three of these for a neat baby shower. The idea is to decorate a onesie to bring to the shower. The bowties snap off. Easy to clean and easy to change out!

And this was for another friend. Some cute little one year old is going to be a stud!

simple skirt

birthday room makeover

Piper wanted a little room makeover for her birthday. Without changing the paint color on the walls (since we just built this house) we bought some new covers and made some pillows. It is amazing what a few small changes can do. My inspiration was Piper's famous heart balloon. She doodles these all the time. They are in almost every picture she colors and draws. It's her signature. And I just love it. I love them. They are Piper.

A little sneak peak of her room. I still need to get some fun pom pom garland to hang over those pictures. Speaking of those pictures, that was a fun pinterest project she and I worked on this summer. Hand print mermaids. She loves mermaides too.

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!