Sewing In No Mans Land

New post!!

2011-09-03T05:59:00.000+09:00

The Sugar On Top child's chef hat tutorial and pattern are now posted on Sewing In No Mans Land. Hop on over and check it out. While you are at it switch your subscription. Believe me I know it is a pain but I will not be posting updates on here much longer :)

Imported goods from Timor

2011-08-31T13:04:00.000+09:00

Alright! I have finally imported all the posts from this blog over to the new Sewing In No Mans Land. You can now find all my old posts, patterns and random ramblings (what I know you really tune in for eh, eh?) over there. You can also subscribe down at the bottom if you would like with google reader/ friend connect. Hope you will follow along because next I will be sharing the pattern for this super cute Chef's hat. Yup, you got a sneak peak here first!

Childs Apron Tutorial over on the new blog

2011-08-30T11:43:00.000+09:00

Hop on over to sewinginnomansland.com to check out the new tutorial! And there is a giveaway! Woo hoo!
Here is a little sneak preview of the post. You need to jump over to see all of it and download the pattern and enter the giveaway!

Ughh, I have been dying to get this post up. But I promise to make it up to you at the end of this post with a giveaway! This weekend we moved, yet again, and well, our friends invited us to their gorgeous cabin and when someone invites me to a cabin I drop everything and go. So, a lot of this went on:

One of the things I often received emails about is having to download page after page of patterns individually, the other is having the pattern pieces themselves be dotted lines to save on printer ink. Well I am happy to say I have fixed ONE of those things and am diligently working on the other. You can download the pattern for Evie's Apron here all in one download! Yeah it was really easy and I am so glad I have fast enough internet to make it easier for ya'll to print patterns :) Once again this pattern is loosely based on Sassy Little Sisters apron. I just feel like this version is a lot simpler and straight forward. I also love that I was able to make each apron out of two correlating fat quarters and some white fabric I had laying around. This was the only way I was able to afford making them all out of either Amy Butler , Joel Dewberry or Heather Bailey fabric :) Evie's (an exact copy up for sale in my Etsy store HERE) was made from some Heather Bailey Fresh Cut fabric that I LOVE.

Once you have printed out your pattern, taped it together and cut out your fabric as directed on the fabric, fire up your iron so it is ready when you need it. Ya'll know me and my love of irons ha!

1. You should have 8 pieces

2. Take your two pocket pieces and lay them right sides together.

3. Stitch around outer edge leaving a small opening so you can flip it right side out. I like to leave the opening on the top where it is straight so then it is easier to sew shut.

Evie's Apron

2011-08-25T05:21:00.001+09:00

Be sure to bookmark, subscribe and follow the new blog over at sewinginnomansland.com or simply click HERE. This is a copycat post from the new site and probably will not look as good here haa!

Evie's Birthday Apron

During my extended break from craft blogging we were able to celebrate Evie's second birthday! Woo hoo!

I wanted to do something smaller that the kids would love but did not involve a TON of planning or execution on my part ha! We decided to book a local farm and have the party there. The kiddos would get to milk a cow, go on a wagon ride and get bags of food to give to the animals.

The plan worked like a charm. While most of the adult attendees hunkered down in the party room with the yummies, I had a blast just hanging back watching the kids run wild on the farm.

We got Evie's cake and cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. A local bakery that I attribute 100% with me catching back up to the normal amount of weight I gain during pregnancies. They are just around the corner and open way to late ha! Everything else was purchase from Shop Sweet Lulu. Oh my goodness, do they have THE cutest party items. I especially love the pushpop treats and glass bottles. We filled them with mini cupcakes and chocolate milk perspectively, yum! Evie, being 2, isn't in the swing of the whole birthday thing and refused to blow out her candle and then was shaking with excitement while opening presents.

This time I had become wise to the fact that it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to be a mommy running a birthday party AND get good pictures if you are the photographer. I either run around and never get to talk to guests and friends because I am behind the camera the whole time, or walk away with only a picture or two proving there was a party ha! Luckily my favorite photographer, Leah Miller, is here in UT and she was willing (even though she had JUST had a new baby two weeks previously) to come and document the excitement. She did SUCH an amazing job! That is how, for the first time ever, I am in a picture at my own cuties party. Granted I am sweating bullets and over 8 months preggy, but hey, I'll take it!

I thought it would be cute instead of party favors to make all the attendees little "milk maid" aprons. The boys got a bit short changed in this aspect of the party but to be honest I don't think they noticed. In a rare twist for me I purchased a little apron pattern from a company I am thinking (and hoping) is a momma sewer based company. I must admit after making one I had to tweak several things and in the end just made my own pattern. If you would like to purchase the original pattern, you can do so HERE (where it is a few dollars cheaper then at the fabric boutique I bought it at). The company name is Sassy Little Sisters and I believe they have a line of patterns to choose from. Or you can come back and download the pattern I created and follow along with my tutorial that requires only two fat quarters, some plain white fabric, a bit of velcro and two buttons! I always love supporting other mommas so please check out the original pattern here and jump on over to Leah's site if you are in need to to die for pictures, which come on, who isn't?

TADDAHHHH!

2011-08-24T14:55:00.001+09:00

Here it is folks! The BIG news! After lots and lots and lots of work Sewing In No Mans Land now has a .com!!!! I am so excited about the new site! I hope you will take the time to jump on over HERE or go to sewinginnomansland.com/blog/ and check it out. There are some fun announcements and fingers crossed a fun new layout. I will post a copycat post here for the next bit just to ease people into it. My hubby is concerned that readership is going to drop like a rock ha!! I would like to prevent that hence the easing into it. Thanks for all the support!!

Hello? Is anyone still there?

2011-08-14T06:01:00.000+09:00

It is true. I have been a very very bad blogger as of late. I should definitely get a stern talking to. What is so hilariously ironic is I have probably been doing more creating in the past few weeks then I have in a long long lonnnnnnngggg time. By my count I have made:
13 little girls aprons
8 bridesmaids skirts
13 fascinators
5 neckties
1 engagement session
1 bridal session
1 wedding video
and one star wars tote bag for a little boy who is so excited for school.
Along with all this I have been plotting and working and staying up WAY to late and am excited that I am pretty close to revealing the new and MUCH improved Sewing In No Mans Land. Don't worry it will still be based around crafting (heavy on the sewing side) with all my patterns being free and downloadable (thanks to my Dad who bought me a sweet scanner for my 30 birthday) but now they will be better organized, faster to download etc. I also have one last surprise up my sleeve that I hope ya'll will like. But for right now I have to get back to that thing that has consumed my life for the past few weeks (other then being a currently singel preggy mommy constantly moving house) and that would be this gorgeous girl:

and her fabulous wedding. So, really quick, funny story about the bridal session I did with her. I have being DYING to do a photo shoot in a fabulous orchard but have never been able to find one. I see them in pics all over the place and finally after some serious internet scouring I figured it out. What we didn't count on was the overwhelming number of deer that would be wandering about. Well, apparently my lil 'sis has a fear of deer and just about died when a good 25 of them started stampeding towards us.

I thought they were amazing and was SUPER bummed I wasn't doing some sort of themed shoot of Evie in a red riding hood outfit HA! Bink (as I call her) was standing still as a statue, completely petrified. I will have to share the pic after the wedding. Don't want to give too much of a sneak peak just in case by some twist of randomness her fiance reads this blog... long shot but you never know :)

Photography Heaven

2011-07-19T14:07:00.000+09:00

I don't know if I have mentioned on the blog before but my baby sister is getting married this summer. When she got engaged I had a mini mid life crisis. She is ten years younger then me and there is no one in between us.

I remember holding her as a tiny baby thinking about her wedding day. I wanted to make sure to get a photo session in even though she has an officially photographer

(Oddly enough I some how didn't think I could handle shooting a wedding I am part of 8 months preggers and with 3 cuties on my own ha!) One of the things I have absolutely loved about being back in the states is the overwhelming amount of amazing locations to do photo shoots.

Every where I look there are little "hidden" spots that are perfect for photos.

I talked her into donning a retro outfit I put together and after some convincing got her fiance to go with it. We used the red suit case that our mom brought with her from Ireland when she moved her to marry my dad.

When I told them where I was taking them I think they thought I was a little crazy. I described it as the "McDonalds parking lot by my in-laws house". We both drove the '68 Volkswagen beetle in high school so I thought it would be fun to incorporate it.

We had to do some funny ones

Since her fiance is quiet the jokester

It was a fun shoot and it was nice that they already had their official engagements so there was literally nothing to have but a good time :)

In other photography new Evie is turning two soon and I wanted to get some shots for her birthday invite. I made her a dress using the easy peasy Sweet Dress pattern.

I quilted together a bunch of fun fabrics to make it since I couldn't decide on just one.

I made her some ruffly leggings using some tiny remnants of ruffle fabric.

Of course it involved a cupcake bribe.

There are soooo many cupcake stores here it is crazy! Evie started doing this new thing when I tell her to smile. She simply tips her head the side and stares at me. It is hilarious.

I am pretty excited to celebrate and cannot believe how fast she is growing up!!

Celebrating and the BIG project

2011-07-16T13:48:00.000+09:00

I hope you all have had as lovely a Fourth of July as we did!

We were able to swell with patriotism along side some of our old neighbors

and the wonderful family we were staying with.

and literally SHOVE yummy food into our mouths

The twins in the Cul de Sac had motorized Vespas.

Evie wanted to make sure Lola obeyed all helmet laws.

She was absolutely convinced this was the correct way to wear a helmet

We are lucky to have neighbors who own a party planning company so they go *wild* when it comes to fireworks. .

We got into our perspective positions

Finn apparently likes his space

When the fireworks started Finn freaked out with excitement

While Lola started crying and Evie rushed to comfort her.

Since the American Independence day is my favorite holiday it was a lovely way to spend the last evening with Daddy before he headed back to Timor

I am currently up to my elbows in various projects. One in particular is REALLY big and I am pretty excited to share. This weekend it is going to be completely tackled and I am hoping to share pics the beginning of the week. Ohhh I am so excited! Enjoy your weekend!

Reversible Summer Tunic

2011-07-11T13:41:00.000+09:00

While things here are still a but crazy house wise (as in lots of bouncing around and a new found appreciation for packing super light ha!) I am glad I had been asked by the lovely ladies at I Candy Handmade to participate in their wicked adorable series of summer sundresses! If you haven't checked out some of the amazing tutorials you need to hope over right NOW and see all the yummy inspiration. I have been mulling the idea for this sundress over in my head forever.

I would lay down at night and work through how to make it and make it as simple as possible. I wanted it to be reversible and that took some serious thinking.

By the time I got my hands on a borrowed sewing machine I had it all worked out. I wanted to make them for Ruby and Lola our friends little girls who I have bluntly informed Sawyer and Finn they will be marrying (they also have an adroable little boy for Evie!).

We have been staying with thtem for the past two weeks and just absolutely adore them. This dress is made in 12 simple steps and needs no pattern! You can switch up the length and wear it as a tunic like Ruby:

Or lengthen it and make the back the front for a tunic dress like Lola:

I was so excited to do a photoshoot in front of this "abandoned ice cream trailer" that just showed up magically a few days ago right down the street.

It was kind of photographicllly frustrating though because I know a better photographer could do something amazing with it, I just didn't really know how to do it myself. Time for more classes! We had a blast making their over the top headbands.

Once we got to the farm we were taking the kiddos to that day they came right off ha!

Anyway, if you would like to make the tunic simply click below and follow the simple steps.

If nothing else hop on over to I Candy Handmade and have a feast for your eyes!!

What you will need:

1/2 yard of two fun cordinating fabrics

Sewing Machine

Measuring tape

1 button

Length of elastic

Scissors

Safety pin

ribbon (for embellishment)

First you need to meassure your litte cutie. Measure from her arm pit down to where ever you would like your dress to hit. Make sure to add some for hemming. Lay your your two half yards of fabric on top of each other. They should be folded in the manner they came off the bolt.

Using your measurement we are going to cut at an angle and then straight across

Now we are giong to cut the neckline

Now you can decide if you want to round the neck or if you want a tunic type neck.

Noce you are done fold the fabric so right sides are together.

If you are going to have the slit in the back you should slide a loop of elastic in between the two layers so you can have a button enclosure

When I was done I stitched a tied bow on either side of the sundress. I was going for the look that the ribbon tied through the waist :)

Now throw it on and head out and look for some duckies!

Or maybe have a sucker

Hope you enjoy making your own reversible sumer dress. Big hugs to Jen and Autie who were kind enough to invite me to participate in this adorable series!

The Wandering

2011-07-04T14:55:00.000+09:00

Two posts in one day?!? That's what happens when you have been out of the game. Don't worry a tut is coming soon. I about keeled over when I walked into my favorite fabric store yesterday. The ladies actually asked me if I was okay as I stood there, hands on preggy belly, wide eyed and a bit off balance. I just couldn't take it all in ha! But before I can share a tutorial we have to find a place to live. We had a wonderful house all set up but upon arrival in the states found out some disconcerting things about it and now find ourselves without a home. This makes blogging particularly difficult as my Mac desktop is still in the suitcase (yup, I brought my desktop all the way from Timor in one of my checked bags... if I couldn't bring the sewing machine the computer was the next best thing ha!)and I can't set up sewing shop. We have been scrambling like crazy trying to find somewhere for us to play house for the next six months before Chris leaves to go back to Timor on Tuesday. Add into that my turning 30 and a HUGE family photo shoot and well, life is just beyond crazy. I am so grateful for amazing friends who have let our suitcases and children basically over run their basement while we are searching. If anyone has a great place in Draper, UT shoot me an email, I promise the cuties won't color on too many of the walls :) Oh and I had to share this one shot I randomly snapped during our shoot.

Getting a family of 37 to look good in pictures meant a theme. We went with blacks, grays and white with a touch of red. I was so excited when I found Finn some red converse high tops and painted Evie's toes while she was zonked in the car ha! She laughed hysterically when she woke up and saw them. I am dying to see what Nicole and Leah captured.

The Donation

2011-07-04T14:06:00.002+09:00

*This is the first time in two weeks I have hoped onto the site or checked email. Traveling back to the states and getting settled with a family of five is no easy feat. I will be replying to emails as quickly as possible trying to catch up. Thank you for your patience in waiting for a response as I have over 350 emails... wow.*

**I am so sorry for the mix up with the Toe The Line Pictures. I don't really know what happened but I went back through and think I fixed it!**

It has been an incredible two weeks traveling back to the states it has been full of adventure. I wanted to make sure before I jump back into blogging and sharing tutorials I share one of the last amazing experiences I had in Timor. It will be one year tomorrow that I started Sewing In No Mans Land. I cannot believe how fast that year has gone and how much I have come to love connecting with people all over the world and sharing tutorials. I also have been floored by the number of packages and letters I received. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and was so inspired by the generosity of so many. I wanted to make sure that this generosity was paid forward. As I was packing I went through all my fabric and unless I had a specific project in mind I organized it and sorted it to go to the few different sewing schools in Dili.

At one of the schools the head nun would not believe me that I was simply giving them the fabric. She kept asking "for free?"

It was so fun seeing the young girls go through and discuss what they were going to make with it.

An American medical ship was going to arrive shortly in Timor and with it they were bringing sewing machines to donate, but this particular school seemed to have plenty of machines that didn't require electricity, a factor I hadn't really thought of previously.

A lot of the types of fabric the girls had never seen anything like it. They asked me what they should use some of it for and it was fun offering suggestions. It was hilarious how giggly the girls were, you could just feel their excitement. I was lucky enough to go to two other locations and share even more fabric. At one there was a very talented young man. I was bummed I didn't bring my camera. It was so incredible watching him sew.His precision and speed on these old manually powered sewing machine was totally inspiring. All of these schools seem to also have small restaurants attached to them. These lovely old ladies were outside of one sifting rice. She gave me such a gorgeous smile I had to ask to take a picture.

I have been so blessed this past 18 months. When I think about it I am overcome by emotion. I cannot thank you enough for reading and coming on this journey with me. I hope to continue to share some of the experiences I had in Timor that I have kept personal previously. I am also thrilled to be starting our new adventure and getting ready for Paris. What a crazy juxtaposition right? Can't wait to share more!

The Toe the Line Dress Knock Off

2011-06-19T14:52:00.001+09:00

Wow. I cannot believe it has been soooo long since I have posted. What can I say though one packed up house, several good bye parties, one 2 hour flight, one 5 hour flight and one 13 hour flight later we are at our hotel in CA! We found have found the secret to righting your children's body blocks in one day. Just get off the plane at 6:30am and be at Disneyland before 10am! The Crawford's are officially righted ha! This has been soooo much better then on our arrival in Timor where we spent days playing trains and watching cartoons in the wee hours of the morning, ughhhhh. I have some really fun details to share about our last few days in Timor but I wanted to make sure I got this up before we headed off on our Cruise. So here it FINALLY is the Toe the Line Knock Off tutorial.

This is Che Che. She was our amazing housekeeper/ Nanny/ Friend for the entire time we were in Timor. She was so fantastic and was a huge part of No Mans Land. There is not way I could have posted so much if it hadn't been for Che Che working so hard. I wanted to make sure she had something to remember us by and I had talked about doing a giveaway of this dress I made. I decided to go a head with that idea only give it to Che Che instead of a reader. I asked her to measure her under the guise of making the dress for my little sister. When I finished sewing it was on a day that was particularly chaotic and begged her to let me take a picture of her in it claiming I had no time to ask anyone else. She obliged. When I was done taking pictures she asked if she could have the pictures that I had printed out to help me knock off the dress so she could have one made when she went home to the Philippines. I told her I had made it for her so that whenever she wore it she would think of us and she started crying, I then of course started blubbering and it was a mess ha!

If you would like to make your own it is actually a fairly easy and straight forward dress. The neckline is the only tricky part and that will come together easily as long as you take your time and think before you stitch. I do have to say though that the fabric I used was ordered site unseen. I thought I was ordering a nice Chambray and it ended up being a blend and was chambray but pretty stretchy. Next time around I would certainly use a lawn/poplin cotton or a chambray without spandex in it ha! If you would like to learn how to make the dress click tell me more :) If not then I will see you in a week when my feet touch American soil once again!

What you will need:
3 (or more depending on your size) yards of fabric
A small zipper
Several buttons (depending on how many faux buttons you want)
A small strip of light fusible interfacing (for the neckline)
Iron
Sewing Machine
Needle and Thread
Scissors

The Pattern found on my Scribd shelf (this is a size 6 pattern, it was a bit large for Che Che and I ended up taking it in for her)

The first thing we are going to put together is the dress top. Take all three of your main dress pieces. I decided to sew four darts in the dress. Once in each front piece:

And two in the back

You can use the dart guides on the pattern if you would like to include them. I think they make the dress have a nice fitted look and looks more professional. Once you are done attach the front pieces to the back.

Before you stitch decide which side you want your side zipper on and do not stitch all the way to the bottom on that side. Also do not sew ALL the way to the inside of your shoulder seams. We will manipulate these later.

At this point you could stitch this hem in place. I waited and did this on the next step and then looked at my Shabby Apple dresses and realized they do nit on this step. Either will work, just some additional info.

Once you are done head over to the sewing machine

You might need to gather the top of the sleeve slightly. Once you do turn line up the sleeve edge and the arm hole of the dress so that right sides are together. Stitch all the way around.

Once you are done and have pressed your seams and turned everything right side out your top should look like this:

Now we are going to do our neckline. Do this slowly, think before you sew and read the instructions several times and it will save you A LOT of frustration... not that it took me FOREVER to figure this out HA! (it TOTALLY did). I took lots of pictures of the finished product so I hope it helps. Turn your dress top inside out. Line of the ENDS of the neckline so that right sides are together. Stitch across the end so that there is a finished seam on what will be the outside of the neckline. When you are done turn the dress top right side out. Fold down the neckline so that the right side of the neckline is rights sides together with your dress back. Lin up the edges of the two taking special care at the shoulders. Stitch all the way around, iron your seam. It should look like this when done:

Now grab your to neck lining pieces. Cut fusible interfacing to match both and attach to WRONG side. Once you are done we are going to do the same thing to the thin ends of the neckline that we just did to the main neckline. Lay the pieces right sides together. Stitch the ends and open up so you have a nice finished seam. Once you are done we are going to attach it to the main neck line. Lay it right sides together and pin all the way around, lining up the seams you created on the back. Stitch all the way around the edge. When you are done head over to your iron and iron the seam so that the lining is inside the main dress.

Once you have ironed it topstitch all the way around on the right side of the neckline.

When you are done you should have a nice seamless neckline.

The inside neckline should look like this:

Now using your button hole maker make your buttons. I made three functioning buttons and three faux buttons but it is up to you and the size of your buttons.

(Don't mind that I have already attached my dress bottom, I forgot to take a pic of the buttons until after ha!)
Now we are going to make our skirt bottom. This is mainly just ALOT of pleated fabric. The seam will be on the side of this dress so that you can have a hidden zipper. The type of pleat you do is up to you and how much fabric you have. I tried to follow the dress as close as possible.

When you are done and everything is flipped right side out and pressed your waistline should look like this;

Once you have the top attached to the bottom insert your side zipper.

Once your zipper is in all you need to do is stitch up the side and hem the bottom!!! Woo hoooo! This dress actually does not look that cute without some sort of belt. I just made Che Che a big white fabric belt sort of like the one in the Shabby Apple picture.

I hope I explained it well? I am certainly going to make another one for myself. I want a nice solid bright green one! Maybe I can finagle the pattern to be maternity. We'll see! For now I have to go organize all our moving luggage for the cruise ha! I hope your week is sunny!

My Go To Lens

2011-06-09T09:13:00.000+09:00

I swear I am alive...barely ha! I swear there is a tutorial for how to make the Toe The Line Knock off dress coming. It has been a CRAZY week trying to organize shipments to three different locations, selling and giving tons of never used items away, AND doing a photoshoot every single night of the week! Yup, things have been busy. And since it is my policy to have a 24 hour turn around with clients and their pictures (I ABHORE waiting to get my DVD from photographers) I have been spending my "after the kids go to bed" time preparing DVD's etc. All this photography got me thinking that I haven't done a photography post in a while. Then I thought about the fact that LOTS of photographers just starting out really struggle with what lenses to spend their hard earned money on. Now of course this all depends on the type of photographer you are, your disposable income limit etc. I am basically a family photographer, specializing in children and newborns.

This means my subjects are wiggle, high energy and a good shot sometimes just means no one if picking their nose and everyone is looking at the camera (although I don't consider it a successful session unless I get 25 frame able shots)

Shooting families (often with pups as pictured above) means I don't often have the luxury of switching lenses several times. I have to have a go to lens that stays put until I feel I have gotten enough good shots that I can mix it up, take a break and put something fun on my camera.

This lens for me is the 50mm 1.8.

It is Uh-Mazing.... for the cost. At an average of $110 found HERE on amazon and HERE on B&H Photo for great deals, no beginning photographer should be with out it. All of the above pictures were taken with it. You could go a bit further and get the 1.2 but I find that I rarely go down below 2.8 when shooting children, unless I want that SUPER sharp amazingly clear close up shot.

To be honest I usually save shots like this for the end and snap on the splurge of my photographic career the 85mm 1.2.

This lens is prohibitively expensive and absolutely amazing in its color saturation and clarity. The problem is with family photography the 85mm demands LOTS of space and most of the time you will be shooting at 3.8 or higher so you won't really use the 1.2 soooooooo much.

If you can, go for it but I am TELLING you 8 times out of 10 my favorite pictures from a shoot are with the uber affordable 50mm 1.8. Which come on is 20% of the time worth 10 times the cost? I don't think so.

Now in closing I have to admit that I am a prime lens junky. I think the clarity they provide is stunning. The fact that they make YOU move not just zoom in and out means you get far more interesting angles and never stop moving (sounds exhausting ha!) I also shoot exclusively in manual. If you want the most out of the lenses you are spending your hard earned money on you have GOT to learn to use your camera to it's fullest. Take some courses, read some books, download some online manuals and practice, practice, practice ;) If you love it, this will never seem like work but always an opportunity to stretch your skills and do something you enjoy ha! Now I promise the next post will be the long awaited for Toe the Line Tutorial... just gotta do the photoshoot HA!!!!!

Sewing Remix: Flapper Baby Romper

2011-06-03T11:04:00.000+09:00

I have actually been sitting on this project for WEEKS and it has been KILLING me! I am so excited to share it today and be part of Jessica from Me Sew Crazy's amazing Sewing Remix series! Me Sew Crazy is one of my fav sewing blogs and one of the few I check very regularly for inspiration, a good laugh and some fun eye candy. My little contribution is the Flapper Baby Romper:

When Jess asked me to be part of Sewing Remix I was pretty excited to follow a pattern. But then I kept seeing little outfits like this everywhere:

Source: Simplicity Photography

Or this adorable retro version:

Pintrest Via Grossgrain

I thought, Evie HAS to have one!!! I wanted to stick to the rules though and remix a pattern. For the perfect place to start I headed over to Made to Dana's free down loadable perfect diaper cover pattern. This gave me a good jumping off point to create The Flapper Baby Romper:

After asking Dana for her permission I morphed the perfect diaper cover pattern into my own Flapper Baby Romper pattern which you can download HERE on my Scribd shelf. My first attempt was supposed to be Evie sized about 2T... but ended up Carmen sized or about 3-4T

I tweaked it a bit and then shrunk the pattern you can print out by 80% to get my Evie sized Flapper Baby Romper:

I dunno what it is but these little rompers make their little bums look so adorable ha!

It is probably how great Dana's original pattern is! Carmen's was a little roomy so in the final tutorial I added an extra step to put some elastic around the waist and cinch it up a bit.

I also added elastic to the back shoulder blade portion to keep it nice and snug

If you would like to sew a long and make your own Flapper Baby Romper

click learn more for all the instructions!! Jessica thanks so much for having me and I hope you are getting some much needed R&R before this little blue bundle of joy comes!
So funny story, we did this photoshoot right before everyone in our family got super sick. I don't think she was feeling the best this particular day so as a "thank you" for cooperating after pictures we took the kids for milkshakes. None of us were able to finish our entire shake, except for Evie.

Who not only finished her own shake but then proceeded to go down the line and polish off everyone else's

That night when Finn started getting sick I thought FOR SURE all those milkshakes were going to come back up

But Evie was the only cutie who DIDN'T get sick! Maybe all that calcium staved it off ha!
ANYWAYS on to the tutorial!!!

What you will need:
1/2 yard fabric for romper bottom
1/4 yard fabric for romper top
scraps for ruffle and straps
thin elastic
safety pin
iron
straight pins
scissors
sewing machine
The Pattern found HERE
If you would like a 2T size of the pattern simply print it out and then copy it at 80%

Getting ready to sew: Print out the pattern pieces, tape together where necessary, following cutting instructions, I like to iron all my pieces once cut. You will need to make your own straps. Mine were SUPER long, I might suggest doing a bit smaller ha! I just cut long strips of fabric, ironed over the long raw edges then ironed the entire thing in half lengthwise, then I sewed up the open side. Easy Peasy. I also did the extra step or serging the arches that would eventually become my leg holes. I did this before sewing anything else, I think it makes the process easier, but thats just me. If you don't have a serger don't worry at all and don't even bother doing a zig zag stitch ;)

Now that you have everything ready lets get going!!

On Carmens romper I made little pleats by lining up the pleat lines on the pattern and stitching. I did not do this on the 2T size, it was not necessary.

I wanted to make sure that the romper didn't look like a sac on Evie so I added the extra step of sewing a loop of elastic all the way around the waist. Cut a length of elastic a little under half the length of your waist. Start at one side of the waist and topstitch it in place all the way around the waistline pulling the elastic as you sew.

The elastic will naturally coil back up gathering the waist.

Keeping your romper wrong side out we are going to hem over the leg holes creating little pockets for elastic to thread through.

Once you have hemmed them feed a small length of elastic through and all the way around. I tied the ends together but you can stitch them if you like. Let them slip back into the hem and stitch closed your little hole. Repeat on the other leg band. For Awesome pictures and instructions for this part click HERE on Dana's tutorial. Why mess with a good thing right?
All done!!

Now watch your cutie patootie march around enjoy a comfy little romper!!

Have fun with fabric selection and strap colors!!

Scrap Your Stash: BHLDN Knock Off

2011-06-02T22:03:00.000+09:00

I am really excited to be part of Susan's at "Living with Punks" scrap your stash series! Everyone knows a huge part of my sewing is using what you have and saving every piece so this was right up my alley! My actual problem was narrowing down what scrap project I wanted to make! (There are a few I will be doing this summer but they have to wait until I can get specific supplies). With my little sister getting married this summer I have been pouring over wedding sites and of course a personal favorite is Anthropologies BHLDN. I was looking at their table decor and saw THESE fabulous fabric napkin rings:

Lightening struck and the internet stood still (literally our power went out) and I knew it was PERFECT!! Pretty sure $5 a napkin ring was about $5 to much ha! I grabbed some of my scraps and went to town.

How cute could these be for any family picnic, sunday dinner, classing up a birthday or if you have a TON of scraps a wedding?

So if you would like to learn how to make my BHLDN knock off napkin rings hop on over to Living With Punks or click learn more. And if the thought of rolling paper or fabric napkins makes your tummy turn you can always use them as cut little wrist cuffs ha!!

What you will need:

Small scraps of fabric (I think you could make a whole set out of a fat quarter alone)

Twine, ribbon or twill tape for your loops

Buttons for embellishing

a scrap of medium interfacing

an iron

Roll up your rectangle and wrap around your loop, looping it up and around the button.

Taddah!! So easy right!!!

I am so excited to make a bunch of these for Evie's birthday! Fabric stores of America HERE I COME!!

Thanks Susan for letting me be a part of such a genius series!!!

Wild Thing

2011-06-01T20:36:00.000+09:00

Evie has never had a haircut. Yeah. She will be two next month and we have never cut her hair. When we moved here to Timor she was only 4 months old.

The only trip we have taken off the island to a place that had a salon was in Italy and at that point she didn't have enough hair to cut :)

I have been asked how I get her hair in braids, or piggy tails etc. and it is honestly because if I do not put her hair in some sort of "tie" she goes around looking like the shaggy dog (in a super cute little girl way)

With going on our big family vacation in two weeks I thought it was high time she get a hair cut (that, and her dad asking pretty much everyday when I will cut her hair and Che Che actually jumping and clapping when I mentioned it ha!).

Now the problem is, how in the world do you cut little girls hair? I don't mean myself by any means, we are taking her to the one Australian who cuts hair even though I must admit I will be paying more then I will EVER pay for a child's hair cut ughhh.

What I mean is she has such thin, uneven hair with a cow lick that comes all the way from the back of her head. Do any of you have any advice? Fun websites with cute suggestions on it?

I am so nervous about it I feel kinda silly. But as cute as she is:

This hair has got to be tamed! Because when you see this wild thing coming at you from behind the cozy coupe,

you get a little scared ha! Thanks for any suggestions, oh and Evie would thank you too, that is when she is done running me over with the coupe.

Making Your Pattern: "Digitizing your Pattern"

2011-05-30T21:27:00.000+09:00

Quick reminder that the To The Line Knock off pattern is available to print HERE on my Scribd shalf.

I should mention that if made as is would result in a dress sized "4".

I think the majority of people who have asked me questions about making patterns have asked how I make my patterns digital. For a while I didn't really want to share this info because I felt like it set my blog apart, having digital ie. not hand drawn, patterns. But I feel like that is a little lame and selfish of me. This method of making your pattern I just made up after fumbling around with photoshop for a few days. It does rely almost completely on Photoshop or Photoshop elements.

I have no idea how you would go about doing this without several of the elements that these programs offer. If you do not have either of these programs I would highly suggest looking into Photoshop Elements. It is a great entry level editing software that is SOOOO user friendly. There are some aspects of Photoshop elements that I wish Photoshop CS would adopt ha! It is much more affordable and you can see if you will use it enough to make the plunge to a Photoshop Suite! I also thought it would be helpful to have a reference with all the steps so you could simply print it out and have it next to you while you are trying to master the process. You can find the step by step printable HERE on my scribd shelf. Please note that this is not to be reproduced in any form without my WRITEN consent.

Lets get digitizing!!!

The first step is to scan all your pattern pieces into your computer so you have them available as "digital files" to work with. At this point it doesn't really matter their format. My scanner automatically transfers them to Adobe files and emails them to me. Jpegs will work perfect as well though. at this point, for organizations sake, I create a folder on my desktop for this particular pattern. In the end you will be left with two copies of each pattern page so it is nice to be able to save them all in one specified location, otherwise you will have a mess of documents all across your desk top ha! Again this is personal preference :) Once you have scanned all your documents open Photoshop.

Open one of the pages of your patterns (I tired to use one that was not to complex but covered all the steps)

Create a new layer by going to the "layer" tab at the top of the screen and selecting "New"

A dialogue box will pop up, just hit "yes" unless you are crazy fastidious and want to name your layer.

Select the paint bucket tool making the color white.

Paint the new layer entirely white by clicking anywhere on the new layer you just created

Go over to your white layer and reduce the opacity so you can see your pattern underneath.

Select your Pen tool (either manually or just push "p" on your keyboard)

Start at one end of your pattern piece and "click", go to the next corner and click again, a line will be drawn. Continue to click on corners, these will be all straight lines, we will go back and bend them momentarily. Click all the way around until you are back at the beginning. Click one more time on your first dot to "close" the line.

Right click on the pen tool and select the "adjust" pen tool. Click in the middle of lines that need to be bent. 3 dots should appear. Pull the center one in what ever direction you need the line to bend. You can also slide it up and down.

When you are done click on any other lines you need bending and do the same.

Once you have the outline the way you want right click in the center of your pattern and select "Define area"

This should turn the line into dots and make it sort of flash.

Select the paint bucket again only this time in a light gray. Click in the middle of the pattern.

Now using your text tool write all the text you need to in the various places.

Once you are done select your original layer.

Click the eye so that this layer is no longer visible.

Now you are going to flatten your image

When it asks you to discard hidden layers hit OK

You will now have your finished pattern piece!! I then save the pattern piece as a jpeg in the folder I designated. Now they are all in JPEG form. I prefer them in Adobe form though. I don't know if this is a MAC thing (the only comp. I have done this on) but when I go into the folder and open each jpeg I can then re-save it as an adobe doc. thus having two copies of each pattern piece. Adobe docs upload much faster to most hosting sites and are compatible across the board. So that is my method! I hope it is straight forward and helpful and fingers crossed makes more websites offering digital files. Of course my dream is that people would offer them for free but maybe that will remain a dream ha! Good luck!!!

Making Your Own Pattern: Part 1

2011-05-29T17:23:00.000+09:00

Oh dear what a doozy of a week we have had. A horrible stomach flu went through our family. I guess it was nice in that we all had it on separate days? Which basically meant there was a constant stream of towels and sheets to the laundry. When I finally came down with it? Well lets just say all of a sudden those first three months of pregnancy came vividly back ha! Then on this weekend it was our 9 year wedding anniversary! I thought I was well enough to go to dinner so we headed to one of the 3 "Nice" restaurants in Dili. Unfortunately mid way through I started feeling as if I was having one huge long contraction and was basically doubled over in pain. With dinner packed up and apple pie to go we headed home. Thankfully after a hot bath, a heating pad on the lower back and some sprite I was feeling better. Of course not until after I had gone through the list in my head of who I could possibly call for help (there are no OBGYN's or the like on the island) Needless to say I am feeling a bit more anxious to head back to the States and be near a Doctor. ANYWAY that is what has been keeping me busy all week. I have been dying to get these posts going because in a matter of days the computer/sewing machine will be packed up and ready for transport whoo hoo!
Now I am sure there are other (probably better) tutorials on how to make a pattern. I just wanted to share the rather random way I do it :) Making your own patterns, much like anything, gets easier the more you do it. The first time I "knocked off" a dress a few years ago I literally unpicked the entire thing, copied the pieces and then sewed it back together. I NEVER did that again, holy cow was that a ton of work (but it was a super cute dress ha!) As you do it you will get used to the repeating pieces you will find in most dresses. Once you find a sleeve you like you will find yourself using it over and over and not having to make a new pattern piece (Shabby Apple uses basically the same sleeve on A LOT of their dresses). This will mean an easier AND faster time. Since the Toe the Line dress is both straightforward and tricky at the same time I thought I would show you how I made the pattern for the back of the dress and you can get the general gist of how I do it. Honestly the front pieces took my a while to figure out but that is the fun of knocking off a dress! These dresses are gorgeous and if they were easy to make they wouldn't cost as much as they do or look as good. I would highly suggest going with something simple first like an easy wrap dress and then as your confidence grows branch out! If you begin with inexpensive muslin for the fabric you won't worry about waisting fabric and money and believe me you will learn a TON about sewing ha! If you would like to follow a long but have some concrete help you can now print out the Toe The Line Knockoff Pattern HERE. Or if you would just like to print it out and get a head start by cutting out your fabric there you go!
Using all those Measurements
If you haven't already you HAVE to have all your measurements taken before you start. Click HERE for a complete guise and handy printable table!
Now, since I have been doing this a while and know my body measurements pretty well I have moved on from muslin and just "go for it"unless the dress is particularly difficult. To be totally honest sometimes I just draw in chalk right on the fabric (as you will see below) The back of this dress is nice and straight forward which is great! If you own a Shabby Apple dress, or zoom in on the pictures you will notice that their dresses often use darts to create a beautiful silhouette, Toe The Line is no exception. Make sure to mark any darts you will make on your pattern. Just so you see what we are going for when I was done with my pattern piece it looked like this:

I started out by using my Back to waist measurement to draw a straight line. This would be the center of my back piece. This could also be considered the "fold" of the fabric. You really only have to draw everything on either one side or the other when you have a fold like this, but I did both in this just to be thorough.
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I then use my Back width to create a T across the top. This will be made into a nice dip shape later. I then use my shoulder length to create my shoulder lines.

You may need to measure from your top neck bone over to your shoulder blade so you know where to begin your shoulder line. (This would be another good measurement to write down).

Now I want to make a scoop neck in the back. Starting where the shoulder length begins I draw a nice slope down to meet the center back line. I then do the exact same arch on the other side.

Then I use half my waist measurement to draw a straight line across the bottom perpendicular to my center line. (I have no idea why only the typing showed up not the line).

I then take the measurement (which I totally should have included on the list) from right under my arm down to my waist. I prefer to do this straight down and then use darts to taper the fit. If you hate darts for some reason you could do it at an angle. I pictured it here with an angle just for simplification.

Now you are going to need to make your arm holes. This can be tricky when you are by yourself. I like to roughly measure the arch and then try to recreate the measurement. This is hard if you are by yourself. If you are by yourself use the measurement from the top of your shoulder to your under arm and add a generous amount for rounding and seaming.

Once I was done I transferred my pattern onto 8.5 X11 paper. I try to make sure to add a nice hefty seam allowance while doing this.

This is a rather sloppy one usually I try to do them nicely enough that if I HAD to I could leave it un-digital and people would still want to use it :) I try to make sure each sheet contains the name of the dress, the piece it is, where the fold is, cutting instructions and any darts, pleats etc.
Once digitized it will look like this:
(This is 3 pages merged together)

But digitizing your pattern once you make it is for my next post!!!
Hope this was clearer then mud ha!

Daisy Maisy Dress

2011-05-24T23:00:00.001+09:00

I am almost done compiling everything to move forward on the Toe the Line series but while you are waiting......
Also, I left it in the comments but wanted to make sure the people who wanted to know weren't left hangin'. Evie's jeans in the last post were from Zara Kids. If you are able to go to one or order online just keep in mind their sizes run large. Those jeans were 12-18 months, Evie will be two next month and they just now fit perfect. Thanks for all the kind comments about the last post I am right there with you and just LOVE that top! Thanks for all your sweet comments!!!

This dress was not in the plan or on my radar at all but then the other day I was browsing the new little girls dresses at Shabby Apple and I saw this one:

I immediately had to take the challenge to knock it off. And guess what? It is soooooo easy!!! I think I might have to make one for myself ha! (excuse Evie, she was in NO mood to be photographed ha!)

Ironically enough the first one I made was WAY to big for Evie. It ended up fitting Sawyers little friend Carmen like a glove so I would say the pattern you can print out is more of a 4T age range. I made mine without sleeves because I thought it would look super cute with a cardigan this fall and didn't want the bulk under. You could easily add them.

I love how it turned out... even if it meant getting dagger filled looks from Evie

The rosette in the middle was a lot easier then I thought it was going to be, especially if you use a soft suiting cotton/ dress shirting fabric.

I bet you can make it with fabric you have on hand! So instead of $42 it is free!

If you wanna go for a swing and get the pattern just click read more!

What You Will Need

3/4 yard soft white cotton (shirting looks great!)

1/2 yard fun fabric

1/4 yard corresponding fabric for the waist

A small piece of soft interfacing

two buttons

optional elastic

The Pattern

First of all sorry for the super poor quality of these pictures. I started sewing at 10pm not the best itme for light ha!

Once you have cut out your pattern pieces you will need a few more piece that there is not pattern pieces for. First you need to cut a nice looooong 4 inch wide strip of the white fabric. This will be used as the rosette. I like to get mine ready ahead of time so I ironed it in half then I serged the raw edges together. Then I ran a gathering stitch down the non-folded side. After ruffling it up I set it aside. Next I measured my cutie from her "high waist" down to her knee (or where you would like the skirt to hit). How wide it is depends on how fluffy you want the dress to be. The wider it is the fluffier or puffier it will be. I would make mine at least 1.5 times as long as your finished bodice waist. Once you have cut this go a head and set it aside. Your waist band we will cut in a little bit. Alright enough cutting lets sew!
Starting with your top front pieces lay them right sides together and pin.

I knew that the rosette would be heavy so I cut some soft interfacing that lined up with the neckline. This is optional but I felt like in the end it was a good idea. Once you have stitched the armholes and neckline turn everything right side out and iron. Now you are going to repeat the process with your four pack pieces. You have two options here, you can create button holes or you can slide two little elastic loops in between the layers of one side. Either way it will look good :)

Again turn them right sides out and iron them.

Now we are going to connect the front to the back. Lay your front piece right sides up. Lay your two bak pieces right sides down and line up the shoulders and sides and pin, then proceed to stitch across the shoulder pieces and on both sides. Once you are done turn everything right side out.

Now that you are done grab your ruffled strip. I started a little to the right of center and pin in place as you go around.

Stitch your first loop and remove pins. Now do a second loop inside the first.

Continue to pin and topstitch until you get towards the end. I then folded the end a bit and hand stitched it into place.

Now we need to make our bands. You will need to cut two wide strips. On my 3T dress I made these nice and wide on Evie's they were about 3 inches. In the end you want two complete circles. I first ironed over the raw edges of the bands.

Then I folded each band in half, right sides together so the ends met. I then stitched it into place. Now I had two circles with "finished" edges. The only tricky part is that you want the circle to be the exact same circumference as the waist of the top of your dress. Now, slide one band up over the bottom of the dress top on the outside and the other on the inside and pin into place all the way around. I didn't take a picture and I should have but in the back I overlapped just slightly the bottom of dress top where the two pieces meet. This ensures you will get them both and looks nice :)

Once you have topstitched around grab the rectangle you created earlier.

Now all you have left is the hem the bottom and attach your buttons!! (or sew your button holes if you went that route). Super easy right? I am soooo glad the second one fit Evie like a glove, and hopefully, when she is in a better mood I will get some fun pics ha! Have fun making your knockoff!!!

Color My Summer: The Baby in Red

2011-05-21T22:31:00.002+09:00

Of course we have to continue Evie's wardrobe (there are just a few more items ha!). I have been waiting and waiting to do this project for Color My Summer over at Kojo Designs! I have to say this has absolutely been one of my favorite series to be a part of. Stopping by every day instantly brightens my day, literally, my screen gets so bright ha! I adore Kristen and Jordan, their emails never fail to make me laugh out loud. They were so much fun to "compete" with on Project Run and Play and oh my goodness were their designs fantastic. When they emailed and asked me to take part in Color My Summer I was thrilled! Somehow I got super lucky and snagged the color Red. When I went to Jakarta there was a tiered ruffled dress that I was dying to recreate and this was the perfect excuse to come up with the Baby in Red top.

I am thrilled with how it turned out and how easy it was to make! I thought it would be a perfect little top to share on the summery and color filled Kojo Designs.

Since I was so close to the finale I wanted to make sure I did a super cool photo shoot. I built a little A Frame Tent and we headed to the rocky beach to fake a little girlie camp out

I loved the contrast of Evie's sea of ruffles and the grey sky. She was even good about wearing the little headband I made out of twill tape and little felt flowers. The back has a tiny strip of elastic so it is super comfy.

The top has a single button closer so it is easy on easy off.

I am absolutely making more of these in fun bright colors and have even thought about making one in rainbow color, how cute would that be? Now grab your munchkin and your measuring tape and lets get to work!

What you will need

1/2 yards cotton fabric

Tiny piece of Elastic

Button

Sewing Machine

Scissors

Measuring tape

The first thing you will need to do is measure your cutie. First measure around their "bust" for a lack of better word. Measure right up under their armpits all the way around. When you get your number make sure to add at least 2 inches for seams and wiggly room. This is going to be how wide your main rectangle is going to be and how long you need to make your 'neckline band' piece. Now measure where the center of their collar bone down to where you want the top to hit. Again add some for hemming etc. This is going to be how long your main rectangle is going to be. Now the last measurement you need is for your straps. measuring from the top of the front of your munchkins arm puts across the shoulder and back to the top of the armpits in the back. Now that you have all your measurements lets cut some fabric! You will need a main rectangle. Cut this using the two main measurements you took. I made mine flare out just a bit at the bottom since Evie has a fun little pot belly. Next lets cut the neck band. This should be long enough to go all the way around the main rectangle. How wide it is depends on how chunky you want the band to be. I cut mine so it was 4 inches wide. Next use your measurement for your straps and cut two straps as long as your measurement and again as wide as you would like them to be. Again mine were 4 inches. With the fabric that remains you are going to cut ALOT of long strips of fabric. Mine were as long as I could make them and 3 inches wide. I ended up using 8 strips. I serged one raw edge of all of the strips.

At this point I got my straps and neck band ready. I ironed over both long edges of the strips then folded them over again length wise and iron them. Topstitch the straps closed but leave the neck band open.

(I serged the ends of the straps but you don't have to) Now set these aside, we'll come back to them :)
Now comes a bit of monotony. You are going to hem and ruffle all those loooooonnnng strips of fabric.
If you serged one side then hem the other. Once hemmed stitch a gathering stitch the length of the strip on the opposite side of the hem. Repeat this for all of your ruffle strips.

Now take your main rectangle and hem the bottom. I wanted to make sure I topstitched my ruffles on nice and straight so I took a ruler and some fabric chalk and drew nice straight guide lines. This is totally optional but I think it helps :)

Pin your first ruffle on the right side of your fabric just on top of the hem you sewed earlier.

Topstitch it in place. Now repeat this process with all your ruffles with the top of the one you sewed previously being covered by the bottom of the next. Repeat until you have all your ruffles to the top.

Once you are done grab the neckband piece you ironed earlier. Slide the top of your tiered ruffles up in between the two ironed edges of your neckband. Pin in place and then topstitch

Now grab your two straps that you created earlier and pin them in place.

Your all done!!!! Now YOU:

go make a cute little ruffle top! Thanks Kristen and Jordan for including me in Color My Summer I have absolutely LOVED all the posts!

Measuring Yourself Correctly

2011-05-20T21:16:00.000+09:00

I am so excited that there was such a great response!!! I hope it is okay but I have gone ahead and made a pattern for the "Toe The Line" dress. I will be sharing it as soon as I finish using pieces of it for the "create a digital pattern" tutorial. That way you can follow completely along! The first step (and an extremely useful thing to have on hand for ANY seamstress) is finding your correct measurements. There are plenty of places you can find how to do some of these measurements but I will walk you through and extremely thorough measuring of yourself. It is based on a 1950's guide similar to THIS one. It is pretty crucial that you have a "partner in crime" while doing this. There are some measurements you just realistically cannot get accurately on your own. Plus then you can concentrate on your posture (crucial to goo measuring) and you don't have to worry about yourself sneakily pulling the tape just a tich tighter if you know what I mean :) In some pictures my tape is not perfectly straight or has twisted. Having another person measure you will prevent such things from happening. This can be a slightly time consuming process and once you have done it you want to make sure you keep track of your measurements. I have created a fun little sheet with all the different spots typed up and locations for you to enter your info. I also included places that when making a pattern your should include the indicated "ease" to make sure it sews up nicely. You can find this measurement worksheet HERE on my Scribd shelf.
Once you have printed it out grab your friend, a pen, a measuring tape and maybe some ribbon. Please forgive some of my duplicate numbering ughhh.
The first measurement I take is my waist. Several of your other measurements will be based on this location so make sure to get it right. Make sure it is not at your "high waist" but the thin part of your waist. (which is hard when you are totally preggers ha!) Once I measured my waist I placed a ribbon at this exact location.

This way I know I am measuring from the same spot every time. Try to avoid letting your tape slip:

Next up the bust. Make sure there is a finger between your bust and where the tape ends meet. This gives you some nice wiggle room.

Having another person measure you helps avoid this common mistake when measuring the bust:

Funny side story. If you go to Victoria Secret they are well trained at getting your perfect bust measurement. I went in one time and was shopping and one of the workers chuckled when I looked at a particular size and said "um, sweet heart do you want me to measure you so you get one that actually fits?" Yeah... as if shopping for under garments wasn't awkward enough for me ha! Anywho if you want a good one go there! This next one is commonly skipped but is a nice one to have to determine whether you chose the correct size in a pattern.

No one likes to do this next one but you HAVE to do it correctly or your outfits will always be a bit ill fitting. Do not pull the tape tight, be generous, a dress that fits like a glove will look way better then a dream sized dress you have to stuff yourself into. (oh and try to avoid having the tape twist like it is on me ha!)

Even though it says 6, number five measurement should be:

The next measurement will help to ensure when you sit down your skirt doesn't rip ha!

When taking this next measurement make sure you tell the person helping you where you generally like your skirts to hit. I like them right above my knee.

Next find your collarbone and follow it down to the center of your neck.

Now do the same thing in the back.

Alright this next one is fairly impossible to take correctly on your own. As you can see from my sad sad attempt to do it ha! The measurement should go from sleeve to sleeve across your shoulder blades, much higher then seen here.

Now we will repeat in the front. ** Evil Glare at person helping you is optional**

This is also a pretty tricky one to get on your own:

Now continue to your wrist

The next measurements are for pants or long dresses. When measuring for pants remember the longer you can make them (without stepping all over them) the more flattering they will be. Also consider what kind of hem you like, I like mine chunky so I add some length.

I probably went a little too high in this picture for this measurement. When it says center of neck in means center of circumference not height.

Next you will measure the largest part of your arm.

This last one may seem like an odd measurement but it really helps to make sure pants fit correctly when you sit down.

Once you have them all written down I put mine in a plastic page protector so I don't accidentally throw it away and it last longer. I use it when I buy a pattern and am wondering what size to make, making my own patterns etc. Hopefully this was helpful! You will certainly use it making your own patterns!

How did she do that?

2011-05-18T10:19:00.000+09:00

I have recieved lots and lots of emails asking questions about how I make patterns. They run the gammut from how do I knock off a dress to how do I make the actual digital pattern.

Toe The Line by Shabby Apple

I have been answering these q's one at a time until I today when I recieved a super sweet email from a long time reader who sews with a group of Military wives. I am a SUCKER for military wives. I have sooooo been there and would honestly bend over backward for anything a military momma asked. Her group asked how to mimic a particular dress. Well I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to walk you lovely readers through my entire process AND let you pick the dress you want recreated in an "inspired by" dress!!

Overboard by Shabby Apple

I figure I have one more BIG project like this in me before they pry my seing machine from my fingers to pack it. (Is it odd that I laid it in the suticase to see if I could just pack around it? ha!)

Green with Envy by Shabby Apple

This would probably be a week long process with a post dedicated to measuring yourself correctly and where to measure, creating the pattern pieces with your measurements, making the dress and then making the digital pattern.

Le Petite Linen dress by Down East Basics

I now this sounds daunting (just typing it I feel a bit quesy) and it took me a long time to figure this out and work out kinks so don't worry if you're first crack at it leaves you with a dress that looks like a potato sack. I wanted to know how much interest there would be in this though? I don't want to bore ya'll. If you would like to see this happen leave me a comment and let me know which of the dress in this post you would like to see me "attempt" to recreate and I will get to work! And maybe there might even be a giveaway at the end!

Also just a brief side note:
1. While I like to think of myself as a pretty adept semstress, even after serging etc, in the end a dress you purchase from a retailer like Shabby Apple and Down East Outfitters is always going to be higher quality. They use professional grade machines, thread etc. So if you are looking for a dress that you will be able to hand down to your daughter you might want to make the splurge. I have yet to purchase a dress from Shabby Apple that I haven't been thrilled with. I am always a bit apprehensive due to the price tag but the minute I put it on I always feel it is totally worth it.
2. I wanted to reiterate that I am 100% fine with readers making and selling items created using my patterns on Etsy or other sites. More power to yah! I do however retain all rights to the patterns themselves and they can in no way be reproduced or sold.

Sea Glass Tunic

2011-05-16T12:48:00.000+09:00

I promise only a few items of house keeping today:
1. Not only was I crazy excited about being on Grossgrain, but Evie's Bali Bliss outift was also on UCreate! That is like being on Oprah and The Martha Stewart show in one week for me ha! Thanks ladies for taking the time to mention my fav outfit ;)
2. I know a lot of ya'll are totally annoyed by having to download the pattern pieces one at a time instead of as a whole document. This will change in four weeks when I have high speed internet. For now the only way I can upload a document is by shrinking it significantly and then loading it one by one. I have tried int eh past to do more then one at a time but with the electricity cutting in and out I have never been able to do it grrrrrr. Sorry for the frustration.
3. I get asked often about on Etsy store. While I would love to have one it is illegla for me to send anything through the diplomatic mail that I would make money on. So maybe when I get back to the states? For now if you are looking for premade headbands like the ones I make Evie, check out Alexie's store HERE. Her headbands were made using my tutorial and are WAY cuter then mine and you don't have to do any of the work ha!

Alright, back to Evie's wardrobe!!! I am doing a photoshoot this evening for her outfit for Color My Summer that I am positively giddy about. When I showed my hubby he actually said "Wow, that looks professional" ha! That is what I am going for right? :) But for now I wanted to share Evie's Sea Glass Tunic that I made to go with her Sea Glass shorties :)
The Sea Glass Tunic
I am a major sucker for Tunics. I knew when I started Evie's wardrobe it would have to have one. But I also hate being unoriginal and if there is something out there cuter then what I had in mind well then, I just have to go with it. So, I made Evie's tunic based on Jessica from Me Sew Crazy's out of this world adorable Chloe Tunic which can be found HERE. I made a few changess to make it more suitable for Evie and Timor.

Off came the sleeves

and in came the waist with a drawstring pocket

I loved the embroidery detail. I felt like that MADE the tunic. I don't have (and couldn't find on the island) and embroidery hoop so I just did this all free hand. (I literally followed the cuties from play spot to play spot embroderying ha!).

I wanted it to POP so I did it in a funky orange. Which I don't know how well it actually worked but I think it looks cute :) The fabric is by Amy Butler and it was my MAJOR splurge in Singapore. Yup, I broke down and bought a half a yard. When paired with the Sea Glass shorties Evie looks positively comfy. No sweaty baby here! Now off to find some Sea Glass!!!

Going Green

2011-05-14T20:43:00.001+09:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Believe me it wasn't by choice. We have had a series of long city wide power outages here on the island. Thank heavens the Embassy pays for us to have a generator, so while I think it is mildly annoying to have my sewing machine suddenly turn off then back on over and over during one project, everyone else has no power what so ever. What it does mean is that our internet provider is with out power... yeah bummers. I was so excited to log on yesterday and get a post up, but Blogger was offline? Was that just me? Anyhow this week has been a BUSY one for us Crawford's. Today was Sawyers Fifth birthday party. When it was over I was so tired I zonked for two hours and almost cried when I woke up because I just wanted to stay asleep.... so it was a success ha! More on that later though. The thing that has kept me busiest this week was helping plan and execute all the USAID and Embassy staff along with the American Seabee's attachment planting trees at ten different schools through out Dili proper and just outside. A lot of work went into this by a lot of people and I was thrilled at how well it turned out. I volunteered Chris and I to go to the farthest away school in a little suburb over the mountain called Hera.

One of the reasons we wanted this career so much is so that our children are introduced not only to other cultures but socio economic situations. We want to raise children who understand and are grateful for how blessed they are so this was another perfect opportunity for them to serve others and be reminded how fortunate they are.

The Seabees are currently rebuilding the school because it was at one point literally a pile of rubble. Ironically enough the only thing still intact was the sign created by the first group of American soldiers who had constructed the school in 2002.

The current Seabees edited it a bit to reflect the reconstruction date. Unfortunately they have been battling horrible monsoon like rain, at one point the bridge to the school completely washed away so the process has been a slow one. There were massive puddles all over the school grounds that he boys had a blast tromping through in their boots.

Sawyer gets a bit overwhelmed by the "celebrity" like crowd that forms around him whenever we bring them to events like this so I let him wander off a bit. He went to find out how deep a puddle was.

In the process he lost a boot and the cutest Timorese girl gently helped him hop out of the puddle and put it back on. He was a bit embarrassed so he came back over to me with a mini parade following behind him.

The school currently doesn't have any doors or window coverings. Which means school is cancelled during poor weather and the kids sit in sweltering classrooms filled with bugs when it isn't raining.

The drop out rate is absolutely shocking with the majority of the students that drop out doing so before fourth grade.

USAID is currently doing a study to figure out what we can do to combat this. When I showed Sawyer the classroom he whispered "I don't like this school. It is so sad"

In the car on the way home it broke my heart when he asked if we could raise some money to buy the school some toys. The night before I had made a ton of cupcakes to hand out. I had been told it was a really small school, but I was no where near the amount I needed. I was later told that 300 students is a tiny school. Most have over a thousand on only a handful of classrooms and have to split the school during morning and afternoon sessions and even saturdays. Luckily I also brought hundreds of Mentos candies which Cheryl, the director of USAID was great about handing out.

I was really surprised at how Evie reacted. I thought she would be super clingy but she was right in the mix with the other kids asking for Mentos.

That is until someone brought her a baby pig to look at. Then she went wild chasing the poor thing all over the place.

Once all the children had arrived the ceremony began. A few short speeches were given and then the first tree was planted. Cheryl was kind enough to ask Sawyer to help she and a local student plant the first tree.

Finn helped a student and the Seabee's commander and student plant another.

Shovels were scarce but the ground was so wet it didn't matter.

Finn told me the tree smelled yummy

At first the other children just watched.

But once the "ceremonial" trees were planted each child who wanted to got a tree to plant.

They were so excited about it.

They were great about hauling the trees around and digging holes.

It was at this point that Evie started loosing it so I took her to the car to cool down and have a snack.

There were a group of kids sitting on a wall by the car. I thought maybe I could sneak them some of the cupcakes without disappointing the kids who were, well doing what they were supposed to, planting trees ha!

They were so excited!

But then it became a mob scene and I was literally getting pushed into the back of our car. I probably should have listened to Chris and just kept them. But the kids were really good about it in the end and even posed with me for a shot :)

It was such a great morning being with so many darling kids.

I promise there will be a fun sewing post tomorrow, I just had to share this fun day we had planting trees. And just because they are soooo cute I will end with these two girlies

Sailing Away....

2011-05-10T14:15:00.002+09:00

I took the entire weekend off for Mothers Day so if you are waiting for an email I promise I will get on it :) Hope yours was absolutely lovely and filled with glittered covered cards from your kiddos!

To celebrate Mothers day my friend Jeanne organized a sailing trip! I was really excited because this was something I had wanted to do for a while but you have to do it in a big group otherwise it is insanely expensive. The fun group of us from over 8 countries (always love how diverse the group is) set sail at 3:30 in the afternoon.

I wish I had gotten a pic of our sail boat, it was gorgeous. But being panicky about having my camera I double freezer ziplock bagged it in my carry on and couldn't get it out fast enough. I figured the ziplock bags would give me the five seconds necessary to throw myself overboard after my bag if it went in. But here I am pushing my belly out as a joke at the front of the boat (Aft? Stern?), my friend Krista told me I needed to look pregnant, check.

We sailed through Dili harbor and out around the Christ statue

They served little Hors d'oeuvre (spelled the French way-- I gotta learn sometime!) along the way and we brought lots of yummy drinks and the conversation was fantastic! Plus I had fun listening in on some of my friends speaking French. Didn't understand a word but it made my ears excited for Paris.

krista, steve, jeanne, toby

Once we got to back beach we stopped so we could snorkel. This is a great spot, but unfortunately the sight on land was pretty sad.

We have no idea why but they were slashing and burning the mountain side.

Usually they only do this in areas they are going to farm and Back Beach is definitely not that place, so we don't really know what was up. But it was cool watching the "Bombedaros" fight it.

Some people stayed and relaxed on the boat but Chris and I jumped in. The water was gorgeous and so clear but to be honest I spent the majority of my time trying to tell myself not to think about crocs.

I tried to stay close to Jeanne's hubby Silas since he had a spear gun ha! I was a bit worried about how we were going to get back on the ship since we had simply flung ourselves over the side, but when it was time to go a ladder magically appeared :)

This was the little "dingy" that was pulled behind us and used in case any of us were taken off by the current while snorkeling, which was actually very strong. I was tempted to ask if I could sit back in it on the way back in, it sounded fun to be tugged.

But I am glad I didn't though because I would have missed the most amazing sunset. It started out just sort of getting dark

and I was a little bummed thinking we weren't going to get any color. So for a while I took some other random pictures since I didn't think I would get a good sunset shot. You know of totally weird things like a pile of rope

and lots and lots of the sails

None of which turned out all that great. Then my friends hubby said "Kelly do you not want any of the sunset?" I sat up and BAM! This was what I saw:

So of course I nearly killed myself running to the front of the boat to get a better shot

These are straight out of the camera (I have no clue how to edit a sunset anyway). The colors were amazing!!! After enjoying the sunset we sailed slowly back to port in the dark. It was soooo relaxing sitting back and talking while the boat swayed. I told Chris I think we should retire to a yacht. He told me that there is an old saying that the two happiest days of a boat owners life are the day he buys the boat and the day he sells it. I guess that is a no :) It was a lovely mothers day gift though.... even if it didn't involve the munchkins, just us two.

Maternity High Waisted Skirt at Be Sweet

2011-05-06T22:39:00.000+09:00

Amanda over at Be Sweet is doing a fantastic week full of Mothers day inspired crafts! I was so excited when she asked me to participate. I needed something to get me in the Mothers day mood... okay to actually remind me that Mothers day was this weekend. It is really hard to keep track of American holidays when you are out of the states and I would have been mortified if I missed the chance to gush to my mom and mother in law about how fabulous they are! Any who since I am preggy I wanted to make something for us mommys who are stretching our waistbands and need a little boost to our wardrobe. I get so sick of my maternity clothes and wanted something fun and usually none maternity, something I love, a high waisted skirt.

I just love them and am always bummed that I can't wear them
while preggers. I decided to set out and make one that is comfy to
wear, well at least until you are REALLY REALLY showing.

You can dress it up with a nice belt and boots

Or make yourself a cute belt out of fun notions

This skirt is extremely simple with no need for a pattern and whips up
super fast! Be Sure to hop over to Be Sweet and check out the fantastic line up Amanda has going, you'll love it I promise!

What you will
need:

A heavy weight fabric of your choice. I purchased 2 meters and didn't
use all of it

Straight Pins

Zipper

Sewing Machine

Measuring tape

Scissors

The first step in making this skirt is to take some measurements. Once
you have decided how high you want your high waisted skirt to be find
that point on your waist. Measure your waist at that point. Add at
least an inch or two so that you have some extra for your zipper. This
is going to be the length of your waistband. You then need to decide
how wide you would like your waistband. You will be cutting it on the
fold so keep this in mind. Also keep in mind that you will be ironing
over the raw edges so make sure to add some extra for that. One thing
you make you feel better as you do this is you can't get it wrong.
This is as wide or as thin as you like. If you cut it and it is a bit
wide you can always iron more under :) Once you are done you should
have a nice long rectangle. If you are making a preggy skirt, to
add comfort we are going to fold our band in half so that we can cut a
nice slight arch so that when it is open you will have a equal arch
from one side to the other. (If you are not skip this step)

When you are done take your band to the ironing board. Iron over the
raw edges.

Set your band aside. Now we are going to make the main portion of the
skirt. If you plan on doing large pleats like I did this is going to
take A LOT of fabric. My main skirt portion was 2 meters across and
3/4 a meter long. Now the fun part, making pleats.

Alright only two easy steps left. You will need to sew in your zipper.
I won't go over how to do that because there are countless Youtube
videos that do a much better job :) Finally you will need to hem your
skirt. I would suggest trying it on and placing a pin at the spot you
would like your hem to hit then you can easily hem it up
:)

Easy peasy right? I am four months preggy and I think I will be able
to wear this for at least another month and then definitely right
after giving birth. Now this may not seem like a long time to wear an
outfit but if you have ever been preggy you totally know how it is to
have something new to wear every now and then :) I hope you can make
your own fun spring skirt and thank you so much Amanda for letting me
pop over! Happy Mothers Day Ladies!

Bali Bliss: Grosgrain guest

2011-05-05T21:58:00.000+09:00

I am positively GIDDY to be over at Grosgrain today. I have been following Kathleen for so long I don't even remember when I started! When we both took a photography workshop together I was too timid to introduce myself, I just slunk around standing next to her hoping some genius would rub off.... that sounds creepier then it actually was ha! Anyway, I have been saving this particular pattern for a long time waiting for just the right moment. I was going to save it For Sewing In No Mans Land one year anniversary but I thought Grosgrain called for my favorite! That's what this is, my favorite outfit I have made my Evie (my 18 month old girl). Because of my location on a small island close to Bali I have been heavily influenced by Balinese fashion. Light, airy, cotton and super super comfy.

When Evie wears it she looks blissfully free and cool, so I named it the Bali Bliss outfit.

The pattern can be found and printed out HERE on my Scribd account. It is for an 18 month old and will need to be enlarged using a copy shop if you would like it in a larger size (someday I'll get some pattern software ha!) I used a soft organic cotton in light purple for this particular one

But she also has the outfit in bright blue, black and white ha! Told you I love it :)

This particular one has the top velcrod together while the others have buttons down the front. The back is safe :)

I have found that with an 18 month old, the trickiness of getting buttons off is probably better ha!

So, come on over to Grosgrain and lets make this outfit!

Lets make this outfit!
PS while you are over there grab my button and share the free pattern month love!

What you will need:

1.5 meters fabric (cotton works best)

Very thin Elastic or elastic thread

Embellishment for pant bottom and sleeves if you like

Wide elastic for pant top

Buttons or velcro

Sewing Machine

Scissors

Straight pins

Iron and ironing board

Pattern pieces all cut out

Alright lets get sewing. What I have found makes this outfit go much more smoothly and quickly is to iron the many "bands" that go along with it, you can wait and do this as you go if you prefer. You should have one long back band and two shoulder bands. You should then cut an extra back band that you can trim to fit the two front pieces later. All these bands once cut need to have their raw edges ironed over, then ironed again in half lengthwise to create a sort of bias tape like band:

I then iron my two pant legs and pant center so the seams are nice and crisp. Once you have ironed to your hearts content we can start sewing! Grab your two shirt front pieces. You are going to want to hem the armpit portions and the inside raw edges.

At this point I attached my velcro. You do NOT have to do your velcro or buttons right now. They can wait until last if you prefer.

Repeat this process with the other side. Which should be a TINY little band.

Now we are going to repeat this process on the back piece

Take your shoulder pieces and and stitch the ironed over edge so that you have a finished band. Then:

This should all be on the wrong side of the shirt....

Repeat this process on the back, again on the wrong side.

Grab your two shoulder ruffle pieces

All you need to do now is hem the bottom! If you would like to add embellishment on the shoulders or bottom of the shirt obviously feel free, it looks super cute!
Now on to the pants. I used some pictures for this part of the tutorial from the black pair and white pair of shorts I made, so please excuse the color change ;) If you haven't already cut your pant legs, then hem.

I totally forgot to take a picture of this part but it is so easy. If you have elastic thread shirr one line right above your hem. This will gather up the bottom. If you do not have elastic thread, take a very thin elastic and stretch it from one side of the pant leg all the way across to the other. You don't want to over stretch it just enough that it will bounce back after sewing. Attach the end of the elastic to the end of the wrong side of the pant leg just above the hem by doing a back and forth stitch. Now attach the thin elastic by puling it as you sew, stretching it just so. Then back and forth at the end. The black pants were the first I made and I made the mistake of adding the thin elastic after sewing up the side seam. It is much better to do it now, believe me :)

Now we are going finish the top! Gather all the way around the top of the pants.

Now we are going to attach the front and back bands. When ironing the front band you want the long raw edges and short raw edges so that the entire thing is finished. First grab your "back" band though:

(ignore the drawstring)

You are all done!!!

Unless you want to make a fun matching headband ha! Hope you hope over to No Mans Land to see some other fun patterns! Thanks so much Kathleen I am honored beyond belief!

Sea Glass Shorties

2011-05-03T22:08:00.000+09:00

Everywhere I look I am seeing little bloomer/ balloon shorts. I think they are SUPER cute and admit I have bought Evie a pair or two. I wanted a pair that was a bit longer and made out of linen though so I went to work and came up with the Sea Glass Shorties.

I also made Evie's shirt but that is for another post :) Like I said all the shorts I bought Evie were pretty short. I thought it would be cute to have some that hit right below the knee.

You can TOTALLY make yours shorter.

They are super comfy and since they are made out of linen extremely light and breathable.

The waistband is elastic in the back and has a cute little drawstring in the front for easy on and off.

What you will need

1 meter fabric

A small strip of elastic

Safety pin

Sewing Machine

Scissors

A pair of pants to use as a pattern

Lets get started! Take your pattern pair of pants and fold them in half making sure all your seams are nice and crisp. You need two front panel pieces and two back panel pieces.

Now if we were doing a normal pair of shorts we would follow our pattern pair, but to make the bubble shorts we need a lot more fabric :)

You now need to cut 2 bands, one for the back and one for the front. Both need to be cut with the long edge on the fold. Measure your cuties belly and add at least an inch or two for leeway. You can make them as wide as you like just keep in mind you are going to iron over the raw edges.

(sorry for the dark picture, sewing at night again ha!)

Set these bands aside. Now you are going to make two more bands for the legs. Measure your munchkin at the location you want the bands to hit. Again add a bit for leeway. Again iron over the long raw edges. Do not worry about the short edges. Now set them aside.

Take one front piece and one back piece and line up the straight edges, pin in place. Repeat with the second set. Sew up the straight line connecting the front to the back.

When you are done iron the seams. Now you are going to sew a gathering stitch across the bottom of the leg.

Once you are done grab one of your leg bands. Slide the gathered portion of the leg in between the two flaps of the leg band and pin in place. Topstitch across.

Now fold your shorts so that right sides are together and stitch up the little arch.

Now we are going to stitch together the two pant legs. Match up the center seams and pin out from there.

Turn your pants right sides out.

Now we are going to attach the back band. Find the center of the back of your shorts and line it up with the center of your back band. Slide the gathered portion of the shorts up in between the two parts of the back band and pin in place. Pin out from there.

Once you have topstitched it in place, we are going to thread the elastic through.

Now before you attach the front band you have a choice to add drawstrings and or not. If not you can skip this part. Find the center of your front band. Create two button holes on just the front flap of your band on either side of the center. This way you can thread your draw string through (I used twill tape)

Whatever you choose to use as a drawstring you need to have enough that it reaches all the way to one side of the front band. Pin the end of your draw string in place on either side. Now, find the center of the front of your pants and line it up with the center of the front band and pin in place. The front band will fit up and over the back band so that there is a nice finished edge.

Once you have topstitched your band (both across the bottom and on either short edge, to keep it in place over the back band).

They look so comfy I am honestly thinking about making myself a pair :) Maybe with a nice stretchy waistband? Hope your cutie is comfy!

6 week ticker

2011-05-01T20:16:00.001+09:00

We are down to 6 weeks more of living in Timor. I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. Unfortunately this means being crazy buys trying to get everything ready. We won't see the majority of our "stuff" until we arrive in Paris next year so it is odd trying to decide what is essential (sewing machine, serger etc) and what can wait (bottles of sand collected from various beaches). I also have to admit that I have been pouting a bit this weekend. I don't know if you watched, but this Friday there was a little wedding in Britain. I was really excited to watch with several of my girl friends all decked out in fascinators and fancy dresses. I had made, and planned on blogging about the dress I made that was based on this pattern from Burda Style:

Click on above link for more pictures and for the pattern

I made mine out of this cool (but tricky to sew) tier died chiffon. I was planning on making different sleeves so that I didn't have to wear a shirt under but I just ran out of time and had to go with the pattern. I loved how flowy and light it was. After shoveled myself full of cucumber sandwiches and queen cakes I sat back to watch the event. We were then joined by some more of our friends. One in particular is a big tease. I mean literally she teases relentlessly. I am pretty used to being teased about sewing and crafting etc. I actually make a concerted effort not to talk about the sewing blog because it usually means getting teased. I know it is always in good fun but it can get old you know? Anywho the teasing about my dress (aka why would I make a "maid marion dress") coupled with teasing about not being a morning person, coupled with being told I don't have a life because I knew who one of the news castors was, ended up getting to me and I went home and had to whine to the hubby about it. As my Dad says I "cut off my nose to spite my face" and refused to take pictures of the dress and stayed away from my sewing machine all weekend. Ohhhhh I showed her right? No. I was just being silly. I am sure a second thought wasn't given to me after leaving the party and I let myself focus on it all weekend. It is funny how many times I have to learn this lesson. Now I am sorry I wasted an entire weekend and instead of making the several projects I was excited for I only made temporary dinning room chair covers to keep them clean until we move (BORING! Ha!)

I did however want to share some cute pictures I snagged of some locals at the Governors Palace. I was driving away after taking pictures of a friend receiving a medal from the President when I saw this stroller packed full of little kiddos

I swerved over and hoped out and asked if I could take a picture. The "care takers" aka older siblings thought this was hilarious

Then they hauled what I thought was a little baby out of the back of the stroller and told me to take a picture of her. She was actually a little person (is that the PC term still? I never feel like I am using the correct term and don't want to offend anyone). She was so cute and sweet and really excited to see her picture.

When we were all done they loaded back up their stroller and headed down the insanely busy street, there are no side walks/ cross walks in Timor so I watched in fear as they ran comicazi across the street. I get lost sometimes in a "daydream" about what their lives must be like. Where they are going, what they will eat that day etc. It is like when I was little and would look up at planes and create an entire story for a person on the plane. Hopefully they got where ever they were going safely and had a big dinner that night. I won't lie that I am pretty excited to go back to the order and cleanliness of the states, but I will miss the constant reminders of how blessed we are. I hope your weekend was a fabulous one!

The "Eating Me Alive" Shirt

2011-04-26T17:27:00.000+09:00

When I made THIS top for myself I knew I would eventually make one for Evie. It was just to easy not to! I don't know if it is Katy of No Big Dill's "orange" theme lately or the fantastic spring fabric my mom sent me but I knew I would be making it in the fiery orange jersey that a fantastic reader sent me. I followed the exact same method that I laid out in THIS tutorial except I added a second ruffle that was thinner then the first...this second layer may have been overkill.

While I think it turned out pretty cute it does sort of look like it is eating Evie alive, hence the name :)

I was soooo excited to take pictures of Evie in the new Button Up Bloomers I made to match the shirt (pattern can now be found HERE). I thought it would be a cake photo shoot since she loved wearing her first pair. Unfortunately Evie was in NO mood to wear anything I made for her this morning. When I finally wrestled her out of her jammies she ran to the little pile of clothes I had made, picked all three items and threw them while yelling "NO!!!!!" Then looked at me and added "Ever!" I didn't even know she knew that word! I should have seen it coming, she did poop herself awake at 3am then demanded to watch Shaun the Sheep and spent a good half hour crying in her crib yelling "Sheeeeeeep!" She literally screamed so much about putting on the bloomers and head band that I finally bagged it and thus I only have this very poor picture to share of the would be outfit (taken as Evie bolted down the crumbling Dili sidewalk and I panicked)

She gladly put on her skinny jeans that make her adorable diapered bum look mammoth ha! We crossed the street to the beach to snap some picks. Evie immediately plopped down and started shoving sand in her mouth

I thought maybe if I moved her onto a rock it would curb the dirty item eating, but then she just switched to eating rocks

When I took the rocks out of her hand she decided she was done

On the walk home I tried to take one last full body pic... it didn't come out well

I was REALLY excited about putting one of my new labels on the shirt though!!! While I was in Jakarta we of course frequented the Myestic the HUGE fabric mecca I talked about previously. One of the notions shop made them for me in two days for a insanely affordable price.

I love that they are satiney and fold over so they have no raw edges. I am really interested to see how they wash up :) Hope if you make a cute little "Eating Me Alive" top and "Button Up Bloomers" outfit your cutie is more obliging then mine was this morning, but hey we all have our days right? :)
(PS just in case, Evie's shoes are Salt Water Sandals and her skinny jeans are Zara)

Butterfly Dress: The Pattern & a Tunic

2011-04-25T16:25:00.000+09:00

I feel badly that it has taken me so long to get this pattern up. Especially since it is one of the simplest ones of have done lately ha! I wanted to share a second outfit that I made for Evie using the pattern though and that meant another photo shoot ;) I have been really influenced by Asian fashion since moving here... Balinese styles in particular. I noticed the last time I was there that aside from their flowing light cottons and loose fitting clothing that they really used trim and bias tapes to the MAX. I thought it would be fun to use the Butterfly Dress pattern to make Evie a tunic where the bias tape plays a major role. The pattern can be found HERE on scribd.

I grabbed some Amy Butler Fabric and some soft grey cotton and went to town.

I made it in the exact same way I got through HERE except I added the large bias on the sleeves and the bottom of the dress.

I LOVE the flowing loose sleeves.

The easy on and off with only a single button closure in the back

I also added oversized pockets on either side.

With her comfy leggings she can do all the jumping, stooping and rock eating her little heart desires

The pattern is for a 24 month old and is the length you see in these pictures. If you would like it more dress length like the Butterfly dress seen here:

Just add a few inches on the bottom :) Happy sewing!

Back in Timor-and so excited

2011-04-24T23:18:00.004+09:00

We made it back to Timor! I must admit after getting up to go to the airport at 3 AM I kinda went into hibernation ha! Thank heavens I have a husband who can totally function on little to no sleep. I had to get sleep though because the month of May holds A LOT of fun posts. Not surprisingly they will mostly be based on my "Evie's wardrobe" theme except for the first, which will be on the cute blog "Be Sweet"

I will be sharing a maternity dress that I made to go a long with her week long theme of projects for Moms. It is super easy and pretty cute :) Next up I will be oh so nervously posting over at my all time favorite sewing blog Grosgrain!

Kathleen is debuting her whole new blog and I am THRILLED to be part of an AMAZING line up. Each contributor will also provide a free pattern! How fantastic is that! This is exactly the reason I started sharing blogging was to get more free digital patterns out there. Now there will be an entire month of free patterns from some amazingly talented women. You won't want to miss it!

Then I will be heading over to Me Sew Crazy to take part in a Sewing Remix. I was so excited when Jessica emailed me. I think of her as a kindred spirit of sorts since we are both sewing fiends who are dealing with the fun of being preggy too! Although she is ALOT closer to the finish line then I am :) Each participant will come up with a twist on a pattern they love and share it! I have to admit it was kind of nice to sew with a pattern again ha!

I am soooo excited for this! The ladies behind KoJo Designs are so wonderful. I love getting emails from them, checking out their fabulous creations and I LOVE how many fabulous guest bloggers they have. Hasn't The Sincerest Form of Flattery been fun to follow? I was pretty inspired and am totally psyched to take part in their next line up! I am going to be doing the color RED!!

There are one or two others that might be in the mix, but like I said a busy month! But that's the way I like it, I work better under pressure ha! I also have plenty of my own posts to share and lots of Spring patterns from Evies closet to get published.

I also thought it would be fun to share some of the fantastic outcomes from readers creating projects from Sewing in No Mans Land:

Meagan sent me a picture of the gorgeous headband she made for her adorable daughter:

(Seriously how lovely is that picture! Such a beautiful little lady!)

Terra over at Mama Says Sew made a super cute springy version of the Couture Cutie or "mullet" dress:

Sarah got together with some friends and they knocked out a bunch of the easy now sew tutu's!

Laura from Day Of Grace made her own Razzelberry Apron:

I hope I didn't miss anyone! I LOVE seeing creations you make so if you happen to snap a pic and don't mind taking the time to send it to me you would totally make my day! I hope you all had a very lovely Easter and spent lots of time with your family. I spent most of mine in awe at how overwhelmingly blessed I am, and I pray you had that same wonderful feeling!

Button Up Bloomers

2011-04-18T22:30:00.003+09:00

UPDATE: Pattern link is working wooo hooooooo!!!!

Ashley is the fantastic lady behind Lil Blue Boo... well she is half the fantastic team, Boo is pretty amazing herself! I had such a great time competing with her during Project Run and Play and was positively thrilled when she asked me to be part of her "What would you make challenge". Ashley asked several bloggers if she could send them some fabric (a kind they usually wouldn't use) and they would have to created something with it. I thought this would be awesome to be a part of and such a fun creative challenge. As readers you then get to enter for a chance to win 2 yards of the very fabric she sent us! I anxiously waited for the package. I received it the day before I left for Singapore and thus spent every night of the trip trying to come up with a cute enough idea for Lil Blue Boo! In the end I came up with an outfit I love, that I hoped fit the requirements to grace Ashley's cute site ic. cute, comfy and doesn't interfere with a child's playing.

The top is just a simple tie tank but the shorts, I am sooooo excited about the shorts.

It is kinda hard to see them because of the cute floral design of the fabric but they are all one piece!

They wrap around the back and then button with four buttons in the front

Since they are all one piece there are no seams to tug or hems to choke around a little chunky girls thighs, lots of comfort :)

Evie, who never wants to wear anything I make, loves these shorts, it was so refreshing to have her help me put something on her :)

She also apparently thought fists full of sand would be refreshing

I wanted to make sure you could make your own comfy summer Button Up Bloomers so I made a pattern and tutorial.

Before I launch into it though I wanted to say thank you to Ashley, this was such a fun challenge and it was great to stretch the creative muscles. I hope you guys like the shorts as well! They are insanely easy, even brand new sewers can make these! I hope you read more and make your own!

What You will Need

1/2 yard fabric

1/2 yard lining fabric

Four Buttons

Sewing Machine

Scissors

Needle and thread

The pattern for the button up bloomers can be found HERE on scribd. You will need to tape it together and then cut one on the fold from both your main and lining fabric. Once you have cut out both pieces lay them right sides together and pin all the way around (not across the top).

Try and make sure as best you can that everything lines up

Starting at one top edge stitch all the way around and up to the other side.

When you are done turn everything right sides out and iron really really well. If you did not use a stiffer fabric or a slightly stiffer lining you may want to topstitch all the way around. My lining was stiffer cotton so I sipped that step. Now we are going to make the hem for the elastic at the top. Fold over the top of the fabric twice and sew along the bottom to stitch it in place.

Once you have done this feed through your elastic using a safety pin.

Once you get through to the other side let the end of the elastic slip back into the pocket, but only enough that you don't see it, be really careful not to let it slip all the way back. Topstitch it into place. Repeat this process on the other side.

Now you can attach your four buttons

Create button holes in the corresponding places on the long flap.

And thats it!! Told you that it was easy. I am currently working on a pair in navy blue with white piping that I am REALLY excited about :) I am also excited to pair it with a comfy jersey shirt ala Lil Blue Boo ! Hope your buttoning up a pair soon!

Kids A Go Outfit

2011-04-15T11:37:00.000+09:00

This next outfit is one of my favorites, it is made as a copy cat from a boutique outfit I got Evie in Bali. The store was called Kids a go go :) I really wanted to share it before Easter because I think it would be so cute at an Easter egg hunt, maybe in a soft yellow color? The pattern I am sad to say is super small. Poor Evie was stuffed into this one ha! Fingers crossed we have a girl! I would defiantly enlarge it if you have a chunky babers or a child older then 12 months. I don't know exact rules for enlarging but I try to go 10% for each year. But really I just take a random guess, copy it then see how it looks. I know, not the best method ha! Anyway, this outfit it sooooo light and comfy and when ever Evie wears it she looks so cool and relaxed... well she did before it got way to small ha!

I used some pre embroidered fabric for the top front. I think this makes it look a little less homemade.

I just love how comfy those little pants are!

(I forgot to mention in the last post and got some emails, Evie's shoes are from Target.com)
This time Evie's reward was a strawberry milkshake.

Although to be honest I just REALLY wanted one of the restaurants Choco-Hazlenut milkshakes-- YUM! But she guzzled that strawberry one like crazy

While the sewing of this outfit is fairly straight forward and simple, I must warn you that the seam allowance on the top pieces is really small. If you would feel more comfortable you could always enlarge that page of the pattern and sew with larger allowances. The pattern is available HERE on scribd.

What you will need:

1 Yard fabric

Thin pieces of elastic

2 Buttons

Optional embellishment for pant legs

Iron

Sewing machine

Scissors

Needle and thread

Please ignore my stubby fingers in this next picture ha!

it doesn't show the loops in this picture but they should be there

Now is also a good time to sew on your two buttons

Lay your top to the side and take your two pant pieces

There you have it!!! Super easy right? And believe me even clothes picky Evie loves wearing this outfit!

How to make GOOD looking pants

2011-04-13T15:43:00.001+09:00

Alrighty day one! I am PUMPED! Especially starting out with this tutorial. I have been wanting to share how to make Evie's green pants for a while.

The problem is that I cannot find the correct material ANYWHERE. To make a good looking children's pair of pants there are a few crucial steps (that I will share with you today) the first being the right material. If you make pants with a flimsy cotton they are not going to look nice. They are going to billow and wrinkle and not hold shape. You need a thicker cotton like Poplin or Khaki that is stiff but still soft and washable. While the fabric shop here has enough polyester to fill your every odd desire it has nothing like this, and keeping to my own rule of not ordering fabric I have been a bit stuck. Thankfully I received a package last week from my Mom and sister. It has some sweet fabric in it and luckily it had a thicker cotton. Now it isn't really as thick as it needs to be and you can see in the pictures it doesn't lay quite as nice BUT it was a far cry closer then anything else I had (so thank you Mom!). So today I will be showing you how to make the green pants... in purple!

Now for my green pants I did take the extra step of lining them with a super light thin white cotton and I did make actual pockets, but for this tutorial to be more useful to more people I took those steps out :) Again I would stress that to make these just like the green pair use stiffer fabric. Now, even if you don't plan on making these pants I would totally suggest reading through the tutorial because I share some tricks on how to make your pants look less home made :)

Oh and by the way there is no way I could have done this photo shoot without the help of our "sponsor"

Even when I thought we had lost a few to the grass, Evie proved me wrong

Thank heavens for candy ha! Hope you read the rest!

Before we begin you should probably know what you need:

1 yard of sturdy cotton fabric

matching thread

scissors

small piece of wide elastic

sewing machine

hand stitching needle

Hot iron/ board

Now a few things to know before you start cutting. The thing that makes these pants look nice is the chunky hems both on the bottom of the legs and on the waistband. Make sure make sure make sure when you are cutting to add a good extra chunk at the top and the bottom for these. I did not on the top but there was a reason, I am all out of wide elastic and if you put thin elastic in a wide hem it looks awful. To get the best results us a wide hem at the top filled with a wide elastic :) Alright lets get going.

Take a pair of your cuties pants. Preferably a soft cotton pair not a denim pair. One of the BIG mistakes I see in the blogging world when making pants is using only on piece for all four pant leg pieces. This is just wrong, easy, but wrong. The front of your pants does not look like the back so why would you cut them the same? Using a more malleable pair of pants for your pattern will help you fold and mold the pants so you are tracing the true front and back pieces. Just real quick the main difference is the pant legs in the front have a much steeper rise then those in the back (I share pictures later) but keep that in mind while cutting.

Once you have cut out your 2 back pieces lay them to the side and re-fold your example pants so you can cut out the front pieces

It really is important that you make the pant pieces the same length. While you can trim them later it is always nice to just get it right the first time :) Once done take your two front pieces and lay them right side up

When you are done you should have something similar to this:

Now the pants come together like most other pants with a few little extra steps to give them a bit of omph.

Match up one front pant leg with one back pant leg, laying them right sides together and lining up their outside edge. Then sew up the outside edge

Topstitching this on the right side will keep the fabric laying nice and straight and give it just that much more sturdiness. Now is a good time to hem the bottom of the pants. Head to the iron and lay the pant legs so that wrong side is facing you.

Now with right sides facing each other sew up the center seam. Again I flipped these right side out and topstitched them to give them the more professional look.

Now we are going to sew the "seat" of the pants because I don't like that other word for it ha! Yup, I am a lame mommy. :)

Okay so this is a sort of but not really tricky part. I explain in the photos but I am going to reexplain really quick. First you are going to ONLY sew down the part of the top hem that is in back. Start at one side seam and sew to the other. This way you have an opening through which you feed your elastic.

I sewed three buttons on each side on a slant. My first button is right up on the waistband and then gradually goes diagonally until the 3 button is right by the side seam. If you did pockets you will need to be careful because the button hole and button will need to go through all the layers. So there you have it! I promise that if you take the time to do the few extra steps your pants are going to look a lot nicer!

Even if they will just have Smartie juice drooled on them it's worth it right :)

Evie's Wardrobe Series

2011-04-12T22:34:00.000+09:00

I am reallyreallyreallyreally excited about this series. I had been hesitant to do it. I didn't want to sound pretentious or all "oh I make all my little girls clothes" -ey. But after seeing how much fun Jessica over at Me Sew Crazy has had with her spring collections I thought I would just go for it and share tutorials for all the items I have made Evie for her Spring/ Summer wardrobe. There will be a step by step tutorial and usually a pattern to go with it for a total of 14 items. Now don't get me wrong, the majority of Evie's clothes are purchased, these are just the fun little "signature" items I made to spice things up... in the end maybe I should be more embarrassed of how much clothes this one little girl has ha! I am so excited to get started tomorrow that I had to give you a sneak peak of what is first in line. They are my most requested item but I have been putting off sharing a tutorial For-Ev-Er for a few reasons but I finally got my act together and will be sharing how to make Evie's bright green pants!!!

That, sadly enough, finally fit her... six months after Christmas ha! I hope you guys think this will be fun as well and not think "girl we see WAY to much of Evie round here!" Maybe I will enlist some of her cutie friends as models just to mix it up? A few of the items will be incorporated in with guest posts at other blogs like Lil Blue Boo, Kojo Designs and oh my goodness just wait for it Grosgrain. See you tomorrow!!!

Guest Posting

2011-04-11T14:27:00.000+09:00

We have been having torrential, I mean insane, rain here over the weekend, which means a long string of power outages and no internet. While I was attempting to create a post from my hubbies phone I got so frustrated and was having a minor temper tantrum when I thought about how absolutely ridiculous I was being and how grateful I should be that I was in a home that barely leaked and had plenty of supplies to last a long crisis needs be. This is miles away from the majority of those that live around us here in Timor. So, I put down the phone and decided the post could wait and spent the rest of the day cooking muffins to giveaway. But Monday is here and the sun is shinning! So, have ya'll been following the "DIYers Big Ticket Item" posts Kathleen is doing over on Grosgrain? I follow everything Kathleen does ha! One of the items she talked about was Photoshop. I am obviously a huge fan of Photoshop and am constantly learning something new about it. It's price tag does make it prohibitive though, but today is your lucky day! Shauna over at Schwin and Schwin is GIVING AWAY a Photoshop suite! I know! It is huge! When she emailed and talked to me about it I was pretty floored. This is a huge opportunity for a lot of photographers and creators to take their work to the next level. She asked if I would be willing to teach a few tricks I use in photoshop and I said "heck yes!" (even though I fell 100% inadequate to be teaching anyone to do anything in photoshop ha!) If you would like to know the quirky ways I sometimes soften skin or brighten eyes subtly taking a photo from this:

to this:

Then hop on over! And HELLO! Do whatever it takes to get yourself entered into this giveaway!

Bag of Blocks tutorial

2011-04-09T20:34:00.000+09:00

Thanks to everyone who left such sweet comments commiserating with me about Finn being sick and the joys of Star Wars. It makes you feel so much better knowing you aren't the only one ;)

We lu-huv blocks in this house. Everyone seems to love playing with them. Evie especially loves knocking down anything the boys build but hey, thats what little sisters are supposed to do right? We have kept our blocks in their original bucket, with the sorting top, since we bought them several years ago.

Sadly enough the bottom of the poor abused bucket finally gave out. We had been keeping them in the corner using the floor as a "bottom" and the kiddos would simply pull up on the bucket and the blocks would go everywhere but this wasn't the best of all solutions ha! I got so tired of stepping on stray blocks the kids had taken out of their room but then not returned that I thought it was time for an easier solution. So I made a block bag.

I was going to share a tutorial on how to make the bag but then I remembered the ever genius of Dana over at Made and her wonderful Hobo Bag tutorial, which is essentially the bag I made with a few tweaks to make it stronger. Dans's tutorial really is perfect and there is no sense messing with perfection.

I will however show you how I made the lettering because that I am pretty proud of. I did in fact go back to the crazy expensive fabric store but this time in search of wonder under. Unfortunately they didn't have any but the women told me they did have steam a seam which she swears is basically the same thing. Now, I have never used steam a seam. (warning here comes weird Kelly quirk) Short cuts like these actually make me mad, only really when I see them on Project Runway ha! When I would see one of the contestants using fabric glue to glue a seam or steam a seam I would get totally irritated. Yeah I know, I have no idea the kind of pressure they are under and it is probably totally justified, but it is this aversion that has kept me away from a product that is probably extremely useful! I whipped up my bag out of heavy weight canvas and ironed it all out. I then printed out the word "block" in a nice chunky font. I grabbed my last quilters square of an Amy Butler fabric I love and cut some Steam a seam to match and ironed the square to one of the sides of steam a seam.

I then cut out the individual letters.

I then arranged the letters the way I liked on the bag and steamed them on.

The lettering didn't turn out as bold as I wanted. I think because the dots on the fabric are the same color as the canvas it sort of gets lost. So to help it pop I hand stitched some accent lines.

Now we could haul our blocks where ever we wanted! Like out into the swing set fort!

It was hilarious because Finn liked when I took the blocks out to the swing set but then when I took the bucket out of their room he got really flustered. "Where are you taking the bucket mom?" "It's broken Finn thats why we made the block bag" "I want the bucket back" and he took it from my hands and put it right back in the corner where it was. I figure I will slip it out of the room some time when he isn't watching :) He is such a creature of habit I think it is hilarious. Anywho, it was such an easy project I think I am going to make several other labeled bags for various toy groups. Now, I cannot WAIT to share the other projects I have been working on, but, since they are guest posts we will have to wait patiently but here is a sneak peak from the photo shoot we did this morning:

ups & downs and all arounds

2011-04-05T13:35:00.001+09:00

(Warning: Lots of my short falls as a parent are discussed in this post, please judge me gently ha!)
Well friends, we are still here in Singapore. Boo hoo. We were planning on leaving bright and early this morning so I could have some snuggly time with Evie and Sawyer by this afternoon but Finn's tummy had other plans. The Doctors believe his root problem is an allergy to UHT milk combined with all the fun buggies in the water (how oh how do you stop kids from drinking bath water?) and trying to digest the Malarone which is preventing him from contracting malaria. Poor little guy. When you put it that way I feel pretty bad for all his little body has been battling and that I "ignored" it for this long. They say he is really no worse for wear though and will have righted himself in no time after returning to the states in two months. So the upside is that we know what is wrong and can address it. The down side is we are here for three more days, which is actually a really silly downside since our room looks like this:

And I have been watching American Idol while in the bathtub:

Hotel arrangements are stipulated by the embassy and I just have to say, they treat us medivaced families pretty darn great! The thing is, being with one cutie non-stop for seven days can make one pretty homesick for adult conversation and the humor of their other children. It has been fabulous spending some one on one with our middle child who, I truly feel, often gets over looked (partially due to his incredibly easy going personality) but oh my goodness I don't know if I can hear much more Star Wars talk without going bonkers :) Usually Finn is jabbering away to Sawyer who is equally engrossed in the conversation. Last night while he was swimming I actually had to put my head in my lap and count to ten before reengaging in a conversation about whether General Grievous (the bad guy in the Star Wars cartoon) was actually a robot or a human.

Thankfully we have been all around the city and seen some amazing sites. I cannot wait to share some of the pictures. Last night we headed to the mall and went to the top floor (the malls here are crazy huge). I stepped off the escalator and when I looked up from making sure Finn wasn't getting sucked under I was looking directly at an amazing fabric boutique. Hilariously enough I almost started crying. It has been 18 months since I have seen a fabric store like this. From floor to ceiling it was stocked with every Amy Butler, Anne Marie Horner and Cath Kidston print known to man, even those they have long since stopped printing. The lady welcomed me by saying: "Welcome to our lovely store" I seriously almost hugged her. I had just purchased Finn a General Grievous light saber so he was great and sat while I perused for a good half hour. When I finally pulled a bolt out and flipped it on its end I again almost cried: $28 dollars a meter!!!!!!! Aw man! I was so bummed. I had literally come up with a huge long list of things I was going to make in that half hour and bam! They all went out the window. I'm not crazy right? $28 dollars is just way to much to pay for a meter of fabric that isn't some awesome vintage lace from France or something ha! Anywhoo, I am toying with the idea of going back and getting a fat quarter of a out of print Amy Butler for a special project I am working on for Lil' Blue Boo. I can't wait to share it with you! Hope you are having a fabulous week hopefully free from Star Wars conversations!

Landscape Photography

2011-04-04T08:48:00.000+09:00

I have missed doing photography posts and although I would love to share some of the pics I have taken while here in Singapore, as per my usual pre traveling, frantically packing self, I left my cable that hooks my camera to my computer at home. Yup, I do this every time. I actually own 3 card readers and two cables because I do it so often and usually can't stand to wait until we get home to get the pictures off. But this week I have been thinking a lot about a type of photography that I am really horrible at, Landscape photography. Now I can take a fine picture of a barn on a hillside in the fall probably as well as the next person but I really struggle with how to make everyday scenes interesting.

How to add drama through black and white editing etc.

My lovely photographer friend Leah has wowed me again in this very area and I just had to share some of her breathtaking pictures and the site she created for them, with you. This summer she blogged about taking some landscape pictures at the ranch they vacation at. She posted a few and I thought they were lovely and then didn't think much of it again until she posted about the book she commissioned with all here pictures in it. (You can see the results of the book HERE)

She also created a site for Shinning Mountain Ranch that, well, I am not going to lie after seeing all the pictures I am dying to take my kids there and I have NEVER, even briefly, thought about going to Montana before ha!

I have always enjoyed being able to document my families growth and their wonderful smiles but I have been thinking lately how fantastic it would be to be able to decorate our walls with amazing landscape photos that I actually took, not Ansle Adams ha!

I guess maybe I just need to jump into it and start snapping away. Timor offers an overwhelming number of locations to shoot. Maybe every now and then I can share some with ya'll and you can tell me what you think. Heaven knows there is going to be a learning curve here and at first you might think, um Kelly, that is a totally uninteresting picture ha! If anyone has any good learning sites let me know. It seems this corner of the photography world is mainly dominated by older men, so I am really proud of Leah for carving in her niche! Pop on over to either site and enjoy some soothing pictures of our beautiful state of Montana! Meanwhile I have one more day in Singapore then it is home to Timor. Finn and I are quite excited to head home. We miss our family (and I think Finn is getting sick of me, he has stopped laughing at my jokes and just stares at me now ha!)

PS. All photos are Property of Leah Miller Photography. Please do not use them without her expressed consent. I have made sure they are unclickable but I know there are ways around it. She does beautiful work and is an equally beautiful person to work with so if you like her pictures contact her, don't take them :)

We have a winnah!

2011-04-03T17:37:00.000+09:00

This will just be a quick one because Finn and I are headed out on the town tonight! The winner of the dress and headband is:

Krista Hansen said...

Those are some great ideas for a headband!! You are so amazing. I'm making my daughter a few of those dresses and now I have ideas for a headband or bow to match. Thanks!

APRIL 2, 2011 4:54 AM

Congrats! hope I get your address soon! Now off to ben and jerry's for an EMBARRASSING amount of ice cream eating!

Easter Bonnet Headband Tutorial and Giveaway! GIVEAWAY CLOSED

2011-04-01T22:29:00.002+09:00

I am pretty excited about this post. Mainly because I don't really want to give this outfit away which means it is pretty cute right? Also, I received so many comments and emails about Evies headband with her Butterfly Dress that I thought I could share a step by step on how I made the Easter Bonnet Headband so you can make one for your own cutie. When I was younger I LOVED over the top hats so I reveled in the opportunity to wear one to church on Easter, my own Easter Bonnet. Since I couldn't find one I loved for Evie I thought instead I could make her a headband that was as bright and cheerful as an Easter bonnet:

This also gave me an excuse to get the boys gussied up in their Easter outfits and do a mini photoshoot.

I literally thought of this at 4pm and ran around like a crazy women so the chillins were feed, dressed and ready to go when Daddy got home at 5:30. That even meant making Sawyer a bow tie!

I used Cheri's retro pointed bow tie pattern from I am Mama Hear Me Roar. It was ridiculously easy to sew and took me no more then ten minutes once I had it cut out (which took about 2 ha!) I had the dickens of a time tying it though but I think that is mainly due to my inability to EVER learn how to even tie a tie let a lone a bow tie. Liam's tie is actually a hand me down that I made Sawyer and is comically WAY to small. You can find the pattern and tutorial HERE by yours truely although I am going to be making a next size up pattern pretty soon :)

Evie's dress will also go to the winner of the giveaway (details at the start of the tute). It was my original creation for the week in Project Run And Play where we fiddled with the Sweet Dress pattern. I loved it but it wasn't over the top enough for me, super cute but rather unoriginal. So, I set it aside and came up with the Couture Cutie or Mullet dress.

This little number ended up making it to the darkness that is Evie's dress closet and was not retrieved until this photoshoot. We just don't have opportunities to put dresses like this on her so I thought it should go to a good home where it will get worn! Her leggings are of course from We Love Colors. Oh and I totally forgot to mention last time (and received a few inquires about it) Evie's shoes, both the gold pair from before and this white pair are from Target online. I got them for a steal of deal: $2.30!!! I even ended up ordering some extra pairs for other little girls on the island ha! Okay enough about the clothes on to give away details and the tute.
Give Away Rules:
Leave a separate comment for each please:
You can be entered once by leaving a comment
A second time but posting about it on Facebook
But you MUST be willing to check back to see if you won by Saturday night USA time. I am currently in Singapore and want to get this in the mail while I am here so it will get to you lickety split as opposed to the over six weeks it would usually take. That means I HAVE to have your address by Saturday evening USA time so I can get the package in the mail on Monday morning my time. Yup, that means this is a super fast giveaway.
Now on to the Tute!!!

Now to begin with this headband is inspired by those made over on Heart Made. She does the most fabulous job of documenting her creations and every now and then will give you a little sneak peak of how she makes the amazing headbands in her Etsy shop, like HERE for example. So lets start out making our folded felt flower. I do this a little differently then she teaches on the tute I linked to above. Mainly because it makes it go faster ha!

First you will need to cut out one large felt circle and several smaller felt circles

Easy peasy right? Alright, now set this flower aside and grab some more felt, preferably in a corresponding color for your outfit. Now we are going to make the stacked flower. (Sorry about the light printing and dark pictures, 11pm isn't the best time for lighting ha!)

All done with flower number two! Now on to how to make the fabric rosette. I first did a tutorial for this at the end of THIS post but I thought why not revisit it, it's not like how to make them is and original thing anymore :)

Three flowers down, all that is left is the bow. I am sure there are better ways of doing this but since I am not a HUGE fan of bows (I think they are super cute just don't ever seem to wear them or put them on Evie) I went for the path of least resistance ha!

Now all thats left to do is assemble... the minions!! Ha! Okay so maybe I have watched Despicable Me a few to many times. Forward with the assembly of the headband :)

It may be a bit over the top for some, but you could always tame it down by making the felt flowers a bit smaller and without a ginormous blue jewell ha!

I couldn't believe Evie kept it on for as long as she did. Although, if you notice in ever picture it looks like something is in her mouth... yup we had to go with the candy bribe this time. Don't worry I made sure not colored drool got on the dress :) There you have it! I hope you win, but if not now you can make your own to match YOUR cuties Easter dress, AND make matching ties and bow ties to go with it!

B is for Bustle

2011-03-29T23:25:00.000+09:00

I am pretty excited about my NEXT post but I HAD to get this one up (make sure to read to the bottom to get a sneak peak of the next post). I have been talking about it forever but just kept pushing it back. I wanted to show how I make bustles on dresses. It is super easy and I think it adds something fun and out of the ordinary. Plus it gives a little cover to those booties which are often problem areas... by making it bigger... and more predominant, hmmm maybe my logic is off? Anyway I have plans to make Evie a princess dress for going to Disneyland in June and am definitely going to give it a little bustle action so it can be miniaturized if you like. Alright so first you have to know that every now and then I get a hankering to do something a bit crazy. This hankering hit last while I was visiting my wonderful friend in Jakarta. We were walking to a fabric store check and I passed this fantastic plaid silk/taffeta blend-I-don't know, that was crazy over the top. I immediately wanted to make my Shabby Apple design with it. Now keep in mind this was in November so I was in a Fallish mood (yes I am aware it is over six months later that I am getting around to photo documenting said dress ha!) This dress certainly isn't for everyone (my hubby is actually not really a fan) but I think it is fun to wear something a little crazy every now and then AND I needed to make another bustle dress so I could share with you! (Please ignore my hair in which I am obviously channeling Jane Eyre)

That is the front and this is the back of me... running from the camera

I didn't have any shoes that I loved in the closet but hey it's not like I could run to the mall so these had to do for now. Nor am I too hot on the cotton tank underneath, but again not a lot of options. Alright enough about the dress lets focus on the bustle. After constructing my dress I had a long train that was only attached at the waist. It went all the way to the floor when unbustled

The actual skirt of the dress stopped just below my knees

Now here is the thing. If I were in the states and could go to a fabric store I would go buy the tiny plastic rings that you use for ventian blinds. They are just tiny little plastic circles but they are wonderful. (You would use these in place of the loops I show you how to make) Since I had none I made an all ribbon bustle using thin ribbon, thread, and a needle.

We begin on the bottom on the wrong side of your train. How far up from the bottom depends on how much you want to hang down. I start on the left about five inches in. Here I fold the ribbon in half to find the center and stitch the ribbon into place at it's mid point.

I now slide about five inches to the right to the middle of the train (on the horizontal plane you should still be near the bottom of the train) and sew a second ribbon. I then slide to the far right and sew a third. You should now have a row of ribbons

Now on to our second row. Once again you are going to sew three ribbons in place This time though the bottom half of the ribbon will be a loop with the top half left straight. Keep in mind that from now on you should stagger where you attach the ribbons. If you attach them directly above the first one you are not going to get a bustle you are going to get folds. Make one farther right or farther left and vice versa. Once you are done sewing your loop take the ribbon from the first row and pull it up through the loop and tie it in place. The tighter you tie it the more pronounce your bustle.

Now you will continue making rows of ribbons with loops on the bottom and straight portions on top all the way up to the top. For this particular bustle I did four rows of three. Just always make sure you have a tie for each loop!

After seeing this picture I actually went back and added a few extra tucks on the bottom so that it rested more evenly with the bottom of the skirt. See I told you it was soooo easy! Now go bustle a dress of yours... I just wouldn't suggest combining it with Jane Eyer hair like I did:

Do I have ears? Am I trying to keep my head warm? I dunno what I was thinking ha! Pregnancy brain right? Okay now for the fun part. I had such a great response about the butterfly headband, and so many emails with questions I thought it would be best if I just did a tutorial, and this tutorial comes with a wicked awesome giveaway. Having a hard time picking out something for your cuties to wear for Easter? Well I have some inspiration, along with a tutorial, and maybe even a giveaway!

Whats great about this teaser is you can't even see the AWESOME hairband that I am going to do a tutorial for... your just going to have to wait bowah ha ha!

The Butterfly Dress and Headband

2011-03-27T11:09:00.001+09:00

This weekend I was REALLY in the mood to make Evie some head bling. I don't know why, she just pulls them off or out seconds after I wrestle them on her. I think it is because her hair no longer resembles a mullet but actually IS one and until we get near a children's hair cutter there is nothing I can do but try and hide it under flowers and bows :) I also spent a lot of time perusing children's clothes sites since her shorts are coming dangerously close to being "bootie" length and we have a cruise to go on in a few months! I got kinda bummed though because everything is sooooo expensive. I hmmed and hawd over ordering Evie this dress from Elias and Grace that I have been mooning over for a while.

But oh my goodness 50 euro? I decided I would just have to see if I could make one myself. I had some very special fabric sent to me by Jessica over at the Planner and the Procrastinator and the adorable Etsy shop Chirpy Designs that I had been saving and saving and you know dying to use but not wanting to use because then it would be gone? It is called Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderson. Well I busted it out and went to town. I am in love with the dress that came out of it and the resulting headband.

I mixed it up a bit and put the buttons in the front, I thought it was a bit boring without them :) Below you will find a tutorial for the dress and I am thinking I will try to put a pattern up on Monday for those who feel a bit safer sewing with one. If you love the headband, well let me tell you it is soooo easy!

For the fabric rosette you can follow my tutorial at the end of THIS blog post. For the gathered flower you can follow the fabulous tutorial found HERE on one of my fav blogs Heart Made. I then totally copied her stacked circle flower from her etsy shop and added my own little felt bow on the end. Felt bows are pretty self explanatory but if you would like a step by step head over to my friend Elizabeth's blog HERE for a tute. I am not going to lie I loved the finished product so much when Evie went to bed I put it on and wore it around for a while.

I just used really thin elastic hot glued onto the felt as the headband. It is less noticeable then stretchy lace and I thought the headband had enough going on without adding anything else. Her orange leggings are of course from my favorite leggings shop We Love Colors. They really are fabulous and have EVERY color you can imagine. Now funny story, I made the dress during morning nap while daddy taught the boys how to bowl on the Wii (yes my boys don't know how to play Wii a fact I am rather proud of) then I made the headband (two actually the second to debut later) during afternoon nap. I was so excited to have it all done and wanted to take pictures that evening but every time I tried to get the dress on Evie she would throw a MASSIVE fit. I mean lat down and cry onto the tile floor while kicking her legs fit. Then she would go limp as a noodle so I couldn't get any appendages in the appropriate places. It finally got dark and then I just resigned myself to seeing if it actually fit. I tried treats and books and bribes. Finally I said "Evie? Do you want to go to bed or try on your dress?" She looked at me and said "Bed." Then picked up her blankie and walked into her room. Yeah. I was totally sad. This morning though a bribe to go walk on the beach did the trick. She was one happy camper!

It was really nice to be alone on the beach front as well. Sunday mornings are pretty darn peaceful in front of our house.

Thankfully Daddy came with me to coax out a few smiles

And after only a short walk on the beach Evie didn't even cry when I told her it was time to go in...

maybe it was because I actually said "Do you want to go home and take off your dress?" That did the trick ha! If you would like to learn how to make the dress simply click below and read more! If not I hope your weekend is as full of beautiful things as ours was!

I will try and get the pattern for the two dress pieces up on Monday. I simply free hand drew mine and I promise it is really forgiving because you gather so much of it :) You will also need to make some homemade bias tape. A fabulous tutorial can be found HERE at MADE. I used about a half a yard of fabric for this dress minus the bias tape, which always eats up a ton :(

You will need to cut two. The front and the back are identical

(sorry I spelled together wrong)

It was at this point that I also hemmed the dress, just to get that part out of the way

Topstitch the bias tape into place

Hem to bottom long edges of both butterfly sleeves

The finished dress, headband and leggings

A close up of the headband for those who might want to make it

So there you have it! Not to hard right? And come on, how cute is it all together when you get a big cheessers to go with it?

Instant Gratification Top

2011-03-25T21:09:00.000+09:00

Last night I broke down and ordered this top from one of my fav stores. I just loved it to much not to order it. I then headed to bed, at the super late hour of eh he 8:30 and laid there thinking about how much I wanted that new top and how I would have to wait 6 weeks and when it finally got here I would probably have to stretch it out over my preggy belly. I became determined to simply make one myself! Now, I am sure you have noticed my posts have been more spread out lately. This is due to my absolutely dying if I stay up later then 9pm. I am literally crawling to bed usually immediately after tucking the kiddos in. This has put a MAJOR damper on my sewing time since I usually shoved everything in during my 9-1am crafting hours. I really try not to ignore the kiddos, but this morning I REALLY wanted to make the shirt ha! So, we made home made play dough and I dumped out every single play dough toy we own PLUS all my cool cookie cutters. By the time I was done the kids had made various play dough creations (don't mind Evie's disheveled hair and runny nose, we have been one sick household)

and I had my top!

It is soooo embarrassingly easy and so fast that I already have everything cut out to make two more in different colors! Thankfully I received a package a while ago from Heather S. contain a ton of wonderfully stretchy and super soft jersey fabric. I decided to try first with the navy blue. I must admit I was very hesitant as I don't usually sew with stretchy fabric. It makes me nervous, it's unpredictable, it puckers and tucks. Turns out it is fabulous... as long as you are patient. I grabbed a tank I already own and used it as a guide. First I folded the jersey fabric and laid my folded tank on back and followed the outline of the back of the tank

The back has a much higher neckline:

(I also made mine a bit wider on the bottom for my ever increasing belly and longer to stretch over it)
I then folded the back of the tank so that I could follow the pattern of the front

I then laid the two pieces right sides together. I then pinned the heck out of the two sides and shoulder pieces so there was no chance of movement :)

Sew up both sides and across both shoulders. I was really worried about serging it. I thought it would go all wavy and puckered. But I just fed it through steadily and slowly and it only waved a tiny bit, totally unnoticeable

Once you are all done you can hem up the bottom. Again I pinned this, which I have not done in as long as I can remember but it made it an easy job. I also skipped hemming the arm pits as I never plan on wearing this tank without some sort of cardi, you know modesty prevails! Plus that is the fantastic thing about jersey knits is they don't fray woo hoo! Once you are done turn everything right side out:

It was at this point I was asked to take a picture of a "super cool and very expensive spider"

Now I cut a LONG (super long) strip of jersey.

I originally cut it about 5 inches wide but it was WAY to wide and I cut it down to about 3. I stitched a gathering stitch all the way down the center of the strip and gathered it up until it was the same length as the circumference of my neckline

At this point it was requested of me to take a picture of a snowman so I had to take a break

I now pinned the ruffle, lining up the center with the neckline of the top.

I then topstitched along the center line, removing pins as I sewed.

Taddah!!! You are all done! How easy was that! I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.

I wanted to make sure to get a picture ASAP before I spilled anything on it, which meant I didn't have time to get anyone else to model, just me, and man am I a horrible one. I totally do the opposite of everything I suggest, I hunch, I squint my eyes and do a huge ridiculous smile, but hey, the top is cute right? And making it gave Sawyer time to create his playdough surfer dude:

While I am still excited to get the original top the instant gratification of having one right away sure is sweet!

Tiny Tushie Cushion

2011-03-22T21:48:00.002+09:00

The boys are absolutely loving the art table we had built for them. The little tressel stools we had made are the perfect height and we have yet to have anyone fall over ha! The only problem is since they are made of teak they have not been super comfy to sit on. The boys will spend over an hour usually coloring or painting or doing homework and the other day Sawyer let me know his bum hurt from sitting on the stool. Of course I thought "super easy project time!" I wanted to make cushions that would stay in place and look cute but as usual I had hardly any time :) So in about 20 minutes I whipped up two "Tiny Tushie Cushions"

If you have some stools that need little cushions these are super fast!
Measure your stool top. I wanted mine a bit smaller then the stool top. Cut two rectangles in these sizes. You will need four strips for the ties.

I don't know what it is but I LOVE the unfinished, rustic look for the boys room. But if you like you can finish the edges of the strips. Once you are done lay the two rectangles right sides together then pin the four strips in place.

Once everything is smoothed out take some stuffing and begin stuffing.

Stitch up the hole and you are done!!

Wasn't that so easy! The boys love them and their little bums are a lot more comfy :)

Hansel and Gretel

2011-03-14T20:09:00.000+09:00

Today I am over at No Big Dill! I am so excited to be participating in Once Upon A Thread. I chose Hansel and Gretel as my literary inspiration. Hop on over to see what I came up with. I have to say the photo shoot was HILARIOUS! We were on our way to one location when I saw two goats and a hoarse on the side of the road. This is not that odd for Dili but the one goat was SOOO hairy I about died. Since I was going for a bavarian, swiss alps kind of idea I had to at least TRY to get some pictures of Evie with him.

She threw bread at him, which he liked and I crouched down to get some pictures. Then he turned around and was all of a sudden a few inches from me.

I jumped out of the way and kept taking pictures. Then Sawyer "snuck up" on him and the goat reared back to butt him with his head. Well that was when we decided we should head out. Luckily I was able to get enough to work with for the post.

To read the whole story hop on over to No Big Dill, and while you are there check out the AMAZING outfits inspired by much loved children's books.

Two Second Super Hero Cuffs

2011-03-13T15:02:00.000+09:00

There is a wonderful thing going on over at Made. It is the month of the BOY. Ohhhh I love it. I don't often post the crafts I make with my boys, but believe me a lot of boy stuff goes down at the Crawford home! The tutorial I submitted was not selected (no biggie, have you SEEN the caliber of projects going on over there? Wow!) But I still wanted to share it because my boys LOVE them and I honestly think it is the easiest "craft" I have ever done, I honestly feel like I am cheating calling it a craft ha!

Sawyers school has a wonderful program where the parents bring in re-cycable materials and they let the children have free reign with tape, glue, markers, paint etc. and they make creations. The teacher will not allow toilet paper rolls though because of sanitation concerns. Well, that didn't stop me from saving them and I now had a mountain in our storage room and I had to come up with something to use them, hence the super hero cuffs.

It literally can take seconds to make! The boys were so excited with the ones they created for themselves I couldn't get them to hold still for a picture.

But then while they were sleeping I made MY super hero cuffs and all of a sudden they would pose it up if it meant they got a turn!

Sawyer got pretty creative with his saying that when slapped on a bad guys wrist they would take away his powers. Finn said that his made him fly and shot lazars

Excuse the hilarious face paint on the boys. Finn doesn't ever want to be a normal spiderman, he always wants to be a cooler spiderman with different powers. Like Orange Spiderman with red strips who has "poison in his teeth".... I guess he has a great imagination? I just had to share since it cost nothing, took barely anytime and was such a hit! Now head over to MADE to get some more fabulous boy ideas!

Petite Chouette Coat

2011-03-11T15:10:00.002+09:00

Well at least I know how to say "little owl" in French already right? Ha! That phrase I am sure is totally useful :) In any event I wanted to make sure I posted a tutorial and pattern for the coat I made for the Project Run and Play Finale... which seems like 4-ever ago.

Now this is a rather unusual tutorial for me because I will just talk you through it.

But believe me it is sooooooo crazy easy you will have no problems! So if you want to make your cutie a light spring coat then click below and lets get started!

Now just a quick question. I have been thinking about how I can streamline my blogging process. I was thinking about when I return to the states in 3 months for vacation trying out doing tutorials via video instead of step by step pictures. I would essentially video tape myself sewing what ever garment I am making and talk you through making it yourself. This would save me the time I stopping every step and taking a picture, then editing the pictures, uploading the pictures and cutting and pasting all the HTML all the time. What do you think? I think it might be more clear? I think every now and then I forget a step and this way it will all be on video. Of course that means I will have to stop biting my nails :) Tell me what you think!

First you need to download and print the pattern pieces which can be found HERE. Once printed and cut, tape them together lining up all stars or letters. You will use exactly the same pattern pieces for the lining and the main coat. You will need to cut extra if you would like a ruffle on the sleeve and collar. These are optional and could easily be left off if you like a more simple look. If you do want the ruffle I cut 2 lengths of fabric about 5 inches by 14 inches for the ruffle on the sleeve, and another length 5 inches by 20 inches for the ruffle on the collar. You will also need a long length of fabric if you want a belt. How long and wide it is depends on you and how wide you want your bow and how long you want the ties to fall down. Mine ended up being a bit longer then I liked. Now to make this tutorial more concise, you will need to do everything I say twice, once with the main fabric and once with the lining. This way I don't have to say every time "repeat with lining" just know you have to at every step :)
Take your Top Back piece and your Back bottom piece. Lay them right sides together lining them up at the waist line. Sew across the waist line connecting the top to the bottom. Set these pieces aside.

Take all four of your front bottom pieces. All four pieces will need box pleats in them. I used two large box pleats but you can do more smaller ones if you think it looks better. All you need to make sure is that with the pleats the front bottom piece's waist length is the same as the front top pieces waist, essentially the top and bottom need to line up. Once you have pinned (or sewn if you prefer) your pleats take your top front piece, lay it right sides together with your front bottom piece. Sew across waist line to connect the two. Repeat for the other 3 sets of tops and bottoms. Now set these pieces aside and grab your sleeve pieces. Lay the pieces right sides together and sew up the long edge. Repeat for all other sleeve pieces.

At this point I ironed my sleeve seams so they laid nice and flat. Once done take one of your sleeves and your coat back. Lay the sleeve and your coat back so they are right sides together. Line up the "arches" of the sleeve with the "arch" of the coat back. Now sew along the arch, connecting the sleeve to the coat back. Repeat on the other side. Now grab one of your front panel pieces. (It is important to note the the front panel piece should have the straight edge to the CENTER of the coat front, the slanted edge will be attached to the back of the coat.) With the unattached part of the sleeve, again line up the arch of the sleeve with the arch of the front panel. Sew along the arch. Repeat on the other side.

Woo hoo! You are almost there! Now the easiest and most straight forward way I have found to finished the sleeves with out twisting and turning inside out and getting all confusing, is to at this point take both your coat main and coat lining over to the ironing board. Turn both coat pieces inside out. Now with an iron iron up a hem on the sleeve bottoms. I made sure my lining hem was a bit larger then my main hem so that it wouldn't poke out. Don't worry about sewing at this point just iron all four sleeves. Okay, with right sides still together you are going to line up the front panel pieces and the back panel pieces. Sew up from the bottom of the coat around the armpit and down the sleeve. Repeat on the other side. You now have a coat!....sort of :)

Now if you don't want a belt you can skip this part. If you do then we are going to make two little belt loops. If you want this to be SUPER easy simply cut yourself a four inch piece of bias tape. If you don't have bias tape, all you need to do is cut a scrap piece of fabric (I used some from my lining for contrast) about 4 inches long. Using your iron, iron over both long raw edges. Then fold the piece in half lengthwise and iron again. This will give you a nice long finished edge and two unfinished edges. Sew along the folded finished edge, making it so it stays closed :) Now iron over both raw edges, keep in mind how large your belt is so that you make it wide enough to fit through. Once done grab your coat and turn it right side out. Attach your belt loop by top stitching on the top and the bottom, I placed mine where the front panel and back panel meet but you can move them if you like. Set the coats aside.

Now if you don't want a ruffle you can skip this part. If you do then take your two 5 inch by 14 inch pieces. Iron over both short raw edged. Now fold the piece them in half and sew a gathering stitch along the raw edge. Gather the ruffles until they are the same length as the circumference of the sleeve bottom. Repeat with second ruffle. For the neck You will repeat the process just make it long enough to go all the way around the neckline.

Now we are going to sew the lining and the main coat together. Turn both "coats" inside out. (do not worry about the sleeves right now) Line up all the edges and pin all the way around. Now take your neck ruffle and tuck it in between the lining and the main, lining up all raw edges. Pin in place. Start at the center of the bottom of the coat (making sure to back and forth at the beginning), sew all the way around all the edge of the coat, stopping about three inches before you reach your first stitch, again back and forthing for strength. You will leave this little pocket so you can flip everything right side out.

Once you have flipped everything right side out and made sure everything is as it should (all pins are removed, you have now cracked seams etc) sew closed the little gab with a topstitch.

Now grab one of your sleeve ruffles. Both edges should be ironed over and finished looking. Slide the raw edges of the ruffle in between the main coat and lining. Pin in place. Top stitch all the way around making sure to catch all layers. Repeat on other side.

You are so close to being done!!! All you need to do now is attach the buttons you would like to one side of the panel top and make corresponding button holes on the other top panel. I used my sewing machines button hole setting to make mine but you can easily do this by hand. Just make sure your buttons and button holes line up :)

Now all you have left is your belt! I made mine by cutting a LONG piece of fabric, folding it in half, sewing across one of the short edges and then all the way along the long edge. Then I flipped the entire "tube" inside out, and topstitched closed the open end. Easy peasy! Thread your belt through your belt loops and you are done!!!! See I told you it was easy! Again I am sorry about no pictures. I just didn't have the opportunity to photograph as I sewed. Sometimes the stars just don't align ha! Hope this was clear though!

Best Intentions Fly Out the Window

2011-03-09T21:32:00.000+09:00

Today I 100% planned to post a tutorial on how I make bustles on my dresses (oh it is so easy you will laugh). But then at 6am Evie woke Chris up by softly calling his name. I laughed and thought, "Oh Evie, I will totally reward you later" ha! He couldn't resist and went and got her. A few minutes later I hear him whisper "Bonjour". Thats right my fabulous friends! We received our next assignment will be:

Paris!!!

Needless to say we are thrilled. Chris will begin French classes the beginning of the year and we will report to Paris next fall. So what do you think? Anyone want to come visit :)

Newborn Tips Part Two!

2011-03-07T19:17:00.001+09:00

The last post was deleted due to minor controversy and I thought it would be easiest just to delete it.

I wanted to finish my tips for newborn shoots with talking about making your own in home studio. Now bear in mind this is for the beginning photographer who is still working with natural light. This is my own little system which may not work for everyone, but when I was starting out and I couldn't sink thousands of dollars on lighting, backdrops etc. it worked out pretty great! First I found an area in my home that received lots of soft natural light for an extended period of time. This then became "my spot" I moved everything out of the space giving myself about a three foot by five foot area to work with. (You can of course work with a smaller space, I was just lucky that this was at a location we never used) I then purchased myself an inexpensive curtain rod from Target, mine was $1.99:

If you know you are going to keep this location for a long time you can go ahead and screw the hardware into the wall. Since we are never anywhere to terribly long I use 3m hooks instead! That way when I am done I simply pull them off the wall and take them with me.

I place one 3M hook about 3 feet off the ground. Then I use my leveler to place the second hook a little over 2 feet straight across (as long as your curtain rode opens that wide), at the same height as the first. I then went in search of some good "backdrop" fabric. I perused my favorite back drop website "Drop It Modern" to get an idea of what would look good.

I have found that the thicker the fabric the better. I usually stick to the home decor section. It is great to find some fabric with dimension such as a damask with a lifted velvet. These look great in pictures. One of my favorites is from Ikea:

Once I have found some great fabric, I purchase at least two yards (the more you have to work with the better) I take it home and wash it per the instructions then iron the heck out of it :) I then sew a hem across the top wide enough for the curtain rod to slide through. Taddah back drop!

Now for my favorite part. Since I like an array of poses (some close, some full body etc) and I didn't have super cute wood floor in my apartment I went searching for a solution. I found different sites selling different "barn wood flooring mats" etc. but they were too expensive. Then I was walking through Home Depot and saw a gorgeous, but opened box of white birch wood flooring.

I hauled it up to the customer service and asked the manager how much he wanted for it (there were two pieces missing). He looked it over and said "five bucks". I almost dropped it on the floor. I bought it and ran to my car before he could change his mind. I set up my backdrop curtain and then snapped together the pieces of wood flooring. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough space but there was PLENTY! I was so excited I made all my kids come over and lay on it for some pictures

Once my backdrop is set up I slide my pieced together flooring up against the wall so it is nice and flush.

Now if I catch some of the flooring it will look cute! Then if you have these Sugar Snappers actions under your belt and you don't even have to worry about buying another set of flooring:

I also use the wood flooring covered with pretty fabric for top view pictures. This way the fabric lays nice and flat and the basket rest evenly.

What is great about this is when I am done I simply unsnap the boards and put them in a closet, take down the curtain rod and fold up the fabric! Easy up, easy down! I hope this helps if you have been toying with the idea of doing studio photography. If nothing else you can do this set up super affordably and take some fun pictures of your kiddos! Happy picture taking!

Guest Tutorial: Spring Gardening Apron

2011-03-03T20:44:00.000+09:00

I am so excited to be sharing this guest tutorial with you today! Since I still am not ready to have sponsors I asked Tara if she would be willing to share with us how to make one of the fabulous creations from her store Birdy Boots where she sells adorable clothes, shoes and toys! She agreed and I am thrilled at what she created for us.

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be guest posting on Kelly’s blog today! I’ve been reading her blog for quite a while now and am constantly amazed at her tutorials. I run a little boutique on Etsy called Birdy Boots. We carry eco-conscious kids clothing, shoes and wooden toys. I would love it if you’d stop by some time!

Onto the tutorial…we live in Iowa and it’s still pretty cold here. I’m (patiently) waiting for the weather to warm up so my girls and I can get outside in our garden…And today, I am going to show you how to whip up a cute and durable Child’s Garden Apron!

(I call it a gardening apron, but your little one can use it for lots of reasons – they work great for cooking and cleaning, too! )

It doesn’t take much fabric so it is a great scrap buster project! The size I’ll show you today works great for 2-5 year olds but you can easily modify it for an older child

What you need:

-Sewing machine

-Coordinating thread

-Iron

-2 coordinating fabrics *see tip for choosing fabric below

-Coordinating ½ inch double fold bias tape (pre-packaged or make your own!)

-Ruler or tape measure

-Sharp scissors or rotary blade/cutting mat

-Straight Pins

*Choosing Fabric:

Medium to Heavy-weight Cotton

Home decorator weight fabric

Outdoor upholstery fabric

Denim

Let’s get started!

1. Cutting your fabric and ties:

Cut two (2) lengths of bias tape: one (1) piece 56 inches long and one (1) piece 29 inches long

Cut your ‘main’ fabric piece (my zebra print): 11.5 inches by 9.5 inches

Cut your ‘pocket’ fabric piece (my polka dot): 11.5 inches by 7.5 inches

2. Rounding corners

Lay your pieces of fabric with the bottom corners aligned and round the bottom corners slightly. I like to use a bowl or plate to do this but you can also just eyeball it.

3. Finish pocket.

Using your iron, fold down the top (straight edge) of your pocket piece by ¼ of an inch and then by another ¼ of an inch to enclose the raw edges. Carefully sew a finishing stitch along the length of the fabric.

4. Attach bias tape.

Line up fabric pieces as before and using your shorter length of bias tape, carefully sandwich both fabrics between the bias tape. Pin generously around 3 sides of the apron as shown below.

Using a straight stitch, sew bias tape on all around the apron.

Clip any excess bias tape.

Now take your longer length of bias tape and find the center. Align it with the center of the top of the apron and pin the bias tape down, sandwiching the fabric as before.

Starting at one end of the bias tape, sew a finishing straight stitch the entire length of the bias tape at the top of the apron. This closes the bias tape and finishes the apron. I like to fold in the ends of the bias tape by a ¼ of an inch so the ends of the tape look more finished and there is no chance they will unravel.

Depending on the number of pockets you are going to make, you can stop here if I you like! I usually add a straight stitch or two to create two or three pockets. To do this, measure out how you want your pockets and mark the lines with a fabric marker or pins. Carefully stitch along the lines, taking care to backstitch at each end for durability.

Add a cute set of gardening tools*, put it on your little one and get to work! J

*I found these gardening tools at a dollar store last year but I bet you can pick up a pair about anywhere this time of year.

How cute is that! And totally easy! Thank you so much for sharing with us! Make sure to hop over to Birdy Boots and check out all the adorable items Tara has made!

Oh I can't wait to garden with the cuties! Armed with these aprons and their rubber boots we are unstoppable :)

Coming This Fall

2011-03-01T21:31:00.000+09:00

Some of you have guessed it. This fall we will be welcoming our fourth munchkin.

Simply Bloom Photography

We are obviously ecstatic but I must say out of my three previous pregnancies number four is shaping up to be a bear. The minimal amount of energy I have had each day I have had to ration just to get by. I am clawing my way to the second trimester and am holding out hope that the all day, well into the night nausea and exhaustion will relent. I would hope to continue with the blog but unfortunately the pace is going to have to slow waaaaaaay down. I hope you understand and will stick with me until I get past these {fingers crossed} last few weeks of down time. I have had a few people ask me about the doctor situation here on the island. There is not an OBGYN on the island. I will meet with the Embassy doctor for the most part then fly to Singapore for major mile stones. Since we already have 2 boys and a girl we decided we are not going to find out what this little bun is. (I think the hubby is sneakily agreeing to this to keep the sewing and decorating in check). So, instead maybe I will focus on some fun maternity dresses :) But I still have those piles of patterns I am slowly chipping away at to get up for you. Tomorrow I am thrilled to be sharing an wonderful guest tutorial, perfect for getting you in the mood for Spring! Thank you all for your comments on the last post, nothing is worse then getting sick when you are already laid out :)
Cheers!

Lack of Luck

2011-02-25T12:09:00.000+09:00

This week has been a rough one. I lent my lovely friend my sewing machine and upon its return I have not been able to get it to work. Ughhhh. That is such a totally awkward situation. According to the hubby you relinquish any right to get mad about something getting broken when you lend it out. I guess this is true. The stick part is that I can't simply head to Joannes and buy a new one. I would have worked on it further except I was SLAMMED with a horrible bug.

I am not going to sugar coat it, it has been awful. It hasn't helped that this week we have a large Congressional Delegation visitng the Embassy and I am the official photographer. I think I gave everyone a bit of a shock when I showed up in sweats this morning, but I quickly told them I would look more acceptable by the time the luncheon rolled around.

Yesterday after following around a 4 star Admiral (and getting sick infront of the motorcade drivers I didn't notice after running around a corner- certainly one of my new most embaressing moments) I headed home and CRASHED into bed.

I thought after 15 hours of sleep, four "get well soon" notes from Sawyer I would feel better but this is renltless. I am supposed to be out all day tomorrow with the delegation photographing their trips to various USAID sites, so my friends I know there is no way I am going to get a post in. But hopefully I am coherent enough that I can get the pattern for the coat up this afternoon.

All images from: The bottom of the Ironing Basket