We've been hiding out...

in the mountains of Timor in a little village called Maubisse.

But we are home now... at least until tomorrow, when Evie and I head to Jakarta and Bali. She needs her 1 year check up and I need a root canal. I know, you are sooooo totally jealous. But we also get a to spend a little time with an old girly friend! We will roam the streets of Jakarta with a big swollen mouth and a probably cranky baby but I am still excited ha! Never fear lots of tutorials to come during my trip! Should I start with one now or would you be mildly interested in some pics from the trip? I won't be offended I really want to know :)

Cheers

Kelly

Bonjour Evette! A Little Girls Dolly Tutorial

Did you watch the video? Were you as completely smitten as I was? Oh my gosh I am so in love with the Kiki and Coco dolls. We are heading to Rome and Egypt in a few weeks and I thought wow, I really want to imitate this with Evie. The dolls can be found HERE at Tiny Concept, an Australian based handmade toy company. I am crazy about their dolls but no way I could afford the price. So, where did that leave me? Oh yah! Totally psyched to make my own. I have been wanting to make Evie something she can keep forever, clothes, bows etc only last so long. This was the perfect inspiration for me and I thought maybe other mommies would like to make one for their darlings, so here you are mes amies, I present The Bonjour Evette Doll. Pattern found HERE

What you need:

Print our the Evette pattern

Scissors

Muslin, Linen or fabric of your choice for her body

A felt Square in the color of your choice for her hair

Thread of your choice color for her eyes

Pink thread for her mouth

Square of fabric for the Pantaloons

Length of lace or other embellishment for around her pantaloons

Fabric to make a mini-pillow case dress

Lots of fun embellishment fabrics, ribbons, fringes etc

Ribbon to tie up dress

Stuffing/ Fluff

Sewing machine

Needle

Patience HA!

Turn on Sabrina and lets get going!

You picked my favorite too!

The winner of the Cone of Twine is.................

Amy Woodruff said...

Oooooo the Carribean!!! I wrap all my sold items in brown craft paper and tie them up with string. But it's the boring plain kitchen string. This would look MUCH better! Love it!!

I also LOVE the Caribbean, although I am on such a yellow kick these days! Please shoot me an email with your address so it can be sent on its way! Congratulations, I hope you get lots of fun projects made out of it! So, it is midnight here in Timor and there is no way I am going to bed any time soon. You know why? I am working on a project right now that I absolutely positively can't put down. I am in LOVE with it. It is Evie's birthday present from me and lets just say I know she will have it forever. Wondering what it is yet? Watch THIS video (that I am CRAZY about) and see if you can figure it our, and YES I have a pattern coming for you for it ekkkkkkk! Are you excited?

Stopping Traffic: Little Girls Birthday Dress Tutorial

I am still reeling from the fantastic whirlwind it was being featured on Luv In The Mommyhood. Thank you so much new friends I am so glad to have you! And thank you Shannon one more time for your awesome, way too flattering, post. I wanted to make sure to get some more of the preparations for Evie's party up before we head out of town this weekend. So, could Evie's leggings get any more electric! Ha! Add in those hot pink shoes and she could literally stop traffic. They are of course from my favorite leggings store We Love Colors, I just love their variety. Any color I need guaranteed they have it (this is totally unsolicited, they are that cool hee hee). So, this is Evie's first birthday dress. It was so fun and pretty simple to make. It is actually a refashion of sorts out of one of the boys old dress shirts, so there is no pattern but you can totally still do it yourself. I wanted to mimic the dress that I am wearing in the header of the blog but just shrink it down to baby size ;) When you are done be sure to follow THIS tutorial so you can get a matching head band like hers.

What you need:

A hand me down dress shirt (or new, totally up to you) in a few sizes larger then usually worn

1/4 yard fabric (or more if you need a larger size) for the "skirt" portion

An 1/8 of a yard of fabric for the mid-section

Elastic thread (can be found at your local fabric stores)

Sewing machine

Scissors

Straight Pins

Sunshine, Daisies, Bottom Mellow: A Mommy Dress Tutorial

Since I made Evie a new fabulous dress for her party (tutorial to come) I thought it only fitting I make one for myself. My inspiration as always came from Anthropology (love their stuff hate their prices ergggg) and my addiction for the color combination of yellow and grey. (Keep in mind my lovely model is a good 4 inches taller then me ha!)

To further help direct me in designing a new dress I have been talking with Shannon from Luv in the Mommyhood, she is so awesome, the type of mommy you can be yourself around and not worry if an "I almost lost it yesterday" slips into the conversation because guaranteed she has a hilarious story to top yours! I about fell off my chair giggling when she did a post about someone going potty on her couch. I have been blog stalking her for it seems like forever and finally got up the courage to contact her when I started No Mans Land. She was sooooo sweet and patient with me walking me through the whole process of being "featured" (I just got chills) on Luv in the Mommyhood. I love these amazing blogs who are willing to take time to spotlight a newbie who has no real idea what she is doing ha! After kicking around a few ideas she requested a dress that us post baby mommies could wear to hide that oh so awesome mommy muffin that hangs around so rudely post baby (yes Evie is a year and mine has not disappeared ugh). I happen to be going to the second hand (or twelfth hand) market that afternoon and found a "vintage" grey striped mens shirt. I decided to use the fabric for a much better purpose! I had some yellow fabric I had picked up a few weeks ago and when I laid them next to each other I was in love! So without further ado the Sunshine, Daisies Bottom Mellow Dress.

What you need:

BMellow pattern found HERE

Half a yard fabric for the top

3/4 yard fabric for the bottom

One Button

Sewing Machine

Scissors

Straight Pins

I must apologize profusely for the first pictures. I messed up a tad so for the first step make sure to read the step not just look at the picture.

Print out and cut out all your pattern pieces. Make sure to cut the "skirt" portion of your dress to be as long as you like. Also this is made to have pleats, if you don't like pleats or REALLY like pleats increase or decrease the width to your liking. Now take both your front bodice pieces and your bodice support pieces. Lay down the bodice piece right side facing you. Align the bodice support right side DOWN with the center of the bodice piece (the center of the dress). Sew JUST up the middle to attach them to each other. Now flip the bodice around so that wrong sides are facing each other and topstitch what you just sewed.

(DO NOT sew the top like you see in this picture, I had to unpick it all later ha!)

Repeat on other bodice piece. Now take your back bodice piece and we are going to attach the two front bodice pieces to it at the shoulder. (Don't mind that my stripe fabric is crazy old and thus frays like there is no tomorrow)

(See how I had to unpick what I had done, so silly of me) Now take your two collar pieces and place them right sides together (I am really into big collars so if you want to tone this one down that is understandable) Starting at the left corner sew up, all the way across and down leaving the longest side raw. Flip the collar out so right sides are facing you and topstitch what you just sewed, folding over the little bit at the end.

Now we are going to attach the sleeve. Go a head and hem it up to your liking. Now gather a little bit at the top just enough to give it some shape :) Now pin right sides together sleeve to dress

Sew acros making sure to back and forth and make it nice and sturdy. (You have to pull this dress off over your head and it seems like this part takes a beating) Repeat on the other side. Ohhh it is shaping up nicely!

Now for the super easy part. Grab your skirt bottom and fold it in half. Lay it right next to your bodice. Now we are going to make little pleats on both sides until it match's up with the bodice.

Now you are going to attach it to the bodice. Place right sides together and pin if you like. For the center of the bodice make the front portion where they meet overlap ever so slightly. Sew around either serging or zig zagging after you straight stitch. Flip the whole dress right side out and topstitch over what you just sewed. At this point you can attach a button where the bodice meets or just leave it plain. You are so close! All you have to do now is hem up the arm holes

Now hem it up the bottom to your liking! You are all done!

Now go strut your stuff. No one will ever notice you don't have abs of steel! I can't wait to wear mine to Evie's party.

Cheers!

Kelly

PS that Fedora was a present for my B-day a few weeks back from my girlfriends here in Dili. I am trying to work up the courage to wear it at the party, I think I can I think I can ha!

Why is A Raven Like a Writing Desk? Tea Time Sandwich holder tutorial

Birthdays are BIG events at our house (much to the hubster's wallet's dismay) First birthdays are even bigger deals and Evie's is this week. I decided for Abby I wanted to do a color theme and went with turquoise and yellow with a touch of pink. It is essentially based around Heather Baileys Pop Garden line. The adults are getting to eat BBQ Pulled pork sandwiches (we try to do VERY Americanized food at our events) but I knew the younger crowd would want something a little more palatable. Since we do have picky palates in this household I thought PB&J might be the best idea, and it meets my stipulation of being very American. I didn't just want to throw a bunch of messy sandwich's on the table though and thus the Tea Time Sandwich holder was born.

I created a template so you can simply print it out and start creating! It can be found HERE.

What you Need:

Tea Time Sandwich holder pattern

Scissors

Cute paper

Cello tape

Put on Alice in wonderland for the kiddos to get every one in a tea time mood.

Tied with a Bow- Of TWINE!

I absolutely love simple, classic looking wrapping. (You know: minimum effort maximum cute ha!) Add to that ridiculously easy to use and you have the gorgeous bakers twine available at The Twinery. It honestly makes everything look good! Add a little personalized printed out tag and BAM you look like a pro!

What is fabulous is the twinery is offering Sewing In No Mans Land readers 25% off for the next week! I was floored when they let me know the percentage off. All you have to do is enter SEWING25 at check out. That is a great deal!

(photo courtesy of Elizabeth Moon Photography check out here website HERE)

How does this get even sweeter? If you leave a comment letting me know what color is your favorite and what you would use it for you will be entered into a drawing to pick any ONE entire cone of your choice or a sample pack! I know!!! So awesome! You have to hop to it though because the giveaway ends Thursday morning. Thank you to The Twinery for giving us such a great deal!

In other news Genevieve turns one this week! I cannot hardly believe it! I have been planning a huge party for her and am dying to show you some of the awesome, super easy party ideas I have come up with! Later today (once I can get the PDF files to upload, silly internet) I will be sharing a printable to make adorable tea time sandwich holders:

Cheers!

Kelly