Pattern Remix DIY

I found this post I wrote a while back, but for some reason I never posted it.  And since I have been spending more time sewing lately, I thought it would still be fun to put up on the blog.

Here is a DIY for you sewers out there.  I made a little dress for Chloe for her first birthday.  You can see how her party turned out here on my daughter Brittny's Blog.  It was the cutest 1 year old birthday party.  

I found a basic McCall's Pattern.  

I wanted to switch it up a bit so I cut the pattern to give it an empire waste. When you do this, you have to remember to give each peace a seam allowance.  I added the seam allowance with some white pattern paper I have.  

Next, I wanted to give it some ruffles, so I cut four pattern pieces the width of the pattern plus an  extra 6 inches to make a ruffle.  This is the white rectangular shaped paper sitting on top of the pattern pieces.  

I cut the base of the dress out of a white cotton lining fabric with a cute Amy Butler fabric for the top.  I added the ruffles out of a white on white plaid voile fabirc to the basic dress.

Instead of using store bought bias tape, I made my own and added it for the band at the bottom of the empire waste and at the straps.  

I also made a matching bunting.  Here is the Post for the making of it.  

Awe, look how little Chleo was.

One year old birthday parties are a big deal.  We should be having another one hear in a few months for Claire.  I better start working on her first birthday dress.

Talk to you soon!

Love,

Carol

Traditions

I love traditions!  

I love them!  

There is something so meaningful and comforting about them.  They remind you how important family is.  They take you back to your childhood and let you share your favorite memories with your kids and your kids, kids.  Most of our tradtions happen around the holidays.  One of our traditions is opening one gift on Christmas Eve and it is suppose to be a surprise, but everyone knows it will be Christmas jammies.

One of my favorite traditions that I continued from my childhood is making Christas Cookies.  This year, Chloe and Claire helped me make the cookies.  My two teenagers were too busy to make cookies this year.  It's ok, I know in a few years, they will realize how much they love our traditions and won't want to miss them!

Chloe picked up on the process rather quickly.  After showing her once, she was rolling out the dough, cutting the cookies and putting them on the cookies sheet all by herself.  She hardly needed me there, except to make sure she didn't eat too much dough.

Claire wanted to be a helper too.  She picked out the cookie shapes she wanted.

I ate so many of these delicious masterpieces, that I had to do a cleanse immediately after new years.  I am pretty sure a week straight of Christmas cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner is a bit excessive.  I may have a problem.

My mom spent years as a daycare provider and preschool teacher.  She figured out a way to make decorating the cookies easy for kids to do.  She thins out the frosting so the kids can simply dip the cookies into a shallow bowl of frosting.  I still do it this way.  My kids and now grandkids have done it this way too.  They don't look as pretty as some of the beautiful sugar cookies that I have seen, but believe me, they taste amazing!  They really are the best sugar cookies I have ever had.

Chloe said, "I'll eat the cookie after I eat the candy off the top.  Smart Girl!

After all that hard work, Chloe needed to take a break on her favorite cushion!  :)

What are you favorite family tradtions?

Talk to you soon!

Love, 

Carol

Big Sister

After Claire was born I got spend lots of time with Chloe.

We like to go on picnics in the park...

 And play dress up.

We drink lots of smoothies.

Once in a while we watch Elmo.

We play.  She is getting a little too big to swaddle...

And so far she still likes to help with the dishes.

 My heart just wants to explode!

xoxo,

Carol

Bunting DIY

Today is DIY day.  I will show you how to make your own bunting.  This is a very easy project and does not take much time.  I'm sorry I don't have more pictures of the details, but I will try to describe the steps well enough so you can figure it out.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will most definitely get back to you.

My bunting was being used outside, so I made the triangles rather large.  You can make them any size you want depending on where it will be placed.

I used a rotary cutter and cut out a front and back for each triangle.  Scissors will also work. I made my triangles 14" on the long sides and 9" on the short side.  After I cut out the triangles, I placed 2 triangle pieces right sides together and sewed down both long sides.  Turn right side out and press.

I determined how long I wanted my bunting to be and then divided by the width of the top of the triangle to find out how many triangles I needed.  

To attach the triangle pieces to ribbon, I used vintage ribbon that was 2" wide.  I ironed it in half length wise.  I then pinned each triangle inside the fold of the ribbon.  Sew down the edge of the ribbon to enclose the triangles into the folded ribbon.

Here is the bunting draped over the stair railing for some cute pictures of Miss Chloe. 

Her cute little matching dress will be a DIY later this week.

We used the bunting as a decoration for Chloe's first birthday.

Here is the buntings new home.  On my daughter Bailey's bed.  I love that we found another use for it.  I would be so sad to have it used for only one day.

This is what 15 year old's beds look like...who am I kidding, that is whay my bed looks like as well.
Who has time to make beds when you are busy sewing?

I think the hardest part about blogging a DIY is remembering to take pictures of all the steps.  I'll try to get better at taking more pictures the next time I do a DIY project.  I'll be posting about our stockings after this Saturdays Craftivism day.  We'll see how it goes.  Maybe I can talk someone else into being the designated photographer.  :)

January Calender Girl

This month's calender girl photo shoot was a bit challenging but man does this girl have some character! Chloe has grown so much since December. Among her many talents, this month her favorite is climbing. She is in full crawl mode and her aim is ALWAYS up.. up the coffee table, dining table, the gate to the stairs you name it she's going up. : ) Gotta love it!

I have been trying to jot down some fun moments that I know will soon flee my swirly mind.. any contributions are welcome : )

Chloe in the New Year

Pretty sure this lil'miss is the cutest lil chica out there : )