Micro Shoot–Father & Son

My husband, son, and I just got back from Elkhorn Resort here in Manitoba, near Riding Mountain National Park. We wandered down and took a look at their new stables and said hi to the horses, and I took a quick moment and did the world’s fastest mini shoot (we are talking less than five minutes here, but I got at least as many shots that I was happy with so works for me!)

Jackson wasn’t too sure what he thought about the horses so we got his serious face, but that’s okay with me because that face is a large part of who he is. He is a goofy, happy, smiley boy but when we’re out and about this is often the look he gives people!

If you zoom in on the above picture you can see Elkhorn’s chalets really well, which I thought was pretty cool. A nice way to remember the trip! (If you look at the other pictures really close you can probably see the swarm of ticks descending on us. Chris got the worst of it and picked at least five off his his legs and from down his shirt. I wound up with two. And the next day when we were at home there was suddenly one trying to hide in Jackson’s hair, probably from on the truck.)

It was nice to get away and I enjoyed getting some quick country shots of my boys! Chris grew up rural and we’re hoping to live outside the city ourselves by the time Jackson is in Kindergarten. We are excited to bring Olivia and Nicole up to Elkhorn someday, it’s a shame we have booked two camping expeditions in summer already.

Sew Pretty Bubble Tea

When Sew Pretty Tee Shirt Dresses book arrived in my home, each member of my family went through it and chose their favourites and I had requests, plans, and and demands from all directions. For once I didn’t even mind, because these projects all start with a finished tshirt or tank top, and refashioning is right up my alley. If you have never tried this type of project, you might be surprised to realize just how much time you save when you start with some finished elements. Whether you’re using stained tshirts, too short tshirts, or even buying cheap tshirts on sale just to make dresses with, this kind of project is a quick way to customize your girls’ wardrobes! 
 

My husband chose this simply darling tie-waisted ‘wrap’ dress and requested one for Nicole.

This dress immediately reminded me of a dress I had pinned ages ago, so you just know I have to make it for at least one of my girls.

And after flipping through the whole book, Nicole has decided she must have one of the cover dress before her wardrobe will be complete. (Olivia had no opinion, she was likely off conditioning her hair with A&D Diaper Ointment or getting into my hot pink lipstick.) I had grand plans of doing one of these gorgeous projects. But then life happened. And I kind of like the plot twist, because instead of pretty happy shiny “And with all the free time in the universe, Laura whipped up boutique dresses at her leisure while sewing aprons to donate to silent auctions and baking goods to donate to lunches and raising three children AND keeping them alive…” which I mean, HAHAHA. Not even fairy tales go there.

What really happened is much more grounded in reality. For some reason, I often find myself deciding The Night Before that I would like to whip something up for one of my girls and staying up all night making that happen. So I flipped through the book and selected a few simpler projects, and then narrowed it down to the Bubble Tea dress. From cutting, deliberating over fabrics, changing my mind on who I was sewing for, all the way to completion, this project took me less than two hours. None of these dresses have patterns to mess with, just cutting instructions. I altered the bubble a tiny bit to fit in the amount of fabric I had decided on using, but otherwise followed directions that really helped move this project along.

So whether you’re living the dream or you’re a bit closer to my own reality, this book has sweet little projects for you. And if you’re curious, I was in bed by 11:30 AFTER also doing some laundry. A new record for procrastination projects! I recommend this book for beginners looking to start out with some big satisfaction, all the way to advanced sewists who would like some quick and easy wow factor. Not to mention that all these based-on-a-tee dresses are super comfortable for their intended models!

If you want to see more projects that involved a little more planning and a little less flying by the seat of one’s pants, or even get a chance to win a copy of this dress, check out the other fabulous bloggers on the blog tour!

May 5
The New York Mom will feature a finished project
Nouveau Stitch will feature a finished project, “Flirty Shirt”
Just Pure Lovely will host a giveaway
The Crafty Princess Diaries will host a giveaway

May 6
Craft Knife will feature a finished project, “Cool Water”
Stitched by Crystal will feature a project for her 9-month-old
BlogHer DIY will feature a project

May 7
Prudent Baby will review and host a giveaway
House of 34 will host a giveaway

May 8
Smashed Peas and Carrots will feature a finished project, “Bubble Tea”
Simply Modern Mom will review and might do a project

May 9
Marsha’s Spot will feature a finished project, “Patchwork of Art” and host a giveaway
Sew Spoiled will review the book
Maya Made will feature a finished project

May 10
Dollar Store Crafts will feature a project
Only From Scratch will feature a project

May 11
A Few Shortcuts will review and host a giveaway
Wild Olive will feature a finished project
Positively Splendid will feature a finished project

May 12
On the Laundry Line will feature a finished project
Elegance and Elephants will feature a finished project

May 13
Luvinthemommyhood will review and host a giveaway
My Little Gems will host a giveaway

I received a complimentary copy of Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses in exchange for this review. All opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own. Images above from Sew Pretty T-Shirt Dresses by Sweet Seams Studio, published by Sixth&Spring Books. Photography by Dan Howell and dress design and instructions copyright © 2013 by Sixth&Spring Books/Soho Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Bubble Shorts

I had the pleasure of pattern testing for Heidi of Elegance and Elephants, and I did the bubble shorts from her Bubble Pocket Shorts Pattern. I don’t want to give it away all in one go, but spoiler alert: I’m gaga for this pattern. (sorry if you’re getting this in a feed reader again, updating the link to the now-released pattern! Use coupon code BUBBLE until Tuesday, April 23 to get 25% off.)

I know it looks really intimidating, but the instructions really hold your hand and tell you you’re pretty, walking you through each step with clear photographs to go with the explanations. I think this looks very top-of-the-line kids-designer-clothes. I worked mine up in a stretch poplin for light, breezy shorts. As you can see, it is absolutely scorching here. Wait, what? Oh. Believe it or not, our weather goes just as high into the positives (Celsius) as it does the negatives… eventually… hopefully?

Olivia is her own stylist. I had planned on her wearing a tweedy newsboy cap, but she tossed it aside and stuffed her big sister’s big fluffy toque on her head instead. A real Canadian gal. I wound up having to wrestle her into a jacket and stuff some babylegs on her afterwards so she could keep playing when the (fastest photoshoot in the history of ever and then hope there were some useable shots) was over.

And as you might recall from my All You Need Is LOVE dress post, Olivia is all about the pockets lately, so these bubble pockets are right up her alley. I think I will make a pair for Nicole as well (they go from 6m-8yr!) and see if they’re as cute on her as they are on Nicole. I mean, Nicole did walk into the craft room, take one look at them, and demand a pair. I live to serve, right?

Here’s an instagram photo of the inside of the shorts waistband. Not the greatest photo, but I just love the neat and tidy contrast waistband on the shorts. It is just the sweetest and most professional looking finish! I think I need to step up my game a little for waistband finishes from now on, because I am just super in love. I used this cute little elephant print as a wink and a nod to the fact that it’s an Elegance & Elephants pattern.

So, in summary, five stars to this pattern, go forth and make shorts, and hopefully enjoy them in warmer weather than Olivia did. Check out the other testers’ shorts – and weather – here!

Linked up at:

I’m not affiliated with Elegance and Elephants and was merely asked to test-sew this pattern and photograph the results. This blog post is not in any way a sponsored post.

Go Anywhere, Bow Anywhere

 

I recently got the opportunity to try out the Anywhere Dress (affiliate link) pattern. I was pretty excited, because this sweet little pattern is simple and perfect for a playdress, and the customization options are endless. Blank canvas. Love that.

This was absolutely perfect for Nicole, because she has A Problem. It’s not a new problem, for her or for my own self. We’ll sum it up politely by saying that in regular jeans/pants with a tshirt, she has wardrobe malfunction of the plumber-esque variety on the regular. It’s a problem that plagued me as a child, and I learned to dress for it and/or how to carefully avoid it as an adult. For her, though, the perfect and most comfortable solution is leggings with a tunic or dress.

I chose to make this Anywhere Dress with the elbow length sleeve with cuff variation, so that in the event that we ever experience this seasonal anomaly reportedly called ‘spring’ she will be prepared to go forth without layering up. Also, I just think this length is really cute. The fabric I used is from Girl Charlee fabrics – not an affiliate, this was my first time purchasing from them and I was very happy with everything I got. Also I silently applauded the shrewdness of the included sample swatches, as I was crushing on a new fabric before I even got the ones I had purchased out of the box.

Since I can’t ever just leave well enough alone, and I had some nicely sized scraps, I decided to embellish the dress and eventually settled on this oversized bow over the shoulder. I just hand stitched it in several places. Where the bow goes over her shoulder, its tacked down along the shoulder seam but the edge of the bow flies free. My husband suggested that if I do it again, I’d be better off doing it with solid fabric or a contrast bow, since it doesn’t really stand out. Ah, well.

Overall, the fit on the Anywhere Dress was just fantastic, spot on. Nicole felt comfy and loved it, the skirt is wide enough to allow for freedom of movement but not so wide as to be an issue with the shorter hem. Personally on my leggy miss I would definitely go with a longer length if I wasn’t using leggings, but I mean… we always use leggings. It’s a non-issue. There are easy instructions on how to lengthen the dress if desired, though. And as you can see above, she felt really cool in her new dress.

Or maybe just cold? Ha! What a great sport she was. I hemmed it this morning between dropping her off for ballet and picking her up, and she changed into it and we took pictures at this handy backdrop (?!) before heading out to buy fabric for the pattern I’m testing this weekend. Don’t worry, the snow isn’t literally quite this deep here, but there are giant piles like this at every parking lot! Oh well, the sun is shining and it’s warming up so we’re staying positive and buying stock in windshield wiper fluid.

Bread Machine Whole Wheat, Flax, & Honey Bread

So, I’ve been eating as ‘clean’ as possible for the last few months, which means experimenting a lot in my kitchen. After playing around with a few different bread machine doughs, and then getting comfortable enough to adapt and adjust and create my own, I present to you my our new family loaf. This is a sweet and soft sandwich bread that throws your preconceived notions of whole wheat & flax bread right out on their bottoms. With magical ingredients such as coconut oil (easily subbed for butter or even olive oil) flax, and whole wheat to make it healthy, and lacking in both preservatives and excessive effort, this is our new go-to bread.

Ingredients:

9oz warm water
2Tbsp coconut oil (or butter, or olive oil)
1/4 cup honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup ground flax (I like to use ground toasted flax)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Put all of the ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed, making a small well in the flour to put the yeast into. Turn your bread machine onto its dough setting and turn it on.

When dough is ready, tuck it neatly into a greased loaf pan, or I like to use my Wilton’s large silicone loaf pan. Let it rise, covered, in a warm place for another half hour… if you don’t have time, then just let it rise while your oven preheats to 350. Put an (oven safe) dish of water on your bottom rack, and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let it cool for at least 5 minutes in the pan, then cool completely on your cutting board before bagging it for later – or eat it all right away. Either way it’s fantastic.

I should warn you that Olivia can mow through half a loaf by herself if it’s warm and she’s got the hungries. We won’t even speak of what the bigger peoples can do with this stuff. I like it with crunchy natural PB, Chris likes it with ham, cheese, and honey mustard. This is also fantastic as a raisin or cranberry bread (just knead them in when the dough is done.) So, what are you waiting for… dust off that bread machine and start dumping!

Easy-Peasy Dolly Shift Dress

Here’s the repost of my guest post from Naptime Crafters Dressing Up Dolly series.

My middle child – a bit of an international superstar for being absolutely crazytown – loves dolls. She will drag them around, give them the baby’s things, and maybe share them with the baby (or the baby with them, more likely.) Since I haven’t made anything for the dolls since my oldest was into them, it was high time I got back into it, so Dressing Up Dolly was the perfect push. I came up with this Easy Peasy Dolly Dress, which works as a nightie on small dolls and a shift dress (with or without the elastic belt) on bigger ones.

I wanted too keep a few things in mind. I wanted to be able to use up scraps, as my scraps are getting a bit out of control and doll clothes are the perfect opportunity. I wanted something that could be made fairly quickly, so I could pound a few out to cover up some of the shameful doll nakeness that’s going on around here lately. I wanted something that could work for a wide size range of dolls. And most importantly, I wanted something easy enough for Olivia – my crazy middle child, a tiny little two year old – to get on and off the dolls herself. She’s not quite up to closures yet, so I wanted to use elastic.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PATTERN

So, if you’ve got some shameful dolls or small hands, lets get to work! Start with the printable pattern for the dress. Cut it out, then cut out your pieces. Don’t forget to mark your notches on the sleeve so you’ll know which side goes on the body, the curve is slightly different on the sleeve side. I cut my dress body on the selvedge so I wouldn’t have to hem it, but you can add some length to it for a hem. Another suggestion I have is using cast off shirts, and lining up the bottom of the pattern with the hem of the shirt.

The cut out pieces (I notched my sleeves but not the body of the dress.)

Press down the top of the dress piece to form a casing. (finish the edge as desired) Cut out two 3.5” pieces of 1/8” elastic.

Stitch the casing, making sure it’s wide enough for whatever you use to thread the elastic. I like to use diaper pins, a tip I picked up somewhere that’s made threading things through casings much less painful. If you look above you can see that to save time, I threaded the elastic partway through and then tacked down the one end of the elastic to make sure it stayed put.

Pull the elastic the rest of the way through, then tack it down on that side as well. Do this with both front and back of the dress.

Okay, I’ll try and explain this properly. Take the body pieces and one sleeve piece. Right sides together, pin front and back to the sleeve, overlapping slightly at the neckline that will meet at the middle/top of the sleeve where the fold was. Here are two more photos to try and illustrate what I mean:

Above shows half of the dress lifted to reveal the sleeve underneath. Below is where the front and back are intersecting with each other a whee bit, like a lapped shoulder.

It sounds batty, possibly, but bear with me. Sew the seam, and when you flip it right side out, you will have the following:

So, sew and finish your seam.

I have a serger, but it’s being finicky, so I sewed and then zig zagged it to prevent unravelling. This seam in particular may receive some rough handling.

Repeat on the other side, making sure that your front and back overlap in the same way. After you pin, flip and double check before you sew, if you’re not totally sure. Then press your seams.

Press and finish your sleeves before you go on to finish your sides.

Pin and finish your sleeves and side seams.

If you used a selvedge or existing hem, you’re done! Otherwise, finish the bottom of your dress, press and press and press to make any little errors melt away.
(like what happened to that seam above left? Ugh.)

Now, if you’d like to create a belt, cut a piece of coordinating fabric 2.5” w by 12” long. Fold it right sides together lengthwise, then sew and turn to create a casing. Thread a 3/4” elastic through it (using the same method as for the neckline) and then sew the raw edges together securely.

Create a flower either by stacking up a pile of wacky circles and tacking them together in the middle and then scrumpling them up, or whatever wonderful flower tutorial you’d like. (There are so many fabulous ones out there!) Stitch it onto your little elastic belt over the spot where your ends met to cover it up and add some finesse.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks for having me, Amy, and bless you for putting up with my comedy of errors in trying to get this blog post live.  Feels like whatever could go wrong, did!

Be sure to check out the rest of the series!

Guest Posting for Dressing Up Dolly

Have you seen the Dressing Up Dolly series at Nap Time Crafters? It might seem like a lot of work to make doll clothes, but trust me when I say, your children will look at you in a whole new light. I don’t care if you’ve made a ballgown that you’ve woven with spider silk and it lights up like the stars when they dance. If you make it for their doll, it is scientifically proven* to be 65.7% cooler.

There is just something very satisfying about making a tiny little garment and having your kids think you are the best thing since sliced bread. For a quick and easy little dress pattern, check out my guest post for the series by clicking the image below.

*science may or may not be a loosely applied term here

Mel-orange-drama

It all started innocently enough. The girls were eating toast, I was preparing some oatmeal cereal for Jackson, and I thought I should add some fruit to our breakfast. It was Saturday, why not a special treat for Olivia… I’ll bust out the mandarins.

The peak. The high. She abandoned her toast like yesterday’s old beat up flip flops and dove into that little orange like it was the cutest pair of ballet flats you’d ever seen. But then, faster than you could say “what do you mean parachute pants are coming back,” it was gone.

Nicole, however, was still pecking away at her peanut butter toast. She likes order, and she loves to savour. First her toast must be finished, then her orange carefully peeled (preferably by her mother) and segmented, then eaten one small piece at a time.

Olivia eyed up Nicole’s mandarin pensively. “No, Olivia,” two voices at once, and she looks at us as if she is offended. “Cole’s orange,” she says almost defensively, then her words twist with a hint of melancholy. “You eat it, Cole? You eat your orange? Yours?” Her eyes fill with the forbidden fruit. She moves a chair closer.

Nicole eyes her distrustfully, and looks at me, her hand hovering over her orange. I spoon cereal into Jackson’s eager little mouth. Olivia moves another seat closer and Nicole snatches her orange up and moves it to the other side of her plate, furthest from Olivia. “Cole’s orange,” Olivia tries to reassure her placidly, slipping off the chair and sitting on Nicole’s other side, while Nicole switches her orange back. Olivia looks charming and conversational. Nicole is starting to look panicked at this point, and decides she and her breakfast are safest beside me.

Olivia watches the mandarin orange intently as it finds a home back across the table, then feigns a casual attitude as she follows Nicole. Then she abandons all pretence and stands on Nicole’s chair, leaning over her now-shrieking sister to stare hypnotically at the orange. “Orange… orange… Cole’s orange… orange…” she chants through Nicole’s dramatic shrieks. “Olivia, back off!” I bark, and she looks up at me, startled. “Okay, I back off…” she says remorsefully, to my surprise, and does so, for approximately two-thirds of a second. Then she’s right back on Nicole’s chair, leaning over her to try get a glimpse of the orange that Nicole is now curled up protectively around, still shrieking.

I throw my hands up and give up on feeding Jackson. “Nicole, please go finish breakfast in your room so you can eat in peace. And run.” She happily obliges, Olivia hot on her tail, until the door slams. My wild, intense middle child returns to me, hot fat tears running down her face and her large blue eye eyes full of sorrow.

I stifle a grin, and casually start peeling my own mandarin orange, which until now had apparently gone unnoticed. Immediately those eyes regain their sparkle, and she hopefully says, “Mommy’s orange?” “Yes, Mommy’s orange,” I tell her firmly. She nods, smiling at me, and we both know I’m going to share, but I say it anyways, and she bubbles up, a giggle escaping.

And a few minutes later, Nicole comes out of her room with two orange slices. “I have pieces for you, Olivia, because you’re two years old. I’m the best big sister ever, hey?” Olivia explodes into a million tiny pieces of pure joy, and they’re best friends again.

And I never, ever put mandarins on the breakfast table again.

All you need is LOVE

Love hurts.

I went ahead and made the dress I had been jabbering on about making for Project Run and Play’s sew along. Or in my case, Project Run and Almost Play. I was literally one seam away from finishing it but had to throw in the towel in the name of cuddling my children. No regrets, except maybe for messing around trying to get my serger going before I actually started the sewing portion of this program. If I had foreseen the future and known my kids were going to get terribly ill and need excessive cuddling, I definitely would have just given the thing a dirty look and went straight to the zig-zag seam finishes I wound up using anyways.

Aside from just the LOVE applique, there was more love put into this dress. The giant pockets are straight up love for Olivia, who loves to shove things in pockets so much she has taken up to shoving things in MY pockets if she doesn’t have any on her own person.

The fully lined bodice, made using this tutorial, was another labour of love. I haven’t done a fully lined bodice on a dress before, but the embroidered applique called for it, so it would be more comfortable inside. The back was a little surprise love, since I had initially planned to add buttons and then it fell nearly this way when she was trying it on a second time. I tilted my head, adjusted it, and decided I quite love it like this. I can always go back and add buttons and buttonholes if I tire of it.

The fabric, aside from the white cotton lining, was some love from their Nana, who saw this striped and dotted sheet and just knew I could make something for my girls with it. The elastic in the pocket should tighten up in the wash so it doesn’t hang quite so much. I also still have markings on the bodice. Apparently it was too much effort to wash and re-press the dress, just as it was too much effort to wash and repress my hooligan child.

I like to pick my battles. (A lot of which can be seen on instagram, where you can find me under the username lorchick. Disclaimer/Warning: may contain poop, butter eating, sewing, and excessive amounts of chubby baby)

And one last bit of love? Olivia loves it. Win all around, in my books.

If anyone is interested in a tutorial for this pocket dress, let me know. Partway through I realized I might be on to something that other people might be interested in, so I took some notes.