A Boy Who Loves Fabric

I'm keeping all my fabrics in a drawer that Jack can open, so he's gotten into taking them all out and playing with them. I just think it's so cute! (Until I have to pick them all up again. I gave up keeping them organized into categories for now.) When he wants to play with them, he says "fawbeeks?"

Made by me #3: Vogue 8580

Here's a top I finished a while back. About an hour after I finished it, I decided to wear it and then made lunch for the fam (turkey sandwiches with mayo). I looked down when I finished and got a nice blob of mayo on the lower portion of this which left a lovely grease spot. Moral: always wear an apron!

My review of this pattern is here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=61961

Made by me wardrobe #2: Simplicity 2360

Here's a dress I finished this week. I made it out of fabric I got on clearance last summer at Joann's for 99 cents a yard! The pattern cost $.99, too, so the whole dress only cost about $4. It's a great pattern--very versatile, and relatively easy to put together, although the ruffles were a little time-consuming.

I posted a pattern review of this here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=61913

One More Quilt

Well, I just couldn't resist making one more baby quilt. When I had out the fabrics for the cloth ball I made, I kept putting these 5 together and thinking how cute they looked, so I just did a quick squares quilt. The back is kind of crazy--a pieced combination of the fabrics from the front plus a couple of others. I was just trying to use stuff I already had. This one is fairly small; it will be a nice "tummy time" quilt.

Made by me wardrobe #1: Butterick 5397

This is the most successful of the three garments I have sewn for myself in the last month. The other two I'll post soon--I just happened to finish this one today and had on pants that matched so . . . voila!

This was a "one hour pattern" which, of course, took me about six hours. As Mr. Rogers used to sing, "I like to take my time to do it right," and with this knit top, I definitely felt the need to go slowly. I'm starting to get over my fear of knits sewn without a serger (I don't have the room or the budget for one) and thought this would be an easy pattern to try. It was quite straightforward and I like the drapey knit fabric I used, although it was very fussy to work with (it was some kind of rayon knit blend). It's hard to see from the picture, but the fabric has red and blue (kind of turquoise-y) circles outlined in black on a gray background. I am between two sizes with "Big 4" patterns, so I opted for the larger one since I don't like any clinging on my "back chub." My top fits fine, although it is a little wide at the shoulders. I would definitely make this again, and the whole top cost me about $6 (the pattern was $.99, and I got the knit on clearance from fabric.com) so it definitely qualifies as a bargain!

Update: I posted a review of this (my first pattern review!) on sewing.patternreview.com! If you sign up for a free membership or are already a member, you can see my review here:

http://sewing.patternreview.com/review/pattern/61036

Jolly good knit-along idea!

I know you have that little thing of, well, giving birth to deal with in the very near future, Leigh, but I think you shouldn't let that event get in the way of joining us Craftybelles in a little project just in time for the big day (um, not Baby Key II's big day . . . . the OTHER big day coming up soon):

http://blogs.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2011/03/11/knit-the-royal-family-just-in-time-for-william-and-kates-big-day/

Good news: each one only takes five hours to make, according to the article!

Baby Projects

Here are some things I made for my baby boy. The first picture shows a couple pairs of pants (the drawstring ones aren't quite finished), two hats, and a bird garland I made for his room from Fa La La Felt. The second picture shows a ball I made using a pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book "Seams to Me." I will give that to Jack when the baby is born--something new for him to play with and a ball that won't hurt if it happens to hit the baby!