Limbs and head flopped out to sleep. Looking d-e-d.Filed under: Fixed it, Gifted it, Love it, Sewed it | Tags: Christmas, dress, pattern, present, tiers, tutorial, twirl
The same little girl who got these dresses for her and her mom gets a custom Christmas dress every year made by her faraway aunt. I figure if I can’t spend time with her, I’ll spend time on her. And twirly dresses are super fun. Best part of all: We’ll get to take a trip to Gaffney’s together next weekend where she’ll get to pick whatever fabric she wants.
Kiddo wants something like this, the Love To Twirl. In green. I haven’t yet seen an exact pattern, with tiers starting right under your shoulders, but I found these two Simplicity patterns on sale at the JoJo that I think could work. How don’t I already have anything close?
So 2711 is for wovens and 2943 (Project Runway for kids now?!) for knits.
I think the trick’s going to be getting the upper body to fit her, then to chop the bodice high and start adding tiers. This tutorial should come in handy.
Filed under: Gifted it, Made it, Uncategorized | Tags: baby, blanket, crochet, green, present, yarn
Ok, they’re not clever. But I think they’re sweet. And I still have some of the teeny blankets my mom-mom made for me and for my baby dolls. Plus the crochet makes less noise than the sewing machine late at night when one of us feels like a movie.
Happy blankie, baby!
Filed under: Help me, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it, Uncategorized | Tags: dress, Hawaiian, pattern, present, refashion, Salvy
I owe my sister-in-law a birthday present and had bought her this vintage Hawaiian dress to wear at my mom’s beach house, where us ladies like to roam the joint in muu-muus. That’s a true story. Mine’s green. Sister’s is red and white, our mom’s is leopard print.
SIL, who loves pink, didn’t have one, so I thought about hemming the original maxidress a little to fit her. It’s really good heavy fabric and has this great scoop back.
But.
What if she and her 4-year-old had the same dress? What if I hemmed the thing to the knee, a length she’s more likely to actually wear, and use the *good* foot of fabric at the bottom to make a dress for my niece?
I pulled out my little girl patterns and found a handful of possibilities for my niece.
The halter patterns on the left are very summer, but I think in the spirit of the muu-muu, I’m going with the dress on the right, the one with the ruffled skirt. I think it’ll fit the fabric I have better, too.
Thoughts while I hem the original dress? 4-year-olds still like to match their moms, right?
Filed under: Love it, Made it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: bathing suit, present, USA
My teeny lady friend in Massachusetts turns one this July. I like being the auntie who sends her purple things, so I put this dress w matching bloomers together from more JoJo flowered fabric, freecycled purple linen-esque stuff and some vintage buttons that have been waiting in the button box for such use.
The criss-crossing back is what sold me.
Sadly, there are no ruffles on the tush of the bloomers, but now that I’ve finished this project, I’d love to work on fixing that.
And my pale nephew loves the water. But his baby skin is really, really white, so his mother wondered where she’d find an old fashioned one-piece suit for the little guy. Enter a crafty auntie. Found this navy stretch terrycloth on the JoJo clearance rack early the morning I got pink slipped. Sheesh.
Used this thrifted romper pattern, and added a little USA patch to the front with an iron then a zigzag stitch. Now my teeny white man can hog the pool ladder all he wants without fear of the Burn.
Go to it, little Mister!
Can’t say I’m back to sewing wholeheartedly. Still just putting things together that need doing. Job or no job, I needed a little birthday gift for my dear friend’s little girl, so it was shop and spend money, or make something with love from materials I collected while gainfully employed. Ditto for tiny bathing suit – and seeing these finished things I made with my own hands boosts morale in wonderful ways.
Filed under: Love it | Tags: birthday, Chicago, concert, George Michael, limoncello, millennium park, movies, Philadelphia, picnic basket, present, purple
This girl turned 3-2 last week AND celebrated engagement to the Crafty Mister with parents who flew in from Philadelphia to meet Mister’s extended family, cry with happiness, lend advice, etc. The best part of all this celebrating was putting on a purple dress (thrifted of course) and yapping with people I love while sipping on The Recipe. I got some really sweet gifts, too, including tickets from the Mister to *George Michael in Concert* at the United Center Isn’t he a GEM?
I love this backpack picnic basket we can take to the beach and to Millennium Park for free concerts all summer like ANDREW BIRD – from the Mister’s aunt and uncle.
It’s outfitted with everything you need for a meal on a lawn, including a cheese cutting board and wine bottle holder, and enough dining accoutrements so I won’t have any guilt of tossing plastic throwaways every time we eat dinner under the sky.
We bike to Millennium Park maybe once a week starting in June, or to Grant Park for summer outdoor movies, both excellent reasons to put up with the hassles (read: rampant corruption) of living in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
My mother of course gave me leopard pajamas and leopard mixing bowls.
I don’t buy myself PJs anymore since it might hurt her feelings. Also she has a knack for knowing when I’ve worn out the old ones. These are summer weight and trimmed with red. She’s my original leopard lady, and I’ve followed in her footsteps as best I can. since I’ve pretty much given up on retail shopping, spotted kitchen accessories are news to me.
My mother’s friend sent a stunning cookbook – The Silver Spoon – originally published in Italy in the 1950s and recently available in English. 
The Mister is coming around to the Italian cooking I grew up with, and is leaning slowly toward those flavors rather than the Mexican ones to which he gravitates. This book is the best bedtime story ever since we could read about food aloud to each other all the time.
I didn’t know some of these vegetables existed — and the Silver Spoon has six ways to cook them deliciously (I do know what turnips are, but not six ways to cook them).
Cousins shared from their collection of vintage campaign buttons, since we both are journalism nerds who like this kind of thing. I ran off with the one from an ancient coroner’s race — when Cook County used to have a a coroner instead of a medical examiner. Can’t wait to make some sort of upholstered frame to stick them on as a display.
And I absolutely love this gorgeous birthday gift: 
It’s a limoncello starter, started by one of the Mister’s best friends, the Polch. Polch has been on a brewing and distilling kick all winter, and I’d been admiring the homemade limoncello he and his Lady have been making, so he started a jar for us to keep going at home with citrus peels and more plain old booze, as well as instructions for finishing this delicious southern Italian liqueur. Much as I love homemade presents to give I love to receive them, too.
* More to come in future blogs about outfit for GM.
