25 Louisa Dress by Compagnie M

Hey there!

Have you seen Marte's latest pattern release? It's absolutely adorable! When Marte first posted about this dress (HERE), I was smitten and when I was invited to be part of the pattern tour, I was over the moon. 

Oh lucky-lucky me!

The dress is fully lined with a ginormous pocket in the front (perfect for little gatherers) and the back has an invisible zipper. Speaking of zipper…

guys…

this is my first attempt working with a zipper. Shocked? I am. You would think someone who has sewn for many years would be able to sew zippers in her sleep, but truth has it, I was afraid of them. What the heck was wrong with me?!!! Now I wanna sew zippers on everything!

The pattern came together smoothly. The directions and photos were easy to follow and it took me one afternoon to whip this up. What's really nice are the different options to create different looks and the pattern offers sizes 1yr to 10 yrs old. A whole lotta bang for your buck!

Usually I would make slight changes to a pattern to fit Lala properly or deviate from the instructions, but not this pattern. It's a really great pattern.

The fabric is Bark & Branch by Eloise Renouf, for Cloud9 Fabrics in organic cotton in Autumn Wonderland and Passing Clouds Gold. I purchased the fabric from Fabricworm. A great shop, btw.

Marte is offering a 10% discount on her new pattern. The code is Louisa10off and is valid until December 7th. Marte is also offering a combo pack of the Mara and Louisa dress for $16.31 (12 euros). Just hop over to her pattern shop (HERE).

If the discounts aren't enough, how about a giveaway?

 Feelin' lucky???

Just enter below for a free Louisa Dress pattern.

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Thank you so much Marte for having me on the tour!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

23 Let's Make: Sunglass Masks

Hey there!

Let's take a little break from sewing (step away from the sewing machine) and let's do a little craftin', shall we? I had originally wanted to do this tutorial two years ago in October, but never got around to it. So I thought, "why not do it now in the summer?". Perfect! It's summertime, the kids are home, sunglasses are abundant and anytime is a good time to play make believe!

A couple years back, I was in the process of making Lala's Halloween costume. She was going to be an owl. The body of the costume was all sewn, but the face was my challenge. I remember being a kid and getting the costumes in a box. Remember those? The ones where it was a full body outfit (a one  piece) made out of plastic and it came with a mask that swallowed your face. Within 5 minutes of wearing the mask, your face is drenched in sweat and you begin to feel claustrophobic  because the holes for the nose and eyes were too small, remember?! So by the time you finished one block of trick-or-treating in your neighborhood, the mask was either in your candy bag or on top of your head. I even remember a couple of times, the mask ripping. Ahhh...good times.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Lala...

So I needed to create a mask that was going to be easy to make, easy to put on or take off and comfortable to wear. I was stumped. It wasn't until I saw a picture somewhere of the 2000 New Year's Eve glasses, you know the ones I'm talking about. Where your eyes are in the "00", between the "2" and  last "0". That's when it hit me... why not glue a mask to an old pair of sunglasses? And that's what I did! It was a huge success. Lala wore the mask with no problems and it got a lot of use. Even Sophia (my eldest) wore it to her school spirit day just last year. So if you're in the market for easy to make and easy to wear masks, pull up a chair and let's get craftin'!

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SUPPLIES:

-sunglasses(any sunglasses will do)

-hot glue

-Fabri-Tac glue

-plain white paper

-pencil

-fine tip sharpie

-medium tip

-felt

-foam craft paper

-scissors

-needle and thread (optional)

-*velcro

*If you only have one pair of sunglasses, use velcro to attach to the masks. This way allows you to make multiple masks and only using one pair of sunglasses.

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First, pop out the lenses and with a pencil and paper, trace around frame. With the black Sharpie, go over what you traced. This will be your template.

Take your template and placed it underneath a plain white paper. Draw your mask. Make sure to draw the eyes within the frames of your template. Once you draw your mask, you will then need to create pattern pieces for all the details on your mask. Once you've drawn out all the pieces, you will need to cut them out.

Place your pattern pieces on top of the felt and trace the pattern with a fine tip Sharpie. Cut out pattern pieces.

Take your main pattern piece (the face) and adhere it to the foam craft paper using Fabri-Tac glue. Carefully cut around the felt. Make sure to cut an opening for the eyes.

Adhere details to the face using Fabri-Tac glue. Allow glue to dry. If you're feelin' extra crafty, you can stitch on the details.

Apply hot glue to the frames of the sunglasses and carefully attach to the back of the mask. Clean up any glue boogers. Once glue is cool... it's show time!

Only able to sacrifice one pair of sunglasses? No problem!

Attach velcro to the sunglasses and to the back of the mask using hot glue. Let it set and get ready to be anyone or anything your heart desires! 

Can you guess what the last picture is?

Pretty easy to make, huh? Now it's your turn!

Make sure to share your creations over HERE. I'd love to see what you make!!!

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37 KCW: Cat's Meow T

Hiya!

How's your sewing coming along? I see you managed to pry yourself away from the sewing machine and do a little blog hoppin'.

Good! 

May I interest you in a little inspiration?

Here's project #1. I've had this idea dancing in my head for the past two weeks. First it was bear, then a rabbit and finally decided on a kitty. If you can see, I did a lace cut-out on the thought bubble. The technique was a lot easier than I anticipated. I just had to make sure to not make the bubble too big as it may dip down and expose unmentionables. Not that it's that big of a deal (at least not for me), but I don't want to offend anyone. Oh gosh no!

And look... look at the kitty...

See? It's a pocket!

My inspiration?

via Bikbik and Roro

Isn't this the cutest bag ever? Jan from Bikbik and Roro has the cutest stuff. I adore her tabby cat totes. If you haven't seen her works, you must pay a visit. Her shop is HERE and her wonderful blog is over HERE.

The pattern I used is from this lovely book.

Pattern H.

You can find the book HERE.

To make things easy, I painted the face versus hand stitching or appliqué. I already spent more time on this project than I wanted to.

So one project down and on to the next!

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P.S., Does sewing for a teenager count on KCW? Anyone know?

8 Another Friend

  Another late night and a sweet surprise for Lala and her gang.

For this doll I made the legs and arms thicker. I'm not sure if I  prefer this or thinner appendages. Mr thinks each one should be different, to fit their personality.

*shrugging*

Eh... we'll see.

This is what I should be doing right about now.

I adore her headdress. The shape and colors just fills me with warmth. I dunno how else to explain it...

Happiness?

Yes.

One area I need improvement is hand stitching. *ugh* Try to look beyond that part...I am still a Padawan in the realm of embroidery. How awesome would it be to have her headdress all fancy-schmancy embroidery? Maybe one day.

The first doll, I had used different felts. Lala loved biting her head (as you can see). A bit worn, but just as lovable as the when I first made her.

Little Clementine is very happy. No longer the lone tree. Another friend...another like her. So if you listen carefully, you'll hear not one, but two voices now. Softly humming in harmony as they happily count their fruits... together.

Who's next?

Sweet Mim has been waiting ever so patiently.

I can't wait to get started, but first...

SLEEP!

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11 A New Friend

Last friday I decided it was time to revisit one of my old projects. Which was perfect timing since Easter was in a couple of days, I thought it would be extra special to make another doll for Lala.

What a dapper rabbit all decked out in stripes and bow tie. I'm very pleased with him... very much indeed!

In order to have him ready for Easter, I had to work well into the night. Yah baby... this is how I spend my Friday nights!

If you have been following me, you may of remembered these guys. I first made them just under 2 years ago so that Lala had company while she slept. They were much smaller with nubby arms and legs to make it easier for Lala's little hands to grab. That's Cleo on the left and Theodore on the right. I still haven't found a name for the new guy.

Any suggestions?

And here's the rest of the gang... Mim on far left and Clementine on the far right. You can read a little more about them on my old blog over HERE. Cleo was a little upset during the photo shoot. He had lost his scarf (actually Lala took it off) and he felt a bit naked without it. That's why he's hiding behind Mim.

Now it's time to move on to another! Clementine begged me to make a friend much like her (how could I possibly say no?), and Mim has shown interest as well, but she won't ask outright. I'll surprise her later.

I'm just about done with this next doll and I'll be back to introduce her to you.

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9 Pinafore Pattern by Imagine Gnats

Rachael asked me if I would be interested in being a pattern tester for her Pinafore and I thought, "Uh... yah!". I have been wanting to make a pinafore for Lala forever and like all the things on my very long to do list, it gets pushed aside as I add more and more things. 

*sigh*

Does that sound familiar to you?

It's funny how things work out. I'm so glad I waited until now. Rachael's pattern is still in the works and I believe she's still looking for a few more pattern testers. Check it out over HERE.

This pattern is simple and direct. Perfect for the newbie sewist. You have the option of either having it reversible or not. To get the most bang, I made Lala's reversible. The only thing I did differently was adding my own little pockets on the outside versus the hidden pockets provided with the pattern.

The stars must be aline...

Lala was kind enough to allow me to take a few photos of her without any drama (or a cookie). Very rare folks. VERY rare.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the pattern. It's quick and easy, perfect for my hectic lifestyle.

Maybe it was the balloon that put her in a good mood. Either way...

I'll take it!

If you haven't met Rachael from Imagine Gnats, I kindly implore you to pay a visit to her blog. She's a wonderful gal with loads of inspiration and talent! You can also find her HERE and HERE.

Make sure to give her a hug for me!

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P.S., Notice the plant display? I'll show you how to make one of your own using everyday kitchen finds next week!

22 animal sleeves

You can wear more than just your heart on your sleeve.

How about a raccoon or a bear or even a fox? I was inspired by Jennifer of Parrish Platz who made a panda sleeve shirt for her little one. Check it out over here.

The hardest part of the creating process was figuring out an animal. 

*think*think*think*

A-ha!

A raccoon!

I remember Rachael from Imagine Gnats did a series called, "Raccoons The New Black". It was really cute. So I thought I'd give it a go.

Since the raccoon was going to be on the sleeve I didn't want to have too many layers as it might be too stiff for movement and comfort. First, I cut the sleeves out and marked the centers to help with placement of the faces. Then I cut out pieces for the face using black flannel with fusible web on the backside. Next, I placed the eye detail and nose onto the sleeve and ironed it. Once it was fused, I did a decorative zig-zag stitch along the edge of the nose and around the eyes. The eyes are buttons and the ears are black flannel with white piping that was sewn into the seams. Quite a few steps, but it came together fairly easy. The blouse is a pattern I have used before (seen here) from this book.

The vest is a pattern from Cucito Babies And Toddlers Magazine, 2011 Winter and Early Spring volume. I tried to locate it for you if you were interested in purchasing it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Sorry. The fabric is this suuuuper yummy sherpa fabric I had bought from Fabricworm last year. I had originally wanted to make a throw blanket, but now that we're getting into warmer weather, I opted for a vest. At least now she can wear her blanket, right?

Now the pants...

Okay this deserves it's own post. I'm sooo in love with the harem/sarouel pants at the moment. I've already made quite a few and I promise to talk more about it later. I know... I'm such a tease...

*wink*

So are you ready for a little animal love?

What would you wear on your sleeve?

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