I have been having so much fun in the sewing room lately!  I have picked up, and been giving some really fun fabrics that have inspired a lot of sewing for Miss E.

I’m still on my Geranium Dress kick.  This is Miss E’s fourth Geranium.  She has two dresses and two tunics.

It’s just a wonderfully versatile pattern with very user-friendly instructions.  Every dress I’ve made from this pattern has had it’s own distinct look.  My Mom surprised me with this citron fabric that I used for the bottom half of the dress (the fabric is Moda, and it’s called 2WENTY-THR3E by Eric & Julie Comstock).  I LOVE the colors of this fabric!  I added the solid colored top and decided it was a bit too plain, so I dressed it up with the ruffle and tiny buttons.

One of the things I love most about sewing is the freedom I have to personalize her clothing.  I decided to embroider her name onto the dress pocket (although she has informed me numerous times that her name is NOT spelled “all fancy like that!”).

I’m trying to include more pictures of Miss E wearing the clothes that I make, so that you can get a feel for how the pattern fits.

Personally I really like the way the Geranium pattern fits her!  The little capped sleeves are my favorite.

These days there are more online pattern companies than you can shake a stick at, and while I really love PDF patterns not all pattern companies are equal.  Some children’s pattern companies are only interested in churning out a new pattern every few weeks, instead of really perfecting one good design.  That’s what I love about Rae’s patterns, she takes her time.  She designs clothes that fit well and look professional when finished.  She doesn’t release a pattern until it has been tested many times over and the attention to detail shows!

This is one of the Geranium tunics I made Miss E about a month ago.  The tunics take very little fabric so it’s a good way to use up smaller pieces of fabric, especially if you mix and match like I did with this one.

 

This is a picture of E wearing her tunic with some pants I made her last week.

These little pants are so much fun to make!  They are a really satisfying project that only took an afternoon to finish (I should mention that making these pants in an afternoon meant that dinner did not happen,and my husband kindly suggested that we order pizza).  I used Meg McElwee’s Basic Pocket Pant pattern from her book Growing Up Sew Liberated.

Miss E doesn’t like to wear jeans.  She hates how thick and scratchy they are and how they bunch up around her waist.  So all last winter she wore dresses and leggings or already worn-out thrift store jeans.  This year I decided to make her some.  I used some really soft denim I found on the flat-fold table at my local fabric store.  It was crazy inexpensive, felt nice to the touch, had a cool crosshatch texture, and it was 60 inches wide!  How cool is that?…very!  I made the all denim pants first and used the opposite side of the fabric for the contrasting pockets and cuffs.  I had Miss E try them on and she looked at me with a confused look and said, “But there just pain ol’ pants!”.

So for attempt number two I decided to dress them up a bit.

Once again I used the opposite side of the denim for the pant legs and a floral and dot fabric for the contrasting cuffs and pockets.

The cuffs look so cute with her little feet peeking out from under them!

Just some pictures of the pants on E.  I did have to do some alterations to the pattern.  Miss E is four-years-old and usually a 4T fits her perfectly.  I cut out the 4T and was surprised when the pants were a full 3 inches too long!  Fortunately shortening the pant legs and redoing the cuffs was no big deal, and for the second pair I just cut three inches of the bottom right away.

She was very happy with the second pair I made her!  I can tell that she really likes them because she’s always fishing them out of the dirty clothes hamper.

Lastly, I made this slip dress one morning a few weeks ago.  The fabric is called Neighborhood Houses by Timeless Treasures.  I found it on Etsy and just fell in love with it!  I made a simple slip dress with bias tape finish.  This is another dress that Miss E seems to favor.  She tried to wear it three days in a row, but on the third day I put my foot down and insisted that the dress must be washed!

And that’s all the buzz from the sewing room.  I already have more fabric on order and new patterns to try out!  I’m looking forward to tackling some new projects for the littlest member in our family (who is growing out of her cloths every time I turn around!).  So stay tuned… more to come!

~April

PS- as always if you have any questions about the fabric or patterns please feel free to ask!