Sick

Sick again.  I've already gone on about it on my other blog.  But suffice it to say, I'm in pain, recovering from pain, tired, not up for it, etc, etc.  "Golden Time", or the time when the babies are sleeping, has been sorely wasted this week. 

I don't think I've been in my craft room for days; I just look longingly as I pass by.  But tomorrow is a new day.  With the pain killers working better maybe I'll make my way up there and just do something. 

Community Ceramics Class

My ceramics class is going great!  The first class was rough as I felt like I lost all of my previously gained skills.  After class four, I'm much more comfortable.  I've finished 3 pots, need to trim 4 more. 

I saw an awesome video on Youtube.com.  It was a wheel-throwing demo for an enclosed pot. Meaning the artist threw a pot, brought it up, closed it, and then separated the pieces when they were leather hard.  Not as easy as it seems.  My first attempt collapsed; I'll make more attempts next week. 

This is a community class and not at all graded.  So it's very relaxed, we work at our own pace, and just make what we feel like making.

AWESOME First Year Album

I love Shutterfly.  It's an awesome site to make photo projects and doubles as an online backup for photos.  Recently, I just finished my Babies' First Year Album.  The album is about $30 for 25 pages and $1 for each additional page.  My album plus tax and shipping was $60...then I have a coupon for 40% off...then I had a coupon for free shipping.  It ended up around $30.

The album arrived yesterday and I LOVE it.  I plan on making one for each year of the babies' lives. 

I'm giving the note cards a try next.  There was an email for 5 free and you just pay for shipping.  I'm curious about the quality.  So I paid $6 for shipping 5 note cards.  I think they inflate shipping costs to break even on these freebies.  Whatever.  $1.20 for a note card and envelope is darn good. 

Little BooBoo Turns Awesome

Check out my newest toddler dress!

I wanted to try something new with these dresses - a wider opening in back.  That means bringing the opening down a bit into the skirt, which changes the construction somewhat.

The inside back bodice edges were left unfinished.  The skirt was not sewn into a circle, instead that edge was left raw.  The two pieces were sewn together flat, not as circles.  I hope that made sense to more than just me.  Must take more in progress pics on the next one.

The raw edges in back are folded over and held in place with button holes/buttons and a bit of invisible stitching.  A 3rd button was added.  This dress was 10x's easier to try on I-Baby.  It can slip over the head or hips.  To avoid a fuss I left I-Baby's shirt on.  No crying this time.  Yay!  I'm sticking with this closure method in the future.

Now, my mistake...

My plan was to do another school yard print dress with yellow boarder.  If you've seen my previous dress photos you'll notice the bodice is black and the straps use the print (to match the skirt).  But I completely forgot to use the print fabric!  What to do?  I haven't finished the button bodice; I don't want to start another one.

This is what I came up with.  Purple embroidery, purple skirt, and a black boarder on the skirt.  I love it.

I Love Buttons

I love buttons, have a ton of them, but what to use them for????  There was once an art project involving tons of buttons.  Now that I think about it, that's probably why I have so many; I eventually decided to get rid of the project and took off the buttons.  They're expensive ya know.

Well, I decided to make an all black toddler dress with a bodice full of buttons.  I also tried a new version of the straps.  New shape, not sewn decoratively over the bodice, just a regular strap.  I'm loving it.  Sewing on the buttons is slow going but here is my progress so far.

Toddler Dresses - Round 2

Please excuse the boot in this picture.  It has gotten harder to get the girls to try on the dresses, much less take decent photos.  

As much as I loved making the 4th of July dresses, I needed to try something different.  Here is the same pattern except with a single fabric used for the skirt.  This is another of those fabrics that I can't help but say, "Wow, I like it but I really don't need this much!".  A good chunk of that fabric was used for these 3 dresses.  Yellow, red, and green.

None of the green dress photos turned out.  ALL were blurry.  W-Baby was in that dress for maybe 2 minutes.  As soon as I closed the buttons she started fusing and then crying.  I took only a handful of photos and the only possibly usable one was with a cry face on.  Poor baby.  So I guess I'll just take some of the dress by itself; same probably goes for any future dresses.  Oh well.

Totally for Toddler Dresses

While digging around in my fabric closet I came across ^ this.  And a lot of it, maybe 5 yards.  At first, I thought Why do I have this much of this fabric?  Then I took the time to really look at it and fell in love all over again.  It is just such a cute, homey scene.

Now, the reason I was digging through fabric was to put together fabric for a toddler dress.  There is a free pattern on the Moda blog that instantly struck me.  Here are the fabrics that I came up with...

This is the finished dress; the Moda pattern was supposedly for 18 to 24 month toddlers. I altered it slightly to suit my needs.  Here is what I did:

• My babies are 14 months and the bodice was too small for them.  I added 2 inches on the back.
• The Moda pattern had a solid piece bodice, no openings.  I don't know about your kids but mine have never stood still with their arms raised.  That would never get over their heads.  Instead, I left the bodice back open and added buttons. 
• The Moda pattern had the straps knot on the front of the bodice.  I didn't care for that at all.  Mine are sewn on and decorative with a cute button.
• The biggest difference was that I translated the measurements from Moda's jellyroll to inches. I used regular yardage as I don't have any cute Moda jellyrolls.

I am soooo grateful for the Moda Bakeshop; I was able to get the inspiration to create this awesome dress.  

This is the bodice, just before I sewed the bodice pieces together.  And see those straps there?  That is NOT where they go.  I made that mistake once -- sewed the straps into the front instead of the back.

Here is the finished bodice of my 2nd dress.  Here I made the mistake of sewing the straps too far towards the opening.  I didn't realize it until after attaching the skirt.  Waaaayy too late for an easy fix; I'd be seam ripping 2 rows of straight stitches and 1 zigzag stitch over gathered fabric.

I tried it on a babe as is.  Not perfect but fine.  The straps definitely won't fall down sewn like that.  My only concern is they'll grow out of the dress sooner.  But if that becomes the case I can fix it then. 

After completing 2 of these fun dresses, I think I have the kinks worked out. 

This is I-Baby, happily modeling the first dress for me.  They aren't this calm later.  In fact, for the 5th dress W-Baby was bawling to be out of it.  Poor baby!

Nap Time Flies By

No blog entries does not mean no crafting.  I've actually been super duper busy with various projects. 

1. I've made 5 toddler dresses.  Since I was changing a pattern I found free on Moda, the first 2 dresses were imperfect practice dresses.  The last 3 are for the craft show.
2. The Husband and I went to an estate sale where I bought a serger.  Now if only I'd get around to reading the manual and re-threading it. 
3. There is a 6th toddler dress in the works.  It involves lots of buttons, which means I only work on it a little bit at a time.  
4. I've finished editing the photos for Babies' First Year shutterfly album and begun putting it together.
5. Typing up the rough draft for my household binder.  My biggest problem is that I sometimes hand write notes or lists and they get misplaced.  At the same time I often make digital versions and it makes me feel completely disorganized.  I keep telling myself just to finish the rough draft.  I'll make changes directly on it and rework it later. 

Anyways, pictures and details to follow on my fun toddler dresses.  My poor little babies, they hate putting them on now.  Oh yeah, check out the picture of our kinda blizzard (the early, not so bad part).