My Retro Girls

My children gave me fabric from the local quilt store for my birthday (I know that is no surprise to most of you). My youngest picked out a very cool retro print by timeless treasures (I'm sure Daddy helped her pick it out). I didn't know what to do with it. It kept yelling I'm retro and won't look good sewn up any other way. I used Child's Play software to draft the pattern (I am starting to really love this program). I drafted up a knee length, zipper in back, A-line dress that I thought would give a 70's retro look. Tiny pink bias tape was added to bottom of skirt and sleeves. I made up some wide headbands to finish the look. A lady came up to me at church and told me she had the same dress exact dress (only in brown) when she was younger. Hearing her say that made me feel like I got it right. It is a dark day so my pics are not that nice. I will try to get some better pics in the next few days. The good looking young man in the back is my son. I don't sew much for him. He likes to shop at the mall like other children his age.

My New Treasure Chest

I got lots of exciting sewing and craft gifts for Christmas. My hubby and children bought me fabric, soap making stuff, machine needles, embroidery thread, and other fun crafty stuff. My Mom gave me a very generous gift card to Joann Fabric (my favorite store). Rob's mom gave me a crafty box. This crafty box is kind of like an old pirate's treasure chest only it's for a craft lover (me).





The box was so full it wouldn't close.





Look at all the wonderful treasures inside!





Polar fleece!





Fabric with a Japan stamp on it. Last year my hubby bought me a lot of Japanese fabrics. I don't remember any of them with a stamp like this on them. I find it very interesting. I think I need to pull out my Japanese pattern book for this fabric.





Pic above is muslin, some lining fabric, canvas, and the green stuff is a table cloth or drape fabric. It is very interesting... Very different from anything I have ever used before.






Bottom weight fabrics. Denim and twill!




Blue is knit material. Other 2 I think one is like a satin (might have wrong side out). The brown is a very thin, light weight,sheer type of fabric.





Trims. Very cool funky trim! I know everyone knows I love my trims! I have about 50 ideas on what to do with the green trim and 4 ideas for the white.



More trims and do-dads.




Even more trims and some thread.



Yes even more trims!!!!





Dodads!





Patterns!






And this very cool fabric. It is a very heavy fabric. It looks and feels very vintage (I love vintage stuff). I know many other things in the box are vintage and that makes this box of treasures more fun for me to have!





Other than my dream box of treasures she also gave me a coat box FULL of ZIPPERS!




This box must have hundreds of zippers in it! I have already used over a dozen and the box is still over the top full! I will put all this to good use! I will try to post pics of all my completed projects. I have to admit I have 5 items sewn but I haven't taken pics. I hope to do a little photo shoot with my girls this weekend.

fix before and after pics

I had to post the first try and the fixed pics side by side because I feel it is such an improvement I want to remember this. I often make mistakes and toss them out so I don't have to remember ever making a mistake. I rather pretend they didn't happen then try to fix it. BTW I didn't fix this because I wanted to fix it. I did it because my 2 yo loves her new flower shirt. I learn so much from my wonderful children!
Before pic.


It is to large. The amount of excess fabric on the sides are EXTREME!

After pic



Fit is 100 X's better. Don't you agree?

One more look...
Before

Look at all the extra fabric on the side.

After

Isn't that better?

Note to self: Taking a few minutes to fix a mistake can be worth it even with cheap fabric. This fabric cost $1.50. It only took a few minutes to fix and made one little girl very happy!

80's legwarmers and a fixed top

I fixed my messed up flower top. It only took about 15 minutes to fix. I washed it, cut out all the extra fabric on the sides, stitched the sides back together, fixed a tiny pucker in the arm, and ran an iron over the embroidered flowers. I think it looks 100 times better!
Now when she lifts her arm you don't see a ton of extra fabric!


Here are a pair of leg warmers I knit for her.

Pony tail on the side of her head and leg warmers... YUP! This 2 yo is rock-n it 80's style!

Leather hair clip

I embroidered a sample heart & Z before I did the embroidery on the black leather shoes. I didn't want to toss out my sample but what to do with a leather Z heart? I thought of lots of fun ideas but in the end it became a small hair clip.

All I did was trim around the heart and stitch it to a little hair clip. It was a 1 minute project.

I stuck it in her hair when she was having a snack. That is why she has cookie on her face.

Church Dresses

Rob gave me this fabric for Christmas. It was 3 yards and I used every last bit of it to make 2 dresses. Both dresses have a zipper back and pleated skirts. This is not one of my "cheap" projects. I know we could have bought dresses cheaper in the store than the price of the fabric. The dresses took a lot of time and fabric to make (set in sleeves and pleats made this a very time consuming project). I think the pleats look nicer than a gathered skirt making the time worth it. I think the fabric is pretty so the cost of the fabric was also worth it. You can't see in the pics but the fabric has gold in all the flowers.
Here is a pic of all my children ready to go to church.
Forgive the writing I still have my headache.

Cobbling shoes

OK, maybe not cobbling. How does sewing new soft leather shoes sound? Just a simple pair of Mary Jane's. I embroidered a heart and the letter Z (for Zehira). They aren't the nicest pair of leather shoes I have ever made but Zehira likes them.


I used her foot to draft the pattern so they fit her feet nice.
I made a little pad for the bottom with a few layers of pink fleece. I stitched the padding to the bottom of shoes. I don't like having a thick seam up the back of this style of shoe. I put the edges flat together and zig-zag up the back to make a flat seam. I added a plastic snap to close them.
Bottom view. I made them with leather from my old leather coat (from my motorcycle riding days). I turned the suede side out because I felt it looked nicer than the worn leather look my coat had. The suede side keeps them from sliding on our wood floors. The are made with a heavier leather than what a leather skirt is made from.

I have a bad headache today, making it hard to think. I hope you can understand what I am trying to write.

Dreaming up strawberries

I am happy with this project. It is a simple cotton top, with a zipper in back, gathered bottom, and bias tape around the arms. I made it with Child's Play Pattern making software. The fabric was from the $1.50 bin at Walmart. Can you believe I found such a cute print in the Walmart $1.50 bin? I swore I wouldn't buy any more fabric but I couldn't walk buy this strawberry print without buying a yard. I didn't have enough fabric to make a full dress so I made it into a top. I am now happy I didn't have enough fabric because I LOVE IT as a top!


I had Travis call her from my cell phone to get her to stand still.
I think she looks cute so I will be making more like this for her in the future.

Glittery Fireflies

Another very easy no need to think sewing project. It it is a simple peasant top made from glittery firefly fabric.


Demi has worn this top a few times already. I am sorry the pics aren't better. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few quick pics when she was on the floor with the puppy today. I couldn't get her to stay still.

Kissing Frogs

After my pattern flop I decided to do some easy no need to think sewing. I found an old maternity top in my closet. It is a very ugly green (I don't think I ever wore it). I cut off the arms and made it into green yoga pants for Zee. I couldn't leave them boring green. What in the world to do with ugly green yoga pants? I started thinking about all things green. Zee doesn't like many green things except for frogs. I thought adding a frog to her pants might make it look very boyish. I decided to try to girl it up a bit by embroidering Kissing Frogs on the leg to make me think it was a bit princess-y. Every princess has to kiss a frog or two to find a prince. I still have the rest of the shirt I need to make into something with later on. I know the sweater does not match the pants. I was to lazy to go grab a T-shirt. I just wanted a quick pic before I forgot. Too many times I don't take a pic when I first make something then I forget all about it. I think the green color goes nice with the yellow elastic (FOE) and thread. It reminds me of retro gym shorts we wore back in the early 80's I am using my old computer again so I have my fingers crossed that the font, format, and letter s's all show up OK.

Have a hoppy day!