2 very simple little spring dresses

Last Saturday Rob put the children to bed for me so I could sew a little. I made up 2 simple little dresses. I like this type of sewing because I don't need to spend any time on making a pattern. The dresses are so simple. No pattern drafting or trial runs ever needed. Only thing I do is check length to make sure I have long enough dresses (if they look short I just add another ruffle). I make simple little tops short sleeve, long sleeve, and no sleeve (along with long sleeve and no sleeve dresses)all in this same way. All I do is changing the length of the pieces a bit. I do this type of thing whenever I am longing to do some sewing but am short on time. I made both dresses out of some fat quarters.

This first dress (pictured above) is one I made for Demi (my 3 year old). I made it a simple A-line style dress. I like the shape a little better on this dress than the shape of the second dress.


This is the dress I made for Zee (my 18 month old). It is not an A-line. It is just a straight dress with 2 ruffles on the bottom. I like the colors on this dress a little more than the colors in Demi's dress.

Over all I like them both. It was so nice of my hubby to give me the time to sew without children pulling at my leg. This quick and easy patternless stye I use a lot to make both of my girls tops and dresses. I feel it always turns out nice (very nice when I consider the tiny amounts of fabric and time needed to make them).

Notes to self:
For Demi's dress all I did was take the normal width I use to sew her a top. I used that measurement for the top of the fat quarter (area around neck and chest) and angle it down to the width of a fat quarter (did same for front and back). I then took 3 widths of fat quarters (I think they are 1/2 lengths of fat quarters to make the ruffle). Bottom layer was the same width as the ruffle above but 1/2 the length. Added a belt so it doesn't look like PJ's.

Zee's dress was just a rectangle cut the width of her normal tops (woven not knit). The first ruffle is 2 wide strips both the width of a fat quarter. Bottom ruffle was 3 thin strips all the width of a fat quarter.

I still need to make each dress a flower (probably a yo yo style flower with a belt loop back) to put on the front of each belt so they can wear them to church tomorrow morning. I want to hide the seam on front of belts so the ties can stay in back of dresses. I like the look of the ties in back better than in the front.

Some Very Fun Creative Crafting Time

I need to post a project I have been working on because the first part of this project I did over a month ago and have already forgot some of the info on how I did it. I spent this week working on making the little extras to go with it and I don't want to forget how I did it (in case I want to make another someday or if someone asks me for instructions I will be able to remember how I did it).

A friend's daughter just turned 3 and likes My Little Pony. I figured if I plan to stick with my handmade (no store bought junk) for gifts that should include gifts for children. My first thought with sewing for girls is always to make clothes, shoes, purses, and hair things. At first I thought an outfit with My Little Pony painted or embroidered would be a good idea but then I decided against it because this girl is such a different build than my girls I know I would get the sizing wrong. I know making an outfit that doesn't fit right is not a good gift to give. I had no idea what to make until her mom told me she was looking at getting her My Little Pony bedding for her new big girl bed. Hearing that gave me some ideas on what to make.

My first thought was I could make a stuffed animal (my version of a My Little Pony) to put on her new bed. I decided against it because I remember my friend telling me once how she doesn't like giving her children stuffed animals. After a bit more thinking I thought a small pillow might be a better choice. I thought making a pillow with a pony pillow case might be the best way (I did this because I assumed she didn't like stuffed animals because of they quickly become dirty dust traps and pillowcases are washable). A few minutes later I had whipped up a small pillow.

Next I got started on a pillow case. I started thinking that a hand embroidered pony might look nicer than a fabric cut out or painted pony. I did a quick search online for a coloring sheet and used the basic outline to embroider my pony.



After embroidering the pony I sewed up a sham style pillowcase. That part went fast. The following day I was planning to finish it up by adding yarn hair. After all My Little Ponies are known for the hair! I noticed that I didn't have any nice My Little Pony colors of yarn for hair. I started getting excited over not have pretty yarn because that gave me a reason to dye! Every excuse to craft makes me happy. As I was looking at my undyed yarns and started thinking about how it isn't only wool that dyes quick and easy. I have had good luck with silk and nylon. I had some silk but I would need to spin it up first so I went looking at the nylons I have stashed in my yarn and craft boxes. Nylon cords, nylon fishing line, nylon thread, unwaxed tooth floss are all choices I had to choose from and I thought they would all work because when I dye yarns with nylon the nylon always takes the dye (even when I use food colors to dye with). After taking a look at a few little My Little Ponies we have laying around I decided to use nylon thread (looked the closest to the real toys to me). I used food colors to dye so I knew they would be nontoxic. I dyed up a bunch of it and sewed it on the pillow. I did add a dab of you can wash it glue to make sure all the tiny hairs didn't fall out when a child plays with it. I then had the idea to add a comb attached to a ribbon to do the pony's hair. After taking another look at the My little Ponies at my house I noticed ours all have matted, combed into a knotted mess hair, because of that I decided to skip on the comb idea. I hope doing this makes the pony hold up better than the toys we have.

Several weeks after making the pillow I talked to my friend on the phone and she told me that she does allow stuffed animals she just doesn't like collecting a ton of store bought ones. I was happy when she said that because I still hadn't seen her little girl to give her the gift so I rushed off to do some more crafting (again every reason to make a new craft makes me happy). I drew a simple shape of a horse on fabric (this time I did it myself free hand without looking at any coloring pages) cut two layers (one white the other a large flower print), sewed them together, and stuffed. I then dyed some yarn and sewed it on for hair (I gave it lots of hair).




After that was done I started thinking about how I should put the stuffed horse in a pocket. I didn't want to mess up the pillow trying to add a pocket so I decided to whip up a bag to hold the pillow with a pocket for the small stuffed pony. I figured the bag would work nice for the gift wrap. I used a satin ribbon for a strap, satin covered buttons (don't you love covering buttons), and simple satin ribbon loops to close the bag.

Picture of empty bag.
close up of loop and button closure.

Bag with pillow inside.
Picture of horse in pocket. Notice in this picture how the buttons are too close to the top! I did later reposition them lower so the bag closed nicer (two pictures above are with the buttons lowered).
I thought once again about adding in a comb (only because my son said one was needed so she could do it's hair he pointed out how with no comb it was a looking no playing kind of gift). I decided once again that a comb would make the hair very messy very fast. After another day of thinking about this the idea to add hair accessories popped into my head. I think adding hair clips would make it so the little girl could do her hair and her pony's hair (making this a playing not just looking gift). I quickly grabbed some hair clips from my craft box then ran off to dye a bit more yarn. A couple hours later I had it all done. I used my cotton lace yarn for the pink flowers. The purple is yarn I dyed.
I added some tiny clips to add a bit more fun play time to it. I now feel it is a completed birthday gift.






Right now I am thinking that I should personalize it by embroidering her name (well her nick name because the horses are small). Yes, I think adding the little girl's name (tattoo style on the pony's tush) will complete this project.

Note to anyone who reads this. Feel free to copy and use any of this however you want. All I did was take the little bits I have learned about of dying, sewing, embroidery, and such and put them together to go with a little girl's interest. I know this isn't the best looking gift set. Whenever I make things it always takes me 3 tries until I end up with one I feel is "real nice looking". I am sharing this first try because I know that it is unlikely that I will have a reason to make 2 more to have that real nice one (for that same reason I am giving this far from perfect gift just as is). I don't know a lot of little girls who are big into My Little Pony right now. My girls each want one but I am not going to take the time to make them each one only because I am busy working on some other projects for them right now.


Notes to self....

I need to remember Pillows are a fun and quick sew.
I still like hand embroidering when I have the free time to do it.
I need to think "gift set" more before starting projects so I can finish it all up faster (remember this project took well over a month to put all together).
I need to think of the bags a bit more like a gift than just simple gift wrapping (I keep viewing bags as quick wrapping paper and don't spend enough time thinking about how a bag this size might be used later on by the receiver of the gift). This bag is on the thin side and it is a bit large. If a child fills it with toys in the way my children do it is likely to tear.
I need to use heavier fabric when making a bag or lining it so it can be reused for a very long time.
When I have ANY thoughts that I might hand embroider a stuffed item I need to remember to do the EMBROIDERY FIRST not after the thing is made (I was planning to paint this one but ended up wanting to embroider after I sewed it and because of that my embroidery on the softy doesn't look so hot.
crochet button hair clips are fun to create and I need to make a pile up for my girls.
I didn't use a pattern for the hair clips, pony, pillow, or anything else (except that one coloring page when I started). I want to remember this so I don't go tearing the house apart looking for a pattern I never made (I do this a lot because when I draft by hand right on the item I give away I sometimes think I might have had an original paper sketch and stashed it in a box)
I think something this style but adding PJ's (if I know the child's size) would also make a cute gift.
I think I can do the same thing for a little boy gift. A pillow with a favorite character, a bag with a pocket and a matching soft toy.
I had a lot of luck using apple cider vinegar in my food colors when I did all my dying on both days. I couldn't find my white vinegar so I splashed in some apple cider and I love the way it turned out.
I didn't use my normal steam method for dyeing. I used coffee cups, 1/4- 1/2 way full of water, with a few drops of food color, a splash of apple cider vinegar and 1 & 1/2 minutes of cook time (did this twice in the microwave). Very fast, fun, no mess, great success way of dying for me.
Last and most important! Amber! Please remember how much fun this was! When you don't waste time worrying what other's will think and just have fun being very creative (using the gifts God has given you) you always enjoy every second of the creating things. It is OK if the child doesn't like it at all. Your fun is not in sharing the little girls joys it is in the having fun making it. I need to make more things in this scrambled mixed crafts, mixed media sort of way soon. Remember how both Zee and Demi begged, cried, screamed, and fussed trying to get me to give them all of this stuff, so in a few months if I run out of things to make I can make something like this for both Demi and Zee.

Easter crafting

When I was writing my last post I noticed that I have forgot many details on my crafting in January already. I think I should jot down some info on recent projects before I forget the details. I did a crazy amount of crafting in March and April. I did over one finished project a day. The week before Easter I think I finished 5 projects each day. I don't want to forget the how, why, likes and don't likes with my projects so I figure I better start jotting it all down.

About 2 weeks before Easter I bought a pattern and fabric to make my girls Easter dresses. Let me first tell you all that I HATE PATTERNS and hardly ever use them! Personally I feel buying patterns is a waste of money for me. I have friends and family who are pattern collectors and they love and cherish the patterns they own but I am not that type of person. I find it hard to follow other peoples written instructions (especially the type with random line sketches for pictures to follow). I personally would rather take an old sheet (or fabric from the $1-$2 discount bins) and cut up to create my own patterns. It is easier for me to make something from a picture in my head than to follow a strangers step by step instructions. Knowing all of this I was a bit reluctant in buying a pattern for around $2.50 and fabric 4 yards at $2.50 a yard. The reasons I decided to take this step out of my frugal no pattern buying habits are.

1. I knew the 4 yards of fabric would work perfect in my girls room (curtains, pillows, and such). If I could not get the dresses made the fabric would be put to good use.
2. I used my personal allowance to buy the supplies. I figured using my own cash (not taking money out of our clothing budget) would take the pressure off me. I always feel obligated in having things turn out perfect if I use family money to make things for the girls.
3. I convinced myself if I don't force myself to buy and follow a few patterns I will never learn how to use them.

The pattern I bought was New Look 6577.

I did NOT like this pattern at all!!!! I found it very confusing! I wasted WAY TOO MUCH TIME on trying to figure it out! I think it was lacking in the instructions! I even showed it a few times to my hubby and he agreed he did not see writing or pictures to go along several steps. It shows how to sew front to back under arm to waist in pictures and tells exactly how to do it BUT I didn't see how to do the rounded yolk at all! I struggled for 3 days on this and I am sure I didn't end up making it like the instructions because the way my dresses turned out I had to top stitch to make it lay right. I am sure someone who uses sewing patterns all the time would be able to figure it all out a lot better than I could.

My first try at making the dress I used an old sheet for fabric. Well, OK, to be honest it wasn't my first draft. I have several cut up sheets in many colors, of this dress, all partially sewn, laying all over the house. I tried sewing the yolk over and over until I got it to work out. In the next few weeks, as I come across all my failed attempts at this dress, I might decide to fix and finish them for more play dresses (or I might tear them up for cleaning rags). Anyway, here is a picture of the first FINISHED try at this pattern. Let me first say that I know (and knew ahead of time) that stripes would not work out the right way with this pattern. It is only a play in the mud dress for my middle child. I had cut up so many sheets trying over and over to get the top of the dress together I grabbed this striped one for one last try (I was just about ready to give up on this dress pattern). My hubby said he can't stand seeing the sideways stripes at the bottom of the dress but like I said it was more a test run than trying to make a real dress out of this sheet.
Less than a minute after finishing this dress Demi was stomping in a mud puddle (our neighbor was giggling when he heard her say look at my new dress when stomping in the mud). 30 minutes later she came in the house with it covered in mud spatters. I have to say it is working great as a play around the house dress. The sizing was very big. I made a size 2 for my youngest and it is a bit big on my 3 (almost 4 year old). I made this one a size 2 just to check the sizing. Below is a picture of the back and my very messy zipper. I was in a rush to finish it up so I rushed with the zipper so I could get the real dresses started.


For the real Easter dresses I ended up making Demi a size 2 (I should have made it a size smaller). This one went together much quicker but I still had to top stitch to get it to lay right. BTW I am sorry I didn't take the time to hang the dresses to get a nicer photograph. It was just before Easter I guess I felt I was too short on time to hang them for pictures. To be honest I am kind of surprised I took the time to snap pictures of them laying on a table! I remember it being a bit of a hurry, hurry, rush, rush, sewing project.

Demi's dress.
Not the nicest looking zipper in the back. It works well and she has very long hair that covers it so I guess it is no big deal. I know some people can't live with imperfections in sewing projects but I am not like that. I view it this way. 1. I see lots of sloppy sewing in many of my girls expensive store bought clothing. 2. If nobody will see it why waste time fixing or worrying over it (my daughters hair covers it so feel I can live with it). 3. If I spend days ripping out and redoing a simple project I would be giving up the time I feel could better be use for making other stuff. I love the crafting part (it's the drafting the pattern, cutting, ironing, sewing part I love) I could care less about the making a perfect finished item. 4. I never care if my children ruin an outfit I can let them be children in anything I make (staining, tearing, and wearing out the clothes I make just gives me a good excuse to make more).
After Demi's dress I sewed up one for Zee. I made a size 1/2 for her. This was the smallest size on the pattern. It is a bit big on my very chunky 18 month old (yet another reason to make my own patterns)! before starting this one I once again read over the instructions and I still thought they are missing info on how to make this dress! I was just as confused as I was reading it the first 20 times. This dress sewed up quick and I had lots of time to finish before the holiday. It ended up a bit neater looking (I think) than the first two tries. This dress I took the time to serge all the edges. I thought all the rough edges inside Demi's dress looked bad (pattern does not have you finish any edges on the inside).

Here is the back side.

Here is a close up of the zipper. This zipper did end up looking nicer than the first two but that isn't the reason I took this closeup. I think I took this picture because I finished the dress up with lots of time to spare (I think it was early morning 2 days before Easter I finished it up).


Here are both dresses together. Dress on left (larger flowers) is Demi's (my 3 year old) and dress on right with smaller flowers is Zee's (my 18 month old).
close up.

Action shots...


If you are wondering why my handsome son's hair is a mess this picture shows why....Yes, that is Demi's hand messing up his hair!

Just to show you how handsome Travis looked before Demi messed up his hair he is a before shot.
He had such a nice pose. It is a shame the girls had no interest in giving smiles!

OH! I have a few more Easter clothing pictures to share! SOCKS! I can't forget the socks. After finishing the dresses early I felt like I wanted a quick craft to keep me busy (after all busy creative hands are happy hands). I was mending socks I knit for my mom at the same time I was making the Easter dresses. I guess that put socks on the brain. I knew I didn't have time to knit up 2 pair of child size socks before Easter. Demi has several store bought ruffled socks most are looking a bit old and worn (most of hers are the ribbon kind). The only still looking white socks she owns is the plain no frills ones (she doesn't like to wear the dull looking ones so they get worn less). I picked out some no frills socks from the dresser, I grabbed my crochet hook and some thin yarn and started playing around to dress up some socks. I just randomly stitched into the socks and crochet a ruffle looking trim. It turned out so much nicer than I thought it would! Often when I get an idea on my head my first tries and finding a way how to do it end up not working out. This was simple and turned out nice. I didn't buy any patterns to do it. I just did a few rows around and ended up with fancy socks.

Here is what I ended up with....


In the picture above the socks on the left I did for my trial socks. They are socks that I could see one of the children have worn a few times (they aren't as white as the other socks I used). Demi took off with them on her feet 2 seconds after I snapped this picture. You should have seen how happy she was dancing around with her new socks (socks she refused to wear before the ruffles lol). The socks on the right I made for Zee to go with her Easter outfit.

The next day I whipped this pair up for Demi so she had a new looking set for Easter (shhhhh please don't tell the people at church or my family that they are not brand new socks).



Close up of Demi's socks. I LOVE the look crochet gives an item! Crochet anything is beautiful in my eyes. I guess that is why I like a bit of crochet even on old socks!
I must admit to everyone and make sure you all know I didn't buy new socks to add the trim on. I used what we already had and I feel I should share my reasons for doing it this way! I figured if I picked out the newest looking plain socks and added trim to them it would save time (no driving to the store) save money (using what I have is free) and I used my practical (never strive for perfection) rule of thumb.... I know once white socks have been on a little child's toes for a few minutes (under 5 minutes in most cases) they are no longer white, shinny, and new looking (even on the cleanest floors they pick up dirt). I view socks as reusable (wash and wear again). So although my newly finished project pictures above don't have that first out of the package new look it makes no difference now!!! They now have marks on the bottom of the feet that didn't all wash out. They look like my girls ran around most of the day on Easter in just sock feet..... Well, that is because that is what they did! I guess that means they like them (they usually take off socks after 5 minutes). My girls love the lacy socks and don't seem to care how white the bottoms are. LOL!



Finally to finish off this post of my girls Easter outfits I need to include this...

I just took a rubber band (the kind I already use for Demi's hair) and I copied something similar to what I did on her socks and ended up with a matching hair accessory to complete her outfit. I ran out of time to make any for Zee. She has a lot less hair so making something would have taken a bit more thought. Maybe next time I am looking for a quick project I will give a try at making some baby sized crochet hair accessories.

So now taking a look back at my Easter sewing and crochet projects I need to make some notes to myself.
1. I didn't like the pattern and don't plan to ever use it again!
2. My next 3 dresses I will draft my own patterns from scratch.
3. I will remember when making my first 3 mistakes in my pattern drafting about ALL of the failed tries in making the Easter dress (Amber take a look at all the messed up yolk tries laying around the house before you get too frustrated making your own!)
4. I am happy not being perfect and I guess I am OK with sharing my not perfect work. I would love to have perfect dresses like we see on other sewing blogs but I am not willing to spend a week on a project to get the perfect dress. In the end I am happy that I used that time making a hair accessory and fancy socks!
5. Remind myself how sharing how to take used (not perfectly looking new) socks and adding fanciness to them is OK. Everyone keeps saying they are counting every penny in this economy so maybe showing how to dress up something like old socks can be helpful to someone else. BTW the yarn only cost $1-$2. for a ball that will do a large amount of child size socks.
6. Using a sew the seam shut then add the zipper is the best method for me to sew in a zipper. All other ways are HUGE flops for me!
7. Reminder for next holiday.... Fabric cost under $2.5 a yard and I bought 4 yards. I have lots of fabric left over and in total spent under $10 for 2 dresses! I spent less money on 2 dresses than a discount store (walmart/kmart) sells one dress for and odviously I spent much less money than all the other popular clothing stores.
8. Money on pattern was a waste of money for me. I need to remember that although I am not the best at sewing I am able to make things that fit nice on my girls without using any patterns. Silly me thought buying a pattern would save me time (wouldn't have to mess with several failed tries in pattern drafting). I found I was WRONG. I ended up making more messed up attempts following a pattern than I would have had creating my own! I need a bit more faith in my own pattern making abilities. I hope jotting all of this down will help me remember all of this months from now.

Gift Bag (mini sewing tutorial)

Here are a few more January projects.

On the day of my Dad's birthday party, I was on the phone telling my Mother how I hadn't wrap my Dad's birthday gift and I didn't know what my DH did with our wrapping paper. She said plastic walmart bags are considered gift wrap (at least my brother thinks it is). I did consider looking around for a plastic bag to toss the gifts in but then I remembered that my MIL gave me her walmart smock. My MIL saves EVERYTHING and she gave it to me and said she thought maybe I would be able cut it up and use the fabric for something. She said if I didn't find a use for it I should at least pull off the buttons and use them for a project in the future. I wish I could be a bit more like her! I never think to pull off buttons before tossing out our very worn out clothing. After thinking about that smock I ran up to my fabric junk box and pulled it out. A few cuts and a couple seams and I came up with a walmart gift wrap (a greener version than my brother's) the bag is washable and reusable.




Here is how I did it.

I noticed the bottom was missing buttons and that the top would be very open without adding a button. Because of that I cut the bottom off including one button so I could sew across and have my gifts stay inside. It did originally have one more button than the picture above shows. I popped it off to use at the top.

Doing this also put the words how may I help you in the center.

I then cut the arms off making the sides straight and making it more bag shaped.

I didn't take picture of the last few steps. I was in a hurry because the birthday party was only a couple hours away. All I did to finish it is sew across the bottom and up both sides. I made handles out of the left over material from the bottom of the smock (or maybe I used the sleeves I don't remember anymore this was a few months ago). I attached the handles added a button to the top and stitched up a quick loop (fastest way I could think of to make a button hole).

Here is the finished bag.

And a view of the back. My Dad seemed to be more excited about the bag than he was with the gifts inside the bag (note to self handmade creative gift wrapping is a must do from now on).

After making the bag I noticed I still had time before I had to leave for the party and I had more gifts to wrap (my SIL and Sister both had birthdays they celebrated with my Dad). I ran back into my junk box and found several cut off jeans (I always use my old jeans legs to make jeans and shorts for my girls). I sewed the bottom shut (not a new idea one I saw this on a TV show (think it was called Home) back in the 90's. I have made many jean totes over the years because it is something I can make them in about 5 minutes. When I was digging in my junk box I also found a very worn out belt my son wore out (very frayed an shabby looking) and with that I found a belt that came with a pair of my pants (I don't think I ever wore the belt with the pants I am sure that is the reason it was in the junk box). Two belts, Two jean cut offs, and about 10 minutes of time and I had some gift wrap for my Sister and SIL. At the party they also talked more about the gift wrap and how they planned to use the tote bags more than the gifts inside (note to self in a jam a bag makes a good gift for my family). Below is a picture of them. They are not anything great but worked for a quick gift wrap. It has also encouraged me to give up traditional gift wrap. I don't think I have wrapped anything with paper so far this year.
Please forgive me if this was hard to read or understand. It is late and I am very tired. I don't want to wait till tomorrow to post because I am committed to keeping up with my blogging. I will try to type my next post earlier in the day.

OH! I almost forgot to tell you I posted a simple sewing tutorial on my bouncing buttons blog I plan to put my tutorials on that blog, use this blog for my finished projects and craft talk, and my school N such blog for homeschooling and children projects. If it becomes too much I guess I can think about combining them. I think the 3 blogs might work best for me.

I am back.

Our computer was not working right over the last few months. We finally gave up on dialup for a DSL line and are now back online! I have been busy crafting. I did start taking pictures of my finished projects. I have over 50 projects finished. I didn't take pictures of many of my Jan and Feb projects but I did take pictures of most things I made in March and April.

I realized that I have a habit of forgetting what I make and how I made it. That becomes a big problem when a friend or family member asks me how I made something and my reply is "I don't know, I never made one." I then see an angry looking face on that friend or family member and they say "I know you made one because you gave me one!" I feel that they must either think I am very dumb (I never claimed to be smart) or they think I am keeping secrets and not want to tell them how I did it. The truth is I am always short on sleep (that shortens my already short memory) and I am a bit of a closet crafter. By closet crafter I mean a person addicted to crafting... sewing, embroidery, painting, felting, knitting, crocheting, spinning, beading, weaving, paper crafts, and many other crafts. I feel if I make something fast and give it away without my hubby and children noticing then it doesn't count as wasting my time crafting. When I do that I often forget what it was that I made even a few days after I make and send it off it quickly becomes out of sight out of my mind. When I do remember making things and if I don't take a minute to jot down a few notes I always forget how I made it (except for the few things I make in large amounts and can do in my sleep). Because of this I am going to spend a little time posting the things that I have made this year and I will share how I made them so I can remember months from now. I hope this takes care of the forgetful Amber the craft addict syndrome!



Above is pictures of some sock yarn I dyed. I LOVE how it turned out! It was super wash merino and I dyed it in huge loops around my house. I was all tied up in yarn several times but it was worth all the time spent on this project because it did turn out nice. It was a self striping yarn. I didn't jot down my dye mix so I can't ever duplicate it exactly again but that's OK. If dying was a bit less messy and a bit easier to do with little children around I would do a lot more of it. As my children get older I think it will become my favorite thing to do with my craft time. Dyes and teething babies have caused a few headaches in my home. I can't hold a fussy baby and work with dyes at the same time and whenever I start to work with dye my little one decides to cut her nap short that day. It was a time consuming but very fun project.





Here is a little bag I made for my daughter. It was a first run with a pattern (not my pattern one found online) I used fabric scraps just to test it out. My little girl loves this silly little bag. I knew it would be a flimsy bag I was just seeing if I was able to follow the pattern. I dind't think a little purse for a 3 year old to drag around for play needed to have any interfacing so it doesn't look nice at all. Demi loves it so in the end that is all that matters to me.

Here is the same pattern (free found here) made with some nice fabric my hubby gave me for Christmas. I think it looks much nicer when I used nice fabric.
I don't like following patterns but managed to follow along and in the end it did end up looking OK.

My blogging plans for the next few weeks.

As I get free time I will post some more tutorials for some simple easy sewing. I am writing up how I made the blue pants below. They are pants I made in about 10 minutes (using my old maternity clothes).





I also plan to write up how I made this outfit.

I need to upload pix and write up instructions. The pants above are gauchos I made from old jeans that didn't fit me anymore. I made a matching pair of pants for baby Zee. I still need to make the matching top for Zee.

I want to share how I make bandana outfits like this one.
I will share how to make lots of other simple things with bandanas (or fabric squares the same size). I have been having tons of fun trying to see how many things I can make with bandanas. They are so simple and fun to create with! Whenever my hubby asks me if I need anything from downtown I always say a few more packs of bandanas.

Life with 3 children is very busy so all of this should take up most of May to blog.