Good Folks and Weekend Sewing

Whooo hooo, I made a dress from start to finish for Ellie on my own!  My sewing skills are starting to get better.  I love this dress and have been wanting to make it since I saw the tutorial here and then further motivated by Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  

It makes it even better that Ellie wanted to help me sew and then as soon as I put it on her, she ran to show Daddy her pretty sew.  (which I think means pretty dress mommy made for me!)

Love this fabric and I think it is my new favorite - Anna Marie Horner, Good Folks line.  KC Custom Fabric in Saratoga Springs has a lot from the line.  I really have been trying to use other fabric, but I just can't seem to get enough of this print.  It was in the quilt I just finished, a tote bag I am working on and this.  Fabulous, don't you think?

  

The shirring is done with elastic thread in the bobbin.  So easy and so fun!  

Ellie also gave it the play test.  She was up and down the playset, climbing the rock wall, sliding and swinging.  I think I will make the next dress a little longer, but for playing this is a great length!

This last shot is of her running away from me when I wanted to change her back into her play clothes, since it was a little chilly today for a sundress!

My First Finished (needs button) Stitched Bag

Holy Cuteness, I LOVE how this bag came out.  Am I allowed to have so much fun with a new creative outlet.  This is a far cry from the blue and gold quilted gym bag I made in Home Economics . . . I am completely obsessed with fabric and sewing right now.  I just can't resist all the fun fabrics.  I am either buying them at our local quilt store (and new favorite hang-out) K C Custom Fabrics or shopping on ETSY for fabric.  Saturday three packages from Japan arrived with great new fabrics to make baby shoes from.  Steve signed for them and was curious why I had to have fabric from Japan, is it really that different?  20 minutes later and a little show and tell, he now appreciates Japanese fabric!

I have wanted to learn for awhile, but now that Ellie and Sam are almost two and Max is in school all day, I am finding a little time to learn a new skill.  Also my sister's pregnancy got me going.  Since my first lesson in late November I have made three quilts, baby shoes, a patchwork scarf, neck gator, baby doll carrier and this bag.  I have a couple quilts going right now and a huge line-up of projects ready to go.  This is way too much fun!  I guess I should have taken a few classes a long time ago and my previous projects would have looked much better.   

This bag also has inspired me to try my hand at some more hand stitching.  The "garden" in this bag was a lot of fun.  I really liked using the linen and love how it gives the bag a relaxed feeling.   I see a lot of embellishments on the kids clothing, pillow cases and pillows in our future.  When I showed the kids the bag after finishing today, they both tried to pull the buttons off while yelling "pretty" "pretty, mommy pretty"!