Pea Coat for my Sweet Pea

So here in California it hardly goes below 45 degrees, so it is pretty easy to make a warm winter coat for my kids without having to invest in goose down or heavy lining!  I chose McCall's 5743 for my oldest.

The jacket pattern is unlined, so I lined it with flannel, and the outer is a charcoal fleece. As you can see, I also used bigger button and spaced them out more.

It is warm enough for our California winter, and my daughter can button it herself with the large buttons!  Success!!

Back From Vacation!

What a great family vacation we had.  It was just what the doctor ordered and just in the nick of time to prevent me from short circuiting!  We took the girls and drove up to Tacoma, WA for the week to visit my husband's brother and his family.  The drive was loooong (11 hours) but the girls slept the whole way up because we drove all night.

Don't they look sweet?  Oh, and thank goodness for our dvd player on the way home!

So here is my latest and greatest project that I just completed tonight.  It is a messenger bag turned into a camera bag and I think it came out beautifully.  I used McCall's 5824 and made a few modifications here and there and then self-drafted the padded insert to hold the camera and lenses.

Above is the padded insert that is made to hold the camera and lenses and then I made another little pad to separate each item within the pouch.

I looooove the purple and contrasting pattern.  I used a plum denim for the outer and a quilting cotton for the lining and contrasting flap.  It is interfaced with fusible fleece, which gives the bag such a nice feel and weight.  I'm dropping it off tomorrow, so I hope my client loves it as much as I do!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!  I made my daughter a new winter coat...

Happy Halloween!

Phew!!!  I can't believe I actually finished the girl's dresses on time!  I've been so busy with completing other orders that my children's costumes went by the wayside until the last minute.

 Here is the BEYOND time consuming Rapunzel hair, but I must say, it looks FABULOUS.  I am really proud of this project.  I used Simplicity 2065 for the hair.  But, without this review on Kadiddlehopper's blog, I would have been pulling my hair out! (Pun intended).  The pattern's bottom braid length measurement was okay (I made it a little shorter for my 3 year old), but the round braid on top was waaaaaaay off!  The pattern asked you to cut the yarn to 18", but I ended up needing 28" strips!  And it juuuuust fit!  And my daughter has a small head!  Oh, boy.  But, like I said, I was saved a lot of headaches from the review.  Then after I was done, I just hot-glued the flowers on.  And my daughter loved it:)

The dress pattern was a very simplified version of McCall's 5731.  I liked it better than the Simplicity version.

It came together well, but the gathering of the skirt took a while, but it came out beautifully.  If I ever make this again, I want to use the looooong sleeves.  I just used one layer of the shorter sleeve cuff for my daughter's dress.

As for my oldest, she just fell in love with this hot pink satin and wanted a dress out of that, so I used Simplicity 2569 to make her fairy princess dress.

I didn't make the overlay as poofy as the pattern, but looking back, I wish I would have.  But she loved the dress and that is what is important.

Overall, it was a successful Halloween, and at 8:28PM, this momma is ready for bed.  *yawn*

Project Runway

If you are as crazy about the show as I am, then you watched the finale last night and saw all of those awesome designs!!  I was a semi-fan of Anya's all season, but wasn't sure she could pull off the AMAZING pieces she made!  She really has an eye for patterns and style and I loved almost all of her 10 pieces.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

 These are so romantic, sexy, and feminine and I want every one in my closet!!!

Kimberly had this fabulous top that I LOVED and an ivory outfit that I might just have to duplicate:

Those ivory pants are so incredibly beautiful, I can't take it.

And then, of course, there was Victor's beautiful purple print, and to-die-for jacket:

And even though Josh was not my style, I loved the back of this LBD:

If these aren't inspirational, then I don't know what is!!!!

Aloha Fest

We headed to Sacramento on Saturday for the Aloha Festival to see my daughter's halau compete in the hula competition and had a great time!  There was so much food, lots of vendors, and, of course, lots of inspiration for future projects.  Here are just a couple pictures of some of the costumes the girls wore.

Sorry they are kind of far away, but they were so beautiful!  Any hula dancers out there that can share pictures of their costumes??  I would love to see them!

I Won, I Won!!!

I finally won my first pattern giveaway!!!  Yippee!  I enter the giveaways whenever I can on the blogs that I read and this morning I had an email from Debi at Fashions From the Past telling me I won this:

I am so excited to receive this pattern and can't wait to make a beautiful swing jacket out of it.  I think I just might make 2 because I have a beautiful gray and blue plaid lightweight wool that I bought last year, and I can also picture this in a fabulous kelly green.  Thank you, Debi!

What else did I do this weekend besides win a beautiful vintage pattern, you ask?  Well, I finished the dress for my friend's baby girl who will have her 1st birthday party tomorrow.

I fell in love with this fabric and knew it would be perfect for this dress.  I used McCall's 6015 because I love View C with the tulip sleeve.

But, let me tell you...that sleeve was anything but easy.  There must be an easier way to do that itty bitty sleeve on that itty bitty armhole!  It was tedious, but came out beautifully.  And I also modified the back by putting in buttons instead of a zipper because first, I didn't have an invisible zipper on hand, and second, I think the buttons look way cuter:)

All for now, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Next On My Cutting Table

Here is the next project on my cutting table.   I am making it for my good friend's daughter who is turning 1 next month.  The color is a deep, gorgeous purple and I think it will look really beautiful all put together

I use the term "cutting table" very loosely because this project is actually on my dining room table.  I have most of my sewing stuff on one half of my 1-year-old's room, and my other  stuff bleeding into my living room and dining area.

And, another exciting thing that happened this week is that I made my first Etsy purchase!  I know, I know.  It's about time, you say.  Here are pictures of the fabulous vintage patterns that I am anxiously awaiting.

The last two patterns are Polynesian patterns that I have been eyeing for a while.  Speaking of Hawaiian dresses, I have been asked to do some costumes for my daughter's Halau and I am beyond excited.  I can't wait to see some costumes up close this weekend because there is a big event in Sacramento that we are going to called Aloha Festival.  Stay tuned for photos tomorrow:)