Easter Sewing Round-Up....

Oh Friends!!!  It is almost Easter!!!  And we know that Easter is an extra special time for people who enjoy sewing!!! :)  I have stitched a bunch of precious little Easter outfits over the years.  I thought I would show a few here and add a few links if you want to dig a bit deeper on this blog.

First though, Easter is late this year!  Do you know why?  Do you know how it's determined when Easter is every year?  I didn't know until about 15 years ago when I actually looked it up.  Easter is the first Sunday, after the first Full Moon, after the Spring Equinox.  Pretty cool!!!

Ok....so above is one of my absolute favorite little boy Easter outfits!!!  This was made with a Creations by Michie pattern #102.  Here is the link to the blog post about it.

And here is a close-up of the adorable little chick made with the mother of pearl buttons.  So cute!!!

This was a super fun dress to make.  And I really liked working with the rick rack to create the flower.  You can read all about it here and here.  And you can read the tutorial about creating the tucked hem here.  I love this technique!!!

This precious dress was not created for Easter but it would be perfect!!!  Here's the link for more information and more pictures.  This dress was fun to make because I pleated the collar fabric together with the dress fabric and left off the sleeves.  So fun!!!

Here's a sweet little bubble that stitches up super quick!  I made this as a baby gift for a family at our church at the time.  Here's the link.  This bubble is fully lined and stitches up fast!  And it could easily be made for a precious little boy or girl depending upon the colors you use.

Here's another adorable little boy outfit.  Little boys can be hard to sew for...but they don't have to be.  :)  I loved sewing for my two boys over the years!!!  You can read more about this outfit  here and here. 

Oh my heart!!!  Another one of my favorites!!  I have so many favorites!!!  :)  I loved this dress as it was great for a little girl who did not want a bishop dress that year.  It was so classic and beautiful!!! It was made from a Maja's Heirloom pattern called Larkin.  You can read about it here and see more pictures.

I have plenty more on the blog and I'll dig through some more if I can over the next week or so.  But I'll leave you with this dress for now because it is such a quick and fun sew.  This is made from the Children's Corner Lillian pattern.  I cannot tell you how many of these dresses I have made over the years.  I love this pattern!!!  It is fully lined and stitches up fast.  Plus it is really a blank slate and you can do SO much with it!!!  I love it!!  This one has some rick rack around it and a rick rack flower in the center.  You can read more about it here and here.  

I hope you enjoy this flashback of some of the Easter outfits I've stitched over the years.  There are plenty more.  I will try to highlight some more soon.  Until then......Happy Stitching Friends!!!

xoxo,

Cindy

Halloween 2011.....

Another halloween has passed by my sewing machine. The kids made their final decisions last week sometime. Elisabeth was Pippi Longstocking. Emily was Priscilla Mullins from the Mayflower. Ethan was Peter Pan.

Let's see. Ethan's was a bit tricky because I could not find a commercial pattern for Peter Pan. Finally on Sunday morning I googled some Peter Pan images and made a quick trip to the fabric store. Sunday night, late, I hand drafted a pair of pants for him. Then Monday afternoon I hand drafted his top. For his hat I took a piece of felt and worked with it and stitched it until we all agreed on the shape we liked. He loves it and hasn't taken it off yet! Yes, he even slept in it.

Emily was pretty easy because she decided she wanted to use her base dress from last year. To that we added a bonnet, collar, and apron that I made Saturday night. Not bad and she likes it.

A few months back I read Pippi Longstocking to Elisabeth, Ethan and even Ean. They all loved it! We talk about Pippi all the time around our house. So Elisabeth was sure that she wanted to be Pippi for halloween. I used the Madeline pattern from The Handmade Dress for the dress but did not add the elastic and coordinating fabric around the chest area. I made the dress on Sunday night and Emily stitched a few patches on it for me yesterday. But don't you love Pippi's hair? I do! And everyone that saw her last night had to comment on it. I told Elisabeth we should do her hair like this next summer to keep her neck cool. :o)

We had a ton of trick or treaters last night and I did not see one homemade costume in the mix. That's kind of sad, I think. I was surprised when I was looking at patterns while at the fabric shop. There are not many costume patterns available anymore, and hardly none for boys.

Oh, and I forgot to mention why there are no pictures of Ean. He decided to take a late nap and he missed out on most of the festivities. If he had been awake he would have been dressed up like Mr. Rogers. He loves Mr. Rogers! Ethan dressed up as Mr. Rogers one year too. So much fun!

Easter Frocks, Part 2....

I am back with Ean's sweet Easter romper. This outfit has quite a story....seems like that is a trend with me. I can't condense things well....I always want to give every last detail. That can be annoying for some. But anyway, that's just the way it is with me. I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

So here is the outfit Ean wore for Easter this year. I hope to get a picture of him wearing it for you soon. But by the time we got home on Easter afternoon all he wanted was lunch and a nap and neither involved his outfit or a camera. Next year I've decided I'm going to take pictures the day before Easter....when everyone is still nice and fresh and in a great mood! :o)

I built this entire outfit around this "Easter Train" smocking plate that I picked up at our local heirloom shop sometime last year. The plate only has 6 rows of smocking so I started looking for a romper pattern that would accommodate just 6 rows of smocking. I looked through every pattern I have and finally decided to just make my own. Of course, I used my favorite blue/white gingham and it is fully lined. That should be no surprise for those of you that know me.

I was so happy to have this sweet little romper finished early. Then just a few days before Easter I realized I did not have a shirt for him to wear under it. So I quickly made a little shirt. It looks fine on Ean but this mannequin is a bit big for this small garment, therefore the collar is sticking out and looking all sorts of wonky. But trust me, on Ean it was looking just fine. Adorable even! But I am a bit biased!

And for extra exciting news, I won a gift at church this past Sunday (Mother's Day). They gave out three gifts. One for the mom there that had the most children and grandchildren combined (none had to be present). The sweet lady that won had 25 all together! Amazing. I hope I am so blessed down the road. The second gift was for the mom with the youngest baby....which was one of our sweet friends and her precious baby boy! And then the last gift was for the mom with the most children, and they had to be present with her....my row was over half-filled with my four little ones, plus Wayne, of course! The gift was a book about Moms!! I was so surprised and feeling blessed! I hope your days have been blessed too.

Hand-Me-Downs Are Great....

The time has come....Ean can now wear some of the outfits I made for Ethan. I made this little outfit for Ethan 4 years ago. And I used my (then new) embroidery machine for the first time when I stitched this cute little car on the front pocket. Ean will be able to wear it this Fall until it gets too chilly outside....that will probably be another month or so. It was pushing 90 degrees here today....funny since our highs were in the 60's a week or so ago. Fall is fickle like that.