Sewing with Knits Dress

I think I may have mentioned it once before, but I recently learned how to draft my own patterns! And wow! What a world it has opened up for me! I'm having a lot of fun making the kids clothes. I feel a bit bad, I sew so much more for Sydney than Nathan. Do you have any suggestions for boy things I can sew him?

I have also recently starting sewing with knits! And you know what, they are not bad at all! Why do they make it out to be such a big deal? Knits are so much more comfortable for them to wear, and it's a total thrift store up cycle fun hunt! I"ve up cycled two shirts for Nathan, and a few things for Sydney. Fabric stores don't seem to sell too many fun prints in knits, so it's all about up cycling old stuff!

Here is a dress i made Sydney. The top (stripes) are from a knit shirt I got at Target on clearance for just a few dollars. It was an XXL so I can easily get one or two more shirts out of it for her!

bottom is a quilters cotton. I actually adds  a little too much weight to the knit, it seems to droop a bit. But all in all I like it!

Antrho Shirt Refashioned

Hey y'all! I started off the new year off by cleaning out my closet. Lets face it, I've had two kids, my body has changed so why am I still hanging on to some things?! I donated most of it, aside from a few things that I thought I could refashion. I had a few Anthropologie tops that I just couldn't stand to give to the Goodwill. I decided to refashion this one into a skirt for my little (both in size and age) sister.

Sorry for the crappy before picture, I was in a rush.

It was a pretty simply refashion. All I did was cut it right below the armpits.

Did a basting stitch at the top so I could gather it ever so slightly, then sewed it to some elastic that I had guesstimated to be her size. Naturally she was even smaller than I guess and it's a bit lose! Oh well!

So that's that! Anthro shirt refashioned to a spring skirt!

Does anybody else have a  killer head cold right now? Ah!

Eggs Eggs Eggs

Our chickens that I wrote about here, are now turning out 4 eggs a day! Wowa! They have really been a great buy, Nathan loves them! He checks daily for eggs and even has his own egg basket to bring the eggs back up to the house in! He was putting them in his jean pockets! I'm shocked he didn't break any!

His very first egg!!

We just took an old Easter basket that was a stuffed dragon, and cut up an egg carton to fit in it. He has room for 6 eggs in his basket. Hopefully all 6 chicken don't start laying daily! That would be a lot of eggs!

So in the spirit of using more eggs, I"ve been baking! Sydney eats eggs for breakfast every morning and Nathan will a few times a week, but they just can't keep up!

I made these tonight, I've got to say they were nothing to write home about. Bummer!

These cookies however were a hit! I made two batches in one week! Before you think we are huge fatties, let me tell you that our house is a very busy place! We have a visitor (usually a few) every other day! We love it! But it sure makes the cookies go fast! Now go make yourself some yummy cookies!

What I Nathan didn't give a cookie!

Or maybe he did!

Sydney 3 button boots

These boots are my favorite project of the month. Easily! So stickin cute! I can't wait to make more, in different colors and fabrics!

Funny story about these particular ones. So I was at the GoodWill looking for fun stuff when I came a crossed this SWEET men's sports coat. Extra large, and in a brown and tan hounds tooth! I though to myself this thing is awesome why would anybody throw it out! One mans trash, another mans treasure!So I bring it home and Alex says 'That things is horrible, what are you doing with THAT'.  I thought about it again and still loved it! So I proceeded to tell him that I was going to make boots out of it! He thought I was crazy and that was the end of that! Not the first time, not going to be the last time!

So, anyway I bought this pattern during one of their sales for $1.50! Sweet! I would recommend it to any one who is about an intermediate sewer. It wasn't hard per say, but it was small so it required attention to detail and a lot of focus. The pattern itself was really well put together and easy to follow.

I made Sydney the 9-12 month size and they are a little to wide around her little leg. But that is to be expected with her! It came with an alternate front flap so I'll try that with the next pair!

Jersery Lace Scarf

Is it just me or does anybody else have lofty dreams of giving half the people on there Christmas list handmade gifts? Well this year a few people received handmade goodies. My little sister had seen this

 scarf on pintrest and liked it, and of course mentioned that I could make it for her. Wink wink!

This was a really simply scarf to make. I just bought some grey knit and a little of white (for behind the lace panel) I already had the lace! Side note that is something to have your eye out for at garage sales and estate sales! I have found some great sewing notions and fabrics at estate sales! Like a huge pile of assorted lace fabrics for $3!

So...I traced an infinity scarf that I have, then cut that out of the grey! Then I figured out how big I wanted the white lace panel to be, and cut that measurement out of the grey scarf!

I sewed the white to the lace, then the white to the grey~

Simple!

As you can tell my internet is finally fixed! Yay!

And as promised I'm going to blog more this year, so be ready!

My Internet is working again! Yay!
Man have you tried living without the Internet? It's painful! I never realized how much we use it, until it stopped working. But the good news is that it seems to be up and running again! Which means I'm back to blogging!

I really want to try to keep up with this blog this year! I feel like I have grown so much as a sewer/ seamstress/ whatever you want to call it! I'm really growing into my own style of sewing and testing my limits lately. I'm loving all that I have been able to accomplish, and I'm looking forward to all that I still want to try. My mother in law told me this morning while I was face timing her to show her a pair of boots I made Sydney, that she thinks I missed my calling.

Those words have been with me all day. She is right in the sense that i think sewing might be my calling. I'm good at it. I love doing it, and I've got a wonderful support system.  But as far as missing my calling, I'm not so sure. After all I am only 23! Isn't this the age where most people are figuring out what they are going to do with the rest of their lives? So if this is indeed 'my calling' I think I found it at an age appropriate time!

Being a mom is and will always be my 1st priority, followed closely by my wifely duties. But sewing is taking a huge interest in my time and thoughts now a days too. I'm not sure how, or if I'd even want to turn it into something more then just a hobby, but I like having the thoughts swirling around in my head!

So basically be prepared for lots of sewing posts! I have a few completed projects to share, and a ton of ideas swirling around in my head! SO here's to figuring out what my niche in life just may be!

I tried to upload pictures of upcoming posts, but I guess my Internet isn't working as well as I thought it was, because it just tried for an hour to upload one of five photos. Aaahh. Stick it out with my! I promise I have have awesome projects to share. Keep your hopes up that we get this Internet situation sorted out soon!

New Year, New Goals

I hate the term New Years Resolutions, it just seems like you're setting yourself up to fail. Everyone says things like 'I'm going to lose weight' or 'Get more organized' or whatever, yet how many people are still at it come September? But every year I think about them, about setting goals for myself and hoping that I actually stick to them. So like most I set a few goals for myself for this new year!

First, I want to be more laid back about the little things! I can admit that I am a bit uptight about things like dirt on my floor, or helping with the kids, or where dirty laundry should be placed. But in the grand scheme of things, why sweat the little stuff. Instead this year I'm going to do my best to go easier on my husband and kids about these things. I still expect them to be done, but when they aren't, or not done right I will be sweet about asking them to do it correctly.

Second, I want to sew more of my kids clothes! Sydney will be easy when it comes to this goal! It's Nathan that I am going to have to get a little more creative about! And now that I have confronted knits, and pattern drafting (post on that tomorrow) this should be a very do able goal!

Third, I'm not going to by any fabric until 50% of my stash is used! Now, if I need a very specific fabric for a certain project I will make an exception. But no more quilters cottons, until I have an entire empty cabinet! Period! My fabric hoarding is out of control and it must be contained!

Fourth, This is the most important, easily. I will set aside one on one time for each member of my family. I will pick them over sewing, blogging, Gossip Girl, or anything else that is really not as important as these precious moments that are flying by way too fast!

Now that my goals are written I am officially being held accountable my the blogging world! Did you set any goals for yourself? I'd love to hear them!

Sydney Christmas Outfit!

Finally! I'm able to sit down and say hello to the bloggy world! How are you guys? I've missed you!

We had a great, and busy holiday season! Everything was wonderful and we are so spoiled! Our Christmas Eve and Day are filled with family, fun, love and food! We ate too much, laughed, and enjoyed time together. We also celebrated 3 birthdays over the holidays, Sydney on the 21st, my father in law Chris on Christmas Eve, and Alex on Jan 7th! Busy time of year!

Now Alex is back to work after two and a half weeks off and things are starting to return to normal around here. Getting back into our routine again has been so nice. They say routine is good for the kids, but this momma needs the routine just as much as they do! And now that our lives have returned to the normal everyday, my sewing machine and I have grand plans to reconnect after such a long break.

I realize it is a bit, okay totally late, but I wrote the next section of this post before Christmas, and never got around to actually publishing it. But I still want to show you one of Sydney's 3 Christmas outfit! So I hope you don't mind a few pictures of it!

So we do with Christmas celebrations over the two days! Christmas eve at my Grandma's with my dads whole family, Christmas Day Brunch at my parent's house with my mom's family, and then Christmas Dinner with my inlaw family! Busy! So the kids need two outfits, one for each day. Sydney ended up with 3 actually, one for each celebratory stop! A dress that she wore in her Santa picture, a skirt with candy cane leg warmers, and a black and white damask dress with a red satin sash. She is so small I love how little fabric it takes to cover her little body!

Ok I have no clue why but I can't seem to upload pictures, I've tried for 3 days to upload pictures to this post and it's just not working. Sad! So I guess if and when I ever get it working I'll show you her outfits. Until then..