My Sewing Adventures

Wonder why I haven't been blogging all week? That's because I've spent every free second I had working on sewing projects I started last weekend. I've gotten about half of them completed... I've made two shirts, one dress, and one pair of pants. I've still got one dress, one shirt, and one pair of pants to go.

I didn't buy patterns since I wasn't sure if I'd really be able to do it, and I was trying to avoid sinking more money in than I had to if it didn't work. So, I just cut my own patterns out of butcher paper. I modeled the shirt/pants outfit after one that a lady from school's mom had made (see Katie Anne's school picture and Bounce 'N Beans pictures). I modeled another after Katie Anne's UGA Dress since it looked like pretty simple construction, and I modeled one after Carrie Beth's pillowcase dress. Making my own patterns was by far the hardest part... now that I know I actually can sew something she can wear, I will buy patterns. Here's the pattern for the pillowcase dress...

Then, I cut the fabric out. I picked three coordinating fabrics from Hobby Lobby (a dot, a stripe, and a paisley in teals, pinks, oranges) and a Halloween fabric (ghosts). Cutting takes me a really long time. Even though I teach first grade, I have a hard time cutting a straight line! Also, all that pinning really gets on my nerves, but I know it is totally necessary. Here's cutting pictures of the shirt out of Halloween fabric and pants out of the dots fabric.

Then, I sewed it all up! The pillowcase dress and top came out really fast... probably less than an hour of sewing from start to finish. I think I am a pretty fast sewer once I get going, which is good considering how long it takes me to pin and cut! The shirt took a little longer, and the pants took me a LONG time, but I don't think they'll be that bad next time now that I've done it once. It also took me a little longer because I made my own ribbons on all the pillowcase things instead of using store bought... I saw some on the internet that had done that, and I thought that looked really unique. *There are no pictures of me doing anything because I only sew when Katie Anne's asleep and Saunders is either gone (to Athens last weekend, in the basement playing poker, or at the CHS football game Friday night).

Here are two of my finished creations! The first picture is Katie Anne wearing the pillowcase top. I made a short top because I had a little bit of paisley left over making making the dress, and I didn't want to throw it away. I think she looks super cute, and I actually had two ladies ask me where I bought the top while we were shopping at Osk Kosh! I told them I made it, and they said they'd paid a lot of money for similar ones. I smell another business idea (somewhere in his sleep, Saunders cringes...)

Then, here's a picture of a pillowcase dress. This is after about 4 hours of crazy running playing wildchild foolishness, and I think it still looks pretty good. The contrasting hem is not really that wiggly... that's from the playing. Katie Anne seems to love it... she says, "So pwetty!" and rubs the dress. It also seems really comfortable for her.


I'll post more pictures of the Halloween outfit and other dress as I get them done! Yay- I love sewing!