robe for dolly

Yesterday, I showed you the night gown

that I made for SAGA.

Here is a robe for the same doll

(15 inch, blond, kindergartner-ish!)

modeled by one of our dolls:

I used another Liberty of London print with ivory chenille.

I altered the pattern a little to fit the smaller doll.

It was originally a free pattern from You Can Make This ,

but it is gone now.

It is a easy pattern, mostly for 18 inch doll.

Here are the other versions I made for big girls!

This one is the original version,

perfect over a night gown,

I used a blue minky fabric and some quilting cotton.

The other is shorter,

perfect over PJ.

It also works well for Bear,

it was for Lego Brick Master's bear, a more masculine version.

Dollies always need to be comfortable,

so they can get their beauty sleep!

The Queen City chapter of SAGA will be auctioning the doll

and its full wardrobe (probably 12 outfits) at the national SAGA meeting

at the September meeting in Norfolk, VA.

Last year, we did a similar project with a 18 inch doll,

and her 12 months of smocked aprons and dresses.

Hopefully it will be as popular!

Happy sewing!

dolly night gown

As a member of SAGA, the Smocking Arts Guild of America,

I had some homework to do!

the good kind of homework, the sewing kind!

I had to make a night gown for a doll,

not an 18 inch doll, but an 15 inch doll.

Not the baby kind, more like kindergartner(!)

A few weeks ago, my friend Jan from BessieMary.

made a beautiful night gown for an American doll.

She totally inspired me,

elegant, simple, classic and full of beautiful details.

Jan had helped me in the past in my heirloom sewing,

and here again she helped me: she loaned me her pattern.

So here is my version

I used some Liberty of  London fabric,

and some cotton French lace.

I do not own a lot of lace, I had just enough for the sleeves.

But it was white lace, not ivory so I dyed it.

I used 1 cup of tea and 2 Tbsp of vinegar (clear!), let it soak

5 minutes and rinsed with water.

I also added 3 little buttons to the front,
almost too small to see!

I think it turned out pretty nicely,
a lot of color on this doll,
but the actual doll has blond hair.

Tomorrow I will show you the robe I made to complete
this outfit.

Happy sewing!

card: voila

I made this card as a birthday card,

as today is my Mother in law's B-day.

I used unbleached batiste,

some fabric from Provence as a ribbon,

some burlap that I frayed.

I stitched it all to the card by machine.

The stamps are from Hero Arts.

I am playing at The Play Date Cafe

for challenge #39 "Dublin style"

Happy Birthday Shelly

and

Happy stamping!

card: sew cute

Today, I made this card for a friend of mine,

as a thank you note.

I used some stamps from  Unity Stamps Company,

and a piece of a dress that I used to love

(it is now even more special as it is the exact match for patching up

Lego Brick Master's bear!)

I am playing at The Play Date Cafe

for challenge # 39 "Dublin style"

Happy stamping!

Bib, take II

Do you remember the post on cute bibs,

well my friend had a daughter!

So I was able to finish the last bib,

the one with the bear,

I added a patch with another bear appliqued on it.

I think it feels complete now.

While I was working on them,

Miss C. decided that her baby doll could use some too,

it is well known that baby doll can be pretty messy!

So I scaled down my pattern

and make this one:

same technique, just must smaller!

I used flannel for the back.

The baby tried it immediately,

and perfect fit!

This baby is on solid food and

we can all predict how dirty her face is going to be

but not her clothes!

Happy sewing!

Mermaid party

Today we celebrated Miss C. B-day

with some of her girlfriends.

Theme: mermaids!

As we have our house on the market,

it is hard to plan anything,

but yesterday it was confirmed that

this week end would be free of showing.

So we got ready for a party!

Since it was last minute,

it was not the prettiest party,

everything was on hand,

but the birthday girl enjoyed it!

The idea came up as we were setting the table:

white tablecloth with pink tulle overlay (left over from crafting),

and of course Princesses plates (also left over).

Not a bad start, but we needed something special....

we have some starfish and sand dollars, just waiting...

and there it was born,

not just Princesses, but Mermaid!

I was also able to find some mermaid tail fabric

in my stash, perfect for a fancy chair!

Next birthday cake,

there is no arguing here,

every year, I have to make the castle cake.

I tried to make it "beachy" by adding not flowers but sea shells,

not perfect but all the girls got it!

I know, nobody is going to hire me for cake decorating!!

It is OK I am keeping my day job anyway....!

Fresh baked, with homemade butter icing

(no shortening here, so the white is slightly yellow)

the shells are made with royal icing, quite tasty.

Before we enjoyed the cake,

they did a little craft, they made mermaid of course!

Then we went swimming in our neighborhood pool,

perfect for our little Princesses.

After our marine adventure

we were ready for cake:

She was very happy,

and it tasted really good!

Of course there were presents and lots of playtime!

To finish it off,

I prepared some goody bags:

Simple bags, decorated with the same sand dollar

attached with jute twine.

Inside, the starfish from the decorated table,

the mermaid they had made during the afternoon,

Princess fruit snack, some of my felt cookies

and a pony necklace

(with best friend forever action, does not got any better!)

Everybody seemed satisfied and had a great time.

I am pleased with how everything turned out,

like everything was planned!

Happy day!

My baby is 6!

It is official,

Miss C is 6!

So this is my walk down memory lane:

My little baby girl, born on a hot summer night.

Monkey business with big brother at 1.

Worshiping her brother at 2.

Make-up discovery at 3.

Picture in contrast at 4

Piling  it on at 5.

Bon anniversaire Ma Cherie!

She likes her new T-shirt !

Happy day!

 

being 6 T-shirt

Miss C. is turning 6 in a few days.

To celebrate, I decorated  a cute T-shirt.

My Maman used to make me some like that

when I was growing up.

Nothing says 70s like those collars!

So I revisited a family classic!

I started by printing a huge 6 from the computer,

easier and more regular than

trying to hand draw it.

I traced the reversed on wonder-under

and ironed it to some Liberty fabric.

After cut it out, I ironed it on the T-shirt

and hand sewed it with a blanket stitch.

I found a cute embroidery design from the same book

that I used on this post :

"Sublime Stitching" by Jenny Hart.

I like to use stem stitch but on the T-shirt it was not working!

So I used back stitch, easier on knit.

I also used some stabilizer before hooping the shirt.

I added some beads for sparkle,

we like everything fancy!

I think it is turning out nicely.

Hopefully the birthday girl will like it!

Happy sewing!

 

simple summer dress with embroidery

A few years ago I made this cute little dress

for Miss C.

While she still a petite girl,

her legs keep on getting longer!

here is a close up of the embroidery.

I used a pattern from the Sew Beautiful magazine,

issue 119 and the machine embroidery design that came with the pattern.

(free on the web side)

I even used entredeux and home made binding!

 I decided to make her a new one,

but to simplify it a little:

no entredeux and cute hand embroidery.

Remember this post ?

yes it is for this dress!

and here it is:

A cute summer dress, made of white pique for the top,

flower fabric from Stylecrest

and white imperial batiste.

The blue is an unusual color and I was not able to match it to any fabric,

so I used it for the binding.

The back has no embroidery.

She likes it!
And yes we are having a sunglasses phase!
Read the last Fancy Nancy: "spectacular spectacles"?
Then you understand!!

Happy sewing!

play clothes

It is hot here,

too hot to play outside!

Miss C. is into wearing shorts lately

and enjoying these play clothes:

a cool little tank top with little yo-yos

and home made binding,

and some shorts.

They are all made of left over fabric.

I do not remember which patterns I used,

but they were just simple.

I also made her a cute halter top

using the same fabric,

both tops work with the same shorts.

I used a "sew beautiful magazine" pattern, it was my first attempt

at pleating using a smocking pleater

(did not got well!)

She really enjoys wearing them

on a hot summer day!

Stay cool and

happy sewing!

burlap wreath

 

A while ago,

I saw a real cool wreath

at Tatertots and Jello

 
After months of seeing the post,
I finally made one,
just in time for our first open house!

I pretty much followed the directions:

I just changed the centers of each circles:

I used 3 layers and used a little embroidery stitch

to hold them together.

Here is our front door before:

and after:

It seems hard to see the colors from here,

so here again a closer look!

I like it,

it even survived its first storm!

Happy crafting!