New Clothes

A couple days ago I finished Kaitlyn's Tiered Dress by Belle Elysse Boutique. The fabric sure is bright, but I like the results. Originally I was going to put ruching between the tiers with the same fabric as the bodice. I believe I have ruled that out now. Oh, who knows I may stop being lazy and tackle it. I have yet to try ruching.

Here's Kaitlyn in another pair of Boutique Bottoms by Sew Sensible. I make these so much I no longer read the instructions. Maybe that's more a testament to how easy her patterns are rather then my memory. These pants have bears on them. I attached a bear from the fabric up on her shirt and zigzag stitched around it. Of course no outfit would be complete without a matching clip or bow.

If you want to know how to make it do what I did. Hehehe... I traced the design off the computer. Yep, I saw, I liked, I made. As you can see miss bear is about 3" tall and 2" wide. She has four loops for a body and three for a head. The original bear had three rhinestones glued on for a necklace. I had these pink/purple beads and they matched the pants I made for Kaitlyn so I used them for a necklace. The bear really doesn't need anything around it's neck, but it did give it that little something extra to girly-girl it up. I used a two tone ribbon on it's head; I had it and have never used it so I thought this was would be a good chance to use some.

Pre-Wash & Swap

You must ALWAYS pre-wash and dry your cotton fabric before making a garment. Sigh. Tell me why I don't just throw all my fabric in the washer when it arrives in the mail? I have no idea. For a while now I've had some fabric sitting, still in the box, in our spare room. Today I decided to pull it out and make Kaitlyn the dress from an ebook I bought a couple months ago at least. With everything laid out I was getting ready to cut out the bodice when I realized the error I was about to make. I hadn't washed my fabric yet. I was disappointed my project would have to wait. I grabbed up all the fabric I have for any intended project in the future and washed it all. I also stripped the ironing board and put the cover in the wash too. Neal has starched his uniform so much there is a nice browning coat of starch all over the ironing board cover. Now that I starch my fabric before sewing it I'm only adding to the problem.


So picture me with all my intended clothing fabric in the wash as well as the ironing board cover and I now have nothing to do. I decided to pull out the remaining fabric from the purse I made a week and a half ago.

Instead of the white panel I have some green and black fabric I'm thinking about using. I cut out the front strips (15" instead of 18") then had to stop. I'm not sure I like the green. I'm now debating using the white again or adding a splash of color with some blue or orange fabric I'm planning on making Kaitlyn a dress out of. I decided I wasn't in a rush to sew up the front panel seeing how even if I did I still couldn't finish the purse until the stinkin' ironing board cover comes out of the dryer. I'm back to square one with nothing to do.

On a totally different subject if anyone would like to do a swap for a cloth grocery bag hop on over to swap-bot. I'm doing a swap for a handmade or store bought grocery bag along with two small kitchen items. The kitchen items can be something like a frig magnet, dish towel, or even a recipe. You must be signed up by July 28th to participate.

Another swap I'm hosting is for children's travel toys. In this swap you buy 4 small toys, coloring book, crayons, or any other toy or activity item for a child 1-5 years old. The sign up deadline is July 31st for this swap. I'm excited to see the fun items Kaitlyn will get for our long flight back to the States in a couple months.