Citronille Solveig blouse paired with the Oliver + S Hopscotch skirt

So ya, I made another outfit for my sweet Jenelle.  I love making clothes for her.  

The top is the Citronille Solveig pattern.  I used some fabric that has been curing in my stash for years.  I love the daintiness of the print.  I sewed up the size 8 and fit is good.  I like the square neckline.  I placed the placket on the outside as that is my preference.  

I just love the arrow point of the placket.  Makes me smile!

For the skirt I used the Oliver + S Hopscotch skirt pattern.  I used a fine wale turquoise corduroy fabric. It matches the bits of turquoise in the blouse.

I love the vintage look of the skirt.  

Here is my precious modelling it.  (hmmm....I sound like Smeagol (Gollum) from Lord of the Rings). LOL

 

All in all I'm happy with her new outfit.  Next on the list is the Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress.   I've got a lot of bookkeeping to get caught up on though first.  <sigh>  Wish I could spend all my time in my sewing nook.  LOL  

Until next time, happy sewing!! 

Baby Sleepers

My 12 year old daughter came to me on Tuesday after school and said, "Hey Mom, my class at school is hosting a surprise baby shower for our teacher on Thursday.  Could you sew me two sleepers to give as a gift?"  I had a meeting to attend Tuesday night but I managed to whip these up yesterday (Wednesday).

I had so much fun making these.  There is nothing like sewing up bitty baby clothes.  Seriously makes me (almost) want another wee one.  I said almost!  LOL  

Pattern used is Ottobre Autumn 2005 issue, design #2.  Size 56 (newborn).  I've made this sleeper for my own babies.  I love sleepers with front zippers.  Makes for easy and quick diaper changes. 

I had to make these gender neutral -- though I do think they look very boyish to me.  Fabric is a soft cotton interlock.  Love the farm animal print.  

This sleeper is sewn up in a cozy white velour with green accents.  It's so soft and cuddly.  

I love this embroidery applique from Swak Embroidery.    So cute and stitched out beautifully!

I hope her teacher likes the sleepers. 

Happy Sewing!

A Sweet Valentine outfit for my girl

I made a comfy Valentine knit tunic for my little girl. I love this heart cotton interlock knit.  

I wanted something that was comfy, easy to wear, easy to play in and looked cute.  I came up with this. Simple and sweet.  

I used Ottobre Autumn 2012 design # 28.  A simple long-sleeved t-shirt.  I took off 2" from the bottom and added a 6" ruffle.  I love this style of tunic.  I then made up some simple  cotton/lycra leggings to go with the top.  Again, I used Ottobre Spring 2009 for the leggings pattern. Super quick and simple to make.  

Here is the outfit modeled on one happy little girl!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy Sewing!

My newest addition - a Janome Horizon 8900 QCP

I'm so exited!! Meet Maggie....Maggie the Magnificent. A Janome Horizon 8900 QCP She's a true beauty!! My fleet of machines are almost all Janome, though I do own  a Babylock cover-stitcher which I love too.    My Janome machines have been excellent and I'd never deter anyone from buying one.

This new delightful baby has a lot of cool features. Comes with 270 stitches with 9mm stitch width. It has a huge 11" free-arm work space which is awesome for quilters. I love the 7-piece feed dogs which will be awesome for feeding a bunch of different fabrics through. Has a cool automatic thread cutter...love that as it cuts both threads and brings them to the back. There are 11 different types of buttonholes and even three alphabets. Oh and the foot control pedal is HUGE!! Love that...no more slipping away. Bliss -- pure bliss!!

I was sewing on a Janome 9000 computerized sewing and embroidery machine. She has been a good and faithful machine and has sewn a ton for me. I have no complaints but just needed something a little more heavy duty. A machine that can sew through thick, lumpy layers and Maggie fits the bill!!! Bar tacks on jeans with no lugging or jamming, buttonholes through heavy thick fabrics -- Maggie the Magnificent will tackle it...no problem!! I tested her on some pretty extreme challenges and she conquered them beautifully!! I'm quite pleased and am sporting a full-time perma-grin!

Happy Sewing!

Ottobre Rousku Blouse and Jenkka Skirt

I've had this Alexander Henry fabric called "cowgirls and boys" in my stash for quite some time.  I didn't realize how old it was til I read the date stamp on the selvage edge of the fabric.  It read 2002.  Really??  Have I seriously held on to this fabric for 12 odd years???  Guess it was about time to sew it up!!  I'm glad I did because I love how this outfit turned out!

I used the Ottobre Rousku blouse pattern again.  (From the Fall 2010 issue).  I up-sized it  to 140 and added a bit more depth  to the sleeve cap.

I seem a bit placket obessed!  I love the look of plackets.  I was pleased with getting the cute little cowboy centered on the placket here.  Yeah!

I thought a pleated corduory skirt would go perfectly with the blouse.  So I sewed up the Ottobre Jenkka skirt (Winter 2012 issue).  It's such a cute skirt with a narrow waistband and an invisible side zipper.

The photo above is a bit washed out.  The corduroy is much richer in real life.

Below is a picture of the whole outfit.

Thanks for looking,  Happy Sewing!!

A trio of Blouses

Phew -- my first post on my own sewing blog!  This feels pretty cool!  I'm excited to be starting on this little blogging adventure.

I made three blouses for my youngest daughter.  I love the look of tunic style blouses on little girls.  Gives a sort of nostalgic look in today's modern age.

The first blouse is a Citronille Gretel pattern.  I love the vintage look.  The pattern is in french but does give detailed pictures of the whole sewing process.  I didn't like the way they did the placket.  They have you sew the  placket to the inside of the blouse.  I prefer the placket to be placed on the outside of the blouse.

Once the blouse was made I knew it was going to be too big on my daughter.  I had her try it on we both burst out laughing.  She looked like was wearing an 1800's men's sleep shirt!  I kept seeing Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol in his nightshirt!  Needless to say, I knew I had to take in the fullness.  I added a drawstring waistband and am very pleased with the results.

                                                                                                                                                                   

The next blouse I made is one of my favorite Ottobre patterns.  I've sewn this blouse in smaller sizes and absolutely adore the look.  This particular pattern only goes up to a size 128.  I knew the size 128 may be too small but went ahead and sewed it up anyways.  I used  a cotton that had been sitting in my stash for quite awhile.

                                 

                                

Unfortunately, the above blouse is too small.  Because I love the style of this blouse, I took my pattern and up-sized it 2 sizes bigger.  I used a cotton print I had bought from a co-op a few years ago.  The blouse below fits great but is a tad snug around the arms.  

    

I'm going to sew up another blouse in a cute Alexander Henry fabric that's been curing in my stash for a very long time!  I plan to  modify the sleeves to make them a bit fuller around the arm scythe.  Hopefully the fit will be perfect!

Until next time...

Happy Sewing!!