A Dedication Dress

If you would like to read about the dedication ceremony, you can visit my other blog HERE.

This dress was not actually made my me, it was made by my mother! She is a far more accomplished seamstress that I am, and has recently become interested in heirloom sewing. After our little one was born she naturally then wanted to make her a fancy dedication dress. Most people don't dress their baby girls up this much for a dedication, but we don't do christenings, so there you have it!

I'm afraid I didn't take pictures of the dress before the ceremony, so it's rather wrinkled.
The dress is actually made out of left over fabric from my wedding gown.
Though the ribbon is new.

And what fancy dress like this is complete without a bonnet?
Here I am holding her up to really show it off when we tried it on her for the first time.

A very happy baby!

For the pattern my mom used a christening gown pattern for the base, but then had to downsize it, as it didn't come any smaller than 6 months. She also added the over skirt and ribbons. If I remember correctly, she made up the bonnet pattern entirely! Can I be excused for wanting to brag just a little bit?

Baby Outfit!

Finally, after starting this several weeks ago, I have gotten around to finishing my first outfit for Baby! And not much time to spare either!
For the dress and bloomers I used Simplicity 4243. I made the size XXS which is supposed to be 7lbs. and under, but it looks more like the 0-3 size outfits I have. So I don't think I need to worry about it being too small! The only real "change" I made to the pattern purposely was to add some ribbon under the print.
I think I may have followed the directions a little too literally on how they said to put the zipper 1in. below the selvage. I knew it didn't sound right, especially since the neck only had a 3/8in seam allowance, but I did it anyway. So, naturally, the zipper came out way too low. But I think the bow tie I decided to add there looks pretty cute anyway!

I didn't think the sun bonnet that was with the pattern was quite right for a newborn. Instead I had an image in my head of an old fashioned baby bonnet. Looking through Etsy, I found exactly what I had in mind! This adorable bonnet pattern! It was so easy, I can't wait to make more. Since it's adjustable, the same bonnet can be worn from infant all the way up to 1 years old. Unfortunately, I cut my white ribbon too short, so this one will only work for Baby as an infant.
I can't wait to try everything on my little angel!!!!

Two Somethings Very Tiny

Not much longer to go! In preparation for the new little one's arrival I crocheted a couple tiny somethings this last week. I'm very happy with how they came out. ^_^
I found the pattern in Crochet Pattern Central's baby section.

Coming soon!

Just over a week ago I received a package in the mail from my mom. She had been going through a bag of fabric she'd forgotten about, and decided to send some of it to me! Any guesses as to what these lovely pieces of cotton will be turned into? ;-)
And yesterday something else finally arrived. At the end of January, SewingPatterns.com was having a sale on Simplicity patterns; $2.99 a piece! Plus, I had some birthday money waiting to be spent... And thirdly, I didn't have any baby patterns! :-D I still can't decide which one to make first.
I also bought two patterns for myself. A drawstring skirt that will shrink with me, and a button up blouse that I can nurse in.
I certainly have a lot do in the next two months!!!

Cowgirl Maternity Blouse

My newest maternity creation, a cowgirl blouse! This was made by modifying Simplicity 4499, a now out of print pattern.
Several months ago I came across an online set of classes called "Make Maternity Clothes," one of the classes being "Converting Store bought patterns into Maternity Patterns." It is amazing! You can literally turn any pattern you own into a maternity pattern! And it's not just one cut and dry method, there are 5 or 6 different variations you can use for blouses. Plus directions for pants, skirts, dresses, and even formals. I would highly recommend this class to any expectant mother. Because the information in the class is copyrighted, I'm not going to go into detail on the changes I made to the pattern.

What project can get properly started without the help of a cat?

I first bought this pattern about 6 or 7 years ago for 4-H sewing. Back then, I was a size 8, now my pre-pregnancy size is a 10. Thankfully I had made the short sleeve view, so the yolk pieces had not been cut out. That made it really easy to layer them on top of the blouse pieces then estimate how much to add everywhere else.

The pattern called for piping around the yolk, but unfortunately, I only had some in a real pale pink color. And there was no way that was going to work. So I thought, Wal-Mart ought to have some piping... :-( Nope. (Our Wal-Mart has recently majorly downsized their fabric department) They didn't even have that much of a selection of biased tape. I knew I had to put something on the yolk, else it wouldn't be visible in the print, so I bought the only blue colored biased tape they had.

I suppose I can blame pregnancy hormones on this next part, but I really didn't feel like going the extra mile to make the tape look like piping, so I just edged the yolk with it instead.

But even then I wasn't altogether happy with it. It just looked too much like it was home made! So I finally decided to try using one of my machine's fancy stitches to dress it up a bit. My husband really liked the results! It took a while, but they finally grew on me too.


I didn't notice until I was ready to start on the collar that I had accidentally cut out the size 8. After making an extensive search to find the size 10, I realized why I hadn't noticed. It wasn't there! For whatever very strange reason, I had thrown away all the other collar sizes except the size 6. Explain that one to me?

The only way I could think of to fix this problem was to put the size 6 on top of the size 8 and measure the difference, then add that difference in the selvages,


It actually worked! The collar fit perfectly into the blouse!!! I can't tell you how relieved I was.

Here's my sewing companion trying to help me sew on the buttons. How helpful she is. ;-)

Well, I hoped you've enjoyed this post, and it didn't bore you at all. Please let me know what you think!

Surprise goodies!

A package arrived in the mail on Monday from my Grandma. She called it a box of sewing odds and ends, things that had been given to her, or she had inherited. What an incredible blessing! How she managed to squeeze everything into that box I don't know, I couldn't get it all back in! But I bet you're ready to see it all now, right? Here goes!

First up these ribbons.
Some bias tape.
These different laces, some of which look like they could be antique.
Some different sizes of elastic.
Next, some knits and a cotton piece of fabric.
And these specialty fabrics.
And finally these un-categorized bits and pieces.
I have the most wonderful grandma in the world!

Church Skirt

Okay, so back in November my mother-in-law bought me two beautiful skirts, and matching camisoles at a thrift shop. I put together the first one rather quickly, but forgot to take any pictures of it. :-( Hence no blog post before now.

I didn't do anything with the second one until just recently, because I did not have a single blouse or sweater that matched it. But with Christmas came a lovely green sweater that matched perfectly. So I decided I'd better get that second skirt made! Just in time too, as I'm no longer able to fit into the few church clothes that were big enough, for a little while, for my growing tummy. :-D

This skirt took a little extra work beforehand to prep before the maternity panel could be added to it. First off, as we have really cold winters here, I wanted it to be as long as possible, but a little thing called a zipper was in the way. So, the first thing I had to do was remove the zipper. Then stitch up difference. Thankfully the skirt was still wide enough at the hip with closing the zipper opening 2 inches higher.
Next up, the skirt had a very high slit that needed to be fixed. Because both zipper and slit were on the same side of the skirt, the selvages were not serged together. That made my job so much easier! All I had to do was take out the stitching enclosing both sides of the slit, then sew the side seams together!
As you can see, there wasn't much space between the bottom of the zipper opening and the top of the slit opening. Interesting thing too, is that with the slit closed up completely I still have plenty of room for movement. Goes to show just how unnecessary the slit was in the first place. ;-)

The camisole I was using was also a bit stretched out, so I had to take the side seams in a couple of times before it was tight enough to hold the skirt up.
All finished!! I really wasn't that big already, I'm only 6 months along! The camera just made me look bigger. I'm very happy with how it came out, and how well it coordinates with the sweater. Thank you Grandma!!

Recycled Maternity Skirt

About a month ago I was visiting a friend a few hours away, and she decided to give me some materials of her's to make some new clothes for myself with. One of the things she likes to do, is take her husband's worn out pairs of pants and turn them into skirts for her daughters. And she thought I might be able to make some use out of a couple pairs as well.

So I picked out two pairs of khaki colored pants, without a clue as to what I would do with them.

After a couple weeks ideas began forming in my mind, and finally I was ready to take action!

The first thing I did was to cut the legs off at the top.

Next I cut out the inside seams and opened them out to see how much flair they'd give me, as I was thinking of making tulip style skirt.

And of course, what sewing project is complete without a cat? ;-)

It turned out that the legs of the lighter pair of pants were actually narrower than the others. So, that helped with my decision on where they would be placed.

Next I started sewing them together! However, four pant legs in a row makes for a very full skirt. As you can see below. Not mention that because these are mens pants I was working with, they were quite stiff. So, I took in a total of 4 inches at the waist. I was still hoping for a tulip shape to the skirt.

Once I had the waist as narrow as I wanted it, it was time to gather it! For the maternity panel I was planning on using the same method I used in this blog post, but knew the fabric was not going to stretch as much as I would need it too. It was actually a bit harder to gather thick fabric like this than I had anticipated, but I think it came out nice.

All done! It's still a lot fuller then I originally wanted, plus the stiffness causes it to stand out more. But all and all, I'm very pleased with it, and especially love that the thickness makes it really warm!



Best of all, I think I may have just come upon a new product for my Etsy shop! I just need to find some more old camisoles! ;-)