Emmylou's 4th Birthday Dress!

Hello!

So last month, my baby girl turned the big 0-4.  I still can't believe it!  She's such a smart, beautiful, hysterical little love, and lucky doesn't even begin to describe how I feel being her Mama.  She is my everything.

And my everything is becoming quite the opinionated young lady!  She is not a girly-girl at all.  She is into snakes and bugs, getting any-kind-of dirty, and she likes to ride her scooter at a thousand miles per hour.  But lately she's been ALL ABOUT twirling.  It's that Frozen, I tells'ya.  Ever since I made her these Skater Tee peplum tanks (which she spins around in 'like a princess' even though the peplums are only like 5 inches long omgadorable), I knew I needed to make her a legit twirly dress!  Never in this poor childs life have I made her a straight-up girl's girl kinda dress!  

So, for her 4th birthday, I decided it was time.  I gathered tulle from Canada Tulle (precut to 18" wide x 25yds long, awesome!), and some crepe back satin in her fave color from Online Fabric Store (my place of employ - convenient for sure!).  But I didn't want to just cover Em in a big ol' purple dress - I wanted it to still have plenty of her personality built in.

How about a scenic African Plains wildlife print!?  Yes, ok!  Em is very much in love with the characters from Madagascar, so I thought this print would just tickle her silly. It did. :)

The pattern is Tinny from Straight Grain Patterns, and it's just adorable.  I chose this pattern because of it's many options.   I know I'll be able to use this pattern again and again, and it'll look different each time!

I cut a size 3t, and lengthened the skirt by I think about 10 inches!  I knew I wanted the dress to be like ballgown length.  If we're doin' this, we're doin' it, amiright?

I ended up using 12 of the 25 yards of tulle in the skirt!  Infinite thanks to my bff Beth for helping me corral all of it.  I would've added more layers but the smarter people around me told me it was ok to stop.

I hemmed with my rolled hem foot (like this guy).  It's not perfection, but I'm pretty happy with it considering satin + circle skirt!  I took these pics the day after her big party, so the dress had taken quite a beating by this point. :)

All the twirling:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMYLOU!

Pattern: Tinny by Straight Grain Patterns Bodice: Scenic Print Skirt: Crepe Back Satin, Tulle Full Lining: Broadcloth Belt: Trim, similar here Shoes: n/a

I've got some awesome Kids Clothes Week things cookin' that hopefully I can get around to sharing this weekend, and also some really cool stuff coming up next week!  Lots going on!

Have a good day, guys!

KCW and New Pattern Preview

Good morning!

Exciting news today...  Kids Clothes Week Spring 2014 is just around the corner - next week to be precise!  LouBeeClothing is an official sponsor for this edition, and I am PSYCHED.

Psyched not only to be a sponsor of this glorious quarterly sew-all-the-things bonanza, but to also announce that my newest pattern - the Shandiin Tank & Tunic is in testing and will be released next week!

Take a peek:

The Shandiin (Navajo for 'sunshine') is a tank or tunic (or dress!) with options like a button front, solid front, elasticized hem, drawstring hem, and HEAPS of fabric-combining possibilities.  It will be a Summer staple!

I will share pics of other variations, and some *adorable* tester shots next week.

I'm so excited about this one, guys!

And the Kids Clothes Week blog is hosting a giveaway for, among loads of other things, my entire pattern collection - all 4!  Doli, Hosh, Bimaa, and Shandiin!  You can enter to win those, and goodies from all of these fab sponsors:

HEAD OVER TO ENTER THEM ALL! Cheers, all!  Happy sewing!

Small Fry Skinny Jeans Pattern Tour

Hello, and welcome to my stop on the Small Fry Skinny Jeans Pattern Tour!

Before I say anything, I want to let you all know that this pattern is 20% off through the end of the tour - which is this Friday!  So if you want to save on a copy of this EPIC pattern, don't delay.  Use code TOUR20 over here in the Titchy Threads Pattern Shop.

Ok, onward.  I made a pair of jeans.

I MADE. A PAIR. OF JEANS!!!  

 

The Small Fry Skinny Jeans pattern from Titchy Threads is incredible.  If you've been following this pattern tour, you'll have that noticed many tourees have commented on how thorough it is.  It truly, truly is.  This is hands down the most in-depth, engaging, challenging garment I have ever made...

And it was SO MUCH FUN! I loved each and every step of the process of putting these pants together.  I would've got them done a lot faster if I hadn't stepped back to admire my handiwork after each step.  Ha!

So profesh!

This amazing fabric is from JoAnn - it's a printed denim with a touch of stretch.  I had bought a half yard a few months ago to make Em a denim skirt.  When I laid eyes on that piece in my stash, I knew instantly that I needed this print for these pants!  I hurried back to JoAnn for more and thank goodness they still had some.  Love it.

I knew going into this that I wanted to take it all the way.  All the bells and whistles.  Full zip fly, jeans button, top stitching, and rivets.  If I'm making the jeans, I'M MAKING THE JEANS.

I had a hell of a time finding the brass rivets though!  I could only find the silver/nickel ones in stores and on Etsy.  I ended up locating them finally through this eCrater shop.  They came within days, so that was awesome.  I couldn't envision silver-toned hardware with this fabric, so I'm psyched it all worked out.

One of many new-to-me skills that Laura (of Titchy Threads and Craftsorming) taught me through this BONANZA of a pattern was inserting a zip fly!  I loved this process - the amount of confidence Laura instills in you along the way through her clear guidance, makes you sure that whatever the next step is - you can do it. Even if it's a tiny zipper in tiny pants.

Which brings me to this lesson learned:

When Laura tells you to get two spools of top stitching thread, you listen to Laura and you get two spools of top stitching thread.  You do not say "no way I'm only making the size 4t there's no way nooooo waaaaaaay."  You do what Laura says, you see:

Skin of my teeth.

Homegirl didn't take these jeans of for two days.  The fit is glorious, the 'skinny' not too skinny, and the length just right with room to sprout.  Emmy will be 4 next week (OMG NO), and these size 4's will probably fit through next Fall, if not just through the rest of this god forsaken Winter.

What do you guys think!  Hot damn, right?!  

I so highly recommend this pattern, especially if you love to learn new skills, and long for the immense pleasure bragging rights awarded you by making a pair of jeans from scratch.  Toot toot!

Remember, don't wait if you want the pattern for 20% off.  This offer is good only through this Friday with code TOUR20 in the Titchy Threads shop.  Worth every penny at 10x full price!

And have you seen all the others!?

You can click on one of those blog names ^^^ and be taken to that particular blog- how cool is that!

Have a good day, guys!  Thanks for visiting!  

Kids Clothes Week Makes!

 

Hey hey!  Happy Sunday!

 

This past week was Kids Clothes Week - a week during which I generally have only two modes - SEWS ALL THE THINGS or pretends it isn't happening.  This time around... I was sensible.  And it was awesome!

 

I sewed two outfits for Em - using just two tried and true patterns.  They're identical ensembles but in different fabrics.  AND I LOVE THEM:

 

 

 

 

First and most importantly, my almost 4 year old looks SEVENTEEN.

I can't.  Alllll outta cants.

 

The patterns!  The two tops were made using the always-on-top-of-my-pattern-pile Kitschy Coo Skater Dress, modified into peplum tanks.  Amanda has a great tutorial on her blog on how to peplumize your Skater - do check that out!  These were a breeze to make, and they are so flippin cute and even more flippin versatile.  Totally making more for the warmer months that are allegedly ahead.

 

I made a few additional changes - I shortened the bodice by about an inch, made the armbands more narrow, and left both tops unhemmed.

 

 

 

 

The pants are of course the Hosh Pants!  All gussied up and fresh and new and ready for Spring!

It' been a WHOLE YEAR since I've done a proper shop-worthy Hosh photo shoot.  So these babies will be going up in my Shop listings pretty soon.  I think they're going to be a lovely addition!

 

 

 

Let's talk about these fabrics, yes?  The silver top is a bamboo knit DIRECT from the heavens.  Or Denver Fabrics, can't remember! I did get it a long time ago - a quick search of their site yielded nothing just like this.  Eh.

 

The red top is a super supple French terry that I got eons ago (similar here).  I can't even speculate where that one came from! All I remember about it is receiving it in the mail thinking I had been shipped the wrong stuff because it wasn't towel material (similar here). :|  Haha.

 

 

 

The pants fabrics... OH the pants fabrics!  Aren't they incredible/insane?!  Both are from the 'Fashion Bottomweights' section of my local JoAnn store.  They are stretch cotton sateens - a fabric I swear by for Hosh Pants.  These are really, really cool up close - they're both like digitally printed.  Pretty rad!

 

 

 

Emmy loves all of her new clothes so, so much!  She's napping in them as I type this!

 

So the takeaway this week was to actually do Kids Clothes Week as it is intended - a little work each night, or whenever you can fit it in. I feel like I got more done than I have in a while, and it was enjoyable, thoughtful, good sewing.  Love it. :)

 

 

Also this:

      Have a great day everyone!  I hope your team wins if your team's in the Bowl!  The Patriots obviously are out, so I'm just in this for the beer and wings.   Cheers!