Strawberry skirt

I bought this fabric for Olivia about two years ago...it took me this long to do something with it!  Luckily this pattern is so easy I made this in my "free time" while Luke was at school.  Olivia is getting a bit jaded with all her new clothes.  I showed it to her and she said "Oh yeah, I already saw it"...I know she'll enjoy wearing it though! 

Finally finished

 I finally finished the blue dress (weeks ago, just didn't take a picture of it!)  I like the way it turned out...mostly.  I love the top, but the waist was a bit awkward.  I had to really work so that I didn't look like I had a prego belly.  For some reason the way the material laid against my body and the way it sucked against my bum wasn't very flattering!  Got it to fit well though!

Cap sleeve dress

I really need to finish my blue dress...but in the meantime... I have a baby shower to go to this weekend, so I needed to make a little dress to wear.  I'm really challenging myself to get this dress done in a week.  With the two kids and all the stuff we do, I really have to squeeze in the time to sew!  My son loves to play with my sewing machine, so I have to distract him with something else.  I thought this would be easy, but then I cut out the pattern...

I didn't realize how many pieces there would be!  And I'm having some trouble with the neck yolk.  The neck is a bit low and sort of comes over the very top of my shoulders and connects with the sleeves, but the yolk is really tight around my neck...so I'm working on the skirt until I can avoid the problem enough to figure it out.  I find a lot of problems with patterns.  A lot of times the sizing is off for me, or some of the pieces are wrong.  I should really find a chat board about this so I can figure out what other people have done!

Now tonight I should be able to hand hem the blue dress and finally get it done!

Gifts

Distracted once again from the blue dress...will it ever get done!  I decided to whip up a few little gifts for my nieces.  I had this fabric that I had bought to make myself a skirt...like 3 years ago, but I had never used it.  I love this pattern for the dress, it's easy, has cute little pockets, nice tucks at the top, and you line the arms and neck with a bias tape to give it a great finish.  I added the green fabric trim on the bottom to give it a little edge, and I think it came out really cute!

I have to add that this is the best zipper job I've done yet.  I was able to hide it really well compared to my zippers in the past!  Lucky for my niece!!

I had a bit of fabric left over from the cute top I made for my daughter, just enough for this cute little pull on skirt.  Perfect for my 2 year old niece who is potty training and dressing herself (unlike my 3 year old who can barely pull on pants...)

birdy skirt

I've been working on this dress for myself for the past few days, but I got stuck on the darts and the ribbon across the waist. I finally figured out the darts today, but the ribbon continues to be my crutch.  I can't figure out where to place it so it is flattering and not bunching up the back of the dress.

I was sidetracked when I saw the fabric I had bought the other day to make something for Olivia.  It's just so cute!So, I took it out and made her a skirt tonight.  Seriously, it was so easy, I made it in just 2 hours.  It's a nice little flannel I got for just $3.  I might go back and get more to make for my nieces.  It's super cute and they can wear it for spring because it's nice and light.  I'm adding a little ribbon at the bottom and maybe a pocket...I'm still deciding!