Polka Pants

The latest addition to Olivia's wardrobe:  Polka Dot Pants.  They're really cute.  Although I made a size 6 and didn't realize they'd be so short...so we added the ruffle on the bottom.  She really liked them!

I added this cute fabric to the pocket facings just to add a bit to them.  I also did a contrasting top stitch to make them look funky.  It's hard to see from the pictures, but there is a fake fly at the front (they're elastic waist).

Kinderquin

What is a Kinderquin you may ask? 
The more I watch Project Runway the more I think "wow, it would be so much easier to make clothes for Olivia if she was standing still in my dining room (where I sew) all the time..." OR "if I had my own $200 adjustable dressform".  Since the budget does not allow for a dressform, I had to resort to making my own.
Enter the Kinderquin.  According to my book (Making Clothes kids love...which has some very funky patterns, but great techniques) the writer came up with this term a combo of a German word Kinder (child) and the word manequin. 

So, yesterday we put Olivia in a tee shirt and tights and duct taped her up!  To get her out we had to cut the side and slide her out.  And then we had fun stuffing it with old fabric (some of which is peeking out of the sides, need more tape!) and some fiberfill we had laying around.  Once I finished it, I put on the dress I've been working on.

Awesome!! Although I'll still have to test her for length and final fitting, I can actually check to make sure things are straight and shoulders are right.  It's not as pretty or as fancy as a real dress form, but I should be able to just add some stuffing and make minor adjustments as she grows. 

It is sort of creepy though to see it naked...

Imke Jumper

I made this jumper out of a book my sister gave me for Christmas using some of the fabric from that endless donation bag.  Actually, the underdress fabric is from that bag, the top fabric I randomly got at the fabric store to make pants for Olivia and then realized that it was completely unsuitable for pants!  Turned out to be perfect for the dress.

She wore it to the mall today and was twirling around everywhere.  Somehow I didn't really get a good picture of it, but it's a very cute dress.  The top and bottom pieces are attached, so it's big piece.  I really have to find a good shirt to wear under it though!!

If only the tie were tied.  You can see the back gathering that has elastic under it so it's easy to get on and off with no zipper (yay!)  I let her wear it to school today, hope it survived!!