Ottobre outfit finished!

I finished up the outfit for the little girl I've been babysitting. I've mentioned before that her daddy lost his job last year so they can't afford to buy her a lot of extras. She's growing like a weed as most little ones tend to do so I thought I'd make her a few things. I forgot how much I love making clothes for little kids! Especially little girl clothes....since my little girl doesn't want me making her clothes anymore. Well, except bras, panties and jammies. I was measuring her for undies recently and she asked why I needed her waist and hip measurement. I said, "It's for the panties. Why? Do you want me to make you something?!" She promptly replied, "NO!!". That "no" had an incredulous tone to it so I figure that I should just be happy making her undies. That ship done sailed, I guess.

Anyhoo, on to the outfit.

The top is Ottobre 1/2010 #2A or the "Kamomilla" T-shirt. Dress is also Ottobre from the 1/2009 issue. It's design #8 called the "Babushka" pinafore. I left off the frill though. The pants are the "Saimi" sweatpants I mentioned in the last post.

I like how it turned out and Miz K just loves it. When we were putting it on my son chimed in that she looked like a zebra, in a good way (This was before we got the dress on). I'm not sure how I like all the stripes either. It's sort of too Prison Chic for me. I may make her some different leggings to go under the dress and a different top to go with the striped pants. I have a red and white polka dot top I made for myself and every time I wear it she always pets it and oooo's and ahhh's over it. I'm sure I have enough leftover to make her a little top!

I did make a couple of stupid mistakes. I swear I can be such a dummy but that's what you get for sewing whilst tired. One of the reasons I picked the top was the sweet little gathering in the front. When I attached the binding do you think I remembered to make the gathers? Hell no! There was no way I was going to rip it all out and it turned out fine. The neckline is not too big, thank goodness! For the pinafore I fussy cut the front piece so the hippy chic, flowers, and bubbles were all nice and centered. It looked good! I assembled everything and got all the top stitching done. Then.... I realized I had attached the back shoulder straps to the front skirt piece and vice versa! DOH! I got very lucky in that the back, even though I haphazardly cut it out, had the girl's face and hair in all it's entirety and the flowers and bubbles filled the rest of the space. At least she'll look cute coming and going! LOL! Like that could be hard, you see those white-blond curls! She's a doll!

If you're curious, the fabric for the pinafore is By Robert Kaufman and it's called "Lucky Girl". I'm not sure if it's discontinued or not. I've had it in my stash for at least a couple of years.

Don't forget to enter the Giveaway! You have until Monday, March 1st and I keep adding extras to the pile! *wink*wink*

A Call to My Sewing Sisters and Brothers!

Okay, I know a lot of you out there are vintage freaks just like me! I acquired this pattern awhile back off Ebay but I haven't been able to find out ANYTHING about Blue-and-White patterns!

As you can see, they are quite literally blue and white:

From the pattern cover I see that it comes from the Woman's Home Companion Magazine that was in production from 1873 to 1957. I was just wanting to maybe date the pattern and see if anyone else knows anything about Blue-and-White patterns. I haven't seen any others before or since.

Up next on the cutting board, so to speak, is an outfit for my friends' daughter. The pants are Ottobre 1/2009 #16 or the "Saimi" sweatpants. The pattern is super easy and I love one piece pants for kids. They fit her really well and she was so excited about them! I feel a stack-and-whack comin' on. For all my fellow Chez Ami fabric lovers out there, I used their black and white stripe jersey and red rib knit! Is their fabric not the best?! The groovy pink fabric is a twill that will be a jumper or pinafore of some kind (I think I bought it on Ebay). I've gotta search my magazines for a pattern to use.

I have to add that I just LOVE reading all of your crowning achievements! It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I may have to do this more often! Keep 'em comin'!

xoxo,
Heather

First Ever GIVEAWAY!

Okay, y'all! As promised I'm going to have a giveaway to commemorate my 5th Blogiversary and my birthday. The Blogiversary is on Feb 26th and my B-Day is Mar 1st!

What are ye gonna get? Well, everything in the above picture! You know my love of underpinnings by now so of course it has to be lingerie themed. It includes a simple muti-sized pattern for a slip, suitable for a beginner. It's a vintage Sew Lovely and has never even been opened. Cool! I also think that you can size it up easily if you need to. Also, enough peach nylon tricot to make the largest size (There is probably enough that you could even make a matching pair of panties! This stuff is like 100"+ wide!) and a selection of stretch lace to adorn your lovely new garment with. I might even throw something a little extra in there. I love surprises, don't you!


Okie dokie, the details are:

1. You must leave a comment here on the blog or email me privately between now and March 1st, 2010. lil-miss-muffett@sbcglobal.net

2. I want you to tell me your most crowning sewing or crafting achievment! If you don't have one tell me something that you've done or has happened to you that is super cool. Anything goes! You shagged Tom Cruise? I wanna know! LOL!

3. The giveaway is open to my international readers too!

That's it! Pretty simple. I'll use one of those random generator thingies to choose the winner and I'll announce it on Tuesday, March 2nd.

Let the games begin!

Stay Tuned....

I've been thinking about doing a giveaway! Yes, a GIVEAWAY! I love it when people do that. I just got a pattern from Pattern Junkie and that was pretty cool. I'm coming up on my, believe it or not, 5th Blogiversary *!* and it's also my birthday next week! I really can't believe I've been blogging, on and off, for FIVE freakin' years! So, to commemorate this outstanding achievement of mine I want to give some crap away! Well, it's not crap... I'm thinking something along the lines of a vintage pattern or two. Maybe something else thrown in there? I dunno yet. Details to follow shortly!!!

I am going to start listing some patterns on Etsy soon like I mentioned in my last post. I'll probably try to do a few at a time. Start savin' yer money now girls and boys...

Bustin' Some Stash!

I just read about Zoe's stash busting over at the Colette Patterns Blog and thought it sounded like a grand idea! I have absolutely NO extra cash for buying new fabrics and certainly not any extra space so I think I'm going to join along with my other sewing sisters who are also diving in! I have so much fabric it shouldn't be a problem! I've posted the little graphic in my side bar over there. I'm also thinking about going through my pattern stash and selling some of them off. I have quite a few vintage patterns that I will never use and it would be nice for them to have a new home where they can see the light of day. Keep your eyes peeled for that. I'll be listing them on my etsy shop!

In sewing news, I did NOT finish my bra and panty set for the Lingerie Contest at Pattern Review. I've just had too much going on. They are both cut out and hopefully I can get it finished this week! I'm babysitting again so I probably won't get anything done today. Here's a little sneaky peek:

Recipe to come later

Well, if you're at all interested in the recipes I've been posting it'll be just a bit before I can get another posted. I spent the majority of yesterday with my elderly Mother-in-Law and today I'm babysitting for some friends. I hear the kids (aged 5 and 2 1/2) talking about jumping on beds so I better go investigate!

Bra sewing again!

I've finally carved out a little time to make myself some new bras! All of mine are getting worn out and after having several conversations about bra making with Kristin, my juices got flowing to make some. Also, Pattern Review is holding a Lingerie Contest. It ends Feb. 14th and I thought I should get busy! LOL! The bra above is a mock up of one of my custom drafted Danglez patterns. If you look closely you can get a glimpse of the fabric I'm using for the contest piece. It's a really fun animal print with swirls and little silver paillette thingies. This bra has a diagonal seam cup and I just love how it fits! The details are more visible here on my dress form:

I wore it all day yesterday and didn't have to tug or adjust and I just love that! The contest bra is proving to be a little bit more difficult than the trial bra. It just sort of sewed itself. The print fabric is really stretchy and lightweight, almost to the point of being a mesh. Needless to say, it has to be fully lined and that makes things fussy. I'll cut a panty or two to go with it. Hopefully, I can get it all done before the weekend!

Some sewing, believe it or not!

Yes, I do sew! Imagine that!

Here are some before and after photos of Ottobre 5/2007 Design #12A. The fabric I used was some Bamboo/Cotton/Lycra and it is extremely soft and has a lot of drape. Unfortunately, it shows every bump that lies underneath it. Not so good when you're a big girl. Anyhoo, I think that with the fabric containing Lycra and being so drapey it really stretches when wearing. The top came out much longer than I had intended and it just looked plain sloppy!

I trimmed it up quite a bit so it rested about mid hip and then added the ruching as described in the instructions for this pattern.

It's a little more flattering now and in the last photo you can see the ruching. I think that helps add a little shaping to the sides.

On a most exciting note: I fixed my serger! All. by. myself. Well, I had an assistant who ran and got me screwdrivers and compressed air and got in my way a bit (I'm not, ahem, talking about kids here either....) but for the most part I did it myself! I was having a problem with the fabric not feeding through and could feel/see that the back feed dogs were really loose. It was just a matter of tightening two little screws but the getting to those screws proved rather difficult. It only took about 30 minutes and now I'm back in business. Plus, it saved me quite a bit of money. Yay!

Have a lovely week!

Recipe Thursday: Face and Body Sugar Scrub

Er...I guess I should say Recipe Friday. Oh well, better late than never! Although, I believe this is about 3 WEEKS late!! Maybe more, I quit counting.

Anyhoo, this is a wonderful scrub that you can even use on your face! It's really simple to make and leave the skin silky soft. You can make this using organic or regular sugar, whatever you have on hand. I'm using regular for this batch since I just didn't have the cash for the "good" stuff! :-D

Face and Body Sugar Scrub

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup White Sugar

Sweet Almond Oil (or any other light vegetable oil. Olive oil is particularly wonderful for moisturizing the skin and grapeseed is excellent.)

Essential Oil of your choice (I'm using orange and vanilla essential oils this time. Other good choices are lavender, lemon, lemongrass, ginger, rosemary, geranium, jasmine, rose, etc. Pretty much whatever you like and can use.)

Gather your ingredients.

Mix up the sugars in a large bowl and start adding the oil slowly, stirring every so often until the mixture becomes kind of think and paste-y.

It should end up looking like this.

Now, you begin adding your essential oils. Just a little at a time until you get the fragrance you want. I found that about 1/2 teaspoon each of the vanilla and orange was plenty.

It's always nice to have a test sniffer handy!

When everything is just right, you can start loading up your container. I'm recycling a container here but you can use canning jars or even baby food jars, whatever. That could make a really cute little gift! I'm thinking bridal and baby showers, gift baskets, etc. This makes a pretty good amount and my jar is not big enough to hold it all so you might be sure to have an extra container on hand just in case.

Ta Da! Now you have some lovely scrubby goodness.

To use: Scoop up a palm full and rub all over skin. Use a little more on dry areas like feet, hand elbows. If you use on face rub gently. Rinse well. Also, be careful in the shower, it can make the floor slick! You may notice the oil separates, just shake your container well before opening and using.

Enjoy!