Lucky Number 13 and some Sewing...

Good Morning (or afternoon)! I just thought I'd do a quick post before all the kiddos wake up!

First of all, my baby girl celebrated her 13th birthday on Monday. I can hardly believe I'm the mother of a teenager now. I posted about it on facebook and got lots of comments in support of my impending doom. Above is the cake she picked out. She couldn't decide if she wanted me to make one or just buy one and then she say this lovely confection. It tasted okay but I seriously had trouble sleeping that night from all the sugar! Good grief! I wanted to post a cute picture of her blowing out the candles but she said to me, "NO posting that picture to the internet! I look weird!" Ah yes...it's starts.

We went to Wonderland Park in Amarillo, TX on Saturday to celebrate a little early. I have no pictures 'cause I forgot the camera. It was so nice though since our little man no longer needs a stroller. We didn't have to carry/push anything! It was amazing! My husband didn't have stroller duty so he actually got to ride some of the rides. He never really minded before since he has some inner ear problems and he doesn't do well on rides anyway. But I think he enjoyed himself even though he got a bit dizzy and nauseous. This is a nice amusement park that's not too big and still has some really great rides. The birthday girl and I rode all of the rollercoasters! Our fave! Mr. C even rode his very first one which is really saying something since he is terrified of heights. He loved it, though!

Secondly, I have been sewing! My sewing mojo is still seriously lagging but I've managed to bust out a few things. I made my daughter a swim suit!

                                         

It started with this top. She wanted a bikini oh-so-bad so I thought I'd give it a go. This top is from New Look 6357. The fabric and lining just weren't thick enough and everything shows through! Yikes! Plus, I'm not so sure how I feel about her in a bikini...

So, the second try I just did on my own without asking her opinion (which usually gets looks od disgust). I have several Jalie swimsuit patterns in my stash and this one is #2447. I picked out some fabric, also from the ol' stash, and just went to town. She didn't really know what I was doing and that can be a good thing. Anyhoo, this pattern goes together so fast and smooth I could hardly believe it. Oh, and it fits her ever-so-nicely! She's pear shaped so I really should have made the bottoms the next larger size but these will do. The top has a bit of room to 'grow' too, if you jnow what I mean. The fabric is from Chez Ami, of course, since I have a butt load of the stuff. It's really nice and the weight is perfect. I used a thicker lining fabric for the bra cups and I think it'll be okay. The suit has yet to see water so, we'll see.

Lastly, I'm test sewing again! This one is for Patterns by Figgy's and I must say these are some great britches! They look super sharp on too. I can't get my 'model' to model so my poor table has the job. These look so good on him! They have a flat front and elasticized back,

Contrast lining,

and front pockets.

I chose to make the pockets with the contrast fabric just for fun. The main fabric is a pale olive, stretch twill from a co-op and the lining is a quilting cotton called "Route 66" from Alexander Henry. This pattern will be released Aug. 1st and since this was a test there may be some slight changes in the final product. I thought it was pretty great as is but you never know... 

I'm getting geared up to spend the weekend at my Mom's. My sister and her family are back in the States for awhile. I think they go back to France at the end of July? Anyway, they're staying at Mom's for a couple of weeks and I haven't seen them since Christmas, I believe. I can't wait to see them!

Well, I have one little one that just wondered out of his room and is need of some snuggle time! Weekend is almost here, have a great one!

Busy weekend!

Well, as my previous post stated, I finished up my Colette Patterns test sewing! Yay! But before that, on Friday, a milestone was reached for someone very dear to me....

My little man turned 5!!!

I can hardly believe it! Love you sweetie!

Next, I want to (finally) show you all the lingerie set I made for my daughter a couple of weeks ago!

I used a vintage Kwik Sew pattern and this is the fabric and stretch lace from Elingeria.de. It's a super cute cotton knit screen printed with hearts and 'love', etc. I love how it turned out! She just adores it and wants to wear it all the time. This feels pretty good to me since most of the stuff I make her these days doesn't get worn. She's at that stage.... *sigh* It's all about skinny jeans (gasp) and Converse! I didn't sew for her very much when she was little and now I'm wishing for those days again. She is in desperate need of undies so I can always do that. I also realized over the weekend that she needs some lounge wear! Of all things! That should be easy to throw together. I have some great Jalie patterns that will work perfectly.

Lastly, I want to give you that sneak peek I promised....

Have you all been good...hmmmmm?

Oh well, even if you haven't here it is!

Alright, that's all yer gettin! But don't fret! The new patterns are available for purchase this Friday! Yipee! So be sure to keep your eyes on the Colette blog. I wanted to point out how well my seams matched up. See how pretty? This is always a source of joy and satifaction for me. I just love when that happens!

Next up for me is the HP Uptown/Downtown dress. The pattern is all laid out on my big table waiting to be traced! I keep seeing everyone's amazing creations and I just can't wait to have one of my own!

P.S. Today I'm wearing my fuschia We Love Colors tights. I'll give a review on them (hopefully tomorrow) and the socks from Sock Dreams. I've worn both of those and, let's just say.... well, you'll have to come back and find out!

Hugs & Stitches!

It was time....

My son's hair has been long for the past few years. Ranging in length from just below his ears to past his shoulders. We had a new family move in next door recently and they have a little boy who is just a teensy bit older than our li'l guy. Well, they hit it off, of course, and soon Conner was saying he wanted short hair like his new friend's. Oh, uuummmmm.....okay. Well, this went on for a few weeks and we kept asking him if he really wanted to get his hair cut short. He continued to answer in the same way: "Yes!" I think we were asking ourselves if we wanted him to have short hair, really. My husband and I love his long hair! So, a few days ago I gave him a trim and cut about 2 inches off his hair (I've been his barber since birth) to just below his ears. Well, that just wasn't enough for him! He wanted it short like his friend's. Oooookay.... we made the decision to take him to a real barber, the same barber that gave my husband his first haircut and subsequent haircuts as a child and adult (now he just shaves it all off), partly because I'm not a trained hairstylist and because I didn't want to start crying in the middle of cutting his hair and really screw it up. I made my husband take him. I just couldn't. My daughter and I went the the grocery store and the boys went to the barber. Gene took the camer along to document this most monumental occasion.

SO, here he is at the barber's smiling big. That's Jerry the Barber in the background.

Whoa...here goes!

Sorta Emo now.

Making the spikies. Conner calls it 'making his hair sharp'.

Ta Daaa!

When we got home from the store they were already back and he came running to the car. Meghan and I both squealed (literally) "OMG, He's soooo CUTE!!!" The neighbor across the street was outside watering his flowers and he probably thought we were half crazed! He looks so different, though. I was nervous but I really love it!

Love ya big guy!

More boobage!

I started on another bra while I'm awaiting my custom pattern from Danglez. This one is Merckwaerdigh CUPL16. I got this from ELingeriA quite awhile ago but hadn't tried it yet. Debbie Cook made a gorgeous 3 piece cup bra from Danglez and it got my sewing mojo flowing to where I just could not wait any longer! When I got to lookin' at my Merckwaerdigh patterns I realized that I have a 3 piece cup pattern, too...duh! Good Lord, I have so much crap I don't even know what crap I have! (Um...not that these patterns are crap, they're actually very good! :-D) I made up a Q&D (quick & dirty) muslin of view B the other day and well.... I'm not to sure if it's going to work. Here it is on Gertie:

As you can see it looks like shit. I tried it on as well as I could and it's just a hot mess. BUT, I think it gives me a good enough idea on how it'll fit. I think. The right cup is the only one I put a wire in and it seems to contain everything. My left breast is bigger though so the cup is a little on the small side. The kicker here is that the pattern calls for a lingerie lycra. The fabric I used for this muslin only has about 18-20% stretch. Below I've used some lycra that I got from ELingeriA in a grab bag. It is like the nicest fabric I've seen in a long time! It's more like a heavyweight swimsuit lycra with about 60% stretch but I'm going to try it and hopefully the extra stretch will help with the fit.



This is how far I got last night. I still need to cut out the band. I'm seriously thinking about using the band from my Dangelz bra since it fits so well and these cups will fit into it.

I had to take a bit of a break since my MIL called this morning and said she knocked her bathroom door off the hinges with her motorized chair. *!* Good gravy! It was no big deal and I was able to fix it quickly. All we had were 3" wood screws so that baby better not fall off again! LOL! I told her if she bangs it again the door will probably splinter where those humungo screws are!! She said she wouldn't take the chair to the bathroom anymore....

Okie dokie, the little kid fell asleep so I'm off to sew some more! Whoo hoo!