Merry Christmas!

 *picture by Little Hoots Photography

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

Handmade Christmas - O&S LTTS Tea Party Sundresses

Last week I tackled another project from my copy of Little Things to Sew and crossed an item off my list of handmade Christmas gifts for the kiddies this year. I made Erin two tea party doll dresses for her American Girl dolls. I was very happy with how they came out and very happy with the fact that I was able to use up some fabric from my stash. In addition to making some gifts for the kids this year, I am trying to use only fabric that I have in my stash. It is going to be a bit of a challenge. I of course have many plans for sewing up items in wonderful fabrics that are not part of my stash! But I am going to stick to my guns and only use what I have. Well I'll try to not buy any new fabric...but its really hard, amiright?!

Anyway I digress....the tea party doll dresses were a quick sew. It took me an hour to make one which is not so bad I think. The instructions were so clear, just like following a regular Oliver & s pattern. I really want to sew Erin a Tea Party Sundress now because I think the end result is just so cute!

The Details
Pattern: Tea Party Doll Dress from Oliver &s Little Things to Sew by Leisl Gibson
Fabric:  for Emily's dress (doll above) Michael Miller Strawberry Tea Party pink for the skirt. Michael Miller Pindot Apple for the bodice. For McKenna's dress (doll below) Delovely by Cosmo Cricket for Andover Fabric which is no longer available and I can't find the exact fabric anywhere
Trim/Notions: pearl snaps for Emily's dress. *Still need to add snaps to McKenna's. I think I will use regular sew in snaps with the button on top like the book suggests. The pearl snaps seem too heavy.

The dresses are very cute, fit the dolls well and are definitely a heck of a lot cheaper than the AG clothes! I did buy some official American Girl wear for Erin's dolls but I got them for "free" kind of....I won a $105 gift card last year to American Girl in a raffle - score! Fingers crossed she likes the mama made dresses just as much as the "official" dresses I bought :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

Baby Gifts

Hello! It has been awhile....where did November go?? The last thing that I sewed was Erin's Halloween costume and I meant to blog about it but I got sick then Jack got sick then the dog got sick. Ya know...fun stuff ;) Well I finally got back into the swing of things and just in time for gifts! About a month ago, my husband's cousin and his wife welcomed an adorable little girl into their family. We got to meet the little cutie over our Thanksgiving vacation. She is just such a sweet little babe!

When I went to the baby shower back in September, I brought home one of the table runners (which was a piece of really cute owl fabric) to use to make some gifts for the baby after she was born. I made a Noodlehead divided basket and drafted my own little owl stuffie to give as well using the owl fabric from the shower and a few other coordinating fabrics.

The divided basket was so much fun to make and the directions were perfect! Everything came together really easy and I have plans for more of these baskets in the future. If I ever finally learn to knit, I will definitely make one to hold my needles and yarn ;)

 

 



The Details:

Pattern: Noodlehead Divided Basket

Fabric: Owl fabric, pink polka dot and gray all from my local Joann. Unfortunately there is no selvage information and I can't find it online :(

Notions/Trims: Wright's Pink bias binding, Pellon SF 101 and Pellon fusible fleece all from Joann 

Notes: I did not sew up the center of the pocket to make two outside pockets. I had to piece together the owl fabric to make the pocket long enough.

 

 

For the little owl stuffie, I just drew up a little owl and cut out all the pieces to create a pattern. I used a tight zig zag stitch to attach the eyes, beak and wings to give it an appliqued look. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out and think I might make one for Erin for Christmas. She really was smitten with the little guy!

 

 

 



 

 



The Details:
Pattern: self drafted but Gingercake has two really cute owl patterns for purchase here
Fabric: Owl fabric from Joann; tan, white, black fabric from my scrap bin
Notions/Trim: Polyfill from Hobby Lobby


I also bought two cute outfits and put them on one side of the basket and the owl stuffie on the other. A little tissue paper and the gift was ready to go!

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan