Well, look at this! I'm blogging twice in a week! Who ever heard of such a thing?!

Anyway, business first! Congratulations to Emily (Pickled Weasel) who won the Doli Tank! My initial winner never returned my email, so I picked again and Emily won. Yay! She hails from a place without proper summers it seems, so I hope there will be pictures of layering goodness to arrive in the LouBee flickr pool!

I'm afraid that my turnout for the past three days has not been as impressive as the first three. At least in quantity. And if you could see the inside of one item, quality is lacking as well!

 First up today is this number. It is only two pieces, the top being reversible. That top is just a standard issue wrap-around pinafore. The shorts are my go-to shorts pattern, but I gathered the legs and added a strip of grosgrain ribbon to make them more bloomer-like. They are not legitimate bloomers, though. They just look like it. I'm not sure but once I have more black thread, I may add some grosgrain to the top, too.

 Next is this Popover Sundress from Oliver + S. I made so many last year and even though my pattern collection has grown a LOT this year, I really love how simple this pattern is. And how foolproof! Daddy-proof too. No front or back. But. I'm not completely happy with this one. Construction-wise, I'm pleased. The white eyelet outer and the green gingham (not Gangnam! Sheesh!) inner are separate pieces joined only by the top panels and bias ties. It is pretty flawless. But. I really liked it better in theory than practice. The devil is in the details, I suppose.

 And I finally made my first pattern from the Sew Fab bundle sale! It is a Go To Shift Dress from Go To Patterns. And I have to tell you that I am stupidly proud of this one. I had just enough of this fabric (it has a teeny flower print on it in white) to do something super simple with. I knew that the bias on this one would make or break it, so I went to the bias tape drawer and nixed green, red, and yellow in favor of this blue. Which I ten decided that I needed to match with some screen printed butterflies! So I added some purple to some blue until I had something close. And I simply can't believe how spot on it is! The length became an issue when I measured for the hem. Elizabeth grew last week and so my hem measurements changed from the time I cut it to the time I stitched it up. Oops! So instead of a hem, it has the same bias tape around the bottom edge. I have plans to cut off leggings into bike-shorts when the hot weather really arrives, so a pair of white shorts will set this off nicely, I think.


 I have never in all my life sewn a pillowcase dress. And the past year, I'd almost sworn it off because they have been soooo trendy and soooo all over everywhere that touts handmade items. Those two things are generally the kiss of death to me. Hip? Trendy? Overpriced boutiquey? Hand me my hatchet! But. I inherited a sizable number of hand-embroidered pillowcases from my dad's mother. And I seem to have inherited kick-butt sewing skills from my mom's mother. So I decided to bite the bullet and just do one. Next time, I won't do this style, but I WILL still use the pillowcases. And I do think this one is pretty cute.


 If you ever meet this Geranium Dress in person, do not turn it inside out. It is BAD. The combo of piping and attaching the lining separately just didn't work for me. Actually, I won't be trying to separate-step lining attachment again any time soon. Ppfftt. Really, I just don't have time for the ripping it out and redoing that it took to get it looking presentable on the outside. And the inside? I will invoke Tarder Sauce and say: NO. This is also the most expensive fabric I have ever bought! It is from the Little Lisette Collection at Joann's and I only got 30% off. But, I had to have it. And it is stinkin' cute! Elizabeth loves it too - I had to make a skirt for one of her dollhouse animals out of a scrap she found. It has about four popsicles on it but she doesn't care. 

So maybe it isn't that bad for three days work. I have another outfit that I worked on just a bit today, but it is extremely fiddly - facings, overlays, and a wave-edge hem. I may have lost my mind.

HA! MAY! AHAHAHA!

So, after this I expect to have a note from Kristin of skirt as top revoking my right to ever make another dress even vaguely resembling a Sweet Tartan. I will *totally* understand too. I promise, promise, promise I'll do my level best to not make another one until spring!

And let me tell you, after working out the sleeves (without realizing I made it way too hard), realizing they were weird and wonky, ripping them out twice to fix them, then getting the skirt on backwards and realizing it was about 6 incihes shy of being full enough, ripping it out, cobbling together a better skirt then realizing I didn't have enough of the off white to do a full under-skirt, there is *very* little that will induce me to make another of these before April.

Just sayin'.

Anyway. Here she is. The fall/winter Sweet Tartan with puffed, banded sleeves. And buttons selected by the Boy Scout because he has Crazy Button Selection Skills.

 The fabric is some from my Grandmother's stash that has probably been around since the 80s at least. The off-white is a sheet from Goodwill that I threw in the sink with a bunch of tea bags until it was the color I wanted.

So, a couple of tutorials helped me make this dress.

1) skirt as top's Sweet Tartan dress tutorial. duh! I've made a blue-million of them and the sleeveless versions are too too adorable.

2) This indietutes tutorial on how to puff a sleeve. I totally drafted one from the pattern which was both dumb and time-consuming. So I'll add this - if you are adding a sleeve to something sleeveless, just grab a basic sleeve pattern piece and puff it extra. if it wasn't a perfect fit to start, the puffing will allow you to take up any extra and will just be extra puffy. Which is the point of a puffed sleeve.

I think I'm Sweet Tartaned out. This one has whipped me!

I'm one of those DISGUSTING people who seems to be able to do just about anything. Tell me I can't do something and you better believe that I will. "Can't" only seems to exist in my world as a challenge. Really to the point of craziness - "You can't rob a bank!" Well, yeah I could. But *will* I? Nope.

And therein lies the difference! See, some people have gotten can't and won't mixed up. Just like need and want. I can do anything. Base jumping, dishes, vacuuming when Elizabeth is home. All things I can do. Also, all things I will not do!*

But in sewing I think I've finally found something that I'll not be doing again for a VERY long time because it just about become a big ole CAN'T right out of the gate.

And here she is. A Raggedy Ann doll for Elizabeth's birthday. I will start by saying that she is done with plenty of time to spare (about a week) and that she will have more clothes than just this one dress. But...

I go on record here and now stating that I Will Never Make Another Doll Of This Pattern Again.

It's not the hair or the wig or the clothes or the 'putting the body together with the legs and arms rammed inside the torso' or the seam ripping to restuff the head. It's her neck.

Less than an inch wide to start with and having to be sewn on to a curve with just enough room inside of the circle for the presser foot and half of my pinky finger the neck of this thing is the stuff of my nightmares. Sewing this thing should replace all forms of torture used and in some instances could be used as a substitute for the death penalty.

If I were not already nuts I would have been put in a home by now.

But, she's done, she's cute, and I don't think that Elizabeth is going to mind some of her wonkier points.

After all, she loves Annie almost as much as her Auntie M. does. And Auntie M's guest bedroom is decorated with Annie's.**

Fun things to note about Annie: The buttons on her shoes and the rickrack on her dress are both True Vintage - grandma's sewing room to the rescue! Also, her tights probably look familiar - I've still got BOATLOADS of that sheet left, too.

*In reality, there is only one thing that I simply can not do. And that is father a child. I do not have the biological capability to do that.

** Not like creepy-dolly decorated. There's a couple of Annie prints on the wall, M's own Annie doll for her youth, and a couple of figurines and a throw over the chair. And I think the bed linens are in the reds and blues of Annie, but are NOT Annie print.

Well, THAT was a nightmare! We have been here for two weeks already and I think every one of us is still trying to recover from this move. I don't feel like talking about it simply because I'm so happy it is over! Over. Done. Moving forward now!

Lots changed during this move - we swapped out lots of furniture for what was in storage and a lot of things that were stored are now living with us (like my books and the bales of Elizabeth's clothes that she has outgrown.) But, as the place is bigger, this isn't too much of a problem. Her closet could sleep four, so storage isn't an issue.

While unpacking some of the boxes we hadn't seen in a year I found some things. I thought that I'd share them with you all and get some input. Most everything is a pillowcase, and I didn't photograph everything that I found. One dresser scarf is now residing under my sewing machine and it is pretty stinkin' cute there.

Without further ado, I present you with some of the handiwork of generations past.

Have a great day!