Sewing: Brown Corduroy Capris with Cabbage Roses

I couldn't resist sewing more Fall clothes for the girls once I got on the roll of KCWC (see this post and this post). So I kept going and going. I sewed all week. It was a bit nutty because I was also supposed to be getting ready for a big family trip. But in my crazy compulsive way I was thinking the sewing also accomplished the goal of identifying clothing to pack for the girls. I know...  But it does, right?

In my defense, the sewing went relatively quickly because I wasn't slowing down to document a tutorial or draft a pattern. It was such a nice change! And I was so excited to use this chocolate brown corduroy with cabbage roses out of my recently acquired Fall corduroy stash. Isn't it perfect?! I think this rich brown with red and blue is an over-the-top combination. I wish the Etsy shop had had more than the mere 1/2 yard I was able to buy. For your sakes too! Maybe they'll get it back in...

I sewed Tess some capri length Bloomers from my Summer Set pattern (which I have been using for all sorts of Fall layering pieces) and pulled out a boiled wool top (pattern for this top here) I'd started last Spring and finished it to go with the pants. I couldn't think of a cozier set for the Fall or our ensuing trip to British Columbia!

So Tess and her new Fall outfit and the rest of us headed north to spend the better part a week sharing a house on an island with some good friends. I can't even believe the rarity of that sort of trip. What a gift! It was beautiful even though that beauty include rain and mist and cold. We had a great time. Now that we're back I'm sure our girls will miss being part of that pack of kids running around.

There was so much to do related to the coast (finding starfish, catching crab, looking for seals...) that it might have been easy to pass up the interior of the island but I'm so glad we didn't. We all described it as an enchanted forest. I couldn't get over the moss everywhere. And filtered light. And crawling things.

And there were falling leaves bigger than any I've seen. Truly! Tess, Audrey and Scarlett were fascinated. Such a great landscape for adventures!

It's so important to share adventures, don't you think? Part of the enjoyment is thinking about how we'll remember it later.

And now that we're home again there are all sorts of things waiting for us. Holidays, changing temperatures, our regular, wonderful routine... I love coming home. Can't wait to do the next thing. Not sure what it is but that's part of the fun.

Sewing: The Summer Set (Pattern)

Ah, summer. Long days and lazy heat and fruit ripening. I love all the iconic things of summer. Children out of school and running around. Bathing suits hung to dry. Popsicle-sticky fingers.

The other evening I went with my girls around the corner to pick some of the apricots that are falling off our neighbors giant, old tree. It's apricot jam underneath and my girls were grabbing them out of the bucket almost as quickly as we were loading it. Yum! One of the simple pleasures of summer.

My mother's favorite thing to dress her three girls in at summertime when they were young was a simple gathered dress with a high yoke and shoulder straps that tied. I still have one of them hanging in the closet. I remember her showing me the pattern when I was much older and trying to decide which of her patterns to keep. I don't think I was very interested, but kept it anyway, and now that I have three girls of my own I understand the charm of the simple summer dress.

So I've been working on my own version--The Summer Set--for couple years now. It started with some strawberry bloomer and then a patriotic bloomer and top set  for Audrey, and then I sewed striped bloomers a capri-length version for Audrey's last birthday.

And then the top--the Flutter Top--reminiscent of my mother's favorite summer dress for girls. This one for Scarlett is sewn in Riley Blake medium Chevron in Orange. Full and breezy and gathered in a high, square yoke. It has ruffles to shade sensitive shoulders and add a bit more fun (it's really cute without the ruffles too). But the back is my favorite part: it crosses over with two buttons for punch.

I designed it as this hip-length top and a just-below-the-knee dress as well. Tess is wearing a dress sewn with a JoAnn exclusive cotton dobby voile. So perfectly lightweight.

And, despite the amount she moves around, the right amount of coverage. The bloomers underneath barely peek through.

Little Tess. She loves her dress! And her apricots.

The Summer Set PDF pattern is available in my Etsy shop.  It includes sizes 18 months/2 through 8 with a printable hand-drafted pattern for the Bloomers and Capris and detailed instructions for cutting the pieces needed for the Flutter Top and Flutter Dress (it's all rectangles) with or without shoulder ruffle.

I hope you're enjoying the simple pleasures of summer too.



Party: Dinosaur Birthday Party for Girls and Boys

We had such a good time at Audrey's dinosaur birthday party! While I've loved hosting parties for my girls at our home, doing one "on location" definitely has advantages! Our local Natural History Museum put together a fabulous couple hours of entertainment and it would have been possible to compete with their collection of dinosaur bones! Going there allowed me to pick a few things I wanted to do purely for fun instead of trying to do it all (it's taken me a while but I'm learning...).

So, I picked the invitations (also a free download for you), some party outfits for Audrey and Scarlett, favor/treat bags, and of course, the birthday cake.

Instead of a party dress, I made Audrey an appliqued dinosaur t-shirt and some striped bloomer shorts (from a pattern of my own design). More of that IKEA striped fabric here. I love it!

Scarlett got a pair of capri length bloomers out of some great, colorful star printed fabric I found a couple weeks ago at Joann (it's made exclusively for Joann). It reminded me of the birthday invitation and for some reason I've had a craving lately for bold patterns. She also had the honor of wearing a dinosaur necklace (a longer version of the bracelets we made) since she didn't get a dino t-shirt.

At the party, thanks to the museum, the kids were able to saw, chisel and brush away stone and dirt to unearth plastic dinosaurs, which they were then able to identify or name if it was an unnamed species (we had the "Audreyosaurus")...

...go on a tour of some dinosaur skeleton exhibits with the museum hosts,...

...learn about fossils and make a "fossil" out of plaster to take home,...

...dig for plastic eggs filled with "dinosaur bones"...

...and make some other dinosaur arts and crafts. All of this would be possible to do at home, but it was pretty great to show up and have someone take care of it all! Plus I loved the educational angle and the opportunity to support our local museum.

The birthday cake was dino too. I was toying with a few ideas but when I found these dinosaur skeletons I had to use them! I love the dinosaur parade on top! The cake is a Martha Stewart recipe, one of my three favorite buttermilk chocolate cake recipes, with a chocolate ganache filling and my own recipe for buttercream frosting. (It's the same frosting I used on this cake, but instead of the lemon flavoring I used almond--yum! Although Audrey later told me she doesn't actually like almond flavoring--whoops! Who knew?)

I tried to tint the frosting to match Audrey's aqua t-shirt, which is also one of the colors on the invitation, and because I thought it was one of the colors that would work with the dinosaur "bones" on top. My sister-in-law did me the huge favor of having these gummy stars delivered to my doorstep a few days before the party and saved me the time hunting around. Then it was just a matter of using a star tip and forming little stars all over the cake. Very similar to this cake. I love this old-fashioned look. There is no mistaking this was made by mom!

The guests each received a hand-stenciled cotton muslin dinosaur treat bag as they left and the bags seemed to be a hit! The museum has some little dino things in a cello gift bag, which I tucked inside our cotton bags to go along with the skeletons and bracelets we'd supplied. I love the idea of having the birthday girl help make the favors as Audrey did this year. Maybe that will be our plan from here on out.

One young guest was afraid hers didn't contain a dinosaur bracelet and was so excited to put it on when I lifted it from the bag--I thought, "hooray!" They liked them!

I couldn't stop smiling on our way home. Audrey thought it was a great party too!

Sewing: Patriotic Prairie Bloomers and Blouse for Pioneer Day

The Strawberry Bloomers turned out so cute I wanted to do some more. So I made a little playset for Audrey with bloomers and blouse in more Moda Prairie Paisley fabric. I was saving the red Indienne fabric for a dress for myself but sacrified some for this top because I thought it would be too cute and fun for Audrey to wear. (I still may have enough for myself, we'll see.) I need to make a pattern for this blouse so I can do it easily again--I love it.

We celebrate the 24th of July as Pioneer Day in Utah, with flags and fireworks, so I added stars to the back instead of the pocket on the original version of the bloomers.

I love the fullness of the bloomers and blouse--perfect for a little girl. If only mine would hold still!

Sewing: Strawberry Sidetrack

I was working pretty quickly on the girls' strawberry summer dresses when I decided Audrey needed some shorts of some sort to wear underneath--bloomers, if you will... So I worked out a pattern for some that didn't look too baby. I decided to incorporate a cuff--so they look like short knickers. Then I decided they were looking so cute that they can stand on their own as full blown shorts, especially with a pocket on the back, which I then added.

Now the wheels are really turning and I think I need to make a pair to go with Audrey's patriotic dress, and do a matching top for wearing alone, and wouldn't these be cute in velvet or corduroy with tights underneath for Fall?