Adelaide Lemonade

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

I've been meaning to write a post about this since I saw it a week or so on the Elsie Marley blog.  Do you know about Kids Clothes Week Challenge?  You commit to working on sewing kid's clothing for at least one hour a day for a week - the week of May 9th specifically.  I participated in this for the first time last fall, and it's what really got me hooked on sewing kid's clothes.  I don't think I've stopped sewing for an hour a day since then.

Apparently, some people have a whole strategy around this week like doing all the drafting, cutting, shopping, etc. well in advance.  Are you participating?  Do you have a strategy?  I can at least get on board with the shopping and deciding what I'm going to make.  I'm even getting to like cutting more than I used to.  I never thought I'd see the day.

Speaking of shopping, I have a great weekend planned with some great friends from college.  Alewive's is conveniently (kind of) on the way to where we're all meeting up.  I'm definitely stopping and dragging along my knitting friend who I'm carpooling with.  (Yeah, yeah, I know it's supposed to be "with whom I'm carpooling", but I really don't want to sound snobby.)  At least they do have yarn.

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you knew about Kids Clothes Week Challenge.  If you want to read more, go check it out on the Elsie Marley blog.

Rapunzel and Citronille

When I was in Z Fabrics in Portland during my fabric shopping excursion last month, Addie was wearing her Heather Ross Oliver + S Unicorn shirt, so the owner pointed out to me that they had the Heather Ross Rapunzel fabric.  I didn't buy any that day, but Addie somehow knew who Rapunzel was (maybe commercials for that movie, Tangled?), and we both kind of latched on to the idea of it, and we eventually went back and picked up a yard.  I'm so thankful that I can buy a princess-y fabric that we both like that isn't all Disney cartoon-y and pink and purple.  Have you seen Heather Ross's new collection?  Can't wait!

Anyway, you've probably seen the Rapunzel fabric.  It's pretty heavy weight, so I didn't think I'd like it as a shirt or dress or anything - although a jacket might be really cute.  I decided to try my hand at another fly zipper with another mini skirt like this one.  I still didn't get it quite right, but I think it's better than last time.  

I also picked up some Essex linen to make yet another Citronille Capucine top.  The linen/cotten blend is nice and heavy and sturdy, but it doesn't drape quite as nicely as the last two linen shirts I made.

I thought the straight style of the skirt would be a good way to show off the print.  Pardon all the wrinkles.  Addie had been wearing the outfit all day (okay, and maybe the day before) before we found a few minutes before dark to snap a few photos.

She would have stayed outside all night running back and forth from one end of the yard to the other insisting I take pictures of her running.  It was starting to drizzle just a bit, so I told her we had to go inside.  She was trying to look up at the sky to see the rain.

Happy Easter!

I So Needed This

My order from fabric.com arrived today.  Aaah.  (I really only needed the buttonhole elastic which I couldn't find anywhere else, but I happily rationalized spending another 30 bucks to get the free shipping.)

My last two weeks have been very hectic trying to get this one particular task accomplished at work.  I've been working like crazy on it and ignoring pretty much everyone and everything else.  Now that I can come up for air, all the things that I neglected or forgot are coming crashing into reality.

I think I was supposed to meet a friend for drinks on Tuesday.  I forgot.  My daughter was supposed to go to the circus with a friend today.  I forgot that, too.  Now the mom probably thinks I'm the rudest person on Earth if she tried to swing by to pick up my daughter today to find no one home.

Ugh, so now my work stress has calmed and I have everything-else-stress.

Nothing a little sewing therapy can't solve (or at least put out of my mind for a while).

Addie Must be Involved

I texted my husband this photo the other day, and he replied back, "What is that?"  Then, "Addie must be involved".  It cracked me up that knowing what it was didn't really matter but for sure Addie had something to do with it.

Yep, Addie spilled about 6 bowls worth of Cheerios on her way up the stairs with a box about the size of herself.  She's not supposed to be eating upstairs anyway.

Yep, we're creating a monster.

Speaking of monsters, I'm working on another jean skirt like this one.  This zipper is still kicking my butt.  I did learn a few things the last time, but I'm still missing a fundamental part about overlapping one side, so the zipper won't show.  I think it's all in the measurements which I can't really read in my Japanese pattern.  There are one's and two's written on it, but I'm not sure if that's indicating steps or centimeters.  I think I've managed to work something out, so the skirt will look okay, but it's not right, and that's bugging me.  Right now, I've managed to sew the back and the front of the skirt together, so I'm taking a break.

I think I'm going to have to break down and buy a regular, English pattern to solve this mystery.  Either that or study the tutorials a bit better.  Anyone have any good recommendations on patterns and/or tutorials with zipper flies?

Stormy

Wow, it's crazy windy here this morning.  Last night the windows of our old house shook and rattled all night long.  I kept dreaming that I was outside and all my pictures and post cards were swirling around me just out of reach.  Thank goodness most of my photos are digital and safely stored on my hard drive.  (Now, that I mention it, I'd better take a back up.)  And I don't have any post cards.  What was that all about?

Right now, as I look out my window now, the bigger trees are swaying quite mightily, but they look pretty calm, cool, and collected compared the Rhododendron bush I can see in my neighbors yard that's shaking and jiggling and looks like it might walk across the yard like an out of balance washing machine.

Hopefully, all this wind will blow some warmer weather our way.  Luckily, Addie and I did a photo shoot of her new outfit yesterday.  It was cold and a bit overcast, but much better than today.

 
I got a half yard of this cute Michael Miller Dog Days fabric at On Board Fabrics during my little fabric shopping spree a few weeks ago.  I usually try to buy at least a yard, so I'm certain to have enough to make whatever kids' clothing item I want, but I was trying to pace myself money-wise.  I figured that would be enough for a little skirt or sleeveless top.

At first I was going to make another skirt like the denim skirt I made a few weeks ago, but I'm already making another one of those in a different fabric, so I decided to go easy on myself and use my Oliver + S sailboat skirt pattern.  Aaaah, what a luxury to sew with a pattern that's not only in English but explained and illustrated in such a straightforward, common-sense way.  It was one of my more relaxing sewing experiences.  And as always, there are some great subtle details in these patterns like the kick pleat you can kind of see in the photo below.

 

(I didn't really have enough fabric to line the dogs up properly.  Oh well.)

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for a shirt, since black doesn't really seem like a good color for a little girl and red would be - well too much red.  I spotted some of this really drape-y, charcoal gray linen on my shelf and decided that would be perfect.

It's still not all that little girl-y, but I think it works.  I used my Citronille Capucine pattern for the second time.  I'm already working on a third.  I LOVE this pattern.

I'm thinking this gray, rainy day is actually going to be perfect for sewing.  I certainly won't feel obligated to go outside.  My kids (well - some of them) and I are thinking about making these cute little chick cake pops, but that would require me to go outside and get the eggs and the little yellow melty chocolate thingies.  We'll see.

June 5th Grade

Addie will often proclaim that she's 14 or 16, but she knows she's really 3.  When you ask her when her birthday is, she'll say "June 5th grade".  It cracks me up every time.  We don't even have a fifth grader, but she must have heard it somewhere.  (Well, we did have a fifth grader last year, and her birthday really is June 5th.)

She's always added a little extra to whatever she says.  When she was little - don't you love it when your kids say, "when I was little" when they still are little? - she used to call herself, Addie Gertrude Katie Addie.  (Her middle name actually is Gertrude, and my name is Katie.)  And she still says "mlunch" for lunch.  I think that must come from people always asking her if she wants "some lunch".

I had to buy new hand-sewing needles yesterday.  I rarely sew anything by hand.  I mostly need them for sewing on buttons and whatever other hand-stitching a sewing pattern might require.  I already had three or four, so you wouldn't think I'd need to restash.  However, Addie decided she would push them all the way down into my pin cushion.  I could not find a way to manipulate my pin cushion to get those needles out.  I asked her why she did that, and she said, "because I like to".  Okay, great.

Off to work.  Hope you have a great day.

p.s. I decided that I had mispelled the way she says fabric.  I think it's actually "flavwork".

So Fast

How is it possible that the weekend is already over?  Why does the week take ages and the weekend fly by?  Why can't we have a 2 day work week and a 5 day weekend?  Oh well, I suppose the sooner I get started on the week, the sooner it will be finished.

I started a bunch of projects this weekend.  I made the top for a pillow:

Then I cut out two skirts and three shirts for Addie.  Hopefully this will enable me to sew just a little bit each morning/evening and have something complete by the weekend.

It was a beautiful, sunny weekend and our last before the craziness of baseball season sets in, so we decided to spend some family time together.  We didn't want to spend a ton of time in the car so we decided to hit up some of the local trails.  We didn't quite get lost, but we didn't exactly know where the trail was going to take us either.  We refused to backtrack, so we ended up about halfway between home and our car.  Some of us decided to walk home and others to the car.  The walkers beat the drivers just by a hair.  

Joe got the best brother of the day award as he trailed behind with Addie and listened to her constant rambling throwing in a well-placed "Really?", or "Is that right?" here and there.

We found a cool waterfall.  Who knew something like that was practically right in our neighborhood?  

Maggie and Frank decided to climb UP the waterfall (after Maggie relinquished control of the dog to Dad).

They actually made it without getting soaked.

Frank suggested we come back with a picnic sometime.  (He actually wanted to do it that day.)

How was your weekend?  Are your families involved in baseball this Spring?

Friday Promise

I know I've said this before, but don't you just love the possibility that Friday brings?  Even if I have a gazillion commitments and obligations, I love thinking of all the things I could accomplish with two whole days.  I hardly ever do get all the things done that crossed my mind on Friday, so I'm always disappointed when Sunday evening rolls around, but I'm certainly not going to think about that now.

Some of my friends are coming over tonight for our first ever craft night.  Actually, we have gotten together a few times to knit.  This time, some of us are going to knit, some of us are going to sew, and I think all of us are going to chat and drink wine.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  We won't all fit in my craft room, so we'll be hanging out in the dining room.  I'm sure we'll need to at least visit the craft room to get supplies, so I had some good motivation to straighten it up.  It's all clean.   Now, I just need to find the dust pan.  What could be better than that?  A clean craft room AND a weekend AND hanging out with crafty friends!

In other news, I recently finished up this outfit for Addie.

She approves of the shirt which is the same cotton/linen blend that I used for her Citronille Capucine shirt.  I have GOT to get more of that fabric.  I love it.  I don't think it comes in any other colors though, so I'm thinking about trying to dye it.  Anyone else have any experience with doing that?

I used my ManiMina Tunic pattern and just omitted the sleeves.  I used the same polka dot fabric as the placket to make binding to finish off the sleeves and neck.  What I didn't check was the size of the armholes, so they came out too big for my taste.  I should have used the Citronille pattern or the Oliver + S jumprope dress pattern.  I've since noticed that the armholes are smaller on those.  Addie doesn't care.  She's not modest.

Addie hates the pants though.  She doesn't like pants as a rule, but she does have to wear them when we leave the house September through May.  She says she doesn't like green either (I used Kona Sweet Pea).  Oh well, they match the shirt nicely.  They were super easy to make.  They're from the Emma Hardy, "Making Children's Clothes" book that I bought recently.  

Happy Friday!  What are your plans for the weekend?

Little Things to Sew

Have you bought this book yet?  It's by Liesl Gibson from Oliver + S.  The photography is gorgeous and the projects are great.  I had ordered mine even before it was out, then it took me awhile to get to the bookstore to pick it up.  When I finally got it, it took all my will power to get home and get comfortable and take my time looking at each and every page.  I knew I'd want to savor it.  

So far, I've only made this hat.
I really want to make a whole stack of 'em like the photo in the book.  I'm thinking that these home dec remnants that I got during my mini shop hop last week would make some great hats.
Not sure how often Addie will actually wear a hat, but they're adorable just the same.

Anyway, just like all the Oliver + S patterns, the instructions are thorough and easy to follow.  I'm anxious to make some of the other projects in the book, the messenger bags for both me AND Addie, the tutu, and the stuffed animal/doll carrier.  Oh and I love the bear hat.  Hopefully, hat weather (at least that kind of hat) is over for now, but I'm definitely making one of these for next winter.  I have just the old, accidentally-felted sweater for the outside.