Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue (Vida)!

As promised, here is the second of the UFO finishes.  I started this dress over a year ago as well.  I was looking for something to do with the leftovers from the Manhattan Special Occasion Dress which I made for my niece's birthday a couple of years ago.  The Farbenmix "Vida" pattern seemed a good fit as it doesn't use a lot of yardage and it is easy to combine several fabrics for a fun look.

All of the Farbenmix patterns come with a little Farbenmix label that can be sewn onto your finished garments.  I don't usually use them, but this one matched so well that I just couldn't resist!

This dress is also available for sale.  It is once again, a European pattern. It does run just a little bigger than American sizing.  This dress is also a 4-5.  Price is $50 shipped within the US.  If you are outside of the US and are interested, please contact me for more information on shipping prices and options. Post your contact information in a comment or let me know if you are interested. 

I'm always interested in what others are working on... What are you up to?

The Strawberry Feliz

Hello Everyone!

I believe that Spring finally may have arrived here in my little corner of Minnesota.  A week a ago we were dealing with a prediction of 7-10 inches of snow, but only two days later it was 65 and sunny.  Gotta love the upper midwest. :)

I was finally able to get out and get some pictures of some of my UFO's that I have finally been able to finish!  These little dresses have been in the works for well over a year.  They were the projects that I never finished before being distracted by something "shiny". LOL

First up is this little dress.

This is a modified version of the Farbenmix "Feliz" dress pattern that was popular a few years ago.  Unfortunately, the individual pattern is no longer in print.  It can only be found in the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love."  I have to say that this is my all time favorite little girl's dress pattern.  I have made about 15 or 16 of them now and I have it down to about 12-15 hours worth of sewing time depending on if there is any appliqué included or not.  My first "Feliz" took A LOT longer. :)  I have only made one of them which did not include the ruffles in the back.  I think the ruffles are what I love most about it!

For this one I decided to change it up a bit.  I only did a single layer instead of making an underdress and an overdress.  I omitted the overdress.  The original pattern calls for elastic across the back and also has ties that tie in the back.  I changed it up a little by putting the elastic on the sides as well as the ties.

I was able to use trim that I already had in my stash, so that was a bonus, too.  This beaded eyelet was a perfect fit for across the front, and I had just enough eyelet trim for the skirt as well.

I just LOVE how it turned out.  This sweet strawberry fabric makes me think of summertime and picnics!  Both of which I am well ready for this year after such a loooonnnngggg winter!

If you are interested, I do have this little dress available for purchase.  It is a size 4-5.  Being a European pattern, the sizing is generous, so it does run just a little bigger than US sizing.   Leave a comment with your contact information if you are interested.  It is 100% cotton (exclusive of trim).The price is $80 including shipping within the US.  If you are outside the US please contact me for shipping rates and options.  

I am so happy to finally have this little dress finished and to be able to share it with you!  Technically, I didn't finish this this week, but I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday anyway.  I think Amanda would cheer for me for having finished an old project. :) 

What have you been working on?  I'd love to know! 

Book Review... "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" Nancy Langdon, Sabine Pollehn

"Sewing Clothes Kids Love" by Sabine Pollehn and Nancy Langdon is a book full of fun patterns and great ideas.  You can find it, among other places, here. I do have to say, however this book is not for the novice sewer or the weak of heart.  It contains wonderful patterns, but the instructions for some of them leave out some steps that a novice sewer might not know to do and this could leave them frustrated. I would have to say, if you are a novice sewer, either be ready for a challenge or have an experienced sewer on hand to guide you.  

At this point, I have made a few items from the book, but by no means all of them.

I made the Imke shirt which is a knit pullover shirt. It has options for inset sides, short or long sleeves and two different style hoods, or can be made without a hood altogether.  Unfortunately,  I forgot to get pictures of this before I gave it to my niece for her birthday. :)

I also made the Dortje pants.  These are an elastic waist pant with pockets on both the front and the back and contrasting fabric on the knees.

One of my favorite patterns that is contained in this book is the Feliz Party dress.  This is a double layer apron style sundress or jumper.  It has the option of putting lots of ruffles in the back.  I can't seem to resist this option, LOL.  I have made several of them.

I have also made the Manhattan Special Occasion dress.  This was by far the most challenging of all of the patterns from this book that I have made to date.  It had 42 pieces of fabric and several yards of ribbon to contend with.  When making this pattern, the instructions tell you to label each piece and label top and bottom on them.  It should have also gone on to say to label right and left as well.  Let me just say, they weren't joking!  Some of the pieces were confusing as all get out and yes, I did manage to get one sewn together upside down.  Luckily I noticed it right away. :)  This pattern was definitely not for the faint of heart.

The patterns are wonderfully versatile and leave a lot to the creativity of the sewer.  There are many beautiful pictures of the different patterns made up for inspiration as well.  I do have to say that this is more a book for girls than for boys.  A few of the patterns would be suitable to make for boys, but the majority are geared more for girls.  There are also several pages dedicated to design and techniques that are quite helpful.

All in all, I really enjoy this book and look forward to making some of the other patterns out of it.

Home sick...

I decided to stay home from work today. I don't feel really horrible, but I am getting a cold and figured that they probably didn't want me sharing my germs. It isn't often that I call in to work. I had some breakfast and a little hot tea. Crimson Berry, I tried it for the first time today. I enjoyed it a great deal. I think I'll have some soup for lunch later.

Since I was home, I figured I would make a blog post and show you some of the things that I have brewing. I have this skirt that i started. It is completely from my stash. It is almost done and I am really excited to see how it is going to turn out. It is going to be really, really full. The bottom tier is nearly 28 feet around. LOL I used two width of fabric pieces with the selvages trimmed off for the top tier, four for the second tier, and eight for the third. It took FOREVER to gather and pin it. Two evenings to just gather the bottom tier. I have decided it might be time for a ruffler foot. LOL



These are the fabrics that I bought for Mady's birthday dress. I am using my new Feliz pattern (Farbenmix/Studio Tantrum) for it. The underdress will be the red polka dot and the blue will be the front of the overdress and the yellow will be the sides. The ruffles in the back will be both the blue and yellow fabrics. I bought the red a while back from Mill End. Because there were some flawed places in the printing, I got almost 7 yards for the price of 4! :)
There are some lovely examples of this pattern finished here, here, here and here
I can't wait to get started on it! :)



I also decided to participate in the Haute Couture for Kids 3rd Annual Runway Launch. I bought 6 yards (the rest of the bolt, LOL) of this fabric to make something for that with.





I love the silver glitter in in. I think I will be making a dress from it. It will be modeled by Whitney from Petite Cover Girls. Her sister Amanda modeled my last set.

Ok, I think I will go and lay down for a while now.
See ya later!