Vintage Dress #2

So here is yet another vintage dress that I'm working on for the girls.  (Yes, it is still a work in progress, so please just ignore those bright blue marking lines everywhere.)  This particular pattern is for a dress and a very ruffly apron, which means that Fig, who loves all things girly and ruffly, immediately fell in love with it and just had to have it all to herself.

I'm really loving these vintage patterns.  Just like the last one, this dress has an amazing fit and a gorgeous shape.  If there is one downside to these vintage patterns, it's how time consuming they are.  There are a good number of bias strips for necklines, arms, waists, etc., etc. to be measured and cut from remnants, lots and lots of hand sewn elements to be done and little details everywhere, that aren't quick and easy, but really help to make the dress.  No instant gratification here, but the end result is totally worth the time and effort!
So this dress just needs a whole lot of hemming and some buttonholes to be complete and then it will be on to the apron!  And then, of course, there will be the pink dress to finish up.  And then...we'll see!

Color

Lots of painting outside today.

Followed by lots of painting the outside.
Eveything is now covered in paint.
Hopefully it rains soon.

Continuing our Search

I've been slowly working my way through two more vintage dresses for the girls, but have had to stop as I need to make a trip to the store and buy some matching bias tape and buttons.  Although the girls are really anxious to have some new dresses, going to the store is not tops on their list of things to do.  It's been pleasantly cool and sunny, the perfect weather for all day play at the playground and evening fishing at the lake, so that's what's been winning out around here with the kids.  It is supposed to get hot and humid again shortly though and when it does I know I'll have three red faced, cranky and irritable kids very ready to take a trip in the air conditioned car to the air conditioned store to buy bias tape and buttons.

So besides hanging out at the playground and fishing at the lake the kids and I have also been continuing our search for new bugs to photograph for the bug book and new bug specimens for our bug box.  We've had a bit of luck with the bug specimens thanks to some pretty frequent storms in these parts.  Flash floods do in a number of bugs, so it's just a matter of getting out at the first glimpse of sun and finding them before the ants do.  And we've definitely had a lot of luck with our bug photographs.
Like this little fellow who I believe is a katydid nymph.

It took us a long time to ID him.  The antennae kind of threw us off for a bit there...

And then there is this as of yet unidentified fellow.  Little P is big on finding bug specimens, so when she found this fellow she immediately brought him in the house for us.  When he turned out to be alive there was an awful lot of squealing and back out the door he went!

And grasshoppers galore.  They are everywhere.  I had no idea there were so many different varieties...

Then there was this bee fly (I think) which we spent a long time trying to get a pic of.  There was a whole lot of, "he's over there!!" "no, I see him, he just flew over there!" "no, wait, I don't see him anymore!" during this photo shoot.

And finally this Gray Hairstreak butterfly, which, sadly, is the only butterfly we've managed to get a picture of so far this season.  I've planted all kinds of flowers that butterflies are supposed to love, but so far not a one has dropped by.

So those are just a few of the pics we've been taking.  We have a ton of these to print off, ID, and add to our bug book.  Maybe that's something we'll do when the weather turns horribly hot again...right after we get those buttons and bias tape of course.

Finis!

Pookie's dressed is finished!  I am absolutely loving this dress, as is Pookie.  She says it's the perfect spinning/dancing dress and I definitely agree!

I really, really, love this pattern.  It fits her perfectly and just has such a lovely shape to it.  Fig and I can't wait to get her version started!  In fact, Fig can't wait to get started on a bunch of dresses.  She's been busily browsing the vintage patterns with me on etsy and has been making me "favorite" all the ones she likes.  You'd have to hear her talk, "That one, with the short sleeves, not the long, and I want it in yellow not blue, and I think we should make the skirt a little longer.  I like the flowers, but maybe they could be white.  Can we get a hat like that for it?"  Fig, a little fashion designer in the making perhaps?
So now I'm off to work on dress two and then, if I'm still feeling energetic and enthusiastic, there might be a little bit of pattern shopping next!

Still sewing...

I've been meaning to post all week about the sewing challenge, but I seemed to be making so little progress, a post didn't seem worthwhile.  But it's Friday (!) so I most certainly need to put up something by now!

So here is Pookie's dress which is almost finished.  I've really been taking it slowly--making sure that I do everything right and that all the seams are finished nicely.  There is still a bias tape trim (that goes around the neckline) to do, four buttons and buttonholes to add,  a very large bow to sew on, and some dreaded hemming and then I'm finished with this one!

And I really need to hurry up, because Fig is dddyyyiiinnngg for her dress!

Day One

Okay, it's day one of the kids clothes week challenge and I've already gotten in umm, well more than one hour of work, technically speaking.  Granted, most of that time was spent rummaging through boxes in the garage and complaining loudly to the dog about how impossible it was to find anything, but that's hard work, right?
I did finally manage to pull together a pattern, some fabric, and a bit of bias tape.  The fabric is all ironed and the pattern is traced and ready to be cut out, but I can't begin sewing anything until I go out and buy a needle.  Sewing machine needles were just one of the many things I could not find amongst all those boxes...  *sigh*

So I'm going to be making two dresses from the vintage pattern pictured there (the white and red polka dot dress view) and I'm hoping that a vintage size 4 fits both Pookie and Fig.  I'll be making Pookie's dress out of the blue print and Fig's out of the pink.  A quick trip to the store for needles, a bit more bias tape, and some buttons and I should be good to go.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a lot more done tomorrow!

Birthday Prep

Birthday's are still 2+ months away, but I'm already preparing for them.  Last year, birthday's were sadly very boring and uneventful due to our move, so I really want to go all out this year.
That and seeing as all the birthdays take place over the course of just seven weeks, a little bit of early prep certainly doesn't hurt...!

So here is a little bit of what I've been working on for Fig's birthday.  There is still a lot of thinking and tweaking and what not to do before it's just right, but it's coming along.

An easy project for me to do a little work on here and there...in-between unpacking all those boxes of course!

Lake evenings

Throughout the moving process, we've spent most of our evenings down at the lake.  Sometimes the kids fish with Dad and other times they just putter around the lake throwing pebbles, pulling out aquatic plants, and picking flowers.

Everything stops when a fish is caught though.  Suddenly there's a scramble to get to Dad and see/touch/poke the fish.

Then the begging and pleading starts.  "Can I puhleeeeze put the fish back in the water?!"

As soon as the fish swims off, the kids all return to their play as if nothing had ever happened.

The kids didn't hold a fish last night, but they did see a duck egg, smell honeysuckle, and listen to a chorus of frogs.

I guess fishing isn't always about catching a fish.

Yes!

We have moved! And yes, we have internet again!  I'm frantically working at unpacking boxes in the hopes that I'll be done in time to participate in The Kids Clothes Week Challenge.  Of course, I don't necessarily have to be done unpacking in order to participate, but I do have to find the boxes that have all my sewing tools in them...  Not an easy task!  If only these boxes would unpack themselves!