It's good to be FOUR (well, almost!)

So my 'baby' (for now) is going to turn four soon. And yes, I realize I've sewn and shown lots of items for her with her upcoming birthday! But tomorrow is her birthday party!! See, we're Catholic and tomorrow just HAPPENS to be the feast day of St. Lucy (which is my youngest's name), so it works out just perfectly!
And, what good is a birthday party without a number shirt to show the world just how old you are?!
And of course every birthday princess needs a super twirly skirt...

To complete the look of the outfit!!

Outfit specs: both patterns by Farbenmix, the shirt is the Zoe, the skirt is the Redondo. The dotty jersey on the top is from the Fabric Fairy and the skirt fabrics are from Fabrichound. The lace trim around the bottom of the skirt is some that a lovely lady at church gave to me from her (now passed on) mother's collection. The stars making up the '4' are velour iron-ons from Bunte Fabrics. The orange trim stuff over the stars (because I didn't think the stars stood out enough) is some sample stuff I got from the Farbenmix website :)

And I've done some other sewing as well... because I just can't seem to get enough of the Zoe pattern (gosh, it's so fast and easy!!!).. a shirt for my middle daughter...

and a shirt for the oldest....

Plenty more Christmas sewing to be done... but... tomorrow is party day!

My Christmas Eve babe....

My youngest (well, currently the youngest earthside) was born on Christmas Eve. But I think I said that before... anyway, I haven't normally been terribly themey about it all, but this year with some fabric I got in the mail (especially yesterday's haul), I couldn't resist.
So... I took an Amelie.... (which isn't NEARLY this bright of a red.. ugh.. taking pictures at night is loathesome, but I couldn't wait!)And a Nala top.... And some Nala pants.....

Put the Nala together....
And then put the Amelie over it all for a complete (and sweet?!) Christmas outfit!

Now for the specs: red velour, white interlock and red/white stripes purchased from http://www.sewzannes.com and the Amelie and Nala patterns were purchased directly from the Farbenmix website: http://www.farbenmix.de/shop/ . I'm *so* completely in love with this for some reason!

oh, and I made this all this evening -- even with my three little "helpers" in my oh-so-tiny (and messy) sewing room! They did manage to entertain me (while I was listening in to their games) as they played dentist... #3: "What are you doing to me?" #2: "I don't know, dentist stuff! But you have to be good or you don't get a prize!"

It was quite enjoyable... until they got too tired... and luckily, I was just wrapping up my sewing on this outfit!

what happens when the husband and kids are away....

It's amazing how productive I can be when there are no distractions.
The husband *and* the children are away for the night, so I camped out in the sewing room and churned out some outfits for Christmas!
It turned out to be a Farbenmix pattern night as I sewed up two Zoe shirts, two Olivia dresses and a pair of Nala pants!!
It's all matchy-matchy from a GORGEOUS and so-wonderful-to-work-with cotton-lycra I got at http://www.sewzannes.com well over a year ago. Seriously. This stuff is nearly as thick as an interlock, but with the gorgeous two-way stretch of cotton-lycra. A dream to sew with. Three of the outfits are for my own girls and one is for a two-year-old niece of mine.
And there they are, all lined up across the back of my couch upstairs!!! And all this (from cutting to completing the last of topstitching of various seams) in less than three hours!!

Birthday sewing!

It's tricky to have a birthday on Christmas Eve. I don't speak from my own experience, but the youngest has her birthday then and sometimes it's tricky to get around.
So... this year I wanted to sew something really nice for her. She's gotten some pretty stellar clothes over the years (this will be her fourth birthday this year!), but I wanted to try something out of my comfort zone...
So I went with a jacket. I've never sewn one before in 4.5 years of sewing!
I chose the Jade pattern by Farbenmix because it seemed pretty approachable. Like maybe I could knock that thing out....
And it probably would have been SUPER amazing had I actually checked on how much fabric it would take BEFORE cutting out pieces. Instead, I ended up with not enough to make a hood at all..... so, I improvised with a collar. It's not perfect, but I'll know better what to do next time!
And I don't have snaps on it yet.. but those will come. I still have three weeks until her birthday!
The first picture is a more accurate portrayal of the fabric I used:

And next is the jacket layed out on top of another pattern I'm tracing out (the Laguna skirt if you're curious.. I've made one before, but only in the smallest size and that was the only one I traced out... so I was tracing out a larger size!).
The sleeves really aren't wonky. I just have a knack for not laying things out straight I guess!

And for a few more specs.... The outer fabric is a GORGEOUS stretch Baby Nay corduroy.. really, I would kill for some more of this.. it is such a fine baby wale cord that it feels almost like velvet! I can't recall where I got it (woe is me!), but I know it was a few years ago. The lining of the jacket is some of the softest velour ever (http://www.sewzannes.com).

And the pattern I purchased from http://www.banberryplace.com .. I can't remember if it was in German or English... I didn't actually read the instructions!

I'm soooo back in the saddle again!!!

I really have been sewing! I just kind of.. um.. *forgot* (yes! gasp!) about updating here.. but I'm so excited that the sewing bug has found me once again!!!!

Mostly I've been sewing for babe #4 that's busy baking away (though not much time left! I'm 28 weeks today which means just 12 weeks left! eek!)... No clue on whether this is a girl or boy .. I swear, my intuition must be broken.. Sooo... I've made outfits for either!

First up, one part of a two-piece ensemble that is one of my favorites EVER! I've made a TON of these outfits because they're SOOOO cute and they do fit well! (I've tried them on my nephew.. well, when he was small enough!).

The tops and hats are all from the New Conceptions Baby Essentials pattern and the pants are from the Little Comet Tails Crescent Moon Yoga Pants pattern (but for now I've omitted the crescent moon).

These first two outfits feature polka dot and gorgeous Euro floral-paisley fabric from http://www.banberryplace.com and the two pairs of pants are a gorgeous red french terry from http://www.sewzannes.com

Next up is a super sweet outfit of some of my favorite giraffes! The trim on the top is a brown cotton lycra and the jersey giraffes are also from SewZanne's ... the pants are a brown french terry I got in a trade years ago ;)

And finally (for this post!) some fun dotty owls! The print is off a bit (the white part is messed up), but I still love it .. and this soft brown cotton lycra is just PERFECT!

Yes, there's been plenty more sewing going on, but errands still need to be run, so I'm off!