bit of sewing... bit of baby....

Sewing with a newborn is tricky at best, but I needed to get two dresses out quickly for my midwife's granddaughters (since I said I'd do it.. um.. probably two months ago), so I turned to my trusted Olivia pattern by Farbenmix and got to work!
First, a super feminine request...

And then I did this one because it's one of my most favorite fabrics!

But THIS is why I can't get anything done these days..... Sweet, smiling, five-week old Hazel Jane...

(shirt is from the Zwergenverpackung pattern, pants are Little Comet Tails Cresent Moon Yoga Pants)

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!!

balancing act

Thank you so much to those who have expressed their care and concern over my littlest after being so very sick.

She's doing AMAZINGLY well now. You'd hardly ever know that she was sick at all, which is really such a blessing. Sometimes it's hard to just jump back into real life, almost as if nothing happened. Even though all I wanted to do was do something *normal* like laundry and dishes, it was so hard to come back and just keep on working. It was like I really needed a break/vacation after all that we went through.
To have to sit back and watch as your child comes close to death is nothing I would ever wish upon anybody. It's the absolute worst feeling in the world... knowing that I would give absolutely anything to take away the hurt, the pain, the illness, but knowing I can do no more than hold her hand and try to comfort her. But something worked. And she's still here.
So of course she was the recipient of my first round of sewing in weeks...
I needed a quick fix. I didn't have the time (or desire) to get into anything that was complicated in the least, so I went with the tried and true Olivia pattern by Farbenmix. I omitted the hood and the pocket on the underdress (who am I kidding, I've never even attempted the pinafore even though it looks quite cute), which made things all the faster.
I used some great ribknit (that could be dyed.. I just like it the way it is) I got from.. hm... SewZanne's I think and the magenta thermal is from JoAnns. I really want to get some more thermal material because there's something about it that just screams, "I'm nice and warm and snuggly!" and that comes in handy where I live. The wind is ferocious outside right now.
And of course, with winter approaching (heck, it feels like it's been here and left already, but I know that was just a taste of what we're in for), any little girl's dress here is going to need leggings to go underneath. I didn't get a photo of the leggings alone, but I took the lazy-because-it's-quick route and instead of creating a proper casing for the elastic for a waistband, I just used some underwear elastic (I got mine at SewZanne's) ... or maybe it's called boxer elastic? It's wide-ish and it's cute with some monkeys on it. It's so fast and easy to just serge the elastic on.
Gee whiz, I'm wordy. On to the pictures already.
Here's my littlest in all her cuteness, standing on the couch to pose. The picture looks a bit fuzzy (I like to pretend it was done on purpose for some really neat artistic effect)... and it's because I had left the digital camera out in the vehicle and it got below freezing that night, so when I brought the camera in for pictures, the lens kept fogging up!

And then a shot just a bit later of her playing in the snow in her new dress. We had inches and inches more than that, but a lot had already melted off.
I love icicles. Don't you just want to pluck them off and eat them?
And now we'll travel *back* in time a bit. The littlest returned from the hospital on a Sunday and by Monday we were out picking pumpkins at the aunt & uncles' pumpkin patch south of town. It was gorgeous. And I figure this works for the ol' sewing blog because my girls are wearing shirts that I made (even if I made them last year!).
Here's the littlest with the pumpkin she picked out all by herself: A lovely, very small, green one ;)

And my three sweet girls (yes! I made the pumpkin hat on dd2!) and their cousin.

So now I'm just trying to figure out the balance to it all. Keeping up with life (while still having to visit the doctor's office for some blood draws to make sure her counts are all looking good), working (I'm a part-time barista at my favorite coffee shop) and trying to get in a bit of sewing time.

Aloha Olivia

My oldest has a day camp on Tuesday and it has a Hawaiian theme.

What is a sewing mama to do? Well, make a dress with a Hawaiian influence of course.

This is a modified Olivia (Farbenmix pattern) as it has no hood, no front pocket.. and actually the biggest tracing I have is a size 110/116cm and my oldest wears *at least* a 128cm usually... so I just used the tracing I had, didn't line up the pattern on the folding (adding an extra inch or so to the middle) and about five inches to the bottom.

I love the cotton/lycra blend for the main body. It's a lovely print by Mad Sky. The sleeves are a gorgeous Euro fabric that cost me too much, but I couldn't resist.

Sheesh... sewing and no posting

I really have been sewing. But in keeping up with the LOVELY blogs that are out there (too many!), I guess I've neglected my own.

I finished Lucy's dress with plenty of time to spare, but forgot to post it...

All three in action

And I tried out a new pattern (new to me) for the littlest the other night. I purchased the Laguna pattern about a month or so ago but hadn't tried it out and figured I better do it since I purchased the pattern and all. I traced out the pattern in her size because it seemed easiest since it was the smallest.

And then she needed a shirt to go with the skirt, but I realized two nights ago (when I made it) that I haven't traced out a shirt pattern in her size. Ever. In my laziness (and the want to get the project completed right then and there), I just used the Olivia pattern but left off the skirt part, leaving a cute top (even if I did make it a bit short).

Somehow, I managed to not shoot any pictures of the skirt or shirt alone, but have just one picture of the littlest modeling (yeah, she's wearing it today, but napping right now)

Mama-made by chance.

I don't dress them in mama-made clothing on purpose.

At least not all the time. I will admit to being more partial to the clothing I've made. I know where the material came from, I know what pattern was used, I know that no slave/sweatshop labor was used. I know the whole darn process. Plus, I make stuff that fits my kids, who all happen to be very distinctly shaped (the oldest is So Very Tall and also quite 'sturdy' -- takes after her mother for sure *eyeroll* ... the middle one is averagish and very thin despite her appearance, it's all in her nice, round head ... the youngest? not sure yet... somewhere in the middle?).

Anyway, two days ago they were all wearing clothes I made for them. Of course, I had just made #2s dress the night before, #1s dress was made quite a while ago and #3s top was made about a month ago, but I just made the capris to go with it on Saturday evening before mass and an after-mass baptismal party.

The older two are wearing very, very basic dresses from the Olivia pattern by Farbenmix and the youngest's top is from the Empirchen e-book on farbenmix.eu ... her capris are from the leggings pattern in one of the more recent Ottobre magazines... the "Lily" leggings.. with length chopped off of course.

Sometimes when I look at pictures of them, it's as if I'm able to look at them from a very unique perspective... or at least not the perspective I usually have (as their mother). With this picture I was completely astounded at the little women I have living here at this house. I know the littlest is but 2.5, but when did it happen? I do think they're gorgeous and I love them to pieces.

And now for the modeling...

Turns out the dress is a hit.

The cowboy boots were her own addition. Best part is that they're about 2-3 sizes too big ;)

punk-o

I had the time and desire to sew (my darling husband is away for the weekend for his deaconate classes... and all three girls went to bed AMAZINGLY well and AMAZINGLY quickly, so it was really like I *had* to sew!) ... so I did :)

I created this for my middle daughter as she adores my younger sister (her Auntie Anna) and I had made a shirt for Anna out of this about a year ago...

The pattern is another from Farbenmix and is called Olivia. I've made plenty of Olivias in my sewing time and all have turned out amazingly different, yet consistently lovely!

This really isn't my 'style' so much, but I know No. 2 will LOVE it!