Sew what have we been up to?

We’ve been home for about 3 weeks now. There is a lot to do in order to get ready for our next trip (Family for Thanksgiving and then to Florida for the winter)! One of the things on my list is to sew some new clothes for the kids, especially Lily Anne since she has about outgrown all her clothes. I haven’t sewn for years… YEARS! So, I’m making my way through with sea legs, but so far I’ve made 7 pillowcase dresses, 1 matching pillowcase dress for her cabbage patch baby, 2 pairs of pants to match her pillowcase dress, 1 pair of capris and 2 pair of shorts. Oh and I almost forgot the designed by me, tank top! The best part about this is that so far I have made all of these for FREE!


I already had on hand a good bit of cotton patterned fabric and it’s at least 5 years old, but it some of it may be 15 years old! Since this is the case, I can not tell you the names of the fabric that I used in each piece. In addition, I have been storing several boxes of clothes that I don’t wear any longer for a future yard sale. I rummaged through these boxes for some good fabric like jeans, khakis, tee shirts, etc. I even found a pattern that used the baby blankets to make PJs so I pulled those out as well. When I organized my sewing station, I found that I have a lifetime worth of thread, safety pins, straight pins, bobbins, and snaps. I had a good start of ribbons, elastic, and buttons too.

I did make two purchases initially. We never iron… EVER! The past iron and ironing board that never got used was sold at a previous yard sale, so I had to buy a new iron and ironing board since it helps to have unwrinkled fabric when cutting as well as pressed hems before sewing.
 
Okay... Okay... Recently, I did purchased less than $20 in supplies at Walmart where I bought some elastic, heat n bond (for applique), and ribbon. Some of the ribbon was on Clearance! YAY! But that's all... For now...

Where did I find these patterns? I think I’ve PINNED all the ones I’ve made so far as well as more I want to make in the future so you can find them HERE.

You just can't go wrong with a pillowcase dress. I made two styles. The first one shown in the picture just below where I have a bow on each side 

 

And here you can see it on my little model along with her matching flair pants.

 

The second style, I made the ribbon go through the opening over one shoulder and back around so there is only one bow to tie as seen in the picture below. 

 

And here's another example...  

You can never have too many pillowcase dresses! Here's another one with matching flair pants too!

Here's the first pair of shorts I made. They have a flap over the top with a snap.

Using the pants I'm wearing in this picture from a few years ago (NO, I am not pregnant again!), I made the next pair of shorts and flair Capri pants. I also harvested the elastic in the waist band, 3 buttons, and the zipper!

Using the buttons from the above pants, I created this designed by me tank top. I sewed the body similar to a pillowcase dress, but without leaving space for the arm holes and it's shorter. I then sewed 2 straps. I stitched them together in the back and the buttons are actually just decorating as I hand sewed snaps to the opposite side. The L is my first attempt at applique and I think it turned out pretty good. I can't wait to do more! It was pretty easy except for the fact that even though I needed to create a backwards image initially, I got so wrapped up in what I was doing I forgot, so I had to do it twice.

My goal for making all these items for Lily is so she can play in them. They're going to get scuffed up and dirty. She's a rough and tumble kind of girl. I do want them to last (at least until she grows out of them) so I'll let you know how that goes, but so far I'm happy with what I'm making. It's the right price anyway!  While it does take me some time to finish each clothing item, it's because I'm a little rusty. Once I get the hang of it, these patterns are pretty simple and will look good on her for years to come.

I’m still sewing away as I have about 1 week before we hit the road again. I still haven’t decided if I want to take my sewing stuff with me on the road. Part of me wants to because I’ve had so much fun with it lately, but part of me knows that once we get down to Florida, we will be so busy it will never come out of storage and just get in the way, so my goal is to make as much as I can before we leave, but I also have other things on my list like getting our homeschool stuff together, repacking the camper with… well.. EVERYTHING and all while juggling 2 adorable, energetic bundles of joy!


HAPPY FALL Y’ALL!

God Bless Your Learning Journey ~