Sewing Rabbit Team - Handmade Holidays

The ladies of the Sewing Rabbit Team have put together the coolest collection of tutorials/DIYs that can be used for gifts this holiday season!

Check it out here! (It's like a mini-magazine!)

Girl Sewing

I have to first say, I had no idea I had been doing this much sewing... I mean, I sew as often as I have time, so I guess it just makes sense that the stack of kids clothing I am accumulating would begin to get rather large since I have yet to make something for anyone other than my kids, but wow.

I'm posting this to share the patterns I have been using lately. There is so much awesome stuff out there for toddler-aged kids and older, but the pattern selection is slimmer for infants for the kind of PDF patterns I love to buy. But I have found a few good ones!

1 and 2. Both these dresses were made using Rae's free Itty Bitty Baby Dress Pattern.
3. This is a dress from the Baby Basics Pattern Bundle from Shwin Designs. (I have a few of their other patterns that are for older children and can't wait to try them out.)
4. This is the Raglan Dress Pattern I blogged about before by Brindille and Twig. I am posting this one again because I got the colors right this time. :) Better photo.

5. Brindille and Twig again. This time the Baby Shirt Pattern with a ruffle added to the bottom to make it a tunic.

6. Brindille and Twig. Faux Pocket Baby Pants. Love these faux pockets. Also pictured with these pants is a little turban headband I made. There are a gazillion tutorials online for these, but I kind of just did my own thing.

7 and 8. Both these hoodies are from a pattern by Brindille and Twig. The first one was an utter disaster. (It's also the reason you might hear me call baby girl a swamp creature, because seriously, look at that fabric. Moss queen, much?) I picked this fabric up at Hancock because it was funky and on clearance. I don't know if I'll ever sew with something like this again. It's velour or something and such a freaking nightmare to work with. The hood is so off-centered because of how slippery that garbage was, that I don't know if I'm shameless enough to put it on my daughter when she comes. Version #2 (image number 8) with the stripey sleeves with the black sparkly fabric turned out much better. :)

9 and 10. This top and dress are both made from the Polly Peasant Dress & Blouse pattern by the gal over at Sew Much Ado. I would definitely recommend this pattern to everyone because not only is it incredibly easy to sew, but the size range is incredible! 0-3 month to size 6! I did lengthen the sleeves a little and left out the elastic on them. This pattern includes an option for a scalloped hem which I'm pretty excited to try in the future.

And in case you noticed, there is not a Geranium in sight. Sadly, I have yet to purchase that pattern, but hopefully that will be remedied before too long. It's definitely on my gigantic pattern wishlist.

Thanks for reading!

Creative Intiative: Week 1

I decided to join in on the Creative Initiative. This week's theme was a "free sketch", so I just drew what came to mind when I thought of creativity. I don't know about you guys, but for a really long time, I felt too vulnerable sharing the things I had created with others and most of what I doodled stayed hidden in a sketchbook in my bedroom. We are inspired to create by things that we love. And a lot of heart goes into those creations. I love this project because I think it will help a lot of otherwise shy creators share what they are capable of. 

I hope it's okay that I created this drawing digitally. One of the rules is to draw something in your "sketch book". I can do that next week, but 1) I didn't see that before I started this and 2)I don't use a sketch book the way most artists do, although I know I need to be better about that. This will help me use more paper for my art. :)

Be sure to check out the other awesome stuff people have created.

Fantasizing About Fashion... Again

I took a break from my freelance work this evening (ALMOST DONE!) to draw some fun little fantasy outfit illustrations. I've been super excited about clothes lately (which is highly unusual for me). I'm sure it's because I'm sewing and realizing that I can actually try to replicate some of the style from my favorite brands without having to rent my shed as a living space or take out a loan. 

I recently discovered the genius Tina Givens. I instantly fell in love with the whimsical and yet simple designs she sells as patterns on her website. They reminded me so much of some of the stuff you can order from Anthropologie and Free People and I was overwhelmed with the possibilities. 

Try to ignore how inaccurately these drawings portray my figure...lol.

The top for the first outfit is inspired by a Free People shirt. I haven't seen leggings like those anywhere, so if I ever decide to make some I may have to paint my own stripes. My sister has some rockin' pants with vertical stripes and I've been in love with them ever since I saw then on her tiny butt. These mary janes (from UO) are on my wishlist, so I decided to add them to my illustration for that first outfit.

The second outfit looks comfy enough to sleep in... I bought my first infinity scarf today which is why I included one on this outfit. I love the darn thing and decided I need to make myself a bunch more. That's another Free People shirt, but I thought it would be fun to see how something like that would look layered over a Tina Givens dress or slip that was made from a light linen. I'm in love with the idea. (Not very practical for nursing, though....Hm.)

Anyway, it was a fun, relaxing drawing exercise, and I'll probably do more in the future.
All this sewing/fashion dreaming has me wondering about things like dyeing fabric, fabric paint brands and garbage like that.

Preparing the Two Year-Old

I'm a little anxious to see how things will go for Parley when baby girl shows up in a few weeks. I have so many emotions about my little boy and the fact that he is about to become a big brother, that they are practically spilling over. It's hard for me to imagine loving another little person like I love Parley. But, I know I will and I'm so excited. But I am a little nervous about this adjustment for all of us.

Parley has been my best friend since the day he was born and I want him to always feel that way. I've read several articles and received sage advice from family and friends which I'm sure will help us through the transition. The more Parley grows and the more I see his personality emerge (not that it hasn't been full-blown since like his second week of life...) the more excited I am for him to be a big brother. I don't know a more affectionate person.

About a week ago, Parley received a very thoughtful gift for his second birthday from his darling aunt. She really nailed it with this one. She gave him the gift bag to open and after removing the tissue paper to discover what was inside he squealed. It was a cute little stuffed leopard (he could be a jaguar, but we're going with leopard at this point) and an extremely soft and perfectly small Mickey Mouse blanket. I'm sure she intended the blanket to be for Parley to snuggle himself in along with his new stuffie, but to Parley that blanket has been the one thing that keeps his "baby", the leopard, warm and cozy at night time.

Try to ignore the mess in the background...

Now, I bring this experience up because I'm pretty confident that this leopard is going to be a huge help in the near future. :) You see, Parley IS baby leopard's daddy as far as he is concerned. He tucks him into a little basket-turned-baby-bed each night next to his own bed and smothers him with kisses. He even pretends to share his bedtime drink with him. And "baby" must always be wrapped up in the little blanket. Yes. It's very cute. And not only has it really helped me get Parley in bed each night without much wrestling, I think it might help when the "other baby" decides to drop in.

I'm planning on trying to have something for Parley at the hospital as a gift from the new sis and doing my best to make sure he is still my main man. But I am sure grateful for tender mercies and thoughtful sisters-in-law who unknowingly do things like this for me.

Because it's you I like...

My Wardrobe To-Do Board

So, this pregnancy is coming to a close. Rapidly. In fact, the whole ordeal has come and gone rather quickly, but that's one of the perks of already having a kid during your pregnancy. I'm sure those that follow will be similar.

The light at the end of the tunnel has made me consider my clothing a little more. I don't really have enough time left to justify expanding my belly wardrobe, so I've been planning fantasizing about what I'd like to have in my wardrobe for after baby girl makes her debut. I say "fantasizing" because there is one major problem with my particular taste in clothing... I'm cheap.

Check out my "fashion" board on pinterest:

Follow Clothes Stress Me Out by Andrea Hatch on Pinterest

You may notice that the majority of the clothes I've pinned are from Free People, which is outrageously expensive. I have ordered exactly one article of clothing from their website and will probably hold on to it forever to justify the shameful amount of money I scraped out of my paypal account for it. (Did I mention that I'm super cheap?)

So, what is the solution? Well, I could either go out and get a job that I would probably hate and order one or two things a month, or I can put my new sewing skills to use and start making my own FP inspired stuff. Enter the "clothing pattern" board. It's a great age for seamstresses. There are so many great patterns available to us. Sure, you can find a lot of really cool stuff that is probably easy to modify from Butterick, McCalls, etc, but have you SEEN all of the amazing independant pattern designers out there and the patterns their churning out like rainbow butter?!

And all the amazing Japanese pattern books!? I WANNA CATCH THEM ALL!

Follow Creating My Wardrobe by Andrea Hatch on Pinterest
So, there's a pretty good chance that sometime in the future my nightly sewing with yield more than just kids clothes and altered shirts for my husband. Hopefully I will be good enough eventually to stop buying most clothing items and make them for myself. I mean, you can even get some pretty darn cute lingerie patterns...