KCW Day 1: Maisie Daisy Flower Shorts

Day 1 of Kids Clothes Week was successful despite some unforeseen hiccups. I would love to say that the interruption was our daughter's arrival, but it wasn't. It was just monitoring her to only be told that we are fine. Glad she is OK, but spending most of my day at the hospital without having a baby is not my idea of fun.

But, I was able to complete these fun shorts for Maisie during the kids' nap time.

The shorts are very simple. From cutting to sewing to finishing, these shorts were easy-peasy. I did save myself some time today by getting my pattern pieces cut Sunday night so all I had to do was sit down and sew during nap time.

Why not use truck stickers to piece my
pattern together since I couldn't find
any tape?

Some how sitting down to my sewing machine really does relax me. Even though my day was a bit crazy, knowing that I got these shorts done made it a little bit better.

I can not say enough at how easy these shorts are to sew. If you know
how to do a straight stitch, you can make these shorts.

This is actually the second time that I have used this pattern, but the first time the shorts were just too small for Maisie. She is now a 3T, and I made the 2T size, which was just too tight for my cloth-diapered, non-petite little girl. If it had been a warm spring, she might have gotten some use of them, but since it is just now barely getting warm, they are just too small.

But I did learn a few things from my first attempt. I needed to make sure that I marked the front and back of the shorts. It got a little confusing as the project came together. So this time, I marked them and then I added a small tag to the back of the shorts when I was finishing off the elastic casing. This made it a lot easier sewing these shorts together.

It was hard for me to tell which side was the front and back
as the project came together, so I marked the wrong side of the
fabric and then added a small tag of fabric to the back. 

I used 3/4-inch elastic instead of 1/2 inch that the pattern instructs, and I only folded the bottom cuff up 1 1/2 inches instead of 2 because I liked the way it looked and gave it a little longer of an inseam, which I think works better on Maisie.

Because of my day and not being home in the morning or in the afternoon, I was not able to try the shorts on Maisie yet. Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful and I'll be able to actually sew a little bit more.

This challenge is already a lot of fun for me. There are so many women working hard and creating a lot of great looks. Be sure to check out what others are doing over at Kids Clothes Week. I've definitely been inspired. Hopefully you will be too.

Hopscotch 2.0: The Dress

Getting ready for church in her new dress. Since it is still only  40 degrees here in Michigan the sweater was not optional. 

It is funny to me that up until I started to sew, the only dresses my daughter owned were either ones someone bought her or ones I bought for holidays. I love dresses, but they are not always practical for toddlers for how much they cost. I am just frugal like that. But now, a whole new world has opened up for my girly girl, and we both are loving every second of it.

I am absolutely in love with my latest dress for Maisie. From the covered buttons
to the pleated bodice accent to the fabric colors and print, everything about this
makes me happy. 

My first attempt at sewing clothing for Maisie was The Hopscotch tunic from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop. It was the piece that gave me the confidence to make more items for her and Calan. I loved it, but I know that I could do better now.

This was the first piece of clothing I made for Maisie. It
is adorable on her, but I knew that I could do better. 

So, for Nap Time Crafters' (Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop's blog) last week of the Sew Off, I decided to make The Hopscotch again and see what else I could do with the pattern.

I debated doing a tunic again because I love the length on Maisie, who has a long torso and a plump belly. I swear it is the only shirt that I don't worry about her diaper or belly ever being shown. However, when I picked out my fabrics, I thought it would work better as a dress. I think I was right.

I kept most of the skirt gathering to the front of the dress. I think that keeping
the back rather straight kept the focus on the fun covered buttons down the back. 

I am pretty sure this won't be the last time I use The Hopscotch pattern. To me it is just a perfect girly girl pattern that you could do a lot with.

For example for the bodice accent, I used a pleated detail that I saw on a dress Jessica from Craftiness is not Optional made for her daughter. I think adding the covered buttons helped tie the bodice all together. By the way, I think covered buttons might be a new obsession for me. They were so easy to do and I think they were pop on this dress.

My new obsession might be covered buttons. I hate hand stitching, but
covered buttons might be worth it for me. 

For this dress I used Blue Japanese Dolls and White on White Dots from Jo-Ann.

I made the skirt of the dress a little different than the pattern partly because I didn't buy enough fabric and secondly to make sure the girls were all going the right direction. I cut a front and back skirt piece and sewed them together along the sides. Doing this, also kept most of the gathering to the front, which I thought worked better with this dress.

I was a little concerned with how the girls on the skirt would match up to the girls on the bodice. I think for the most part it worked out fine. There is one spot on the back that is a bit repetitive, but overall it worked.

Post linked to Trendy Tot Tuesday. 

Kids Clothes Week (hopefully)

So, I had planned to write today about my grand plan to participate in Kids Clothes Week next week, and I am still hoping to do that, but I had an interesting morning that might change all of it.

I figured the best way to not focus on my due date was to keep myself busy all next week, so when I heard about the Kids Clothes Week challenge, I knew that it would be perfect and fun for me to do.

But any mom can tell you, the more you make plans, the more your children decide otherwise.

This morning, I went in to the doctors office for my weekly visit as I am now officially 39 weeks. Everything was going normal till we listened to her heartbeat and it had an audible decline while we were listening. It slowed way down. It did go back up, but my doctor sent me straight over to the hospital for a non-stress test and ultrasound to make sure it did not happen again.

I checked out just fine and the baby is doing fine, but it was a wake up call for me that even though I have said that I am ready, I did not feel prepared at all to be going into labor. She is really coming and soon.

I progressed quite a bit from last week and now feel like maybe, just maybe I won't see my due date next week.

So, where does that leave my grand sewing week plans? I am going to do what I can and hope that my sewing gets interrupted by our little girl's birthday!

What is Kids Clothes Week challenge? It basically is a group of people who have committed to sewing for at least an hour every day from April 22 -29.

My plan is to make an article of clothing every day from Monday through Friday.

• Monday: Fold and Flap shorts for Maisie 

• Tuesday: Go To Signature dress 

• Wednesday: Clean Slate shorts for Calan 

• Thursday: Banyan Tee for Calan 

• Friday: E & E Ruffle Tunic for Maisie

I'll be posting updates to Instagram and Twitter through out the week and each day I'll blog my progress.

On Monday, I'll be blogging about my final sewing project for Nap Time Crafters Sew-Off. The Theme was contestants' choice. I choose to do a dress for Maisie (of course). I am in love with it and all the little details. Here is a sneak peak ....