Tank Dress

Oh!  How I love this little girl.   As she grows and becomes more upright, it's been fun to dress her in a few, well, dresses.   Because she inherits most of her older brother's clothing, and I'm happy to have her in primarily gender-neutral blues, greens, grays, reds and browns, I realize that I may sometimes need to make a special effort to embrace her feminine side as well.  Thus was born this dress -- the first I've made for baby A.  It's the product of another storage-box upcycle -- a tank I love, but which is seldom worn.    I simply trimmed a band at the waist to make it shorter, added three pleats to the neck, and hemmed along the inner arm holes to make them child-size.  Finally, I added ribbons to bring the waist in a bit.  I'm liking the results, and I'm happy to think that this dress will fit for quite a while -- through the toddler years, becoming a tunic as my girl gets bigger.

Amazingly, our autumn days still warm up enough for this dress to be worn on it's own; but it would also be easy to pair this with leggings and a cardigan in the coming months.  Yes, it's been good to celebrate a bit of femininity!  I can see more of these to come.

P.S.... My Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway will be continuing for two more days.  To all those that have left comments and have become followers, likers, or fans -- thank you so much!  It's wonderful to connect with so many new people.   I'll be hosting a giveaway of a different sort to celebrate 100 fans on Facebook, and over 60 followers on the blog; it will begin immediately after my Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway ends.  Details to come.

Merino YOU! (Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway)

I'm very excited to be participating in my first Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway!  I will be gifting this gorgeous charcoal-gray fine-knit merino scarf to one lucky reader.  I have yet to do the edging, as my entry was a bit last-minute, but I definitely will do so before sending.  (Ed. note - - I have just done the edging and it looks fantastic!  I am so pleased to be giving this beautiful scarf away.....)  The scarf is wonderfully soft and the perfect length for both warmth and style.  The dimensions are approximately 10 in x 80 in (25cm x 200 cm.)

So, here are the parameters:

- I will certainly ship internationally, everyone welcome!
- To enter, all you need do is become a fan on Facebook or become a follower of the Seedling blog and leave a comment here afterward.  If you're already a fan / follower, that's great!   You may leave a comment here as well. 
- I will draw the winner randomly after the giveaway has ended.  I will post the result here on the blog, and on Facebook.  For good measure, you may also want to leave your email address.
- The giveaway will continue until the 20th of May North American time (the 21st New Zealand time) -- simply leave your comment before then.
- Your scarf will be on it's way to you by May 24th!

Good luck!

Merino Me (Part Two)

Remember all that merino I stumbled upon?  I've been waiting and planning, trying to decide how best to use it.  I began with a very simple project first -- edging a small off-cut for a scarf.  It's actually perfect -- warm and soft, stretchy enough to tuck into itself easily.  I've loved wearing this as the weather has cooled. 

Next -- and this felt like a big jump -- I really wanted to make a tunic/dress.  This was certainly a lot more complicated, but I warmed up with this top, and did the same basic style.  Again, no pattern, but I'm feeling happy with the results.  Ideally, I would have loved more length -- maybe just past the knee?  But this was the size of the material I had, so, alas....  Ah well, you only live once.  May as well show a little leg from time to time.

I don't have many opportunities to wear a dress like this with my current lifestyle (which demands that whatever I wear be both easy to clean and easy to play in....) but it just so happens that my husband and I have an oh-so-rare date night planned for this Saturday.  I may actually feel like a grown-up!

As for the rest of the merino?  Well, I'm saving most of it for now.  But, I'm planning on participating in the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway starting, oh....tomorrow!  I'll be giving away a gorgeous charcoal-gray merino scarf, made from the same material as this dress.  Stay tuned!

Waste Not....

Even with our stringent de-cluttering policies, we are guilty (er, I am guilty) of letting a few plastic storage boxes of clothing I can't quite part with waste away in our garage.   I did a little digging this week and resurrected a once-loved top and a once-perfect, oft-repaired pair of favorite jeans.  The long sleeves of the top became these super-simple baby leggings  (forgive the grainy rainy-day exposure....)

And the jeans transformed like this....

I'll be honest, making these was a bit harrowing -- I wouldn't recommend denim or this type of stretchy cotton/lycra material to a newbie seamstress like me.  It's a miracle that both the machine and I survived!  I certainly honed my G-rated expletive range during this project.  The center photo is of S assisting with a gentle, soothing touch to appease the sewing machine.  It must have worked, since she allowed me to finish both projects with only the small casualty of a broken needle. Worth the sacrifice to breathe new life into these old favorites.....

Just quickly, a few photos from the shed/studio revamp:

The walls are up!  I think I'll be able to get in and do some painting in the next week.  Can't wait.

My Baby and Me!

 

Here a few photos from the collection I recently did for My Baby and Me.  (To view the whole album, check out their Facebook page here.)  I found working on these incredibly satisfying and fun; Paul and Ange from My Baby and Me gave me full creative freedom, which was awesome!  These are soon to be available on the MBAM website.  So exciting.

 

 

 

Hey, I could do that....

Ever have this thought?  I do -- increasingly often.  Usually, it's the result of extreme optimism paired with lack of experience.  But sometimes, just sometimes, it's true.   Today I sewed my very first item of clothing for myself.  It helps that I have no perfectionist tendencies when it comes to sewing, but I'm feeling happy with the results.

I remember a quote from Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules With Sewing" that goes (and I'm totally paraphrasing here) "You have to be good enough to know when you can bend the rules."  I must say, this quote doesn't apply to me at all.  It's more like, "If you don't know any of the rules, you just make up your own (and make a lot of mistakes along the way.)"   I am a beginner's beginner when it comes to sewing -- I'm not one of those crafty ladies that learned to sew perched atop my great-grandmother's knee.   In fact, it took me about a year after buying my machine to even learn how to thread it properly.  I'm not sure I should admit that publicly, but there you have it.....

I've been lurking for a while -- admiring others' handiwork, reading crafty blogs and books, and buying handmade clothing when possible.  I've been warming up with smaller projects -- quilts, bibs, pot holders; our resident doll, "baby" has a stunning wardrobe selection.   Finally, this blog inspired me to take the plunge.  The blog is a photo journal of a woman in Canada who has pledged to wear only what she makes herself (including shoes, underwear and the like) for a year.  Believe me, I didn't think "Hey, I could do that...."  But I did think that maybe I could begin to make some of my clothes....

I began with a soft cotton jersey fabric that's been lingering in my stash; I found it incredibly forgiving, with just the right amount of stretch. I just cut the shape I envisioned (no patterns yet for this no rules-er), sewed along the inner seams, and added a gather in the middle.  I didn't finish any of the edges, which was fine by my standards.

SO satisfying.  The skirt?  Another no-rules experiment (without sewing involved this time....)  I began with a secondhand top, the stripey-ness of which I love, but with an unflattering neckline....

A little work with a rotary cutter (much smoother than scissors) right under the armpits, and a sporty little number perfect for autumn layering was revealed.

Next: learn how to take self-portraits without angles that make the viewer dizzy.  I'm sure it's doable.

The Good, The Great, and The Wonderful

We've had some new discoveries and developments around here lately -- I thought I'd share a few....First, the Good: audio books!  Exploring the kids' section of our library last week, I found a bounty of free books on cd.  On days when we're mostly at home, I encourage about an hour of quiet playtime in lieu of a nap.  This time helps all of us recharge and gives me a much-needed break.  Audio books have begun to play a central role in this hour -- I love that they engage my son's imagination and unlike dvd's are completely guilt-free (for me -- I doubt S feels any guilt at all about watching a dvd.)  He prefers to listen using these enormous headphones - - perhaps it helps him to become more absorbed in the story.  At any rate, the audio books have been a fortuitous discovery.

Next, the Great: our other favorite library -- the toy library!  Silly us, we let our membership expire when baby A was born.  Life got full, we made do with what we had, and it's been 8 months or so since we visited.   Upon return, S was into a completely different world of toys....there were so many things we could have happily left with.  We chose two train sets and a beginner's scooter.   When we got home, S literally spent the whole day immersed in his new train sets -- not food, nor books, nor the urgent need for the bathroom could tear him away.  It was incredible.  As the week has gone on, the intensity has waned....but only slightly.  He now takes meal breaks (thankfully) but the trains are a huge hit.  Yay, toy library! 

 

Finally, the Wonderful: a new development for me.... My loving, supportive, DIY-competent husband has undertaken the project of turning our humble storage shed into a deluxe garden studio.  (Okay, I'm not sure exactly how "deluxe" it will be, but hey!  Garden studio!  With room to grow and upgrade as time goes on....)   He swears I'll be in there in the next few weeks.  I can't wait!  In-progress view below.

Will definitely post photo updates once I'm in.  Very exciting.