May you live

 Once again, I show my love affair for notebooks/journals. I love to take those black and white composition books, add some fun papers and stamps, with a little bit of coloring, and turn them into something fun. This is a Unity stamp from the KOM 03/09. This stamp is the whole reason for why I bought the one kit. I love the sentiment of it, the simplicity of the message, and the whimsy of the font. The papers are from DCWV "Stack 7". I love the Stacks because there are so many versatile pages in them and they cover a wide range of "themes", plus it doesn't hurt when there are 180 pages in them versus the 48 of the smaller stacks and they are the same price.


Also, I love to put them together and then they tend to speak to me of a person for whom they would be perfect. Wow, trying to make that last sentence felt really awkward to make sound reasonably grammatically correct. But you get my drift, right? Well, this set spoke to me very loudly for a very dear friend of mine, it's just waiting for the right moment to drop it into the mail. And no I'm not putting it here, because then they might peak and ruin the surprise. Oh and I apologize for the flash in the pictures, my camera would not cooperate with me this morning and the clear contact paper was already on it when I tried to take pictures.

Gifting Fun

 I found this great toolbox kit at the scout store while picking up Raingutter Regatta boats for the boys race last year. I used pages from the DCWV "Stack 7" torn up into pieces about 1" big and then used Mod Podge to glue them on and then sealed it with glitter Mod Podge. Before it was gifted I did add some ribbons and flowers and fun sparkles, but alas I do not have a picture of it. Sometimes I get sidetracked very easily, and unfortunately this was one of those times.

Little Cutie

This is the other picture frame done with the Little Cutie collection. I have a friend who is expecting a girl in December and wanted to get a start on her special basket full of goodies for her and the baby and thought this collection would be perfect. I basically did the same type of stuff as the other frame, but with a lot more "glam".

 

Items used:
Wood frame
glue stick
Imaginisce Products:
Baby Frame:
Little Cutie Collection
Sweet Baby paper
canvas stickers
die cuts
chipboard stickers
i-Rock gems and tool

Happy Camper

 











You know how sometimes you find a great company and you love everything they do? And they do new collections several times a year and you dream about the awesomeness you could create with them? And sometimes, the company even does a giveaway of said collections? You enter each time, even though you know the chances of you being picked are very slim? Then amazingly enough you win, not one but two sets of two different entire collections and that awesomeness comes in the mail and you drool over the possibilities. Then you put it aside because the perfect project might yet come along, and it will wait for just that project, because what if you used and then found an even better use for it, but you didn't have it any more? I know it sounds  a little bit like I'm rambling now, but I'm going somewhere with this. I have loved Imaginisce's paper collections and tools for quite a while now. Last year I was lucky enough to win two of their collections: "Happy Camper" and "Little Cutie"

Well, we also got heavily involved in scouting and lots of my projects got put aside to wait for the perfect time. I found some simple frames at DI for fifty cents each and decided the time had arrived for me to delve into those collections. And by collections, I mean papers, die cuts, canvas stickers, stacked stickers and snag 'em stamps. With  the Happy Camper set, I made a frame for my son for his first camp out with daddy. Unfortunately that event did not take place when we had hoped it would (Camp Bradley was really close to a fire that threatened the camp and was still raging the last time I checked it out two weeks ago.) So, when he finally gets to go officially camping, we know where his picture will go.

Products used:
Wood frame
Glue stick
Imaginisce "Happy Camper" collection:
Tree Hugger paper
Die cuts
Canvas sticker
Sticker Stacker
Chipboard sticker
i-Rock and gems

Wrap Up/Check-in

  

Okay, I know I finished up these dresses a while ago. But life gets away with me very quickly when 5 kids are home all day long. That means my only me time is after they go to bed and even though the SP sleeps almost all night long, her slightly older brother loves to stay up until 9:30 or 10:00, because he wants mommy all to himself. I told myself that I had to get this write-up done before I started trying to alter my next project, and since I'm really excited about it, I got to do what gots to be done. I made two dresses for this one and have an idea for altering it for a smocked insert in the lower bodice. But since I don't smock (yet!) and I don't really have a model in this size anymore, it will have to wait.

So my two posts about this dress are here and here, and this last one to wrap it all together and make it all look pretty. This might sound convoluted as I try to describe what I did, but there are two dress with two different alterations. So the first dress I made for my older daughter will be called "Dress 1" and the second for the baby will be "Dress 2"

Dress 1 fit my older girl very well, the waist was not snug at all, gave just the right amount of room for her to move around in. I did lengthen the skirt by 3 inches and the flounce by 2 inches. I also cut off about 10 inches from the lower bodice to put the waist at her waist, rather than poofing all the way to her knees. Oh yeah, I also put the belt in as a waistband. The main change in this one is the poofiness, it did not make sense to have it poof that much and then put a belt on top of that.

Dress 2 was for my 4 month old baby. I did print the dress out at half size (2 pages per page) and this fit her size range very well. I took out the chemisette, neckline binding, belt, skirt, lining, and inner sleeves. That sure does sound like a lot, but what was left was really cute and will fit her for a lot longer (at least a few more months). I did add a decorative stitch on the bias band at the neckline to add a little bit to the dress, after taking off the chemisette, it seemed to yell for something to be there instead.

I used a seersucker cotton fabric with a floral print and then a solid of the same type of fabric for the piping. I did add a placket for buttons for a closer as the neckline was very snug on her (PIT kept fiddling with it). My sewing level is intermediate, I guess, since I have been sewing for several years (almost 8 exactly in two weeks).


Pattern Review Checklist:

1.  Pattern Description: #0501 child's dress
2.  Pattern Sizing: fits age 3-5
3.  Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing  it? Once I removed the poof and dropped the belt into the waistband, no it only sort of did, it would probably have helped it look similar if I had kept the belt apart (on Dress 1). Dress 2 didn't even have the belt.
4. Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, I really enjoyed putting together the sleeves, the double sleeve looked great on Dress #1
5. What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the sleeve and the instructions were very well put together, but I really didn't like the suggested poofiness
6. Fabric Used: I used a cotton seersucker (I think) and I'm not sure on the yardage since I made the piping and ended up cutting some off the dress and extending other areas as well and also made a complete second dress.
7. Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Minors on the first dress, but lots on the second dress see above notes. I also sewed the band differently than the instructions called for, I sewed it all together and the pattern called for the top to be sewn in and then after the dress was done to decide on finished length of band and hem it.
8. Would you recommend this pattern to others? Yes, with an admonition to check bodice lining length and then poof just a little bit.
9. Conclusion: This is a very cute dress, in picture and reality, it just needs to have less poof and to keep the waist at the waist, or just slightly lower as the picture looks like it has the belt at the waist and on my 6 year old it looked like it was a little bit high

VPLL Checklist

1.  Pattern Name #0501 Child's dress
2. Sewer’s Skill Level: Advance, Intermediate, Beginner: I am an intermediate seamstress
3. Pattern Rating: 1-Not a Fan, 2 – So-So, 3 – Good/Average, 4-Better than Average, 5-I LOVED IT! and why? 4-I really liked this pattern, as it is and with my adaptations for the smaller one, but I had a day and a half of major frustration over that stupid bodice bottom poofing like crazy
4. What skill level would someone need to sew this pattern and why? An advanced beginner could sew this, the lapped seams makes it easier to work together and the instructions are clear, just because of my areas of frustration do I say it is not for the brand new beginner  
5. Were the instructions easy to follow? If not, what needs to be changed? Yes they were
6. How was the fit/sizing?  Did it correspond to what you thought? The fit was right on, my PIT is tall and skinny for her age, she usually measures as a 3 around and a 5 up and down and this fit her around perfectly, but I did add to the length for her height
7. Did you make any pattern alterations? If so, what alterations did you make? Where they fit or design alterations? I made a few alterations on Dress 1 in length and also in design, I took out the poof and put the belt as a waistband. In Dress 2 I did a lot of alterations, I took out the chemisette, neck band bias finish, belt, skirt, inner sleeve and the bodice lining. From the half size pattern, I did not alter sizes, but the flounce and band were cut to be proportional to the whole skirt (which really was just cut the right width and then from selvedge to selvedge)
8. Other notes: I did also change how I sewed the band onto the flounce. I did it all in one seam, rather than sewing one edge and then finishing the dress and then hemming the band.

Wow, if you made it through reading all of that, two big thumbs up! Just trying to type this up took me a day and a half with all the little interruptions running around here right now, so I hope that this helps someone out there and everyone go do something silly.