Pioneer bonnets

 

 

I started these bonnets during the last hurrah of pregnancy.  I thought they’d be a fun thing to help the girls while away some of the slow hours in those first few weeks.

It was a great idea.

I finally finished them today.  Seven months for two bonnets.  Not bad, my girl, not bad at all.

{McCalls 9424, sewn exactly as suggested.} 

Now that I’ve got my fabric stash back at my fingertips (note to self: when fabric is in boxes, no sewing happens), I can hardly decide what to do next.

A few ideas have been swirling around.

:: I have a set of red velvet curtains that have been retired from curtain-dom.  Little Red Riding Hood capes lined with satin?

:: Dresses and aprons to go with the pioneer bonnets for Laura and Mary?

:: Greek togas? (I believe I have been remiss in mentioning here that we are currently enamored with Greek gods and goddesses, and the mythology in general.  Aphrodite and Helen flit around gorgeously bedecked in play silks and vintage table cloths.)

:: A dress for me from a vintage (50s?) pattern I picked up thrifting?  (But do I really want to go through all that effort only to have it not fit next year?)

:: A skirt for me?  (Not so much effort).

:: Something pretty for Kiri?  This is my last chance to sew for my babies…believe it or not, I never sewed one single thing for one of my babies.  …I take that back, I made Amelie a rag quilt.  I never sewed a single item of clothing for one of my babies.

:: Something very ruffly and swishy and delightful?

Maternity Dress #1

I say “Maternity Dress #1″ because I’m hopeful that there will be more.

And there probably will be.

Once I get over how many ways an “easy” project can go awry.

Such as getting the skirt fabric caught in the serger…I only had 12 inches to go…and cutting a hole above the ruffle.  Half hour detour to detach ruffle and set it in place…this time three inches higher.

Etc.

Other than the general misalignment of the stars today, it really was a pretty easy project.

I used this great tutorial from tiny happy, and shirred my way to summer happiness.  Shirring really is easy.  I added a ruffle for pizzaz and thick straps so that I can wear my <ahem> regular undergarments and be well prepared for the usual (and often dangerous) skirt tugging that comes with my position in life.

photo credit :: Amelie    editing credit :: yours truly, who didn’t want to scare the online world with the face I happened to be making at the moment the photo was taken…besides, it was blurry.

Lia’s First Nine-Patch

Amelie’s First Nine-Patch

Wee Wonderfuls – Margot

Finally FINALLY finished the other half of Lia’s Christmas present.  Four and a half months later.  She’s been playing with Dressed Down Margot (from Wee Wonderfuls), but finally Margot is as she was designed to be…flip her skirt over her head and voila! Dressed Up Margot is on the other side!

OK, so he has nothing to do with this post.  But he did help me pin on Margot’s buns.  And he’s awfully cute.

Looking at…maternity sewing edition

I’ve been desperately trying to finish up my pile of half-completed sewing/mending projects.  Amelie and I completed three out of four of them this afternoon (it’s that fourth one I’ve been dreading), so I’m almost ready to take on new projects.

Being that I have one short sleeve shirt and three pairs of maternity shorts (from Lia’s pregnancy, seven summers ago), I think it wouldn’t be amiss to sew a few clothes for myself.  Easy clothes.

And not the ugly things that butterick, etc., call maternity clothes.  Yuck.  (Did any of you find a pattern that you liked?  I haven’t spotted one yet…)

A dress for hot weather :: tiny happy makes shirring look super easy.  Except that I don’t have the shirring elastic.  Yet.  And what kind of underclothing (<cough> undergirding) would I wear with this?

The easy maternity skirt from DIY maternity ::  With a ruffle, perhaps?

Devo has already donated his castoff shirts for this Men’s button shirt to maternity shirt (also with peasant edition).

 

But the real question is :: am I going to hide the varicose veins that are spreading like the black (and blue) plague over my right leg?  Or do I wear them like a pregnancy badge of honor?  (Skirts shorter or longer?)

Baby Bonnet

McCall’s 6214…from 1961. Vintage! That little blue jacket at the top is darling. And those booties are tempting…they look sooo easy.

I see on the pattern that it originally (in 1961) cost 50 cents…I paid 25 cents at our church’s thrift shop. Love that place.

This weekend, I made a baby bonnet for Trisha’s new baby girl, due to arrive at the beginning of the summer.  Because every baby girl needs a fresh, crisp white bonnet to shade round cheeks from the sun.

I made a change on the embellishments (my lace collection is sadly lacking), and instead affixed a very large fabric flower to the side. Because every baby girl needs absurdly big flowers. It turned out quite charming.  I can’t wait to see it on their new baby girl.  (I did try it on the only baby available…a boy…but out of consideration for said baby’s father, didn’t take a picture.  But it was pretty darling.)

I’m tempted to make one for our baby…and if Baby is a boy, then it will either become a gift or a doll bonnet.