the one where I stuff all the clothes I've made lately into one post.

The title says it all in this one, right? I've been busy sewing up some fun clothes for the girls, and I have a busy April here on ye ol' blog (hint hint fun things in store! see the sidebar for a clue), so I thought I'd put them all into one ginormous post. So good luck to you all, hope you can finish it.

You just know I couldn't stop making these shirts! She grew out of her old ones anyways. They're adorable, and so fun to pick out the fabric pairings! This one I made the sleeves gathered a bit so they fit in better. See this tutorial for info about that. I also cut the front piece a little wider and gathered it a bit before sewing it to the bodice.

Politely begging for her Pez candies. I tell you, they work!

Oh, and those buttons? Adorbs, right? I got them here and was so excited when they went with this fabric-hooray for using up buttons! Or am I the only one who hoards and collects them? Nah! just kidding, I didn't think so.

Also, try not to notice the left side of the bodice I cut upside down. Why do I always point out these things? lol.

The main fabric is Chris Chun, Le Jardin de Papillons, Garden in Brown. The trim fabric is Clothworks Mostek-Avalon scallops in Pink. 

I've had this pink striped knit shirt waiting for me in my refashion pile for...like...eva, so I finally used it to make a top for the Sadester! I thrifted it-I love using thrifted knits from high quality companies, like Lands End, etc. I got this one for less than $1! I just sewed up a simple knit shirt...and then...

...I cut out little different sized circles and hand sewed them on across the front neckline-easy and pretty quick!

I also made a jean skirt for her-which is too poufy...my bad. It's still cute in these pics, but the fabric is so stiff it's a bit crazy. Oh well!

She is doing the hands on hips pose a lot lately, she cracks me up!

Here's a better shot of the skirt-it has some tucks along the bottom-I used this tutorial for that-very cute effect! Just wish I'd cut off some of the width. Oh well! That's my tiny 2 year old's fault for being tiny. I'll have to try again I guess.

I mixed it up with this new skirt of Sadie's....used this skirt tutorial and this pocket tutorial.

I think I needed some heavier interfacing for the waistband, but it works. We won't mention how I sewed the waistband on crooked. Oops.

The fabric I used is from my super cool sponsor, Lily Bella Fabrics! I used this for the main fabric, and this for the accent.

Sadie is letting me play with her hair lately, so I tried this braided do'. Pretty cute, and her hair looks AWEsome after it comes out, frizzy and going every which way. lol.

Of course, she's a fan of the pockets. Can you blame her? Pockets are awesome for kids.

 And I couldn't leave Charlotte out of the fun! I made this little knit shirt out of some fabric my supa cool bloggy friend Katie gave me!

 She seems to like it!

So whew! I hope you made it through that pile of clothing fairly unscathed.

lucky dress part 4: faux layered hem and buttons

Hey everybody! Just a quick note about next month's sew-along-it will be in the beginning of April instead of near the end...due to a super cool radically awesome something happening.  hmm, mysterious enough? lol. And a lot of you will be happy to hear the sew-along is the.....Chrysanthemum top! 

 

Newly renamed the Leah top. (Now I'm just using girl names I like)

hooray! So look for more info and a supply list soon tomorrow.

On to the end of the Lucky dress sew-along!

 

See more after the jump!

lucky dress part 3: putting it together

Let's get started on assembling the Lucky dress together!

See more after the jump!

Tacky the Penguin finger puppets (with free pattern!)

When I was little, Tacky the Penguin was one of my favorite books! So of course it was one that absolutely had to be added to my daughter's library. (that happens to you all, right? lol)

So when Polly emailed me about the Read Along series she was planning, I jumped right on board and started thinking of possible books. Tacky the Penguin popped out at me! (mostly because I figured I could do a craft with those cute penguins!) 

So I made some felt penguin finger puppets to help act out the story!

If you haven't read this book, it's about some penguins...

There are five penguins, Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect. There are what they sound like: snooty, stuck up penguins. hehe.

Then there's Tacky.

He's a free spirit, to say the least.

One day some hunters come to catch the penguins and sell them. Oh no!

Basically Tacky saves the day by being....Tacky.

To make these little finger puppets, just print out the free pattern (at 100% scale), and cut the pieces out of felt.

I sewed on the white fronts first, then the other pieces (bow, beak, feet). The eyes are just french knots. Then I sewed the front and back pieces together, right sides out, with a simple whip stitch.



Tacky was a bit different with the addition of his shirt. I made the flowers with french knots, and then sewed the black outline of his collar, and sewed it to his front.

Sadie loved the little penguins and how they "matched with my book!" She's all about matching these days.

A hit all around. ;)

Thanks everyone! Happy reading and crafting. :)

lucky dress part 2: scoop detail

So let's get going on the scoop detail. If you want to keep it simple and just have flat fabric and some buttons maybe, then skip to the bottom where I show how to attach it to the dress. If you want to be crazy and try something kinda fun, read on!

lucky dress part 1: pattern and sleeves

Alright! Here's part one of the Lucky dress sew-along!

See more after the jump!

family tree wall art

 tada! this was my project on One Month to Win It this week! Sorry the pics weren't fantastical...we've had nothing but cloudiness and rain here so I did my best. I loove how this project turned out!

and this project won this week! (barely)...I couldn't believe that! wow! thanks everybody!

So, when I first heard the theme this week would be Spring Cleaning, I really wanted to take something in our house that I wouldn't normally use, and incorporate it into a project. So I headed to our garage rather than my craft room. (this is not normal for me) I found a scrap piece of plywood and decided to do some wall art with it!

It is basically the poor man's version of this art piece. ;} Their version is $40, and mine was free thirty free.

 I first made a template with some paper for the branch shapes-working with some frames I grabbed from around the house. Then I cut them from the wood, sanded and painted (frames as well), and hung them up with some holes drilled in the back.

  I printed out some OLD family photos (on simple card stock) to fill in the picture frames for now-and cut the FAMILY out of some vinyl with my Silhouette. It is the perfect large scale piece for my living room wall!

Now to fill it with some new family photos...

I can't wait for next week!

Don't miss the cool giveaway right below this post!!!

Pocket Full of Posies giveaway

***this giveaway is now closed****

Hey there peeps!

I've got a fun giveaway for you today!

Ever feel stressed out with  your meal planning? Oh, never, you say? (liar)

Well, if you're like me, meal planning can take a lot of work and effort. The girls over at Pocket Full of Posies have done the work for you. Isn't that nice of them?

 In their words:

"Pocket Full of Posies offers a unique pocket meal planning system that organizes life in the kitchen. Our recipes are organized in a way to make grocery shopping easier, save time, save money and make meal planning stress free. On top of it all, our pockets are cute and our system is affordable! Our pockets are made out of scrapbook paper which is laminated for durability.  Each pocket is sewn around the edges with a zig-zag stitch and magnets are applied to the back so it can be placed on your refrigerator.  And, we have TONS of designs to choose from! "

That, I can vouch for! They let me pick out one for my own kitchen, and I chose this one: (cause of course, I can't turn down anything teal, ever) 

 

You can see more color and pattern options here. They are all adorable.

They also sent me two recipe packs to try, and boy do I want to try some of those recipes, ASAP! Granted, I had to set aside about 1/3 of them cause Rory is such a picky eater (love ya hun), lol. His loss.

So! Would you like the chance to win one for your own kitchen?

You're in luck...they are giving away one MONTHLY POCKET PACKAGE 1, which includes:
1 Magnetic Monthly Pocket (your choice)
40 Recipes
8 Ingredient lists
How To instructions 

Simply leave a comment here on this post to be entered! Just let me know which design you're most likely to pick! (click here for designs) Don't worry, you can of course change your mind if you win! 

Please also leave your email address in your comment. You can write it out like so if you prefer: craftinessisnotoptional(at)gmail(dot)com. This giveaway limited to US and Canada residents only.

 They'd also like to offer a fun freebie! (cool!) They are offering a 2 week recipe pack as a freebie with any purchase (with code, "FREEBIE") How many times can I say Freebie in a paragraph?

The giveaway will run until Sunday night, March 27th. Good luck!



The winner of the Pocket Full of Posies giveaway is....

McKell and Janeene! Congrats! An email is on the way. :D

Chrysathemum top

Or, Dahlia top...or whatever those big flowers are called. I'm no gardener! I can barely keep our house plants alive. Anywho...I made this cute top after having it saved to my flickr favorites since forEVER. I basically copied this adorable top, only added some little puffy cap sleeves.

This little miss is turning into quite the model. She works for cheap too, this session only cost me 4 Pez candies. What a steal.

I love the large pockets-and so does Sadie.  I'm thinking more of her spring/summer wardrobe will need some! This is I guess the start of that.

I used a vintage button for the closure in back. The little bit of bling is fun!

See? Total model face. lol!

I'm not sure what line/brand the fabric is from, the lovely Anna sent it over for my b-day last year. She's such a sweetheart.

Post Edit: Thanks to reader Sara-I know that the fabric is Andrea Victoria by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake! Thanks Sara! Though sadly, I can't seem to find it anywhere online. Darn!

Another Post Edit: Thanks to my pal Emilie-who found the fabric available at a number of different stores if you search "RILEY BLAKE ANDREA VICTORIA" on Google. In mustard and purple only.

After the last shoot, she had to add some jumping in! Blurry but still cute. 

Tutorial in the works!

lucky dress supply list

Hey guys! Just a quick post about the Lucky Dress sew-along! I'm going to be posting the first two parts on Saturday, so look for those! Here's a supply list!

You'll need:

main fabric (1 yard did it for my 2.5 year old)
lining fabric (I used some muslin-1 yd)
contrast fabric (3/4 yd for me)
1 package single fold bias tape 1/2"
matching thread
paper for pattern (dress or shirt to trace)
buttons (metal ones to cover or regular)

Let me know if you have any questions!

under the shelf jar storage tutorial

So here are all the deets on that under the shelf jar thingies I teased you about the other day.

It's storage! For practically free! Here's the scoop:

ric rac dress tutorial

Here's how I transformed the Rachel wrap pattern into this retro ric rac dress!

Get the how to after the jump!

ric rac dress for Charlotte

 Well, I had some of that lovely fabric leftover from Sadie's dress, so of course I had to make a little matchy-matchy dress for little sis Charlotte! I made it slightly similar (the sleeves and buttons) but a different style at least.

It's basically a Charlotte dress with a Circle skirt attached. Pretty straight-forward! The headband is a tee shirt headband, and the flower is just some felt cut and glued together to a clip.

I wanted to put some ric rac around the front at the waist, but I was out of the aqua and didn't want to wait to finish the dress.

I'm somewhat a speed seamstress-if it can't be done within a nap time or two, I lose interest. Seriously. Guess I should work on my patience. lol!

I love how the circle skirt hangs-so pretty!

And here are the sister dresses side by side. What cuteness. 

 Here's a quick shot I got before church yesterday.

Sadie was pretty much ecstatic that Charlotte was matching her. She loves matching colors and things lately-like she get super excited if the food she's eating matches her shirt. What a silly cookie! love it.

I'll be posting the ric rac dress tutorial tomorrow! see you then. :o)

Oh but first, do go and check out this week's projects over on One Month to Win It! It's Spring Cleaning week and I can't wait to see the other projects!

 

Go vote for your fav!