I'm Guest Posting for CraftingCon!

Today I'm over at Crafting Con!

The theme this month is Adventures in Space, so I made outfits for the kids. You'll have to click over for the details!

Ruffled Arch Skirt

I was lucky enough to get to test the Ruffled Arch Skirt from Call Ajaire. This is an sweet a-line skirt with an option for ruffles at the back. Even with the ruffles, it was a pretty quick sew, and the results are just adorable! This pattern released last week, and is available at Upcraft Club.

My little princess loves her ruffles, so I made the ruffled version, and haven't made one without yet. I used a pink cotton lawn, and added some embroidered white lawn that I had scraps of from this skirt for 2 of the 4 ruffles. I had a little trouble with things shifting when I went to sew the ruffles on, so mine ended up at a bit of an angle, but when she's running around you'd hardly notice. I'll be more careful with my pinning next time! I would definitely follow the recommendation of lightweight fabrics for the ruffles. Even the embroidered lawn was honestly a bit stiff once it was done, and I ended up trimming some of the ends off. Fortunately, there's plenty of length to work with. I also love the flat front on this skirt. It gives it just a little bit more polish than a full elastic waist.

This would be easy to dress up, especially if you used a fancy fabric. But this one is cotton, and Ellie decided it was also very good for stomping in puddles. That would be an example of preschooler styling at work. She resisted my every effort for a classier photo shoot, so I just went with it!

End of Summer

I realize I've been quite neglectful of this blog for the past couple of months! Summer has been crazy. The kids and I were away visiting family for a whole month, which was amazing, but I didn't do much sewing to speak of. Just before we left, I was dancing around with the kids and fell, resulting in a ligament tear in one knee. Ouch. It put something of a damper on some of the things we'd planned to try to do in Maine, since it was hard to walk for awhile. I'm recovering, but it's been tiring to stand for long periods of time, so project completion has been really slow. We did still manage to find some fun things to do while we were away.

Now they (and I!) start school again in a week. The summer has just flown by, though I admit I'm sort of ready to get back to the school schedule. Keeping then occupied and quiet during the day while Patrick is sleeping (night shift sucks) is getting old. We can only go to the mall so many times, and these 90 degree days can go away for the year any time now. Ick.

There have been some projects! August has so far been full of pattern testing, so I will be able to share some of that very soon. Might have even missed one release. Oops. Been that sort of month. I will also be doing a couple of guest posts coming up in the next few months, which is pretty exciting. Some new fabric is on the way, but I'm trying to pull as much from my stash as I can. I started reorganizing just before I injured myself, and found that I really need to use what I have for now rather than buy more storage. To be honest, given some of the projects I have coming up, stash sewing is going to be hard! I have not been as good about it as I meant to be this year so far, so except for some very specific projects I'm going to try not to buy more fabric. Wish me luck on that!

Me Made May Wrap Up

Me Made May has come to a close. (Seriously, where did it go? How is it June??) I met my challenge, and successfully wore at least one self made article of clothing each day for the month of May. And somehow, I managed to post an Instagram photo each day as well. During this second half of May, I even made a few extra things to start filling in the holes I discovered during the first half of the challenge.
Still no new mirror, so here goes more bad mirror selfies!

Patterns for Pirates Women's Raglan, Patterns for Pirates Free Spirit Tank in shirt length, SUAT Spoxxy Top, Greenstyle Lucy Leggings in shorts length.

Another Patterns for Pirates Women's Raglan with the funnel neck from the Add On Pack, Greenstyle Lacy Slope Hooded T-Shirt, Mouse House Creations Julia Cardigan, Patterns for Pirates Layer Me Up Shirt

Mashup of Patterns for Pirates Free Spirit Tank and Layer Me Up Shirt, Kitchy Coo Lady Skater, SUAT Spoxxy, Greenstyle Aspen Pants that I modified for shorts

No pattern yoga skirt, modified See Kate Sew Zippy Top, Patterns for Pirates Free Spirit Tank and the Greenstyle Aspen shorts, and finally my self drafted brown tank.

There are still wardrobe holes that need to be filled, and I admit that made it very hard to choose handmade some days. I really, really need to work on more handmade shorts and pants, because there were days when I really just wanted to wear one of my graphic tees or tanks, and did not want to pair with a skirt. I also realized that there are a number of things I don't ever reach for that are taking up space in my drawers, and that needs to be fixed as well. So I have a short list of things to focus on once I finish up a few things that I've promised to do for other people, and get my cosplay worked out for PortConMaine! I guess I have a busy 3 weeks ahead of me.

Perry the Platypus! (And Candace Flynn)

Dooby dooby doo-bah! Dooby dooby doo-bah! Dooby dooby doo-bah! Cyrus!

He's an optomistic first grade boy of distraction!
He's got a noise making talent that never goes awa-eeay-eeay!
He's got more than gaming skill,
He's a runner and he doesn't stay still,
And his mother cheers whenever hear him say
(I'm going outside!)
He's Cyrus! Cyrus the Big Kid!
Cyrus! Agent C!

"Mo-om! Cyrus is standing on the swing again!"

We love Phineas and Ferb around here. There are at least 3 P&F tees floating around the house, so obviously I needed to make more things inspired by the show. Cyrus and I decided that his look would be inspired by Perry. Seriously, who doesn't love a secret agent platypus? I made a Peek-a-boo grand slam in Perry's teal and yellowish colors (I promise I'll use a different shirt pattern one of these days!). This time I mixed it up a little, though! As a secret agent, Perry wears a fedora, so I upcycled an old shirt of mine and added a brown hood as a nod to his hat. In my stash, I found this heavier interlock in nearly the same teal color as the top. To complete the Perry outfit, I made Coastal Craze Baggies, also by Peek-a-boo.

 

To go with Perry, I made Ellie a LilyGiggle Tybee Tank Dress in red and white to echo Candace's red and white outfit. I almost used pink, since that's Ellie's color, but I had this red baby rib sitting around in my stash with nothing planned for it, so I decided that would be perfect for the top of the dress. The band and skirt are a heavy-ish cotton lycra also from my stash. I made a 3, which fits really well, except I think I need to lengthen the skirt next time. I did not take into account the bubble butt my little girl has, so it barely covers her behind without a lot of constant mom tugging. So white shorts to the rescue!

Cyrus was super excited about his Perry inspired look, and has spent the last 2 days wearing the same outfit and sneaking around like a secret agent. Ellie loves her dress, but is more indifferent about dressing like Candace. I guess that part is for me!

Me Made May - Midway!

It's halfway (or thereabouts, with the odd number issue) through Me Made May! I've been doing daily pictures over on Instagram, but I thought I'd check in here for those of you who aren't over there. So far, I have worn at least one item of handmade clothing each day, and a couple of days I've even worn an entire me made outfit! I was pretty proud of those. I've also been wearing me handmade gym clothes, especially considering that I think I may have more me made gym things than store bought ones, excluding sports bras (all of which are terrible, and maybe I should start making those too). So, here is two weeks' worth of the bad selfies that I have been subjecting my Instagram followers to this month, plus a couple of bonus gym shots.

Top row and bottom row: striped Sis Boom Meghan Peasant (which I definitely just showed you), green Mouse House Creations Julia Cardigan, green floral Stitch Upon A Time Spoxxy Top, and white self drafted Eowyn inspired skirt.

Purple and gray Shwin Designs Day Tripper Top, brown self drafted skirt with large floral pockets, floral See Kate Sew Zippy Top with front hack and without actually having a zipper, and a paisley skirt from a tutorial that I can no longer find.

Blue Sis Boom Devon Peasant, yellow floral no pattern maxi skirt,a floral batik self drafted wrap skirt, and another Flirt Skirt (there are actually little blue birds in the print on that one, but that photo is so bad you can't tell).

Black and red stripe floral Greenstyle Lacy Slope Hoodie, brown self drafted Eowyn inspired tank (with a reappearance of the wrap skirt), fox print Patterns for Pirates Free Spirit Tank dress (that I made this morning!) with shorts length Greenstyle Lucy Leggings, and bonus gym Spoxxys.

Whew! That is a whole lot of bad quality photos of myself. And my messy house - keeping it real here. I mentioned on IG, and I'll say it again - I really need a better full length mirror, in a better location than the two I have. Fortunately, I don't typically take this many photos which require it. I will admit that some days it has been a struggle to find something handmade I want to wear. I don't always want to wear a skirt, and I don't have many warm weather tops to choose from. I also don't seem to own shorts, which is a problem in and of itself. So it's definitely shown me that I still have many holes in my handmade (and store bought) wardrobe that need filling soon. If you want to follow my daily photo spam, you can follow the link at the top of the sidebar over to Instagram and check it out there. If not, I'll let you know how it went at the end of the month!

Tiddly Wink Toppers

There are plenty of slouchy beanie patterns out there, but I had the good fortune to test one last week! The Tiddly Wink Topper by Stitchwerx Designs releases today, and this awesome pattern makes me seriously wish I didn't have to wait several months for cool weather to come back! I spent the early spring looking for a good slouchy beanie pattern or tutorial for my son, but predictably now that I've found one I actually got around to making, the 80 degree weather has rolled in and signs of summer are in the air. This pattern covers sizes 18m through adult large (there is also a separate pattern for premie-12m), so you can make hats for the whole family. I tested the squared version of this hat for my son, and the slouchy beanie version for my husband. The directions are super easy to follow, and these go together wickedly fast.

They're wearing Spiderman and Iron Man here, but the black and yellow was Cy's idea - he wanted Batman colors. (If I did it again, I'd throw a bat symbol applique on there.) The fit is great - Cyrus is wearing the 8y-adult small. I love that the square beanie ends up with little points that look like ears - perfect for something inspired by Batman! I should have nabbed a picture of this hat on me - it's not my best style, but I wear the same size hat at as my 7 year old. I'll let that sit there for a moment.

Patrick is wearing the adult large. My husband has a huge noggin, and it's hard to find hats to fit him. He measured at the top of the range for this one at 24.5 inches; the fit is great, and it's even still a little bit slouchy.

Speaking of those pointy "ears"...

This hat is put together so that all seams are enclosed, so it's reversible! Since "What Does the Fox Say?" is still frequently heard around my house, I used this fox jersey for the lining. But it ends up with the foxes out as much as the black. I guess they love their foxes! And the silly dance moves to go with them.

Want to make your own? This pattern releases today and is on sale until Sunday May 10! So go pick up your copy here! If you're looking for the preemie - 12m size, it's also on sale, and there is also a bundle of both sizes available.