A Puzzle ❙ time well spent

I'd had a burst of inspiration.  I finally knew what I was going to do with my dress and I wanted to get sketching right away.  I was busy and I was going to go hole myself up in my "studio" when a little voice piped from behind the loveseat:

"Hey, Jo, do you want to help me with my puzzle?"

Her back was turned and she couldn't see my shoulders droop and feet drag towards the exit.  She couldn't hear my thoughts saying "no, not now Emmy I'm busy.  Some other time." 

She didn't see my grimace as I realized what I would be missing.  She couldn't see my petulant face and repentant heart, she was still concentrating on finding that one special piece.

I realized that my little sister is days away from her 8th birthday.  What with my school and hers if I blinked I would miss her whole life.  I would wake up one day and a young lady would be my roommate, not the little girl I was so used to telling how to spell words while we wrote our various things late into the night or sang songs to and hugged during the thunderstorms.

I knew I should treasure this time I have with her.  Savor her crazy obsession with the candy cane striped socks with the fur on them and the crazy santa's elf hat she wears to hide that she hasn't brushed her hair and it's a rats nest.

I should remember the way the fire feels warming my back and the sound of her voice as she says "I've got another one" thirty times over.  I should never fail to encourage her with a "good one!" or "yeah!"

I don't want to ever put things above people.  I want to invest in people, and especially my siblings.  

And besides, I do love a good puzzle. 

 So I replied,

"Sure Emm, I'd love to."

Denim Play Skirt

Clothes for little kids are so quick and easy to make!  This skirt took about 2 hours.  

The 8 flared gores are cut from 2 different pairs of old jeans, serged together and top-stitched.

I saved the top of one of the pairs to make a tiered skirt for myself sometime later.

Add a simple elastic waistband...

Zigzag and start a frayed hem...

and Emily has a new skirt to play in!

That's how we roll.

Emily's Renaissance Outfit

Cute and she knows it. :-)

Fabric

Shirt: leftover kona muslin form my renn. top

Vest: leftover fabric from a skirt I made a while ago

Skirt: Brown sheet type stuff that was given to us

Grommets we had, elastic we had, and lacing we already had.

All in all, a pretty inexpensive adventure. :-)

Pattern

I made up the skirt, drafted the shirt form a drawing, and made the vest by shrink the ladies vest from Simplicity 3809.

I don't remember the fine detail of the vest shrink, but I measured Emily and then redrew the pattern on paper.  Then I modified some lines and made a mock-up.  It fit well, so I basically followed the pattern's directions for lining the vest and it was done!  I did not put any boning in it, but I did put a double layer of cord in the very front to add stability to the grommets.

For the skirt I sewed 6 rectangle that were each around 17 inches wide together, hemmed it, and made a casing for elastic at the waist.  Simple.

For the shirt I looked at the diagram drawing of the off-the-shoulder blouse in the same pattern (Simplicity 3809).  Basically the front and back pieces are rectangles with the upper corners cut off and rounded.  The sleeves were a full sleeve looking pattern with the tops cut off in a straight line.   I then sewed a casing on the inside and sewed the elastic into it when I sewed the ends together.  So the sleeves were sewn the the "rectangles" and the top edges of everything were turned under to make a drawstring casing. :-)  Clear as mud?  Yeah, I thought so.  Oh for a computer drawing program.  Soon. :-)  Very soon.

I LOVE the way it looks from the back.

Here she is wearing another skirt underneath it and it got bunched up in the back.  I think it actually makes it look nice. :-)

Gathering and arms=not so even

Oh, and don't forget to hem your sleeves and the bottom of your shirt. :-)

Lacing.

Ta Da!

Fantasy Princess in Red Velvet ~ January 2010

I made this about a year and a half ago and Emily has worn it many times since, but I never posted about it (that I can remember) so here it is (maybe again).

I used leftover red crushed paine velvet from a costume of mine I never posted about and some ivory/cream crinkle chiffon stuff my mom bought before I was even sewing. :-)  As this was done awhile ago, please excuse the terrible red facing that is always showing above her cowl neck and the not so nicely matched back side. :-)

Simplicity 5520, the view in the lower righthand corner.

Ah!  She is so cute!  She has gotten tall enough now that she doesn't trip on it. :-)

 In Progress

 The Back

(Gotta love the Pooh Bear hairband.)

 Could almost work for LoTR no?

 More recently Emily wore this dress again for her part in a film we were making with some friends.

 Here are some of the "Behind the Scenes" shots of her and Nathanael, who played the prince in this skit.

Grey "Office" skirt for Emily

With the extra fabric from Kara's vest I whipped up this 8 gore skirt for Emily.  Originally the pattern (just one piece) had elastic and was designed for various girly fat-quarters, but I just used enough to make it wearable with a side zipper.  

While we were up at our friends house in WI we were filming a movie and one of the scenes was in an office environment so technically this is a movie costume. :-)  Either way, she loves it. :-)

 back

 bow embellishment

Covered zipper

Whipping up things for Emily has become so much fun and I am getting so inspired by all the mom blogs I read.  They make clothes sometimes for themselves, but mostly for their kids and have lots of great ideas. :-)  With some extra fabric I have I think it would be cool to make Emily some new princess costumes.  The only one I've made her so far is really simple and she loves it. :-)