NL 6219 - Orange & navy toddler sailboat dress

Now that Rachel has grown big enough for the toddler patterns, I am having lots of fun making her some clothes. At first I had a hard time finding fabrics that I like. The quilting cottons at my local fabric stores aren't very good quality and wrinkle quickly - not what you want for little girls' clothing. However, I have recently discovered the coordinating quilting fabrics at fabric.com, which are the perfect weight for clothing and hold up really well to lots of activity. 

This little dress is from NewLook 6219, a pattern I bought for the ruffled dress over ruffled pants outfit featured on the envelope. I cut the size 1/2 for the width and "sleeves" and the size 1 for length. Rachel is almost 3 but very petite. The bodice has a downward curve at the front waist seam that I cut off and made straight. I also put the side seams on the actual sides and not the side front. (This pattern has those side front seams because of the ruffled version.)

The belt was originally really tall and drafted way too short to reach around the waist. Luckily I had enough fabric to recut a longer one. I added navy piping to the belt and sleeves - the white belt directly on top of the orange bodice just didn't look quite right to my eye. I used big navy ric rac along the bottom.

Rachel has come a long way since I took these pictures of her, and will actually take some direction now. I said, "Hold on the railing so mama can get a picture of the back" and she actually did it! The back neckline is so cute on this dress. I couldn't find the right color of orange-red for the zipper so I used white. It could have been special ordered from NYC but I was ready to make this and didn't want to wait.

The only thing I will change next time is to move the sleeve in a bit. The bodice bunches outward when she moves around and I can see down the front.

I matched the center back seams for fun. The insides were finished with my overlocking foot (no pictures, sorry.) I used navy thread on top and white thread in the bobbin when I stitched on the ric rac.

This was a really fun dress to make! I wanted her to have a new dress for July 4th but we went to Lake LBJ for the extended weekend and ended up not taking it. Here are some shots of our trip:

You can just see me sitting at the table. This is the only picture I made it into!

That's my niece on the left. She and Daniel are inseparable when they're together.

Now I'm off to do a mountain of laundry and a ton of unpacking...

Beach bum

Wonder where I've disappeared to lately? We are vacationing this week at a beach southwest of Galveston called Surfside.

Here I am catching up on some light reading from the balcony of our rented beach house.

I have several posts I need to write, including the reveal of my involvement in the Mood Sewing Network that you've probably already heard about, and a dress I finished up last week but was too busy packing to snap any pictures of. I'm not computer savvy enough to be able to accomplish those tasks so far from my home computer, so you'll have to wait for next week for the information. Have a great rest of the week, y'all!

Vacationing in Florida

Hi there! I've nothing sewing related to share with you since we've been vacationing in Florida at the "happiest place on earth". Or, Walt Disney World, for those of you without kids. (Yes that is a sad child in front of the legendary Disney castle, but keep in mind this was our 7th day at the parks and the poor kids were tired of smiling for the camera and saying "cheese". Plus that day was just plain HOT. We thought we would be smart and go at the end of April to take advantage of spring-like weather. Hah!)

After that I booked 3 nights in Pensacola so we could visit a beach with white sands and play in the ocean. Of course I had no idea of the impending oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We did manage to get in one full day of wave frolicking, though, and might have done another day were it not for my lobsterish appearance. I hate to be sunburned and always slather on the sunblock. However, we used that spray can type and it was a bit windy, a combination I can't recommend. It will leave you with a painfully splotchy sunburn. Happily, my kids and husband were somehow spared the worst of it. Seeing a sunburned child always makes me a little upset at their parents. This is probably the only time you will see a picture of me in a bathing suit, and you're only seeing it because of my strategically placed son. :)

The other boy was very busy all day building sand castles and digging trenches. He was mighty serious about the whole business, which is very fitting with his personality. We all had a great time, minus the sunburn, and I think they enjoyed it just about as much as Disney. But not quite, I'm telling myself, because Disney World was a whole heck of a lot more expensive.

And here is how we currently feel. Who knew vacationing could be so tiring?!

Tomorrow we are leaving bright and early for the 12 hour drive back home to Texas. I have been dreaming of my sewing machine these past few nights and will be glad to get back to my normal routine. And my newest copy of Burda. And my dressform that had the nerve to show up on a UPS truck the day before we left when I was in the thick of packing. And home cooking. If I see another french fry I am going to scream. My brown dress that you saw a bit of in the previous post sadly did not get finished in time for this trip. Which turned out to be fine, as the other 2 dresses I took never saw the outside of my suitcase.