Getting another year out of 'em

The girls love their Far, Far Away double-gauze dresses too much to part with them. So I did the frugal mom thing and just added a band of contrasting fabric to each of the bottoms. I actually took the time to rip out the old hem seam before adding the bands, which makes me really pleased with myself. As is evidenced in the photo, I only ironed the parts I was sewing. Apparently it would have killed me to iron the rest of the dresses before photographing them. If I didn't cut some corners and do some lazy mom tricks I would never get anything posted to this blog. And I know how upsetting that would be to the two people who check in with me now and again.

Heather Ross Keds from Zazzle!

I couldn't resist ordering some of the custom Heather Ross Keds from Zazzle. For one thing, my oldest daughter never wears sneakers. And she needs to. At least sometimes. So I figured if the prospect of purple unicorn shoes wouldn't get her to start wearing them, nothing would. I let the girls customize them. Let's just say that the choices they made wouldn't necessarily have been my choices, but that's okay. I'm letting go a little. It's hard to walk the line of wanting to instill good taste (meaning, of course, what I consider to be my own good taste) in the kids and letting them develop their own creative little minds. They know that nothing bearing the name or likeness of a TV or movie character will be worn in our house or on our backpacks and they can live with that. But I let them cut their hair the way they want and I even let them walk around in their cheap sparkly Target mary janes that were purchased solely for the purpose of wearing with Halloween costumes.

Aaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

I just cut into some of my Anna Maria Horner voile to make a dress for my daughter. Using one of my Japanese pattern books. Which don't include seam allowances. Guess what I forgot to do?

Purl Soho Booty!

On Friday morning I snuck off to the Purl Soho warehouse in Tustin rather than helping at my daughter's school Jog-a-thon. I seriously spent two hours touching everything and having a minor freak-out. I kept changing my mind about what to buy--like I would never be back there again, even though it is fifteen minutes from my house. I narrowed it down to two fabrics each for my daughters and two for me. The girls got some great Kokka double-gauze that I think I will probably use for shirts.

I also bought the girls some great mermaid fabric that the Purl website describes as Soft Upholstery. I would describe it as heavier weight double-gauze. It's amazing. I think I'll try to make skirts out of it. I have been trying to stay away from pastels more lately, but this fabric was so great I couldn't resist.

Finally, for me, I bought some Nani Iro. The first I have ever purchased. If I can successfully make a summer sleeveless top for me I will be back for more. I also got some of the Globalweave linen/cotton but I forgot to photograph it. That stuff is not cheap, but it is wide, about 55". I got the hourglass pattern in light brown and orange. I'm going to try to just make a simple elastic-waistband skirt. Hopefully I'll post what I make. Because I'm so good at posting regularly.