Seams of Life

my creative space

My creative space this week has been filled with pink feathers and white netting. The girls brainstormed and came up with their halloween costume ideas about 2 months ago but -- true to my character-- I waited until the last minute to bring their ideas to life. A blushing bride for Sarah and a pretty-in-pink flamingo for Carlee. 

Their costumes are actually semi-momma made. Technically I only made the flamingo mask, the bride's silver belt and the head piece. I found the bridal dress at the Goodwill and I grabbed the feather boa on sale at Hancocks.

I just love Halloween. Seriously, what other holiday takes a lot of creativity and does not require any gift buying!

See more creative spaces here.

 

my creative space

This project has been my constant companion these last few weeks -- it has been by my side at several cheer practices, a dentist appointment, a doctor's appointment, and many evenings on the couch. It's even hid under my desk at work. I don't have plan for the color scheme other than to decided which colors look best next to each other.  I'm really, really happy with way it's turning out so far (finally, right?!).

Here are all the juicy details:

• the yarn is several different brands of medium, worsted weight acrylic (Caron, Loops & Thread, Vanna's Choice)
• the pattern is from Attic24
• the measurements are approximately 5 ft by 6 ft (48 colorful rows to be exact)
• finish date -- stay tuned!

See many, many more creative spaces from this week over here.

 

 

 

craft book of the month :: the imke shirt

 The Imke Shirt has quickly become my favorite pattern from Sewing Clothes Kids Love. (sorry but I completely spaced and forgot to take a picture of this shirt from the book) It's just a simple pullover shirt pattern that has the option of adding a hood, but, oh my --  the inspiration one can find in such simplicity! The book shows this shirt worked up in so many different ways -- short sleeves, long sleeves, flared or gathered sleeves, appliqued, hooded, no hood, a crazy mix of colors and prints -- the possibilities are endless.

My first attempt at the Imke Shirt involved a handed-down shirt and flannel from my stash. I used the shirt for the hood and sleeves (no hemming, yay!) and the flannel for the bodice.

  

To be honest with you, the girls did not like my fabric choices on this top. In their opinion, it just did not match. Sarah finally warmed up to it (at least long enough for me to take a few pictures) after I added the little pocket.

   

Although this shirt wasn't received well, I still think that it turned out pretty darn cute. That could have something to do with my darling little model who smiled and posed as if she loved this shirt.

For the second shirt, I got wise and let the girl choose the fabrics. And she did an excellent job. Pink and red are Carlee's current favorite colors, so she chose pink jersey from my stash and a red handed-down shirt. The appliqued bird -- also her choice -- is made from baby blue fleece (the color is a little blown out in the photo).

 

This one turned out to be my favorite. It also taught me a lesson -- sometimes I need to loosen my grip on the creative control and let my girls make more design decisions, especially when it comes to something that they will be wearing. I am, after all, trying to sew clothes that my kids love.

autumn color inspiration

I just couldn't let October slip by without taking notice of the inspirational colors that autumn brings...

~turquoise and orange~

 

 ~yellow and gray~  I am enchanted by both of these color combinations right now.

craft book of the month :: brooklyn tank and shrug

Where does the time go? Sometimes it seems as though I just blink and the week is gone. This post has been saved in Typepad for 5 days now and I'm just know getting around to sharing it.

My first completed projects from Sewing Clothes Kids Love are the Brooklyn Tank and Shrug. I know that mentioned before that my girls need winter clothes, however, I chose to make the tank and shrug first because they seemed to be easier than pants or a jacket. And they were, in fact, easy to put together.

 

For the Brooklyn Shrug, I used some knit fabric that has been hiding in my fabric stash for ages. I decided to used bias tape around the edges to avoid hemming and to give this piece a little pop of color. I think it turned out very cute but I would really love to see it worked up in velvet, more like the picture in the book.

 Next up is the Brooklyn Tank, the perfect companion to the Brooklyn Shrug.

 
 Ok, this one almost felt like cheating because I used a few handed-down tee shirts for the bodice.  These tee shirts were adult small so they almost fit the girls except for the wide cut neck. I used the bodice pattern from the book to cut a new neckline and armholes. Then I used bias tape, once again, to make the straps. Easy peasy and oh so cute.

 Now that this post is finally publish, hopefully I can get back to a more consistent blogging schedule. See you soon!