Project Run and Play ~ Signature Look

I just, seriously just, finished this outfit and took some pictures.

I wish so badly that it was sunny outside.  

Instead, it's been raining for 3 days.

So my pictures are not as good as I'd like them to be.  We have buttercups with buds on them and I believe they would be open if it had been sunny today. Oh well.

 

Let me tell you about my signature look.

First of all, I almost always use home decor fabrics when making clothes for my kids.  

Even more so when it comes to making holiday attire.  Like this Easter Egg Hunting ensemble.

There a couple of reasons for this:  

1.  Most decor fabrics are treated with a stain resistant.  This makes it easy to keep from getting stains, and in many cases they can simply be wiped off if something gets spilled.

2.  Home decor fabrics are generally thicker, so they can take more wear and tear before actually being torn and worn out.

All of this matters a lot to me, because of two reasons:

1.  I like for my kids to be able to wear almost anything I make, any day of the year.  We raise chickens and they spend a lot of time playing with the chickens and carrying them around.  They also like to get "dressed up" every day.  With these fabrics I know that not only will their clothing be alright, they'll be able to wear them to church on Sunday after they've gone through a simple wash load.

2.  We have 4 children and hand-me-downs are inevitable.   My youngest kids are wearing several hand-me-down pieces, and these clothes look the same as they did when the older kids were wearing them.

Another characteristic of my signature look is the use of ribbon.  Even before pillowcase dresses were popular I was making jumpers, overalls, and jackets with ribbon closures.  For my little girls it's just the perfect feminine touch.

Matching hair bows are an absolute must and also indicative that an outfit came from me.  It's one of those things that my husband ribs me about.  Not too long ago I heard him say, "I'll bet you are the only mama with her glue gun out in the mornings before school!"  Well, that may be true, but since my oldest like to explore in the woods, sometimes a new one has to be made on the fly.

I love embroidery.  Embroidering by hand was the very first sewing technique I ever learned.  So a lot of times I like to monogram outfits.  If not monogramming then I usually will do an applique.  Something to make an outfit a little more eye catching.

Finally, the trim.  Whether it's adding trim or using a special top stitch I like to set my garments apart with a feature that can sometimes be subtle.

This outfit is no different.

This is an Easter outfit that I made for Carolina Jane.

This is going to be her first year to actually hunt eggs and she needed something that would hold up nicely for more than one Easter egg hunt, be able to wear it to church, the Easter dinner held in the fellowship hall after church, and then the visit to Papa and Nana's house afterward to play with her cousins.
She's still wobbly on her legs and so I know she is going to fall down.
Not having to worry if her clothes are going to be ruined is nice.

I made all my own patterns and so that is part of the reason it took me so long to get this one right.  The little turkey has grown since that June Bug Remix we did several weeks ago.  Whew!  Between that, my oldest son has been running a high fever every day since Sunday (and still is), Girl Scout cookie coming in and going out, the police waking us up at 3:30 am to watch the house 75 yards away from ours burning to the ground on Valentine's Day, and that whole fiasco with the homemade Valentine cards and starting the fire while trying to melt crayons that I blogged about, I wasn't sure if I was going to make the cut off on this one.  Oh my goodness it has been a busy week.  I really can't help but to shake my head, take a deep sigh, and laugh.

The top is a combination of a white fabric with a print of a rainbow of pastel colors as pinwheels, combined with a sage green drapery satin.  I flipped the drapery satin over to use the reverse side so that it would show the dull side and not the shiny side.  I personalized it by embroidering her initials on the bodice and adding complimenting ribbons to the shoulders for easy closure and a nice feminine/girly flare.   Finished off with coordinating pastel pink pom pom trim around the bottom of the dress skirt.

This dress is fully lined with the same pinwheel fabric.

The pants are made from the same sage green and trimmed with the same pastel pink pom pom trim.

The elastic waistband in the pants makes it a comfortable fit whether she's wearing one of her cloth diapers or disposable diapers.

I wanted a little flare at the bottom of the legs, so I made sure the pants were cut with a slight flare at the bottom.

The hair bow is made of the same pastel pink ribbon used on the shoulders of the dress, with a sage green ribbon in the center to show that it was made to complete her ensemble.

Thank you for checking out my latest project.
If you want to see the rest of the participant's projects then click here to go to the flickr group.