Paper Bag Skirt and Maternity Skirt

Using a tutorial I found over at diymaternity.com
I made this paperbag skirt.  Or is paper bag skirt?  I don't know.

I kept waiting to post this until I got a better picture.

But since I'm not pregnant anymore that no longer is possible.

Well, I don't know.  

I haven't actually worn this since I was pregnant.

I did try it on briefly one Sunday morning when we were in a rush to get out the door to church and Kai met me at the door with an emphatic, "NOOOOO, Mama!"  

Then Delsin quickly ran around to see what she was so excited about and busted out laughing in agreement with her.

So, I haven't worn it since I was pregnant.

But I'm looking at this picture thinking...

...with my long sleeve black v-neck cotton tee and a pair of tights I might be able to pull this off.

Maybe I'll try it on with a few optional possibilities tomorrow.  

If I can get past the first option without crying, that is.

We'll see.

Originally when I made it, I had made it longer.  See?

 What a difference a hem length makes, huh?

I think it looks better shorter.

Wow, you can almost see how swollen my ankles got, in these pictures.

Hung By The Chimney With Care

These are our stockings. (Left to right)

Daniel, Delsin, Kai, Carolina, Enoch, Me

Daniel and I made our stockings the first year we were married.  We made the stockings out of old bed sheets and a silvery shimmery sheer overlay.  We each made our own. It was my rule.

Then we added a little silvery trim to the heel and toe.  I think I was the only one that added it to the toe.

I also added some beads to the top of the white part of mine. (I've Googled  the terminology and still don't know what it is.)  Daniel passed, even for the trims that I thought were manly.

Then when we had Delsin we no longer had that old ugly sheet, so we used red velvet (short pile) for the outside.  Joann's fabric store had a Black Friday sale of 96 cents per yard on the flannel that I used on the lining of the kid's stockings and the fabric for their pajamas this year.

Then for the outside white trim we used the same crushed white velvet that we used on our stockings. 

The Zoo Crew's stockings!

First of all let me tell you that the majority of these stockings were made 10 years ago, or more actually.  So the pictures not only do not due them justice, but stuff has fallen off.  You'll know what I mean in a minute.

Starting on the left, Sarah's (God rest her soul), Smitty's, Laleh's, Prince's (God rest his soul), Dirk's (God rest his soul), and Priscilla's (God rest her soul).    I know that over half of the "people" who own these stockings are dead, but I can't help but to hang them anyway.  I think they are so pretty.  Even prettier than our own, and I like to think that the family members they belonged to are still part of the family.

For Sarah, a dog that I knew the moment I met her was destined to be my dog, I put her name on the stocking in a combination of beads and ribbon.

Smitty's name was written in white buttons and to this day it is my favorite of all the stockings I've made.

Laleh's stocking was actually an extra that I made back in the day before I knew her.  She hasn't gotten her name on it yet.  I really intend to embroider everyone's names on their stockings (the ones' that don't already have them on them) before Christmas of next year.  Including Laleh.

This is Prince's stocking, and the one that is missing parts.

I glued rhinestones to form his name back when I made these almost 20 years ago.  It looked good.

Dirk's name was written in sequence.  Gold and silver sequence.  The silver sequence was smaller than the gold.

Priscilla's name was written with beads.  I went through my bead collection and only used red, green, and white.  She died the night I realized I was pregnant with Gabriella Priscilla, our sweet baby that died in my womb.  

These are my favorite stockings.  Even though most of the animals in this round up are dead I always get these stockings out and display them.  I do this to keep their memory alive.  To let them know that I am still loving them.

My first knitting project...

How adorable is he?

OK, I have to admit that I used a knitting machine.  But it was the first time I've done it on my own, and fixed the places that skipped as it was going.  I'm kinda proud of this little project.  I'd like to make one for Carolina, but this is a tight fit on Enoch. I need to learn how to first.

A couple more diapers that I made earlier this month.  One for Carolina and one for Enoch.

A nursing cover for myself.  I used this tutorial from Craftbits.com .

I made a shirt for Daniel first thing this month, but I put the left sleeve on the right side and vice-versa.  I still have to fix that, and it's top of my to-do (sewing) list today.

I used this pattern for his shirt:  Style 2386

I have a new baby!!!! And lots of new projects to blog about.

Enoch Alexander is his name, and I have made a few things for him that I will post in this blog entry.  I've done a lot of sewing since August, in fact. So I'm going to take the time to post them now.

Pictured here is my neice wearing a pillow case dress I made for her 2nd birthday.  Kai wanted a picture with her cousin too.

For Carolina's first birthday I made her a pillow case dress too, and a matching bib.  I'm not very great with the bibs.  I always make the neckline too big and so it gapes open.  I need to just use a store bought one for a pattern when I make the next one.

Daniel made Carolina's birthday cakes.  Didn't he do an awesome job?

In September I made Delsin this cute outfit.  The shirt is made from a fabric that has Batman and The Joker on it.  He had a pair of pants that still fit, but had holes in the knees, so I sewed a patch in each knee, from the inside of the pants.  That way there would be a Batman looking out of one hole and a Joker looking out of another hole.  He loves it!  He went through a phase of wanting to fix his hair like Justin Beiber.  Thankfully that is over now.  lol.

It was so hard to get the lighting right on a photo of these patches.  This was the best I could do, sorry.

These are some neck pillows that I made for my sister and brother in law.

A pillow case dress I made for Kai.  You can't see them, but it has matching pantaloons underneath.  Usually the ruffle that matches the bottom strip of fabric on the dress, is all that is visible on the pantaloons.  It is a cute outfit, and she always gets lots of compliments when she wears it.

This outfit is probably already on the blog a few years back because I made it for Kai when she was about Carolina's age.  It's a terrible photo since it's all twisted around.  Carolina is trying to do a dance video game with grandma, in this picture.

Here is Enoch's birthday suit that I made him.  A kimono with matching flannel pants.  Very snugly soft fabric.

I also made him a matching reversible blanket.

 And a sleep sack that matches the reversible side of the blanket.

 I made these next three outfits for my sister in law's grandchildren.

This is the same outfit I made for Enoch, just a different looking fabric.

Here is a maternity dress that I made for myself.  I cut my head off because of the squinting look on my face as I was facing the sun.  I wanted a picture of the sunflowers before it was too late.  I may have waited too long though.

 

I'm really proud of my latest creation.  I made this jacket for Delsin this week.  We both love it.

I've also made several diapers for Carolina and Enoch, but I forgot to take pictures of them.  Maybe I'll get around to it the next time I make a couple in a day or two.  Right now I have to go put another layer of paper mache' on a planet earth costume for Delsin.  He wants to be planet earth with his head being the moon and his fingers being the stars.  Not sure what we're gonna do for the moon part yet.  Then I want to make him a shirt out of some dinosaur flannel I have, to wear to school on Wednesday when he presents a dinosaur project to his class.  Kai wants to be a pink princess for Halloween, so I have that dress to make too.  Whew!  I need to get started.

Here's a little pattern info:

Mama's Tiered Skirt

I noticed, this morning, that I'm wearing a skirt that I made last spring and never took a photo of. 

I just had my daughter do the honors.

I wore this skirt to my sister's graduation.  My daddy said it looks too big for me.  I like it.  I asked if it looked too long and he just said, "it looks too big".  Maybe he's right.  I would appreciate any comments either way.  I did intentionally make it longer, because I like long dresses and skirts that I can have a picnic on the ground in, without showing private things.  I also like full skirts, so I added some fabric to the width too, but of course the waist is snug.  My daughter couldn't hold the camera up high enough to get my face in the photo.  She's 4.  I wasn't too thrilled about having my picture taken right now anyway.  I've still got bed head.

I used New Look pattern 6565.  Skirt A.  It's an *easy pattern.  I love easy projects.

This was just that.  I hope to make another one, this spring.

(click to purchase from Simplicity)



Costumes!

I had fun making some costumes this year. 
First of all, Claire had taken a trip and spent some time in Amish country so she wanted an Amish costume.  I told her what I had in the way of fabric and she worked out the rest.
I made her a bonnet and an apron.  She loved her costume.

I didn't use a pattern for the apron. 

For the bonnet I used this craft project tutorial.  I just used fabric instead of paper, and hemmed the edges before I got started.

I almost didn't want to dress up for Halloween, this year. It was more that I was so busy with the baby and hadn't even had time to think up a costume. 
Day before Halloween came and we headed over to Walmart to let the kids pick something out.  The kids had already picked out some costumes when I saw a Red Riding Hood costume and had an idea.
"Hey!  How about Kai, you be Red Riding Hood & Delsin, you be the wolf...."

Daniel said, "I can be the lumber jack!"

"And I'll be Grandma!" I said.

But Delsin and Kai wanted to be their own things. (Wolverine and Cinderella)  So, we went ahead and bought their store bought costumes and drove around the city looking for a wolf mask for Daniel.  We decided to make him the wolf, me Red Ridding Hood, and Carolina Jane the basket of goodies.  We didn't find any wolf items within budget, so we came home.  I had a pattern for a lion costume I used with some grey fur fabric I had left over from the year we went as the three blind mice, and within 24 hours we had us a wolf costume, a Red Ridding Hood costume, and a Chocolate Eclair costume.

For the Wolf costume I used McCall's Costumes EASY TO SEW pattern.  MP349.

For the Red Riding Hood cape I used McCall's Costumes Medieval Magic 6775.  I can't find a link to the pattern information on their website, so I'm attaching a photo.

For Carolina Jane's Chocolate Eclair costume I only used a pattern for the hat.  McCall's M6103.  It was way too big, so I had to add a piece of elastic to the back before we rushed out the door.

I didn't use a pattern at all for the dress.  I just cut two long pieces of rectangle from some brown crushed velvet I had on hand.  I sewed the sides leaving an opening large enough to comfortably get her arms through.  Then I sewed the top on the left and right, leaving a hole large enough for her head to get through

comfortably.  Then I finished all the edges.  Easy as pie.    I put a long sleeve t -shirt on her with her booties I made from the same pattern as the hat.    I wore a dress that has my sister handed down to me, with a wig that's seen many a Halloween.  Daniel wore his wire framed glasses and his bathrobe to be the big bad wolf pretending to be Grandma.  It was so much fun.