art smock

{kids clothes week}

:: it feels good to be creating again, making things = happy me :)

:: art smock from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children by Liesl Gibson

:: hoping to reduce the stains on long sleeve shirts, this art smock is for school, I'd like to sew another one for home

:: fabrics look familiar ?  they are from the JoAnn DS quilt collection: Sugar Creek Whimsy Bouquet Meadow & Picnic Dots Red/Pink

:: this is the second item I've sewn from this book, the first was the tutu

:: I can't say enough about any pattern from Oliver + S, they are great !  really like the finishing touches on this art smock, lots of French seams so the inside looks polished

:: back to sewing I go ~ happy sewing everyone !

convertible clutch

 Vanessa @ Little Big Girl Studio asked her blog readers a couple of weeks ago for sewing pattern testers for a purse that she designed & I volunteered :)     (BTW, how I know Vanessa is she's the one who hosted a dress a girl around the world sew-a-long, she shared a free pillowcase dress pattern & I sewed a couple... Vanessa has great ideas, so I knew her purse would be a good one, too)

I've knitted a purse & sewn simple totes before, but I had never sewn a purse, so I enjoyed the challenge.

What really attracted me to this purse was the shape of it which reminds me a bit of the moutarde bag.

I knew just the right cotton print fabrics to use for this project... a couple of fun new fabrics by JoAnn DS quilt collection: Sugar Creek Whimsy Bouquet Meadow & Picnic Dots Red/Pink.

It's called the convertible clutch, it's a 2-in-1, a tote & a clutch. The PDF pattern is now available to buy, so go check it out !

Summer Hair

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

my daughter gets lots of compliments on her hair because it's soooo long, she's 4 years old & never had a haircut.  with such long hair & the summer heat & humidity it needed to be off the face if not up off the shoulders, so we've been having fun surfing the net to discover new hair styles & here's a few we've tried...

first photo is hippy hair #2

 twisties

 bubbly ponytail

 long hair messy bun

 hippy hair

 lots ideas all over the web, but did you know there's even a book all about girls hair ?  it's got fun ideas, too...

I have caught up with blogging (meaning I'm done with my "what I did during my summer vacation" posts), yeah !  I feels good to be caught up... back to regular postings soon, until then (for those living in the USA) enjoy your Labor day weekend !

Gluten-free Reese's S'mores

{what I did during my summer vacation}

did you know that they now have jumbo marshmallows ?

to make these gluten-free, the key is finding or baking gluten-free graham crackers, try S'moreables by Kinnikinnick

or try this gluten-free casein-free homemade graham cracker recipe

from my gluten-free (outdoor) kitchen to your belly :o)

bon appétit !

Rapunzel dress details & cost

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

in case anyone is interested in sewing a Rapunzel dress (like the ones from my daughter's princess Rapunzel birthday party) following this free pattern I wanted to share my notes as I made a few changes & included more details (than the free tutorial gives) which are mentioned below.

first of all, this dress fits my daughter who is 4 years old.

I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance throughout.

front bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of pink ribbon for the 10 ribbon loops. I did not seal the ribbon edges as they are hidden & enclosed, I felt that step could be skipped, saving time.

back bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of velcro for each of the closures.

underskirt ~ I used 22 inches of purple fabric & 19 inches of 3/4 inch elastic.

overskirt ~ I used the fabric selvage to selvage & cut it 23 inches long. for the selvage edges I ironed down 1 inch, then used 5/8 inch Peel n Stick fabric fuse (permanent adhesive for hems) down almost all of the length of the 23 inch overskirt. the Peel n Stick was ironed down & makes a nice & very easy no sew hem. for gathering the top of the underskirt I used the zigzag over cording method. for the bottom hem I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch & topstitched.

sleeves ~ for gathering the sleeves at the top I used the zigzag over cording method. at the bottom of the sleeves I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch, topstitched around leaving an opening for the casing. I used 9 inches of 1/4 inch elastic per sleeve.

amount of fabrics used:
lavandar, a flat crepe-back satin solid (polyester): 1 yard
purple, a heathered suiting (polyester): 29 inches

amount of trims used:
white eyelet trim: 47 inches
pink cord: 42 inches
shiny pink ribbon: 84 inches
velcro: 6 inches

as I was sewing these dresses I became curious to know how much it cost to make each dress. you know as a sewist, not everything you sew is money saving, but sometimes you can sew for less...

these prices are pretty close, I know I made a few teeny tiny mistakes, but this gives me a good idea of how much each dress cost to make.

(see chart below) the total came to about $13 per dress !  what a deal !  I bought everything at JoAnn Fabrics, the fabrics were on clearance, I used a 50% off coupon on the eyelet trim & 40% off coupons on the remaining items. I must add that I did not count the thread nor the trim on the bottom of the underskirt (I got that free), & thanks to a blogger the sewing pattern & tutorial were FREE :)

I did a little research to see what princess dresses cost to buy:
$11-$15 here
$20 here
$40 here

interesting, huh ?

I think I will try to keep track of how much money it costs me to sew a garment in the future...

have you ever kept track of how much it cost you to sew a garment ?  please share...

Length	Material	Unit Price	Full Price	Discounted price
42”	Pink Cord	$.79/yd	$0.92	$0.55
84”	Pink ribbon	$.11/ft	$0.77	$0.46
47”	Eyelet trim	$2.99/yd	$3.91	$1.96
8”	Velcro	$3.49/30”	$0.93	$0.56
40”	Fabric fuse	$4.49/20ft	$0.75	$0.45
18”	1/4" Elastic	$.49/yd	$0.25	$0.15
19”	3/4” Elastic	$.99/yd	$0.52	$0.31
1yd	Lavender fabric	$14/yd	$14.00	$5.25
29”	Purple fabric	$12/yd	$9.67	$3.33
		TOTAL:	$31.72	$13.02

DIY painted chandelier

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

this was the pink chandelier that was at my daughter's princess Rapunzel party and it was super easy to do... I got the idea here

 in our kitchen dining room, this chandelier was way too big & formal for this space

 so I took this old ugly green faux-marbled and gold outdated chandelier, spray painted it with white primer, then spray painted it with pink paint. I told you it was easy !

 cost for this project:
chandelier $0
2 cans spray paint $7.96
which brings it to a total of $7.96

the chandelier was free because it came with the fixer-upper house that we purchased, but I recently saw a smaller gold chandelier at a garage sale for only $5 !

now the pink chandelier is hanging in my turquoise studio ~ when I look up in front of me as I'm typing this, there it is :)

Princess Rapunzel party

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

3 little dresses for 3 little girls... here is the second birthday party we celebrated this summer... my daughter turned 4 years old, has very long hair since she's never had a haircut & she enjoyed the Tangled movie, so a princess Rapunzel party is was...

 simple homemade invitations (I used a hot glue gun to attach the flowers to the braided ponytail)

 inside the invitations:

Hear Ye, Hear Ye. You are cordially invited to a Princess Rapunzel party to celebrate {girls name} 4th birthday. The party will be held at the Castle {last name} in the Kingdom of {city}, on {date} at {time}. Come and be a princess for a day with a princess dress-up and princess luncheon. If you would like you can come dressed in your best princess attire, but there will be princess dresses provided. Princess {girls name} can't wait to see all of her princess friends.

 4 pompoms for the 4 year old

 pink ruffle paper baking cups were bought at Michael's

 can you tell my daughter's favorite color is pink ?

 I sewed all the 3 girls a dress (this took me 1.5 weeks) using this free Rapunzel dress pattern (I blogged more about the dresses here)

 I knitted & wet felted my daughter this purple princess Rapunzel hat using this free felted princess hat pattern. I knitted a pink one for my daughter's first birthday :)

during the birthday party we did braids in the hair, painted finger & toe nails, putting on little flower stickers that go on nails, then we did a few little crafts. the girls were thrilled playing tea party in the shade of a big tree with a pink chandelier. it was a very hot day, so later after they put on their swimsuits they ran through the sprinkler & threw water balloons.

if you plan on throwing a princess birthday party here are more ideas:
from books:
Pink Princess Cookbook by Barbara Beery

 Pink Princess Cupcakes by Barbara Beery

on the web:
Rapunzel hair that could be used as a decoration

medieval princess bag

cardboard Rapunzel photo booth

Tangled Tower Cupcake

Tangled inspired birthday party

PS next summer we're planning a ballet theme, I plan to sew all the girls a tutu