Cat and Art Birthday Party

 Another summer, another birthday party... this year the birthday girl wanted a cat + art birthday party.

So we made our own invitations... I had my teenage son lightly sketch an outline of a cat in pencil on watercolor paper, then my daughter painted them in with watercolor paint.

 White paper bags were decorated with a cat by simply tracing a cat image found here.

 The white paper bags were for holding the piñata candy. I got the idea for making a cat piñata here. And got the idea to use a beach ball here.

 My husband did papier-mâché over 2 beach balls, the second beach ball was one step behind the other just in case the first one did not work out (that way we would not have to scramble at the last minute trying to make another piñata from scratch). The first beach ball piñata did end up working out, so now we have another beach ball piñata for another time.

 My teenage son painted the piñata and gray felt ears were glued on. Then it was filled with 5 pounds of candy!

 Each of the 10 kids got to whack it with a stick at least once. The piñata was a big hit with the kids!

 A dozen gray cat cupcakes were baked and decorated by linnycakes.

 Simple cat plates were made by taping cat shaped paper ears to a paper plate.

 White paper was wrapped around an apple juice box, again decorated by tracing the cat image found here. The cat cookies we bought at Trader Joe's.

 My husband drew cat faces on balloons with black permanent marker.

 Going home with each child was a cat zipper pouch. I sewed 10 of these using the Straight Stitch Society feed the animals coin purses sewing pattern. 6 in pink, 2 in orange...

 The orange ones were lined in white with golden stars... the pink ones in pink with white polka dots.

 One blue cat...

 lined with gray with white polka dots...

 and one gray one...

 lined with gray with white polka dots.

 And it would not be a cat + ART birthday party without art... the party took place at an art center and an art teacher read the book "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" then all the kids used watercolor paper, cray pas, and watercolor paints to create their art project.

 And here is the birthday girl's masterpiece.

Thanks for coming to the party with us!

PS If you are looking for more birthday party ideas, in the past we have had Princess Rapunzel, Ballerina, Octopus, and Yellow LEGO themed ones.

Color Wheel Dress Tutorial

 A dress with a pieced circle skirt inspired by the 6 main colors of the color wheel (free pattern and tutorial)

 Supplies needed:

• Purple Rose Party Dress pattern size 4
• 1.5 yards white cotton fabric
• 13 inches by 13 inches of 6 different solid colored cotton fabrics: pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple
• 7-9 inch invisible zipper
• bias binding
• hook and eye closure

 Step-by-step instructions:
First make a pattern for the 6 wedges. On a large piece of paper draw a circle with 3.5 inch radius and draw another circle around that 10 inches away.

 With a protractor make a 60 degree angle and draw lines from the center point of the circle out to the edge of the largest circle.

  On the 2 sides of the wedge add .25 inches for the seam allowances.

 Cut off the inner 3.5 inches.

 Now you have your pattern which will be used to cut out the 6 different colored pieces of the color wheel.

 Sew together the 6 skirt pieces using .25 inch seam allowance, then press seams open.

 Cut out the circle skirt lining, by placing the color wheel circle skirt on top of white fabric, right sides together.
Sew lining and color wheel circle skirt together using .25 inch seam allowance.
Using pinking shear/zigzag rotary cutter, trim seam allowance all around the circle.

 Turn right side out and press.

 Cut out 2 bodices (the 2nd one is for the lining). Assemble bodices using .5 inch seam allowance (for more help refer to the Striped Dress). Attach bodice to the color wheel circle skirt using .5 inch seam allowance. Sew on bias binding to the bodice/skirt seam. Install invisible zipper. Add bias binding to the armholes and neckline. Attach a hook and eye closure above the invisible zipper.

 Put it on the girl and let her twirl!

Tricolor Chevron Tutorial

 So here's the scoop on how I created the Tricolor Chevron...

The pattern: Oliver+S Rollerskate Dress with these alterations: I went one size down (I would normally sew a size 5, so for this I sewed a size 4 and I do have to admit that it is a little snug when putting it on and taking it off, so my advise would be to make the back opening just a little bit deeper), eliminated the elastic waistband, added on seam side pockets, and added .5 inch in length
The fabrics: solid cotton fabrics in turquoise, white, and gray, lining is 100% cotton voile in white

 First up I started with an idea and made a sketch. I actually traced the View A front drawing from the sewing pattern (because I am so bad at drawing), then added my details. I then sat down and figured out how I was going to execute my vision. My number one priority was that I wanted that top turquoise stripe of the chevron to be thick enough to cover the whole shoulder.

 Second I created my own textile by cutting out strips of fabric:

• Turquoise was cut 6.5 inches wide
• White was cut 4 inches wide
• Gray was cut 4 inches wide

 I took these strips of fabric and I sewed them together (using .5 inch seam allowances, then pressed the seams open) to make striped fabric.

 Lastly I cut out the pattern pieces at a 45 degree angle, adding .5 inch seam allowance for the center seam for the front 2 pieces. The first front piece I cut out using the paper pattern.

 For the second front piece I placed the first front piece on top (right sides together) to match up the stripes and get a perfect mirror image. I used the same method for the 2 back pieces.

 Then I sewed everything together, when sewing up the side seams that is when I added the on seam side pockets using Freshly Picked's pocket pattern.

 In the end the actual dress turned out to be a little different from the original sketch and that is because I decided to make a tricolor textile with varying thicknesses for the chevron, this was after seeing the inspiring photos from the Christian Siriano (Project Runway Season 4 winner) Resort 2014 collection.

PS I created this dress for the FLIP This Pattern Series and now through Sunday July 21 11 PM CST voting is going on, 3 different designers shared their FLIP, go here to vote for YOUR favorite.

PPS Would you like to learn another way to do color blocking? Check out color blocking 101 on the Oliver+S blog.

Pleated Blue Floral Dress

 

Kids Clothes Week Summer 2013 is going on July 15-21.

 Today I am sharing this pleated blue floral dress I sewed.

The pattern: Oliver+S Fairy Tale Dress, size 5
The fabrics: blue floral cotton voile, lining is 100% cotton voile in white
The mods: Collarless. Sleeveless, I added bias trim around the armholes. I made the back a v-neck back. I used a lot more fabric for the skirt and placed many pleats. I added a grosgrain ribbon belt (and added sewn belt loops). I also added on seam sides pockets using Freshly Picked's free pocket pattern.

 This dress is a knock off of a $1500 floral print woman's dress by Antonio Marras. There are pleats on the woman's bodice, but after studying it, I realized that the pleats are to accommodate for the woman's curves. Since the girl's bodice didn't require pleats, I didn't add them.

 To make the ribbon belt I used 26 inches of grosgain ribbons and 3.5 inches for the bow. The white ribbon is 1 inch wide, the bright blue ribbon is 3/8 inch wide. I simply topstitched the blue ribbon onto the white ribbon. The ends of the belt are folded over .25 inch and sewed down. I added 1.5 inches of velcro on the 2 ends of the belt. That white and blue bow reminds me of the Finnish flag.

 There are 16 pleats in front and 12 pleats in back. The pleats are about 1 to 1.25 inches deep. I used about 110 inches of fabric for the skirt which is more than double what the pattern calls for which is 52.5 inches so the skirt is a super full and twirly.

 My daughter's request is that her dresses have pockets and have twirly skirts. I usually can accommodate one of those requests, but this one has both! She is super pleased!

Balloon Cork People

{Kid Summer Creativity}

Another cork project... last time we painted champagne corks to look like mushrooms. This time we made balloon cork people. Super simple and easy, slide balloons over wine corks, then add eyes and mouth with a permanent marker. Got the idea here. They turn out having funny noses!

Buttercup Bag

 I desperately needed a new purse, so one afternoon this past week I whipped up a Buttercup Bag (free sewing pattern). The outer fabric is dark blue chambray and the lining is gray polka dot. The one small change I did make was I made the inside pocket a little bigger. After using my new purse for the first time later that same day, I realized that I sewed the shoulder strap wrong! You are suppose to fold the shoulder strap in half lengthwise. So my strap turned out super short, but in the end I really like it because I'm petite and I really like things small and nice and snug. The Buttercup Bag is my favorite size and shape for a purse. And what a bonus that all you need is a fat quarter for the outer fabric and less than that for the lining!

FLIP This Pattern

Today I'm over at Frances Suzanne to share my "FLIP" of the Oliver+S Rollerskate Dress, click here to check it out.