Everybody Love a Good Dinosaur!

So there I was in Wal-Mart - buying burlap to make outdoor pillows for my cousin Natalie - when I spied it...the brightly colored "dinosaur" fabric.  I've watched too many episodes of "American Pickers" I guess.  One of the show's hosts...Mike...has mantra that "if you see something you've never seen before, now is the time to buy it".  In other words, "Strike while the iron is hot!"  So...I added a couple of yard of the yellow fabric to my order to make shorts for Timothy, Nathan and Owen.  It turns out... I had enough to make a dress for Zola, too - with the help of a thrift-store t-shirt!  I had already used the sleeves - probably to make leggings for Zola.  But I was able to get a new pair of pants and a dress bodice out of the t-shirt body, so I was pretty excited!

Burlap porch pillows for my cousin.

Three pair of boys' dinosaur shorts will equal three gigantic smiles!

Girls like dinosaurs, too!  Zola's outfit has
matching green pants (not pictured).

Meanwhile, I'd stopped by the local thrift shop to look for toys and other treasures...and I gathered a few colorful t-shirts and dresses that I couldn't pass up.  One t-top became a shorts and top playset for Zola...while a dress morphed into a maxi-skirt for the kids' mom, Jasmine.

Thrift store knit shirt "before"...

...toddler shorts and shirt "after"!

Thrift store maxi dress that morphed into a maxi skirt. 
Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the "after" creation!

What's next?  I am somewhat in a "yellow" phase - cute little black and white bumblebees on a yellow background will become a cute summer outfit for Zola.  Stay tuned!!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like... EASTER!!!

I am so close to having the children's Easter outfits finished, and I have to say..."I'm pretty excited!"  It all started with this adorable yellow print fabric I spotted on Etsy and HAD to have for something for Zola.  I used a free online pattern for The Party Dress (modified for my "little princess").  For the contrasting trim, I purchased a man's chambray shirt from the thrift store ($1), and carefully cut the fabric along seam lines so that I had big pieces to create the sash and trim. 

Chambray "flowers" accent the hem of the dress, and I had enough leftover material to create bow-ties for the boys (photo coming soon!).  The sleeves and pockets became a pair of "cargo pants" for Nathan, and I salvaged all of the pretty buttons for a future project.  I dug into my stash of buttons and found four pale yellow ones for the back of the dress.  Yippee!!! (See...it pays to save those buttons!)

Since the forecast is for cooler weather to return, I decided that Zola might need a jacket to go with her dress.  I thumbed through my stash of thrift-store t-shirts and found the perfect shade of yellow, then found my pattern for a girls' raglan sleeved jacket and modified it, adding trim around the neck and front openings that I top-stitched with a flower motif...and lace edging on the sleeves and hem.  My mother-in-law gave me a huge bag of lace trim...including many yards of pastel yellow, blue and pink lace.  This was the perfect accent for this little jacket.  A matching "flower" trim at the neckline to cover the snap fastening provided the finishing touch! 

 

I cannot wait to see how pretty Zola looks - or how adorable Timothy and Nathan will be in their coordinating (store-bought on clearance) button-down shirts with matching bow-ties!  Maybe they will stand still long enough for me to get a photograph to post!

I think our kiddos will look pretty darn cute on Easter Sunday...and I didn't break the bank for these outfits.  Since I splurged and bought the two shirts and a yard of fabric for the dress, total cost was somewhere around $30.  For a one-of-a-kind "look" for three children...I'd say that's pretty hoppin' good!

TA-DA!!!  Don't they look adorable?!

Aunt Debbie Made It!

When I was a little girl, my sister and I could not wait for the new catalogs to arrive each season.  We would pick out what we liked, and my Mam-ma Polly and my mother would do their best to make us something very similar.  I remember one year when I had an orange double-knit "shift" dress with a pocket near the hem that held a black and white polka dot scarf.  I also had a beautiful white knit peasant-style dress that featured button holes around the neckline and wrists.  Black velvet ribbon was threaded through these button holes and created an accent.  All of my friends coveted this dress!

So I guess it's only natural that I would want to create the fashions I see online for Zola and Olivia and the boys.  I have started saving photos of cute outfits and ideas (and of course, Pinterest is a plethora of material!).  The end results are starting to come to life.

Our high school mascot is the panther... colors are red and black.  So I made all of the children "panther" shirts.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I started on my stash of saved photos.  I went through the thrift-store t-shirts I had purchased... as well as a couple of polka-dot camisoles I purchased on clearance at Wal-Mart... and I started sewing.  I also bought several bandeau tops at Wal-Mart on clearance ($2-$3 each) and made skirts... zebra print and solid black.  Some of this material also became accents for other projects - and even a pair of pants for Zola.

 

This was a cute little outfit I saw on Zulilly. 

 

 

I got this knit shirt at the thrift store (it even had the flowers I used in the finished product).

 

And "Voila!"  My version!

 

 

This was a shirt I retired from my closet... a solid shirt from the thrift store... and an idea I got online...

 

 

 

 

... and these are my versions for Zola...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally... I took this thrift-store knit top, a screen-printed t-shirt from a local nursing center (also purchased at the thrift store)... and created my version of another little outfit.  I have a stack of ideas yet to come... but I may have to stop and work on Halloween outfits next!  Stay tuned to see what else my kiddos will be wearing.  I'm only limited by my imagination!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and Thank You, Mom and Mam-ma Polly... for your inspiration and for teaching me to sew!  I know that Mam-ma would LOVE these outfits... I can just see her fingering the details of each one... and it makes me smile.

The "Sewing Room" is Open!

It took me a while to get back into the "sewing groove" this spring.  My grandmother taught me to sew, and I took everything I made to the Assisted Living Facility to show her.  She couldn't say much, but she would carefully finger each garment or project, grin and shake her head with pride.  After she passed in March, I was pretty busy.  When I started sewing again, I wondered, "Who will I show the finished products to now?"  The answer????  YOU!

This is a fuzzy photo taken with a camera-phone, but I wanted
to show you the tunic I made for myself out of deep purple
"tie-dyed" fabric that features splatter accents of pink, lime
green, turquoise and yellow. My niece LOVED this fabric,
(which you can see better in the next photo), and so did Timothy!



Zola got a dress and matching knit pants (from an old t-shirt)
made from the scraps of my tunic fabric.  My niece liked the fabric,
so I bought more, and she got a summer sundress... can you
say "Mother-daughter"?  or maybe "Aunt/Mother/Daughter"???
 



Timothy loved the fabric so much, and he BEGGED for something
made from it.  I thought it was a bit "girly" even for shorts, so
I decided to make "muscle shirts" for him and his baby brother,
Nathan.  I can't wait to get a group photo of all of us in our "tie-dye!"



I purchased a beautiful vintage golden yellow linen
damask tablecloth at an estate sale.  It became dresses
for my nieces Zola and Kelsey.  The flounced pants
were made from a vintage lace tablecloth.

Back view of the dress and pants.  This outfit is
so much cuter on the little girls.  The pictures do not
do it justice.  This was a purchased Butterick
dress pattern.  I will be using it for lots of dresses!

Zola's mother asked me to make her a cape of her very
own so that Timothy could have his Batman cape back!
She is now "Princes Zola" or "Super Zola" - depending
on her mood.  This is pale pink taffeta and a scrap of lacy
pink overlay I had in the scrap bin.

Back view of the cape!

This is Timothy and Zola sitting with my mother (their great Granny)
on the porch at a restaurant - after a very long day!  Timothy has
on his "monster pants" that I made him.  Zola's outfit is striped
pants and a shirt I made by cutting down a ladies t-shirt that had
contrasting border trims at the neck and sleeve hems.

It was all cars one day last week... car shorts for Timothy and
my cousin Owen... longer shorts for baby Nathan, plus a t-shirt
to match.  I used my copy machine to enlarge one of the cars
in the print for a pattern, so that the "car" on the shirt would
match the cars on the pants.  I was pretty pleased with the results!

I think the contrasting striped pockets make these extra fun!

This watercolor outfit started its life as a ladies novelty knit top. 
The sleeves became pants, and the bodice became the skirt for
this little dress, trimmed with leftover black knit from a t-shirt
and complimented by a "scrap flower" on the front!  Zola looks
simply adorable in this outfit.  One caveat... the top was beaded
and sequined... our little 2-year-old princess picked the beads
and sequins off so much that we finally removed the rest!

This lime green and yellow hoodie was purchased at the
local thrift shop for $1.  The pants were made from the
scraps of a ladies x-large knit top... also purchased at the
thrift shop for a dollar.  Results?  Pretty cute outfit for pennies!

My cousin Owen outgrew some of his jeans,
including this pair, which was almost brand
new but had a hole in the knee.  The solution?
Cover that hole with a "monster face"!  Timothy
loves these and wears a red polo with them.  He
told me, "Aunt Debbie, you need to make me
more monster pants!"  I am thinking I will make
denim shorts out of thrift-store denim and add
a scrap "monster" to the leg!  He will love it!
One hint... little boy's jean legs are narrow and
hard to stitch.  My mother-in-law suggested that
next time I open whichever seam does not have
topstitching, do my applique, and re-seam the jeans!



I made THREE of these...found the pattern on
AllFreeSewing.com... you start with a boy's
t-shirt and use the main part of the shirt for the
dress.  The sleeves are cut from the sleeves of
the tee-shirt.  What MAKES this dress is the
red ric-rac trim on the sleeves and the white
trim at the hem. The pattern used plain white
trim, but I had plenty of ric-rac, and chevron is so
IN now that I decided to use what I had.  A red and
white polka-dot bow completes the dress.  Pretty
cute and comfy for the Fourth of July... right?!

My cousin Olivia loves things with her name
on them... but OLIVIA is a big name to
applique on a little girl's shirt.  Since her
nickname is "Livvy" - or "Liv" - we decided to
use this for her July 4th creation... complete
with a firecracker for the "I"!

You know my penchant for scraps!  I used the leftover
fabric from Liv's shirt to create this ruffle skirt.  The
base of the skirt is the bottom of a ladies' t-shirt,
once again purchased at the local thrift shop. 
I used the shirt hem as my "casing" for the elastic waist,
then sewed the ruffles to the other end.  She loves it! 
She calls it her "sassy skirt!"  It looks great with the tee!

I have so many ideas... and a closet-full of fabric - and still I sit and drool over several online fabric shops' offerings.  My cousin Natalie gave me a wonderful new book for my birthday... One-yard Wonders... and I cannot wait to try out some of the cute things that are featured.  Stay tuned... I'll be back to "share" again soon!