Beachy Things

We finally made it to the beach last weekend.  (I say 'finally', but really, we're way ahead of the game compared to last year.)  Elora asked us Friday if we could go to the beach "to get a shell for Mama", and we said, sure, we'll go on Sunday.  She then spent the next 48 hours asking, is it Sunday yet?  And when it finally was Sunday, the question changed to, is it time to go to the beach yet?  We got a later start than intended (we always do) but we did make it out there.

Did you notice that Elora isn't wearing a swim diaper under her suit?   She is DONE with diapers of all kinds, even at night and out and about!

Unfortunately, we were there right around lunch time and the sun was pretty intense.  We were all  wearing SPF 85 sunscreen, but we still got some sun.  

We did stay for about 2 hours.  Brandon and Elora were in and out of the water or playing in the sand the whole time.  Kaylie and I just stood in the surf, played in the sand, and had a snack.  (Elora was too busy playing to eat a snack.)  I wish I'd gotten more photos, like of the wall and pool that I built between Kaylie and the water so that the waves wouldn't get her, since she liked the sand but not the random waves.  They'd just wash against the wall and fill the pool.  We ended up with a few other kids playing with us, scooping out sand, and looking for periwinkles and sand fleas.  But we were too busy having fun to bother with the camera.  We did get a family photo, or at least, we tried. 

We had another beach-goer take some pictures of us all together, but one of us (me or her) managed to bump the aperture dial and it was turned waaaaaay too low. This is as much detail as I could get out of it.  It's kind of a neat picture, though.

And yes, that goofy picture on the left was the best shot of the front.

Saturday night I up and decided that I had to have a new swimsuit cover-up.  I still had my Anna Maria Horner Little Folks viole squirreled away, so I dug it out and went to work.  I didn't use a pattern, or even a tutorial, I just made it up as I went.   It's shirred around the high waist, and the bodice (such as it is) is made from 2 triangles, gathered at top and bottom. It took me 3 tries to get the bodice pieces right, and two tries to attach the straps, but it turned out ok and I even have enough fabric left to make another little sundress, one that can be worn to places other than the pool or the beach.  

PS:  Don't forget about the giveaway!  You have until tomorrow to win a custom designed printable of your choice from The Green World Shop!

Old Sheets into New Dress

The other reason for the Father's Day photo shoot was to get some pictures of Elora's new dress.  I had an old, old pink-and-orange-on-white striped sheet that's been around for as long as I can remember.  It was so old that when I took it apart, I didn't even have to bother with the seam ripper, I just pulled it apart with my hands.  It was stained and paint spattered, and until recently, had lived in my beach bag.  For whatever reason, I decided it would make a cute dress.  

I used the body of the printed sheet for the body of the dress, the trim from across that sheet for the straps, belt, belt loops, and bottom trim, and a flat sheet from the thrift store to line it. I started with Corinnea's recipe (did you ever post that tutorial?) for a simple shirred dress, but instead of doing front and back panels, I sewed it all into a tube and shirred it all together in a continuous spiral.  This went much faster, and wasted a LOT less thread that the way I'd done it in the past.

Kaylie's wearing the dress that I made for Elora last year.

The sheet I used for lining was a bit heavy, so I think I will try something else for that, next time. I'll for sure be making more of these, they're so fun!  If I can find Corinnea's little tutorial, I'll try to post it.  :)

Jessie's Outfit

Elora's made-by-Mama birthday gift is a Jessie costume to wear at her party, and any time she wants to play dress up.  

I took a cotton knit shirt from Target and a pair of jeans and added to them.

The binding on the collar, the red loops, and the cow print on the jeans were added by hand.  The rest was machine stitched.   I wasn't trying for an exact duplicate of Jessie's outfit, just an approximation.  For example, I didn't even try to bring the yellow panel down to points on the shirt.  She already has a little pair of brown boots, and I ordered a hat from The Disney Store to complete the look.

Edit:  Ack!  I just realized that I forgot the gray buttons on the shirt.  Should I add them, or just let it go?

So excited for the party---this weekend!!

Kaylie's Towel Hoodie

  Kaylie will be getting a hoodie towel for her birthday!  Elora has had one since she was an infant, and we have always used it.  I've been meaning to make one for Kaylie since she was an infant.  It only took me a year, but it's done!

I'm so tempted to just start using it, rather than wrapping it up and waiting for her party.  She's not going to know the difference, right?  But I will wait.  We've made do without it for this long, we'll make do for another few weeks.

I used one full sized bath towel and two hand towels.  I almost chose pale baby colors for it, but I picked super bright colors instead, and I'm loving it!  And I just happened to have a perfect coordinating ribbon at home, which I didn't know until after I bought the towels. 

It was meant to be.  The K on the front ended up being larger than I'd intended because the towel stretched as I sewed it on.  And I didn't have matching thread when I started the project, so the orange K is outlined in pale pink.  It looks ok, but it would have looked a lot better if I'd used orange thread.  You will notice that the yellow K is outlined in yellow. 

This is my current project.  Can you guess what it is?

Shirring Really IS Easy!!

I spent a good 4 or 5 hours with a sewing machine yesterday.  I got the fabric cut for my shirred voile skirt, then realized I probably ought to start with something smaller and less daunting and switched to working on Elora's matching dress.  I'm not going to lie, I was pretty intimidated by this whole shirring thing, despite being told numerous times that it's ridiculously easy.  But you know, they were right!

I managed to get Elora's dress almost completely finished (sorry for the crummy picture).  All I had left to do was to sew on the straps, but I wanted to try it on her before I added them.  I had this nagging suspicion that the elastic around the top would be too tight, and I was right. (Sometimes, I really hate being right.)  So, I am going to take apart the very top of the dress so I can take out the elastic.  Then, once I get it put back together, I am going to add 2 more rows of shirring at the top to replace it.  I know it's going to be dodgy trying to do the shirring with it already put together, but hopefully it won't be too bad.