One Nap Wonder

This is positively the most accomplished dress I've pulled off in just one nap time. The girls were extra tired after moms group today. My three year old practically put herself to bed at 12:30. Despite having woken up from her morning nap around 11am, my 15 month old was game to go back down at 12:45 and so off to my sewing studio I went! From fabric selection, to design planning, fabric cutting and then all the way through to finished with label attached and top-stitching... all complete before either of them woke up!

About the dress...

We'll call her Honey Bee Peasant Dress with Apron Sash

The dress has the gathered neckline of a peasant dress and long sleeves. I decided to mix it up and do two different fabrics for the sleeves.

The apron sports an embroidered ribbon (Patty Young!) and my label. It's sewn into the sash which wraps around and knots simply in the back. The apron and sash are not attached to the dress, so the dress can be worn on it's own or the apron can mixed in with another outfit.

I love the punchy colors and how they came together! The honeycomb / bee fabric is by Patty Young. The turquoise is Jennifer Paganelli and the other print is from my stash of random stuff from JoAnn fabrics. Dress shown is a size 2T. Top-stitching is done in turquoise for contrast. And I need to iron my creations before photos.

On an unrelated note, I realize from looking at my photos, I need to get a dress form based more on a toddler and less on a curvy lady ;) The dress is looking a little busty!

Christmas and Holiday 2010

I'm behind already! Etsy crafters get their Christmas products in their stores in September apparently. Maybe next year I'll be right there along with the rest of the retail world by getting ready for Christmas at the end of the summer (grumble grumble).

Anyway, I've gotten started and my first offering is a classic style front knot dress. I like to do Christmas with slightly more sophisticated prints and color schemes. I try to avoid Santa and overuse of the red and green. So here is a black and white and red all over ;) number with enough holly, snowflakes and snowmen to make it fun. I have the same prints in a green and creme color scheme, so that gives this dress two color options.

Custom Knot Dresses - Amazing!

A customer requested some custom fabrics and construction for 2 knot dresses for her daughter and they turned out amazing! I love helping someone get just what they were looking for.

The top dress features fabrics from Tina Givens and Keri Beyer. The bottom dress is Amy Butler from two different collections: Lacework from Lotus and Garden Maze from Midwest Modern.

The ribbon trim on the aprons is from designer Patty Young. I have been loving her fabrics and trims for a long time and loved how they added the special finishing touch on the aprons to pull the color schemes together.

You can request your own custom dress or outfit by contacting me through my Etsy store at www.mommysaidsew.etsy.com. Stay tuned for Christmas and Holiday 2010!

Halloween Costumes 2010

I didn't go all in with making the girl's Halloween costumes this year (I haven't done that yet, actually). But I did add to their store bought pirate girl costumes (JoAnna) with some ruffle pants and sashes.

Arrrrrr - they be cute lassies. And they came back with quite a haul of pirate booty! Ahoy!