I Made That!

I haven't posted much about my adventures in sewing since I debuted the dress I made for Merrill last fall, but I've still been at it.  This is my latest creation: 

a true red-carpet-star-to-be.  Millie held the dress up and posed like that all on her own as if Ryan Seacrest were there to ask her who the designer was! (and she has never seen a red-carpet walk ... what a natural ;) ).

Some things I learned while making this dress (well, actually before making this dress...): 1) waiting until the day before your sewing class to find a project will add a bit of stress 2) taking two preschool-aged girls to Hancock Fabrics to pick out a pattern and fabric for a project the day before your class, at the end of the day, while in the first (exhausting) trimester of your pregnancy will add a bit more stress 3) letting a four-year-old thumb through the pattern books with you and pick out her own dress will guarantee that she picks the most "fancy" (aka complicated) dress she can find thus adding a bit more stress and 4) said four-year-old will also pick the fanciest and most sparkly fabric she can find -- and try to combine it with an equally fancy and sparkly contrasting fabric (luckily, in this case, the four-year-old will compromise on a tamer contrast fabric) 5) while all-combined 1-4 will result in some stress, they will also produce a darn cute dress!

Some detail on the dress; these sleeves were killer!  Mostly because the fabric pieces were so darn small (leaving me to sew in less than 1/8 inch in some cases), but also because the techniques were new (gathering).

A close-up of the main fabric.  Notice the gold shiny "sequins" -- it was the closest I would let Millie get to real sequins :).  All the ladies at the sewing shop loved the fabric!

So, this was my post-holiday project.  Millie was determined for it to be her "first-day-of-spring-Lainie's-birthday" dress.  Which, given that I started it the week after the new year, I didn't think would be a problem.  But we had so many class cancellations due to weather or sickness, that I finished it just in time (about a week early).  Luckily she loves the dress.  So does Merrill.  Merrill hugged the dress and told Millie to do the same ;).  My next project will be to finally make the curtains for the kitchen.  Having the windows bare in the winter was actually kind of nice, but I think we're going to want the curtains for the summer.

In-between making Merrill's dress and Millie's dress I made these shoulder bags as Christmas gifts for Lauren and Mary::

A little kitschy, but perfect for two die-hard Mizzou Tiger's fans.  I was able to make the second one in just one class (3 hours!) -- not bad!

While I'm making the curtains, I'm also going to be searching for my next project -- with controlled input from two certain little girls ;).