twirl

A couple of weeks ago I tried to hem a pair of RTW (ready to wear) pants and I failed miserably. I did such a great job at hemming the first leg that I didn't notice it was done and hemmed it again. Now it's 4 inches to short. After some cursing and laughing, I put it aside. We had dinner and then I went crazy and started a new project even though I was obviously not focused. 

Vanessa loves dresses, actually I'm hard pressed to get either of my daughters in pants. It was Vanessa turn for a dress. I found a pattern that was perfect for her. The Bluebelle dress from My Childhood Treasures. I took Vanessa to the fabric store to pick out her fabric. She loved being there and looking at the pattern catalogs and choosing my next project but had little interest in the fabric. I found a beautiful herringbone pattern for a steal. It reads grey but when I put it beside black it's actually blue. The weight was perfect. There was no tag on the bolt to say it's content but it feels like a soft wool but washes beautifully. I paired it with a red stripe. 

Everything went smoothly. I didn't get out my seam ripper or recut a piece. I had a beautiful dress a couple of hours later. I hung it on Vanessa's door so she would find it in the morning and she was beaming. This dress has the best twirl! This dress' only fault is that I find it a little long but she won't let me turn it up. 

So here goes! the final product.

Mermaid Costume

This year Vanessa wants to be a mermaid for Halloween. I researched a patter that fit both of our needs. Mine to be easy to sew and for her to wear and for Vanessa it needed to be fabulous. I found one at ikat bag that I liked. (if you sew at all for kids, read the story it's cute). I modified it to make it suite Vanessa better and no parts to loose.
As you can see, Vanessa is beaming! It's in her colours. I like the yellow and she the pink and the sparkly. She can wear the tail long or hiked up so she can walk. Now we have to make it warm enough for trick or treating outdoors in possible snow or rain.

Vanessa went to her first school dance. It's a family Halloween event. Vanessa and her Daddy went. They had a blast. As per usual, Vanessa takes after her mom and spent all night dancing in the front with a great friend of hers. There were snacks sold as fundraisers and lots of lights and music. Vanessa showed off her costume and her moves.
Vanessa came in excited about her evening, went into her room and straight to bed. It was so fast that I thought she had hoped into bed with her costume on. Not to mention it wasn't on the floor. I checked under her covers and she was in fact in her PJs and her costume was HUNG UP! omg.

First day of school as Fancy Nancy

Vanessa's started Grade 1. She was so excited for the day. This year Hailey I dropped her off to share in the excitement and help her with all the school supplies. It was so much fun to see all the kids and parents. Teachers and kids wore costumes.
Each year the school has a theme for the first day. This year they were dressed up as a story book character. I tried to sway Vanessa in another direction but knew that "Fancy Nancy" was going to be the final word. The good thing about her is that she has a lot of outfits and gave me creative license as long as it was "fancy". Fancy in the way little girls think it is with feathers, jewels, crowns but mostly over the top frilly.
I went with Vanessa to find fabric and a pattern. We couldn't agree on a pattern and she chose fabric with silver frills which I thought was too old for her so we left empty handed. I asked her to trust me and I went back a couple of weeks later and bought some pink damask print and a polka dot print and the ruffles. Everything went as planned and Voila! Fancy Nancy. Vanessa was thrilled!

The woman cutting the  frilly fabric at the store was shocked I was going to use it as pants. I told her that 6 year olds can get away with almost anything. What do you think? Does she pull it off? This outfit was a fair amount of work but I was happy to do it because she'll get a lot of wear out of it. Maybe not with the boa and jewels though...

I sew swimsuits now

Check Her Out!

 Last Saturday I took the time to sew a complete bathing suit for Vanessa. Good bathing suites for girls are really tough to find that cover all the right places. Vanessa loves the water and needed something that would work for her. I had a specific idea in mind. The suit needed boy short bottoms and a cute top that reached past her middle. I went to Google for inspiration and found a pattern online to download from The Fabric Fairy. It's the Santa Monica Tankini and boy shorts.  I stayed true to the patter but shortened the top and folded under the tie and edging to give it a more finished look. I also used twin needles. 
I also made the matching Bathing Beauty bathing cap but much earlier. That was a HUGE success and gave me the nerve experience to work on a whole bathing suit. 

I've got two more projects that I've completed and ready to share but I need to photograph them still. 

Resilient

What a hot day today. Vanessa came home with the urge to use her new pedal skills.  We got the girls bikes and helmets out and were ready. Vanessa got to the top of our street and decided it was too steep. She walked the bike down to our house to try the less steep section got on and rode off. Since it's a very new skill,  had her try her brake. Check! She kept going down the hill and started to panic an kareen down the hill with her legs flailing.  We screamed to break but she couldn't. She got to the bottom,  crossed the street and ran into the grass. 
I ran down to her and she was really shaken.  Her chain had falled off! Since she back pedals to break... Surprisingly, she had only a few scrapes so I cleand her shin and put on a band-aid. She  cooled down on the swing.
Grandpa heard her story and came to the rescue.  He fixed the bike by moving her wheel back which tightened the chain.
Vanessa got right back on and rode down and back up the hill like a champ.  She's inspiring.

Vanessa, the teacher’s aid

Yesterday, Vanessa had the day off. We had planned to drop Hailey off at pre-school and head to get our hair cut. When we got there Vanessa helped Hailey settle in, not that she needs help, and took off her own jacket. Hailey’s teacher saw that and assumed Vanessa was staying for the morning. She asked where Vanessa’s lunch was. At first Vanessa was too shy to stay, but I knew that she would love to be the big girl on campus for the morning. I convinced her to stay and she shared Hailey’s snack and lunch. Hailey was thrilled to have her big sister around. Vanessa’s already talking about doing it again.
We went home and Hailey had a good nap while Vanessa hung out. We had dinner and went to the park. We love spring and can’t wait to bring our dinner to the park.