Summer sewing and seam finishes

I've been ignoring all housework the past few days to spend time in my sewing room. I came up with this skirt yesterday just before dinner and finished it after the kids went to bed (at 9:30....got to do something about these bedtimes!). I knew the plainess of the skirt would be met with resistance so I added the doily at the last minute then I got sucked into researching doilies on etsy (wow!). I love this skirt. The pictures don't do it justice. Linen just has that gorgeous sheen about it. I, of course, imagined her wearing it with a neutral top and saltwater sandals, but she insisted on her hot pink shirt and lacy leggings. I am sure the sparkly flip flops will follow!

I wanted to share the "insides" of my sewing, which never look very beautiful. I'm sure I am in the minority when I admit that I love pinked seam allowances. It reminds me of all the things my mom made for me. I love how it makes something look instantly 'handmade'. I do have a serger and use it on occassion, but it makes me nervous (I have once made a hole in a dress while trying to finish the seams). I'd like to use it more, but for now I'll just pink my edges and enjoy the imperfections of it all!

A bunny is born

I absolutely love making softies, so when we are invited to a birthday party I am always eager to make a stuffed toy if I have the time. I dread the day when my kids are too old to give these kind of gifts (I think I was pushing it a bit with this one for a 7-year-old boy). I never thought I'd enjoy making softies so much but I love the suspense I feel during the process; you never really know how it will turn out until the face is embroidered on and then you just love the new creature. The face is by far the hardest part for me. It sometimes takes me as long to embroider the face as it does to put together the rest of the body (which explains why I was off in the corner sewing on the face at the party and this blurry picture I got!). I made it from this great pattern, which I highly recommend. My kids both want me to make them one....oh, twist my arm!

I'd like to be more confident and start making my own patterns, but I just don't feel as though I have time for that kind of trial and error. I have made dolls from my own pattterns, but I'd like to play more with variations. I do learn a lot from working with patterns and feel great about supporting someone else's hard work by buying independent patterns.

Teacher's gift

I was in charge of creating a teacher's gift for my son's class. The trouble was, the teacher is a man, and we all know that men are notoriously hard to sew for. I really thought long and hard about this gift since I wanted it to be something he might actually use. Finally, I remembered this pattern that I bought a while back, but never used. I would have loved to have the kids do something even more personal (patchwork squares of their art across the front), but we were short on time and I was also aware of walking the line of too much kids' art on a man's gift. i just had the kids sign their names with fabric markers on a piece of linen. They all added their own little image, which I think turned out so sweet. I like the way it came out and I enjoyed working with this pattern. I'll definitely make it again (maybe for my husband for Father's Day?!).

I actually have been sewing a ton, but have such a hard time maintaining the blog. I'm hopeful that I can find a rhythm for this over the summer. I'd love to be more connected in 'blog land' since I find so much inspiration there!