More Little Geraniums

 These Little Geranium dresses are too cute, I just had to sew more… click here to see the first 'bouquet', Little Geranium is a free pattern/tutorial, size 0-3 months, and calls for a skirt with a width of 44", but I only used about 34" for these.

Such a small amount of fabric is needed in order to get a bodice and/or pockets to complete this sewing project, so it's fun to dig through the fabric stash and use up those small pieces of fabrics, like small rectangles of precious Liberty of London fabric…


First dress: bodice and pockets, Liberty of London; skirt, raspberry pink 100% cotton twill

 Second dress: bodice, Liberty of London; skirt and pockets, raspberry pink 100% cotton twill

 Third dress: bodice, Liberty of London; skirt and pockets, tomato red 100% organic cotton sateen

 Fourth dress: bodice and pockets, Russian nesting doll fabric from Denmark; skirt, tomato red 100% organic cotton sateen

{dresses displayed on an 18" doll dress form, showing how teeny tiny they are}

These dresses were made for and will be donated to Dress a Girl Around the World :)

Valentine's day is coming soon… "do small things with great love." ~ Mother Teresa

LEGO Valentine Mailbox Necklaces

 My son and I went to a pick-a-brick wall at a LEGO store to gather most of the supplies to make his class Valentine's exchange for this year. Here is how we made them.

LEGO Valentine Mailbox Necklace

Supplies needed:

• 4 "letters": flat 2x1
• Mailbox pieces: gray box with white door
• The LEGO piece needed to make it into a necklace: Black Round Plate 2x2 W/Eye, Element ID: 237626
• 28 inches of red silk cord (I would recommend 28-30 inches for the necklaces, nothing shorter than 28 inches otherwise it will be too tight to go around the head)

 Put the LEGO pieces together...

 Tie a knot at the ends of the red silk cord...

 Thread the cord through the eye of the necklace...

 The little 'letters' (Valentines, love letters, etc.) slide into the mailbox opening...

 Mailbox closed...

 Mailbox open...

 All lined up in a row...

 Packaging (made to look like a red 4x1 LEGO brick)

Supplies needed:

• snack size resealable plastic bag
• red card stock, 6 3/8" X 3", 4 circles
• paper cutter
• 1 1/4" circle paper punch
• stapler
• 3D foam mounting squares

 Fold red cardstock in half lengthwise, attach foam mounting squares on backs of 4 red circles.

 Staple red cardstock to top of snack size reclosable plastic bag, attach 4 red circles.

 On the back write Happy Valentine's Day and To and From.

 The LEGO pieces to make 29 necklaces filled up an $8.00 cup at a pick-a-brick wall at a LEGO store. I bought the silk cord at JoAnn Fabrics, enough to make 29 necklaces was about $10, using a 40% off JoAnn Fabrics coupon. The approximate cost was $0.62 for each LEGO valentine mailbox necklace, if you add the packaging it would cost only pennies more.

These would also make great birthday party favors, too.

If you are looking for more ideas… I was taking a walk down memory lane and trying to think of all the class Valentine's exchanges from the past. We have done homemade Valentine's for all the class Valentine's exchanges since they started in 2004. Unfortunately I didn't take photos every year, but here are a few photos I found...

2011 candy mazes

2010 lollipop holders

2008 Smarties holders

2007 lollipop holders

Happy Saint Valentine's Day !

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Little Geraniums

 ...four little geraniums all in a row...

Continuing on my mission this week of using my stash of polka dot quilting fabrics, I decided to sew 4 little geranium dresses, a free pattern just released last week. The sewing pattern is size 0-3 months and it calls for a skirt width of 44 inches, but I only used 34-37 inches for these dresses.

I'm liking this (new to me) color combo of red with light blue and gray...

1st dress: bodice: gray with white polka dots, Michael Miller Ta Dot, skirt: blue with white polka dots quilting cotton from JoAnn's, pockets: red with tiny white hexagons, Karen Snyder - Studio Anna Lena for Timeless Treasures Fabrics

 2nd dress: bodice: gray with white polka dots, Michael Miller Ta Dot, skirt: red with tiny white hexagons, Karen Snyder - Studio Anna Lena for Timeless Treasures Fabrics, pockets: blue with white polka dots quilting cotton from JoAnn's

 3rd dress: bodice and pockets: yellow with tiny white raindrops, Hoodie's Collection "Raindrops" for Timeless Treasures Fabrics, skirt: mustard yellow cotton

 4th dress: vintage cotton which is polka dotted polka dots !

To get an idea of how small these dresses are, that's my daughter's 18 inch doll dress form, so these are just a little bit bigger than doll dresses.

These were made for and will be donated to Dress A Girl Around the World because teeny tiny baby girls need dresses, too :)

Make it a great day !

Simple Dress

I was thinking of all of the polka dot fabrics that I had in my stash, then went to pull them all out. Then I remembered a vintage polka dot fabric I had and I ended up digging an old sewing project out of the abandoned project pile (put in there 3 year ago!!!)

The pattern for this sewing project is called the Simple Dress, from the book Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter, it's size 24 months, just a simple little polka dot dress (finally) finished with white (store bought) bias tape trim. The vintage fabric is actually polka dotted polka dots, how fun is that??

For the button closure in the back I did a hand sewn button loop.

Feels so good to rescue a failed project, to at last be completed with it. Now this dress will move on and be actually worn as it will be donated to Dress A Girl Around the World.

More bonus points to me as I only used materials from my stash :)

Happy Wednesday, up next more polka dots… when the dresses will be even smaller.

Paper Fans

For Project Run and Play Season 6 Week 2 the challenge is stripes and polka dots. It inspired me to sew a polka dot dress with striped hem.

THE PATTERN// Paper Fans, size 4. Free pattern ~ gotta love that! I've been wanting to try this sewing pattern ever since it was released in August 2012.

THE FABRICS// skirt: gray with white polka dots, Michael Miller Ta Dot, bodice: yellow with tiny white raindrops, Hoodie's Collection "Raindrops" for Timeless Treasures Fabrics, hem: solid yellow cotton and red grosgrain ribbon

THE SEWING// a little more time consuming than I thought it would be, I like the waist detail and how it is constructed. For the buttons holes I used this tutorial (making a button hole using the zigzag stitch).

Bonus points to me as I only used materials from my stash :)

This dress was made for and will be donated to Dress A Girl Around the World.

Happy Tuesday and see you tomorrow for more polka dots...

Stripes and Polka Dots

striped dress

 For Project Run and Play Season 6 Week 2 the challenge is stripes and polka dots. This is a fun one, don't you think? I went looking around for inspiration and thought I'd share what I found, so here we go…

striped skirt

 Stripes

• when I think of stripes, I think of: nautical, candy canes, rainbows, Cat in the Hat hat
• stripe smocking
• striped fabric is harder to find than polka dot fabric, when I think of striped fabric, the first fabric that comes to mind is seersucker, then shirting
• If you can't find striped fabric, you could make your own by piecing
• or paint stripes on fabric
• so if you can't find the striped fabric you're looking for how about this idea? replace striped fabric with polka dot fabric, like for the sleeves of a Snow White dress

striped bodice

•  Playing with stripes 
•  Summer (vertical) Stripes Skirt Tutorial
• I absolutely love this striped maxi dress
• striped boy's t-shirt 
• horizontal striped bodice dress with vertical striped skirt with pleats
• stripes pinterest board

striped hat

 Polka dots

• when I think of polka dots, I think of: toadstools
• polka dot smocking
• make polka dot fabric
• on white fabric stamp blue polka dots and turn them into blueberries

polka dot halter

•  polka dots for boys: 'LEGO' fabric !!!
• diy polka dot shirt
• love this polka dot dress

polka dot sleeves in place of striped sleeves for Snow White

 Stripes and polka dots

• American flag inspired dress
• super simple sleeveless dress

polka dot dress with striped collar

•  striped tunic/dress with one large polka dot pocket called The Circle Pocket Dress 
• with casual separates the possibilities are endless: polka dot jacket over a striped shirt, polka dot circle skirt with a striped top, polka dot top with a striped skirt, striped dress with polka dot leggings...

handknit striped leggings with polka dot dress

•  striped shirting material and orange polka dots dress 
• rainbow striped dress sewn out of polka dot fabrics 
• striped knit dress with polka dot sleeves and front pocket (polka dots are actually little hearts)

handknit striped legwarmers and hat with polka dot dress

•  half and half: leggings with one leg stripes and one leg polka dots, half of a shirt stripes and the other half polka dots
• completely reversible dress where one side is polka dots and the other side is stripes 

handknit cardigan with polka dot dress

• romper
• for the boys: striped button shirt with a polka dot tie

striped shirt with polka dot lined pants

polka dot lined pants

Happy sewing! Come back here tomorrow and see what I sewed with stripes and polka dots… surprise this week there will be no fancy dresses, shocking, I know… I plan to sew up a bunch of cotton dresses and cotton sundresses, mostly polka dots (I was going through my stash and took out all the quilting cotton fabrics with polka dots)… do you plan on sewing along with the stripes and polka dots challenge? If so, what do you plan on sewing? Also if you have any stripes/polka dot related projects, tutorials, pinterest boards please leave the link in the comments section, I'd love to check them out :)