Spaceship Apron and Sundress

My son had a birthday party a few days ago and the theme was Outer Space.  My plan was to make individual drawstring bags for each child with this cool spaceship fabric I found at JoAnn’s.  Needless to say, I was running short of time and didn’t have a chance to sew a bag for each child.  (I did manage to personalize ready-made canvas bags for them  – which still were super cute).  Instead, I used some of the fabric to make myself an apron to wear to the party.

Spaceship Arpon

I love the colors, especially the orange ruffle and pocket.  The pattern is by Cindy Taylor Oates from her “More Retro Aprons”.  The yellow rick-rack turned out well – it was all I had to choose from in my stash.

On another note, I was able to get a great dress form from my friend Laura.  She had this in her attic for years and sold it to me for a great price.  She is about my height, so this is a petite dress form.  My polka sundress (which I finished last week) fits perfectly :).

Polka Dot Sundress

I’ve worn this a few time and people always ask me wear I got it.  My standard reply is “this old thing?  I made it myself.”  They usually don’t believe me – one person swore she saw the same dress at target awhile back (then she asked me to make her one).  I have the pattern and fabric for my next dress, so it should be finished in the next few weeks.

I am working on my next free pattern, I know it’s been awhile – so please hang in there!

Snowman Family

Sharon Stewart of Liberty Rose scores again with another great pattern!  I took a class from her to make these adorable snowmen!  The original plan was to make three snowman with a top hat, but while I was in class I suggested we also create a Mama and a Little Boy snowman.  Sharon whipped up some new ideas on the spot for the ladies’ red hat and the child’s ear muffs.  I am very pleased with my snowman family!  Now if there were only a way to create a pet dog snowman….

Snowman Family

These will make great gifts and are so easy to make.  I will probably make more with some different faces and hats.  Christmas is only 6 months away, so it’s time to start planning!

Checking In

Wow, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted.   I’ve been busy working on some wool projects (hope to post some pictures this week) and also sewing my first dress.  After I successfully made matching Hawaiian shirts for my son and husband, I decided to tackle something more difficult – a sundress.  The pattern is McCalls 4444:

Sundress - McCalls 4444

I still have a few things to complete – the zipper,  neck strap and hem, so no pictures of the finished product yet. Hopefully it will be finished this weekend.  So far, the pattern has been fairly easy.  I got a bit confused when trying to sew the straps onto the halter top, but the diagrams in the pattern were very helpful after I studied them for awhile.

It looks like the size will be OK, although I did have to let it out in the hips a little.  If I sew more dresses, I am thinking about getting a dress form.  Dritz has a very fancy dress form that seems to do everything – any advice on whether it is worth the investment?

Dritz Dress Form