Pleated Playsuit Pattern Testing

Have you seen the blog Elegance and Elephants?  I love it!  Right now she's doing a series called Knock It Off, full of great knock off designs made for A LOT cheaper than you can buy them for.  It's very fun! 

Anyway, she has a pattern called The Pleated Playsuit (sizes 18 months to 9 years! and working on smaller sizes!)  and I got to be a tester for the pattern!  There are two options, pants or shorts.  So I tested size 2/3 in the shorts and it fits Little Bit PERFECT. 

 

It sewed up real quick, and the instructions were very clear.  Probably one of the best of all the PDF patterns I've made.  Great pictures, which always help.  

  

It has the cutest little detail of faux piping on the pocket.

I ended up making two, that's how quick it was. 

The pattern is available TODAY! And she's offering it to everyone for FREE! Can't beat that! So head on over there and grab your copy!

And here are some in action photos for your viewing pleasure!  :)  (ok, I lied, more than some.)

Chicken Wire Frame

I have seen these all over Pinterest and decided it was time to make one!  We have LOTS of chicken wire lying around so that was easy. I also have some old frames waiting for new life, so this project was begging to be completed.

From this:

   












To this:

I removed everything from the original framed picture, spray painted the frame a light green, and stapled chicken wire onto the back.  I have old family photos that I LOVE so I used mini clothes pins to attach it to the chicken wire. I'm working on getting more old photos of family (like the hubby's side) to put on there too.  I stuck it on our entry table and love it!  

Easy and quick!  Another DIY win!

Summer Sewing Part 1

I'm working on adding to the kids summer wardrobe with some handmade things.  So far I've made a pair of shorts for each of the girls. 

For Doodle's shorts I used Oliver and S Puppet Show Shorts pattern.  They sewed up really quick and I love how the have a vintage feel to them.  She's pretty skinny but I sewed up the size 5.  They might be a little big, but that just means she can wear them a little longer.  :)

I used a pink and white seersucker fabric from JoAnns.  Nice and light for warm summer days.

For Little Bit, I made a pattern for some simple knit shorts.  Like seriously, SIMPLE.  It took longer to cut the fabric than it did to sew it.  :)  

The hem of the shorts came out a little wonky because the knit was SO stretchy.  But that's ok!  She won't care, at this age anyway. ;)  
There are TONS of tutorials out there for how to draft your own patterns.  Basically, if you're making shorts, you grab a pair that fits, turn it inside out and trace around it.  Making sure to add a seam allowance.

 

I'm not a GREAT outliner so to make sure my seam allowance was going to be even all the way around, I attached a pen to my pencil with a rubber band and went around my pattern again.  Instant seam allowance.  :)

  

I'm hoping to find a simple shorts pattern for boys so I can sew some up for Roo too.  It's easy to find some summer patterns for girls, not so easy for boys.  But I'm not THAT confident in my sewing skills to draft patterns for my boy.  Maybe I'll stretch myself and try.  Why not, right?

Updated Dresser

I've been thinking and thinking and thinking how to set up the furniture in our home since we moved in.  I have moved it around so many times!  I have finally found a set up that I LOVE.  Our living room is a really big area and I couldn't figure out how to have the furniture set so that it didn't seem WAY big.  I am so happy that it feels cozy and not just random.  During this process I redid a dresser from our bedroom for extra storage in the living room.  Most of our things are black. (I have NO clue why I chose black when we first got married because I LOVE white furniture!)  So the black HAD to go!  

Here it is before:

Black and blah.  :/

             

Next step was taking out the drawers and removing the pulls. Super fast, just used a screwdriver. I really didn't want to worry about sanding it. I was just wanting a quick DIY project with a big impact.  So I just used primer spray paint right over the black.

 

It was really nice out so the primer dried really quick!  Next step was spray painting the color I wanted. I chose Heirloom White and just LOVE it.  It's like a creamy ivory. Beautiful!  

I let the whole thing dry over night in the garage and then we moved it in.

It still needs it's new drawer pulls but I finally found some that I love!  So when I get those on, I'll post an updated picture.  I love having it behind the couch.  It separates the tv area from our craft area. (BIG living room to fill) and it will provide great storage for our craft supplies!  One can never have too much storage!

Oh happy day!!  I love how it turned out! :)

Toddler Backpack

There is almost nothing cuter than a toddler walkin around, struttin their stuff with a little backpack carrying all their goodies!  I LOVE this pattern by Made by Rae.  I've made all toddler backpacks from it but I really want to make one for my oldest daughter in the bigger "kids size".  This backpack is for another best friend's daughter who is turning two.  Two year olds everywhere!  :)  Gotta love it!  It's not as stiff as I was hoping it would be with the interfacing but still super cute.  

    

I found the fabric at JoAnn's and think it is just perfect for this little girl.  Bright, bold and lots of prints! (just for you Shanna!) :)  The bottom and the straps are bright pink with white piping for some contrast.  

Quick, fun and easy project.   Gotta love those!  

How Does Your Garden Grow

With the nicer weather finally rolling in, we've been working the garden!  I'd like for the whole area next to the chickens to be a little cottage garden full of beautiful flowers.  But for now, half of it is flowers and the other half is a small vegetable garden.  The rest of our vegetables are started and ready to be transferred to their pots on the deck.  

It was raining ALL day, (which is great!  Glad it's no longer snow and still moisture!)  so my pictures aren't great but you can get the general idea.

The chicken coop and their closed in area.  We let them roam the yard too, which is why, for now, where I just planted is blocked off with chicken wire.  They would go crazy in there!  They already give me the stink eye for not letting them in.  But up against the side of the deck we have two Delphiniums.  A white one and a blue one.  Although the blue was already a victim to the chickens.  :(  But it's growing back already so I'm glad I didn't waste money on it!  We will put two more Delphiniums along that side as well so they go the length of the deck.  I'm hoping to get a purple and pink one.  In the back, under the window is a purple Lilac.  Which can get huge!  Pretty excited for that.  In front of the window is yellow Sweet broom, which I'm pretty sure died the day after we got it.  :(  So I need to go get a new one.  It smells so good!  (At least it did before it died) That one will be great to have right outside the window.  It gets really big too.  In front of the Sweet Broom is our little vegetable garden.  In it is spinach, kale and marigolds in between.  The spinach I started myself (direct sow) and they are just starting to sprout out of the mulch.  The kale I bought at the nursery so they are started well.  Which is what the chickens give me the stink eye about.  Their run area goes under the window, but has chicken wire so they can't get in that area.  But oh! how they stretch their necks trying to reach that kale.  There's also lavender that I started from seed, so they are ITTY BITTY and hard to see unless you are like a foot away.  In the front along the border I planted lemon balm (good mosquito repeller) and catnip.  Can't leave Waylon out of the mix.  :) 

Against the chicken fence is a Salvia and I got this rose bush to plant next to the Salvia.   Rose petals are good for chickens so I will only block this one off until it's big enough to survive chicken torture.  Really, just so it's tall enough that they can't really reach the blooms and have to wait for them to fall.  So far, I love how it's coming together and can't wait to get the rest of our veggies and fruits into containers!  

Spring has FINALLY arrived!