Teal Petal Dress

Last month I saw this darling dress and tutorial on icandy:

Its one of those dresses that as soon as I saw it, I knew I just had to make it. I see a lot of cute dress ideas and think "I should make that", but this one was different. I was so excited by this one and knew how much daughter would love it. Ideas immediately started coming to me as I planned it in my head.

I started with a twin size sheet that I found at wal-mart for $5. I knew that if I let my daughter pick the color, she would choose pink, but I wanted something bolder so I went with this teal blue. I thought it would be such a pretty color on her, and it really is. She has gray-blue eyes and this color really brings out the blue.

I followed the tutorial on icandy almost exactly, except making the bodice a little narrower for my skinny girl (I probably could have made it even narrower) and I made puff sleeves.

 

I also chose to sew the petals to the skirt before sewing it to the bodice while it was still one big rectangle. I layed them out and rearranged them a few times before I was happy with it. I also cheated and used the finished edge of a side of the sheet as the bottom hem so I would not have to hem it.

I left one petal off the back center and added it after it was all sewed together because it was right on the middle of the seam. It hid the seam well and gave the petals a more continuous look in the back.

I had a sash for the waist cut out of the teal fabric, but I thought it needed some contrast. I found some wide black grosgrain ribbon in my stash and it was perfect. The black and teal look great together and the stiffness of the ribbon makes for a big bow when tied in the back. I tacked it down in a few places in the front and sides to keep it in place.

I took the fabric I had already cut for the stash, cut it into long strips and made these folded fabric roses. They were originally going to be for a headband, but I loved how they looked on the waistband. I think they really complete the whole look. I made one more for a matching hair clip too.

My daughter's 4th birthday is coming up next week and I was going to save it until then and give it to her for a birthday present, but I just couldn't wait to have her try it on. I finished it in time for church yesterday and decided it will just be an early birthday present.

The best part is that she loves it, even though it is not pink!

Linked up with:
Made by You Monday on Skip to My Lou 







This dress in my official entry for sew-vivor! Wish me luck, the competition is fierce!

V-day Re-Cap

 How was your Valentine's Day? My husband had parent-teacher conferences (who schedules those for Valentine's Day anyway?) so he had to work late. My kids and I had fun day together though. 

My daughter got all dressed up to finish some of her Valentine's (she likes to do things in style).

And then her brother had to get in on the action too. (My husband doesn't really approve of him wearing crowns and headbands, but I figure its better than a tutu.) He has fun and that is all that matters.

For dinner we had heart-shaped pizza with heart-shaped salame

Then we had these yummy chocolate waffles (recipe here) for dessert with fresh strawberries, chocolate syrup and real whipped cream.

After the kiddos went to bed, I worked on some projects while watching Breaking Dawn part 1. The hubs had homework, but I am getting pretty used to watching movies by myself. It was a great day!

The good news is he is almost done just 1 1/2 more classes to go. I cannot wait.

Happy Homemade Valentine's Day

 

Every year for Valentine's Day, we try to make homemade cards. Right now my daughter is only 3 and has only 5 kids in her preschool class so this is very doable. I know in few years as her class size get bigger, we won't be able to do as much, so we are enjoying it while we can.

We decided to use paint this year and do potato stamps. I also saw this cool idea on Pinterest and thought we'd give it a try only with Romaine instead of celery. It didn't turn out as good or as pretty as theirs, but it was still pretty cool.

The potato stamp worked well though and it was so fun for my daughter to stamp with a potato. I just free-handed a heart onto a halved potato, then cut it out. Super quick and easy and I like that it is not perfect. It adds to the handmade charm.

Then on the inside, I lightly wrote Happy Valentine's Day Love, A* and my daughter traced the letters in markers. She likes to write herself, but gets frustrated when she doesn't know the letter so this is our compromise for now. We are still working on writing from left to right and not right to left too, but she is doing just fine for a 3 almost 4 year old.

Happy Valentine's Day!!! We hope you have a special day filled with love!

What I've been working on...

I have spent every free moment that I have had the last month working on a pinwheel quilt for my daughter. It is my first quilt and it is twin sized. I should have started smaller, but I like to just dive into things. It has been quite the learning process, but I am happy to announce that I finished all of my pinwheel blocks last night and now I just need to sew them all together (and do a bunch of other things...). I can't wait to show you guys when I am all done.

I just hope that my 30+ year old machine will hold up long enough to finish and let me free motion quilt it when the time comes. There have been quite a few nights where I have just wanted to throw the machine out the window, but I have resisted. 

Wish me luck!!!