Every Little Thing Dress

I made Vera this sweet little dress using the Every Little Thing Dress pattern from Shwin Designs. Aside from baby sun hats, this is the first piece of clothing I've attempted to sew. I've always been intimidated by clothing patterns, but once I started sewing I realized, hey this isn't that bad! I'd give this pattern 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was fairly easy to follow but some of the instructions were a little ambiguous and I felt that the pictures could have been a little better. At 13 months, Vera can wear the size 2T, with a little room to grow.

The bodice fabric and skirt trim is Modern Meadow Herringbone in Maple by Joel Dewberry. I added three knotted bows to the front of the bodice (instead of one large bow at the waist, as instructed in the pattern) and used vintage buttons for the back.

It even has pockets! You know, to store important things like legos and play money.

Vera's First Birthday Party

Vera turned one year old last week and we celebrated with family and friends at our home. I chose flowers for the theme and a turquoise, peach, and gold color scheme.

I made tissue paper tassels and hung them over the table along with a paper star I picked up on clearance at my local craft store

Vera's monthly photos were displayed inside the panes of two old windows and decorated with felt flowers.

I made felt flower hair clips for the kids and a bee finger puppet for Vera's only "boy friend" at the party (poor guy was way outnumbered).

I also made my first fondant covered cake using this cake recipe and homemade marshmallow fondant. It's pretty tricky to get the fondant to look smooth and I ended up with quite a few imperfections. I hide most of the flaws with a few strategically placed flowers and think it turned out pretty cute. I also made cupcakes and decorated them with fondant flowers.

I couldn't find a large package of gold polka dot balloons anywhere so I cut circles out of label paper (using my circle cutter) and stuck them onto the balloons.

Vera's #1 corsage...I didn't get any close-up photos of her actually wearing it.

Time for cake!

The best part of the party...

We adapted these plans for the Deluxe Kid Wash and made Vera her very own walk through sprinkler out of PVC pipe! We also had a sprinkle mat out. Both were a big hit with the kids.

Vera's great grandparents (far right) traveled all the way from Kansas to celebrate with her!

1 Year

Closet Workspace

We use our formal living room as a craft and office space. The only downside is that it's open to the rest of the house, so when Zach is studying he's distracted by everything going on around him. To solve this problem, we converted the guest room closet into a workspace so he would have a quiet place to study.

Thanks to Zach for allowing me to make his study space a touch feminine, so it would fit in with the rest of the room.

 Before

I didn't remember to snap a before photo until after we removed the two sliding doors, but you get the idea.

After

First, we removed the doors. Next, I covered the walls with burlap. I sewed a few pieces of burlap together to create one large piece for each wall. Then I simply stretched the burlap tight and secured it around the edges with a staple gun- no paste or glue required.

I used 7/8" natural twill tape to cover the staples, and secured it in place with upholstery tacks spaced 2" apart. I wanted the twill tape to be a little darker, so I dyed it with tea before tacking it up (the same technique I used to dye her Halloween costume).

 Zach made the desk from a hollow core door we found on the curb. He cut it to size, reinforced it,  trimmed out the front with a board and turned the hole from the doorknob into an opening for cords.

 

 

We primed and painted it with two coats of semi-gloss paint before installing it in the closet. To mount it in the closet we screwed 1 x 4's horizonatally into each of the three closet walls and rested the door on top.

The lamp, desk chair, magnet board, file sorter and curtain rod are all from IKEA. We already had the curtain panel (purchased from Pier 1 a few years ago), which matches the other two curtain panels in the room.


I even made Zach some science-themed magnets for his magnet board. The three molecules are serotonin, bilirubin, and Verapamil (an inside joke). There's also a little beaker and flask.

Baby Liberty

Happy Independence Day!

11 Months

Vera loves her NaNa

Reversible Baby Sun Hat

Earlier this month I shared a baby sun hat tutorial and pattern and promised to share a follow-up if I made a reversible hat.

This is super easy to do if you have a sewing machine with a button hole stitch and foot. First, follow all the steps from the original tutorial.

Next, you need to add a button hole on each side of the brim. Measure 3/8" away from the base of the crown and make a mark. (You want the button holes to be perpendicular to the seams in the brim.) Choose a button that will make a button hole slightly longer than the width of the chin straps. Sew the button holes and cut out the fabric inside.

When you want to reverse the hat simply pull the chin straps through the button holes.