I have a thing for owls

Aka, the second raglan dress. I saw this adorable owl-fabric (by Amy Schimler) on fabricworms Etsy-shop and I just had to have it! I must admit that the owls were a lot bigger than I thought they would be, but I'm in love with the fabric nonetheless. So much so that I'll probably need to get more of it. ;) Anyway, I realized that the fabric didn't suit the project I had in mind for it, I had to make something else. So I made another raglan dress. Which is actually more of a tunic, as I didn't make it long enough. I had also planned to make the sleeves long, but now they are more of a 3/4-length. Which I this looks adorable on the tiny one. :)
Yes, it's a very lovely photo, but it's about the only shot I got of the tiny one where you can see the sleeves. :) At this point in time my lil darlin' is mad at me for not going out to the sandbox with her. See, she's a little drama queen. :D
The fabric I used for the sleeves is Tone on tone floral by Riley Blake, also from fabricworm. I tried shirring for the first time ever on this project, which is something my sewing machine didn't much like. I still think it turned out quite nice, eventho I never got round to reading the shirring tutorial I was going to read before trying it out. Here you can see the shirring
And a cutesy-pic (or two) with big bro

note to self: always make the babe pose with big bro, that way she'll stay still for a moment. I have a feeling you'll be seeing much more of the boy from now on. :) One more pic (well, ok, two), just because I think these were so cute.

Oh, btw, I'm also knitting a pair of socks for the middle child, I've already knit one sock, need to start the second one today. I'll try to remember taking a pic of the finished sock at some point. :)

Two new tops

The babe is going to have dozens of these tops as I work out all the kinks, to get a version good enough to make for sale. I'm quite liking this first one, I think I got this one just the way I wanted it. Except that I need to make it just a teeny bit longer.
Here's a (kinda blurry) full-body shot
If anyone has any helpful tips as to how to get a 1-year-old to stand still for more than a nanosecond, please, please tell me! :) Anyway, here's the second top, butterflies and tiny polka dots. :)
Next I'm thinking of making the raglan dress with long sleeves, I have a couple ideas already. :) Stay tuned!

And as a final note, my boy went to his very first soccer tournament yesterday. They played three half-hour games, and his team even won one game! Here he is with his brand-new medal.
And yes, he usually always stands around with his mouth open like that, staring blankly into the ditance. :D

Lil Miss Blueberrymouth (and a pair of socks)

Oh the joy of eating blueberries all by yourself!
Oh, right, the socks. Well, Fall is upon us (yay!) and it's rubberboot season for the kiddies. We don't have any tiny woolie socks, so I knit up a pair for the tiny one. The yarn is some Kool-Aid dyed yarn from ages ago. This "normal" heel really doesn't fit a tiny foot, I'll have to make another pair, trying out some other kind of heel. Besides, these socks ended up a bit on the small side, so she'll outgrow them by Winter anyway. These are a warm-up for this years Sukkasato (Sock Harvest, only in Finnish), that I'm participating in for the first time.

So I had this idea..

Of a kimono-style jacket for the tiny one. After making some mods on the kimono-top, I had this
(I sincerely apologize for the poor quality of the photos, it's too dark to take decent ones.) Anyway, I think this turned out pretty darned cute. :) It could have been just a teeny bit wider, but luckily the babe is really skinny, so this fits her perfectly. I think I'll probably make another one, maybe lined with fleece or something, so that she can wear it when it gets colder. I really dislike making buttonholes, but this time I managed to not mess them up, and I actually made them the right size! Whoda thunk? Here are a few close-ups
And lastly, this is the best shot I got of the babe wearing the jacket, and even this one is all blurry. I think I might have mentioned before that she just won't stand still for even a second.

Raglan dress for the tiny one

Someone posted a pic of a raglan dress she had made her little girl in the Sew Obsessed group on Ravelry. I would have posted the link to the pattern, but as Etsy is down for maintenance at the moment, I'm unable to do so. If I remember, I'll come add the link later on. (and the link for the Madeline-dress for sale on Etsy is here.) Anyway, I thought the dress was very cute, and wanted to make something similar for my tiny one. (and as I'm currently without funds, I had to come up with my own pattern.) So I took the pattern I made for the peasant blouse, added a little length and a waistband, and voilá, I had myself a dress. :) I could have added a bit more length, but with a pair of leggings, it works just fine as is. And as my model was (yet again) a very unwilling one, this is the best shot I got where you see all of the dress. Yes, I realize it's a pic of the back, but the front looks exactly the same. :)
A one-year-old can wear a dress with skulls, righ? Yes, yes she can, and she looks way cute in it too. :) I'm so in love with that Mini Calaveras fabric! (from yardstick.) I definitely need more of it. I'm also so in love with this sewing thing, I definitely need to do it for a living. :) I am, however, not so in love with trying to take decent pics of the lil darlin', because she just doesn't want to stand still and pose for me. I wonder why.. Most one-year-olds stand still and do what they're told, don't they? No? Anyway, here is (again) a bunch of not-so-good shots
Silly lil thing.. <3

Aah, much better now

So I redid the armholes and made the straps much thinner than they were. I also undid the seams on the sides and added strips of fabric on both sides, to make the top a bit wider. And now the fit is so much better. :)
As usual the tiny one didn't want to cooperate with me when I tried to take pics of her, but these were half-way decent. :) And in the next pic you can also see what we've been watching on TV today. :D
The color is a bit off in these photos, the green is somewhat darker and brighter than it looks. The stripey fabric is Clown Stripes by Michael Miller, the butterfly fabric is Sunshine Serenade by Julie Popa for Exclusively Quilters. Both from Spice Berry Cottage. Have I ever happened to mention that I love these bundles where you get a bunch of fabrics that match? Love, love, love 'em!

Tiny top - a complete bust and waste of perfectly pretty fabric

Hmm, this had the potential to be a really cute top. But there's something funky going on with the armholes. The straps just won't behave for me, and I know what the problem is I made them too wide, and that's making them stand straight out to the sides. I still haven't decided if it bothers me enough to redo them. Again. I already redid them once, as the opening for the head was too small, the tiny one's head didn't fit thru! Ugh, I'm a teenytiny bit annoyed with this top. I think I might just leave it like it is now, and make another one. Oh, did I mention I also made this too small? I could just get it on her, as it's quite tight. Actually, I might just take the whole thing apart and do it all over again. Yes, I think I'll do that. Very annoyed with this top. Hmph.

Ladybug Kimono for the tiny one

I bought this really cute ladybug fabric sometime last Spring, thinking I might make something for the babe with it. It's been waiting this long for me to actually get around to using it for something. I cut up the fabric for this a couple weeks ago, but (and this I've mentioned before) as I strongly dislike sewing knit fabric, I only now pulled myself together enough to sew it up. And here it is, the finished ladybug kimono
I'm not completely satisfied with the button-thingy fastening, I'll have to see how it behaves when the babe uses it, and maybe think of another fastening system. We'll see.

Sewing this wasn't that bad, the fabric was a bit thicker that the fabric I used for the babe's tunic earlier. So sewing wasn't that annoying. Which is a good thing, because I have a pair of leggings from the same fabric waiting to be sewn. :)

Hmm, that's one interesting looking button..
Ooh, look, that's me in the camera!

Another skirt for the 5yo

The 5yo saw a skirt in a magazine and told me she wanted me to make it, even picked out the blue polka dot fabric that she wanted me to use for it. Now, I admit that I got a bit lazy and didn't use the pattern from the magazine, I made my own version of it. Ok, I also admit that it doesn't look much like the skirt in the mag, but that doesn't bother me. :) Here's the finished skirt
I had planned on making the waist different than it is now, but that would have made it way too long. And since I didn't want to start cutting the fabric I just made a simple waist instead, using the elastic bands we all know I love so much. :D I also wanted to do something different with the hem, this is what I came up with
Overall I'm pretty happy with this, eventho I didn't have the energy to sew the waist like I had planned. Oh, the fabric is (again) Dumb Dots by Michael Miller, from yardstick's Etsy-shop.

"Look mommy, I can fly!"

Proof that I've been knitting too

It took me long enough to finish this.. I wanted to make this with long sleeves, but the girl told me that she wanted short sleeves, so that's what she got. :) I'm hoping that she'll actually wear this, as she's chosen the yarn for it herself (it's Malabrigo, btw) and I didn't knit long sleeves on it either. But I'll probably have to make her another cardi, with long sleeves, so that she'll have something warm to wear this Winter. Anyway, here's the sleeveless cardi
The hem insists on curling up, I'll probably have to block it to make it play nice. :) Other than that, I'm happy with the result, and so is the girl. Altho she didn't want me to take her pic, she threw herself on the couch and hid her head, in this manner
"No more pictures, mommy!" Oh fine, be that way..

This wasn't supposed to be a ruffled skirt

But, as I'm apparently unable to think straight these days, it ended up being a ruffled skirt. See; ruffles. There weren't supposed to be any.
I think I might have to make another one, without the ruffles. Or maybe I'll just never sew anything for the 5yo ever again, because she's just so.. oh, stubborn is probably a good word.. Pigheaded, as the Leo she is. :)
The pattern is a very simple one that I drew up, the fabrics are the same that I used for the tiny one's peasant blouse. Altho I think I might have forgotten to mention where I got the fabrics. The dotted fabric is from Eurokangas, the Amy Butler fabric is from Get Knitted. Too bad they don't have more of it.

I'm officially in love with Amy Butler

Well, at least Amy Butler-fabric. I bought this fabric ages ago, because I saw it on some blog and just fell in love with it.
It has been sitting in a box, patiently waiting for me to think of something to use it for. And now I finally came up with something, I made a peasant-style blouse for the tiny one. Unfortunately I didn't have enough to make the sleeves with the same fabric like I had planned (I had already cut up fabric for a skirt before this blouse), so the sleeves are made with polka dot fabric. And I must say, I think the tiny one looks so cute in this. :)
I had to make daddy hold her, because she wasn't in the mood to pose for me (again). I've made a couple of these peasant blouses for the bigger girl, but didn't have the pattern in a smaller size. So I drew up a pattern. The first try ended up waaay too big, I could have fit three tiny ones in there, so I had to cut away some (=quite a lot of) fabric to make it a bit less wide.

In these followin pics you can almost see the sleeve fabric too.

You'll see more of this combo, as I have a skirt waiting to be sewn up, using these fabrics together. :) Oh, and I definitely need more of this fabric, too bad it seems to be very hard to get hold of these days.

Top/tunic-thingy for the tiny one

I've been making so much for the older girl lately that I thought it would be about time for the smaller one to get something for a change. (oh, and I still haven't made anything for the boy.. can't figure out what to make, must make something soon.) Anyway, I made the tiny one this
I can't quite decide if it's a top, tunic or dress. Maybe a tuntop? Turess? Dressnic? Aaanywaayyyy, I think it's cute, but I do have several improvements to make on the next one. I thought of loads of things to do differently, as I was making this one. Still, it's not bad for a prototype. :)
The froggy fabric is from karaku's Etsy-shop. The green is plain cotton from Eurokangas.

"Mommy, stop taking my picture already!"

My lil fairy girl

I'm so proud of this dress that I could just burst! I made this all by myself, pattern and all! Whee! And it turned out just like I had visioned it.
The girl asked me for a green dress, and a green dress I made for her. :) This dress is what finally convinced my husband too that I can sew, and even think up patterns myself. Wohoo! He even went so far as to say that I just might have what it takes to work in the clothing industry. Not as a designer mind you, I would love to make clothes, but first of all, I would love to go to school, and get an education in sewing and pattern making and everything involved. Oh well, it's good to have dreams, right?
I think I need to make one of these for the tiny one as well, just need to draw up a new pattern for it.

We've been doin' some dyein'

Yes, I said we. My 5yo dyed her very first sock yarn with Kool-Aid a couple weeks ago. I'll probably knit this into socks at some point.
Ok, so I did help her a bit, but she did choose the colors and did some of the dyeing herself. The boy didn't want to come along to our dye-along, so I asked him what colors he wanted for his yarn. The answer was blue and orange, so I dyed him this
I've also been doing some of "my own" dyeing, these two are what I have so far, both available in my Etsy-shop.

I've been sewing a bit too, here's a sneak peek on what I'm making