Another knitting project

As I am laying here on bed-rest, I have started to think about Littleheart's winter wardrobe. It is still really hot here, and it will be for probably another four months or so, but once the baby is born, I wont have much extra time, so I might as well use my time now. Littleheart loves dresses, she actually will only wear dresses at the moment. For summer it is great, she has a bunch of lightweight sundresses, and chooses what she wants to wear every day. Who knows if she will still be into dresses in the winter, but it is definitely more challenging to make winter dresses. I found this knitting pattern for a cute dress, and thought it would look really nice over a long sleeve shirt and with some bright colored tights. 

It is a great pattern, very clear and easy to follow, and the best thing is, it is all knit in one piece, so no sewing together! It actually didn't take me that long, maybe two weeks, but I was pretty much knitting all day long.

My mom went out to buy me beautiful cotton yarn in nice colors for the fall/winter. This is what my version looks like:

It might be a bit big on Littleheart, but then she can wear it next year too. I hope she likes it (she is VERY picky about her dresses).

If you are interested in some of the other knitting projects I have pinned, you can visit my pinterest board here.

Have a nice day!

Crossover Ruffle Sundress

Well, it has definitely been a while, lots has been going on, and I just needed to take a little time-out from writing tutorials (not sewing). But I did get a lot done over the last month, and the weather is finally warm (even hot!), so we are getting a lot of use out of what I have made. 

Littleheart is definitely in a dress/skirt ONLY phase (which means all of he pretty shorts are just put away in the closet). I try to keep up with her phases, not easy, since they change so fast. But I have made her a few new sundresses (luckily some of the ones from last year still fit) and have a few ideas for some more.

Anyway, this crossover ruffle sundress was inspired by a dress I saw online (I really don't remember where). Want to make one? Read on!

Princess Costume

Purim has arrived, and I finally finished Littleheart's princess costume. I mentioned last month, that I decided to make the costume in two parts - the tutu under the dress and the dress itself. This way Littleheart will have two dress-up pieces in her dress-up box. You can check out my tutorial for the circle skirt tutu here.

I must say, I cannot take credit for the entire design of the dress. I studied lots of wonderful tutorials before I decided what I wanted to do. You can find my inspiration on my "Sewing Costumes" Pintrest board.

Anyway, I didn't choose a specific Disney princess, since Littleheart really doesn't know them yet, but the style of the dress is definitely inspired by Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella...

I chose pink and white for the fabric, but you can really choose any colors. The pink is a "costume satin" and the white is just a plain cotton. I lined the bodice with a white knit fabric, so it would be nice a soft on the inside (I like soft).

I actually made the dress way to long, and then decided to leave it long, and hem it up by hand with a blind hem to the right length. This way Littleheart can still wear it when she gets a bit taller. If there is a line where the fold is on the hem, I can always sew on a pretty piece of lace. Unfortunately the day I actually put it on her I noticed the front is longer than the back, and the front is a bit too long...But she did ok with it.

Anyway, enough talking, lets get down to business - you want to make your own princess dress? Keep on reading...

The clothes have finally been worn...

Lately I have posted a lot of winter clothes I made for Littleheart, but the weather was always too warm for her to wear them and take pictures. Then we went on our trip to the States, and she finally was able to wear everything, so I thought I would share some pictures with you! I am sorry, they are not all good quality, I don't know if it is just me, but I find it really hard to get good pictures of an active 2 year old...

Pleats, pin-tucking and smocking - all in one outfit!

Fleece Jumper with a pouch

Corduroy Pants

Fleece top with a zip

Thanksgiving jumper with removable turkey tail

Have a nice day!

Holiday Jumper with removable Menorah/Christmas Tree

My Thanksgiving jumper with removable turkey tail was a great hit, and a lot of fun to make. My sister and I were talking about it one day, and found that the options are never ending! We came up with so many new ideas, so the next project for Littleheart's holiday wardrobe is the Hanukkah (Christmas) Jumper with removable Menorah (Christmas Tree). This one can definitely have the interchangeable ruffle like the Thanksgiving jumper with removable turkey tail, but to change things a bit the interchangeable piece for this dress will be snowflakes and a snowman.

Fleece Jumper with a pouch

Today I am going to teach you how to make the second project from my "Fun with Fleece" series. It is a fleece Jumper (or tunic, depending how long you make it. I actually was thinking this year a Jumper, next year a Tunic). It is a really easy, fun little sewing project you can sew up in an evening...Let's get right to the point!

Knit Jumper

After all the sewing I did for Littleheart for KCWC, i decided to make some things for myself. I need some everyday, fall/winter clothes, and decided to tackle some of my new knit fabric. When I ordered this purple and black stripe fabric (btw - purple is my FAVORITE color!), I already kind of thought I would make a dress or tunic, but I didn't really have a pattern in mind. Then Jen and Autie over at Icandy Handmade started a series called "Basic Bodice Design Series" which is all about making your own dress design starting with a simple bodice. This got me thinking about my striped purple fabric, and I said, hey, why not try it on myself? I have made tons of clothes for Littleheart starting out with a simple bodice pattern and designing the rest myself, but it seems harder to do it on my own clothes. But this is how I made my jumper, and I am pretty happy with the outcome!

For this jumper I used the Collette free pattern called the Sorbetto top. It is a simple, standard bodice that can be used as a base for many different garments. It comes in sizes 0 - 18 , which is so nice. The Sorbetto top has a pleat in the front, which I did not need for my project, so just cut off that extra strip from your pattern before you cut your material.

Dropped waist sweater dress with over-sized pleated pockets

I mentioned to you a few days ago that I was chosen to participate in an exchange program with fabric fascination. I chose two fabric pieces called Nest Fabric Bundle by Valori Wells, and received half a yard of each to complete my project.

Since my real "thing" is sewing clothes, especially for my daughter, I decided to design something for Littleheart to wear this winter. I am always torn between practical and pretty. I would love to make Littleheart pretty blouses and cotton dresses, but they are not comfortable, and not suitable for daycare. And she really doesn't have many opportunities to wear them. She wears them once or twice and then they get too small. So I tend to stick to the knits, at least most of the time. So this was a bit of a design challenge - how can I integrate these pretty cotton fabrics into Littleheart's normal wardrobe style.

Thanksgiving jumper with removable turkey tail

Project Run & Play week 5 - Holiday wear. As I told you last week, I finally joined in on the Project Run & Play sew along. Last week was boys week (I entered my Lego Man Shirt) and this week is Holiday Wear. I was actually really excited this was the topic, since I had this idea in my head, and this gave me a push to realize it. 

See, I am planning a little trip with Littleheart, to go see my family in the States. We will be spending Thanksgiving with my sister. A few weeks ago, my sister sent me a picture of a little turkey outfit she got my nephew for the occasion, thinking it might be a little tacky, but I loved the idea of dressing up for Thanksgiving, and told her I would make Littleheart something to match!

The only problem is, we don't celebrate thanksgiving here is Israel, and turkeys don't really have any meaning here. So I thought I better come up with something that could be used after thanksgiving too....

And this is what I came up with...The thanksgiving jumper with a removable turkey tail that turns into a ruffle! The jumper turned out just what I imagined, and I am really excited for Littleheart to wear it for thanksgiving. And hey, she even let me do a photo session in the park (she is wearing it without anything under it, since it is still hot here, but the idea is to wear a long sleeve shirt under it).

Dresses for Daycare

So Littleheart is in Daycare (which we call "Gan" - Hebrew for Garden) when I am at work, and she loves it. I am really happy with her progress, I feel that it is really good for her to be with other children. She learns a lot of social skills, and her language is really developing nicely.

I have two problems though:

Loopy Flower Shirred Sundress

I am all about soft, practical, easy- on and off clothes for my Toddler.  Sometimes it is quite a struggle to get her dressed, so easy-on sundresses in the summer make life much easier.

I get tons of knit material from my mother in-law. She does the alterations for a plus-size clothing store in Tel Aviv and gets all their leftover fabric for free. When I started sewing she was very happy to clean out her closets and give me yards and yards of mostly solid color, soft knit fabric - perfect for kiddie clothes.

This dress actually started out as a swimsuit cover for me. I wanted to practice shirring, since it seems like a great technique, but I haven't had much experience with it.  I figured I would take one of the free fabrics and try it out, and if it doesn't work out, I have nothing to lose. Unfortunately, I didn't realize just how much the fabric shrinks when you are shirring. So after shirring the front of the dress, I realized this would turn into another sundress for Littleheart.