Flashback Friday - First Day of Kindergarten

I find this Flashback very appropriate, on Sunday, Meredith and Kaitlyn (my twins and the babies of the family) are graduating from high school.  Yes, I am a bit teary-eyed as I type this.

Today's post features their first day of school outfits for kindergarten.  They helped me design them, selecting the style, embroideries and embroidery placement.

Kaitlyn is wearing the dress and Meredith is in the swing top and biker-style shorts.  Fabric is all from Needle Nook Fabric, I remember making these outfits like it was yesterday!

You can tell they had the "school theme" going on.  Kaitlyn wanted the flower in the middle of the dress with the school related items around it.  Meredith wanted the school house in the middle and buses running along the bottom.  

The pattern is Kwik Sew 2625 (now discontinued)  and I made this so many times for these two.  Kaitlyns' dress is the top lengthened a few inches.

I have quite a few of their garments I made over the years but unfortunately I don't have these little outfits.

Flea Market Fancy

That is the name of a quilt fabric collection by Denyse Schmidt (her first design collection).  Free Spirit finally reprinted after many requests of quilters, it was a favorite and I was one of the quilters who was so excited it was coming back.  The release date was April 2012 and I found an etsy shop selling 1/2 yard in each fabric from the collection

Here is the complete collection for you to check out.

Well, the fabric aged for less than a year and during one of our three stuck-at-home snowstorms this winter, I went to work on this yardage.  My initial plan was to make 

Source - Valori Wells

After really checking out the pattern, I decided that was too much individual cutting and I wanted something I could cut out with the rotary cutter.  I decided on a Snowball pattern and a golden-yellow for the solid against all the prints and a lap size for these fabrics.

As you can tell, I cut one block in half and offset these blocks.  It sure made it easier to put the rows together.  Plus I really like how it looks in the quilt.

Here is a few close-ups of the quilt 

Here is one of the block itself:

The back, so you can see the quilting design:

This quilt did not use all the blocks I had cut out, so after searching online for a simple quilt pattern,  I used some inspiration from  Film in the Fridge's quilt from the same fabric.

I sewed all the squares together and then appliqued some smaller squares on the gray fabric.

Here is the back

So now I have two beautiful quilts from fabric, I have liked for quite some time.   Snowstorms are always good for me to get some sewing done.

How about a giveaway?

If you would like the original pattern, Rosalie (pictured above), leave a comment.  In your comment, tell me what is your favorite quilting fabric group. I will draw one winner next Wednesday, May 15th.

Meredith's Eyelet dress turned Top

There is a saying that holds true on this sewing adventure, "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry".  Which is a line from the poem titled  To a Mouse by Robert Burns and the poem is the source of the title of Steinbeck's novel - Of Mice and Men.   What does this literary history lesson  have to do with my Mood Sewing Network post?  Well, Meredith and I had  big plans for a beautiful graduation dress for Meredith from Mood Fabric's white/cream polka dots embroidery and eyelet voille (which is very similar to the blouse I made on my last post). 

Meredith had picked out the perfect Simplicity pattern and I had the bodice fitted.  That is what I thought, at least.  In reality, not so much, the fit was horrible and there wasn't any way to salvage it and graduation is next Sunday.  Time was not on my side!

The good part, I did have some yardage left and I was able to use the skirt fabric from the dress to make a top for Meredith.  We decided on Hot Patterns' Metropolitan Good Times Dress, Tunic and Top with the dress view used for this top, just with the shorter length.

 A muslin was made  for this top and the only change was to deepen the front neck just a bit and add 2" to the length. I made a muslin from some batiste and could tell Meredith was less than impressed with the results of that muslin.  I knew it would be great, she just had to trust me.


I was careful to cut the hem on the border of the yardage, isn't this the prettiest eyelet border?  

These six row of eyelets are on one side of the selvage, the other side is one row of eyelets.  I carefully cut the one row of eyelets and used it for a smaller version of the cap sleeves.  

This fabric is a dream to sew and I like the fact we selected a more basic pattern to showcase the design of the embroidery and eyelet.

I used some muslin from stash to line the yoke and it was the perfect shade for the fabric.  Fabric limitations meant a seam down the center back but that didn't take away from the design.  All the seams were sewn with a french seam, with the exception of the yoke facing and it was hand stitched down on the wrong side.

I finished the top Saturday night and showed it to Meredith.  She quickly responded, "wow, that is cute."  Yes, we have a winner in my soon-to-be graduate's eyes.

In reflection on the plans that went awry, I see a top, which in reality my graduate will wear much more than the dress. The gorgeous fabric was saved and a stylish and chic top was made for Meredith.  And to top it all off, Meredith is so happy with me for her new garment.

Plus, Mom was right she just had to trust me and I would make her a fabulous top.

Plans Quickly Change

Remember a few days ago, my post on Meredith's graduation dress?  Well, it is not happening.  I had the bodice fitted (or at least I thought) and attached the skirt.  Something went terribly wrong!  The bodice back was crooked, the skirt too tight, the lining unacceptable.  I tried to fix it and it just got worse.

Meredith was disappointed, I was disappointed but we decided to try a top instead.  The fabric from Mood Fabrics is just too beautiful not to use.

I had enough yardage left and the skirt from the dress to make this pattern:

source Hot Patterns site

The top (dress view with shorter length) is cut out after making a muslin.  I am not going to underline it, Meredith will wear a camisole and we are debating the cap sleeves.

So the bad, is I didn't get the graduation dress made.  The good - I ordered 3 dresses from Penney's for Kaitlyn, so Meredith can pick from those.  And another good, Meredith will wear the top lots more than a dress.

Off to make this top.

Has this happened to you?  High hopes for a garment then in reality it just didn't work?  Or the picture in your head isn't close to the actual garment?

Meredith's Graduation Dress

Next on my sewing table is a dress for Meredith's high school graduation, May 12th.  Yes, my Mother's Day present is to shed some tears as my babies walk across the stage!  The graduation robes for the girls are white.  So a white or cream dress is preferable.

Meredith selected Simplicity 1651, View D back with the straight skirt.

 image from simplicity.com

Fabrics?  She shopped online at Mood Fabrics and picked out this White/Cream Polka Dots Embr & Eyelet

It is a voille and very similar to my white/black from my last blouse.

I am underlining it with fuchsia batiste

The bodice is fitted and I just need to do some final adjustments.  Then onto the skirt.

If you are going to make view D watch the straps, I had to move Meredith's around to cover the back bra strap.

Hopefully I will finish this weekend and it will be up on the Mood Sewing Network right after graduation.

Kaitlyn's dress you ask? She really didn't want me to make her a dress and  was very happy with a white ones from Penney's.