Valentine Pillowcases for the Quads

I love to sew these - I'll forever be grateful to Lisa Connolly for giving me the idea and directions!

 Ian's.

 His made a nice hat/cape.

Since Whitney's birthday is also on Valentine's Day, I made her a halvesie one! Birthday on one side and Valentine's on the other! (I made her a Valentine one last year when I made them for her siblings, but at that time I was not planning on doing birthday pillowcases with the other holiday ones. I changed my mind later that year, and so I had to make her another!)

I gave Jessica a couple of choices on fabric for Cambria's, but guessed this would be her choice.

 I was right!

This happy pink fabric reminded me of Julie.

 Julie is quite creative and has another use for her pillow case.

Sleeping bag!

Then I decided to make some pillowcases for Drew and Annalise Thomas. Their family sits with us nearly every Sunday.

This one is for Analise. She really liked it and kept spreading it out on the floor to sit on.

It is hard to find manly Valentine fabric (I wish I had bought more of Ian's fabric!), so Drew got one covered in smallish hearts in a range of pink shades. I forgot to take its picture.

Next up? Trinity's birthday pillowcase and then the St. Patrick's Day ones for the quads!

Mila's Blessing Gown

During Christmas break, I asked Vanessa if she would like me to make a blessing gown for Mila. I was thrilled when she responded with a yes! I asked her to think about patterns and fabrics, and then we would go shopping for the things I would need.

I received this picture from Vanessa soon afterward, asking if this would be possible for me to make.

Found on Etsy, it was darling but very pricey. (As a seamstress myself, I understand that price. Having said that, I would not pay that much for a dress.)

I was on winter vacation, so one afternoon we met at JoAnn's and sat down at the pattern desk to see if we could find a similar pattern.

Sharp-eyed Vanessa found the very pattern the Etsy sewer used!  Then we struck gold when buying fabric - Vanessa wanted dotted swiss, and there was just enough left on the bolt to make the dress. Better yet, since it was the end of the bolt, I got it for 80% off. Total cost of the dress was $23. Not bad!

 Because Vanessa wanted a full length dress, I had to lengthen the pattern pieces.

 All cut out and ready to sew.

School began January 4, the day Mila made her arrival. Time was no longer my own, and Saturdays became my only day to sew.

 I got the bodice (sans sleeves) done the first Saturday.

 The following Saturday I added the sleeves and the skirt lining. (The skirt looks longer on the left, but it isn't. The back of the dress was open and it was sagging a bit on the hanger.)

The skirt is gathered, and when you are sewing something that tiny, it is very easy to catch the gathers and the skirt in places they should not be stitched. The solution is to pin frequently and carefully, checking both sides of the fabric to make sure you have not caught unwanted material into the gathers. It is time consuming, but much better than having to go back and rip out a seam (which can damage the fabric) and resew it.

Last Saturday's work.

This weekend, all I needed to do was to put in the zipper, make the bow, and tack it to the bodice.

 A closeup of the bow.

The finished dress! I may put a hook and eye at the top of the zipper, but will check with Vanessa first.

Next Sunday is Mila's blessing day, and I can hardly wait to see how she looks in her new dress.

Julie and Cambria's Birthday Pillowcases

Well, after a chat with Jessica, I discovered that Cambria is using a pillow now, so I have changed my mind and am going back to making the pillowcases for the two year old grandchildren.

So... here we go! It's going to be a busy year since the quads all turn two this year. Since I did some for Whitney earlier at her siblings' request, I only need to make her birthday and Thanksgiving ones to complete her set, which means I will just be making three per holiday.

I can't wait - I love this tradition!

Today I sewed Julie and Cambria's birthday pillowcases. I used fabric with cupcakes on it, and if you look closely, you can see the Very Hungry Caterpillar nibbling on a few!

And thus begins the "sewing year"!

Whitney's Halloween Pillowcase

I am going to begin sewing pillowcases for the grandkids when they are three instead of two, but since Whitney has older siblings who noticed she did not get one when theirs arrived (when I began this tradition), I started making her one along with theirs last Christmas. Here's her Halloween one.

After this, she just needs her Thanksgiving and birthday pillowcases, and she has a complete set!

Braden's Birthday Pillowcase

I am wrapping up the first round of grandchild holiday pillowcases with Braden's Birthday pillowcase.

Whitney has most of the other pillowcases, but I still need to do Halloween, Birthday, and maybe Thanksgiving (have to double check that) for her.

 I will begin the quads' pillowcases either this Christmas or Valentine's Day.

Addie's Birthday Pillowcase

Addie asked that her birthday pillowcase be made out of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.

If you look closely, you can see the caterpillar nibbling a cupcake or two!

American Girl Doll Dresses for Addie

Addie's sixth birthday is coming up and she will be spending it with us. Since we gave her an American Girl Doll last Christmas, I decided to sew some clothes for the doll as my gift to her.

She loves Disney princesses, so I got a pattern that Ashley recommended.

It was NOT an easy pattern to make, and I did not like how some parts were constructed. (There are several ways to put in a sleeve, for example, and depending on the pattern you might be told to do it one way when you prefer another.)

Kyle said that Addie's favorite princess is Cinderella, but there was no Cinderella pattern. She also like purple, so I made a princess dress out of purple satin with sparkly underskirt.

I also bought a Simplicity 18" doll pattern - its directions were MUCH easier!

Just because it was simpler did not mean I did a shoddy job on it - I even matched the plaid at the seams!