Need to get back that sewing buz!

Soooo. I ended up closing my Etsy shop. I have to say I am relieved. I was constantly checking my stats and even started dropping the price just so I could make little dresses. Every dress I looked at, I thought of in terms of money. It was taking over my life. It felt like work. My devotion to it was even starting to come between my Husband and I. So it is gone and I feel free. I actually felt instantly free - which was just fantastic - I never realised how much it was weighing me down.

Yes I feel free to make what I want for me and my girls, but now I just don't feel the urge. How funny is that. Something I loved so much and now I just can't bring myself to make anything.

I attempted to make Simplicity 1381. Miss 5 picked the fabric and I traced out the pattern and cut out the fabric... and that's as far as I got. It's still sitting on my shelf. All it needs is to be sewn together and I can't bring myself to do it.

I decided to try and get my mojo (sew-jo?) back by making a couple of old faithfuls.

I added lace trims and made them look pretty and everything. But I'm not happy with them - the owl dress is a size too big, the pink is also too big and I cut the dress too short, and I cut the dress too narrow on the gray birds as well as putting the bow too far under the arm. Please ignore that they need ironing. I am very anti iron and only pull it out a couple of times a year. If you fold as soon as you pull it off the line, then there is no need to iron. I just left these in the washing machine too long and there was no wind to straighten the creases. Oh well.

I love making the Simplicity 2377. It is a very easy little dress to make. It looks great, my kids like it and can step into it themselves. They wear it to Church, they wear it to the playground. They wear it everywhere and they look great. My Mother has now told me to start making something else. Hmmm something else... I don't really want to make something else, but my Mother has said that to me a few times now and it has started to "taint" my beloved Simplicity 2377.

I know I need to try something else, but this dress is just so great for my girls and my girls actually like them.

I think I need to stop trying to live up to the expectations of others and just live up to my expectations. I know that Simplicity 2377 is the perfect design for my growing and active girls - it completely passes the everyday play test AND THEY WANT TO WEAR IT!

It feels like a load off my shoulders just typing that lol

I should update you about my Husband. That sore on his neck was just a spider bite (and thank the Lord because the Doctor did mention the "C" word).

I also did end up making a Snow White dress. It looks super cute on! I am surprised at how cute it is.

I also went to a Grease themed fancy dress party. I went as a Cheerleader.

I really hate pics of myself, I never look the way I imagine in my head! I made the pom poms myself from scraps and the skirt was Kwik Sew K3851 from top poplin in my stash. It was for a friend I met through Mother's Group - so I was not part of every other woman who was dressed as a Pink Lady in their matching pink jackets that they all bought together. No, I'm not upset about that at all lol. It was still a good night.

I'm going to try and finish the Simplicity 1381 now, or maybe even make Miss 3 a Yellow Wiggle dress (from S2377 of course!). Ahh the choice is endless 😃

Dresses, dresses and skirts

I have been a busy sewing Jayney. I have made 4 Christmas dresses for the girls. Four Rapunzel dresses for my girls and their 2 friends and 2 skirts (for myself and my sister).

I had a lot of Christmas fabric and a head full of ideas that I would make a Christmas dress for just about everyday. Then I started to think that that would be too many dresses to make when the girls can only wear them for a limited time. So I made them both 2 Christmas dresses. Miss 4 and I looked at all different patterns and picked one for me to make her to wear on Christmas Day. Then we went to Spotlight and she picked the fabric she wanted. The pattern we picked was Simplicity 2469 and the fabric was pink with scribble Christmas trees. She is such a pink girl and the colour really suits her.

This isn't even all of it. I have more that is hidden away.

The dress was a bit of a challenge for me because it involved using elastic at the back to tighten the dress around the chest. I admit I was a bit scared to try it, but it ended up being really easy and turned out well.

I chose to make Miss 2's dress out of red Santa fabric. Red really makes her sparkle. It is definitely her colour. I again used the Simplicity 2377 pattern. Unfortunately I didn't have red thread, so used black instead. Was a little embarrassed about that. Still, the dress was very cute.

We had our family Christmas lunch early on my Dad's birthday a week into December, because we can never all make it on Christmas Day. So I made special Christmas dresses for that too. I made them out of Simplicity 2377 again, but this time I did the 2 tier one. They are so cute! I much prefer the 2 tier.

It was past bedtime and Miss 2 was already asleep, so the crocodile stepped in. 

Grandad opening his birthday present. 

I searched Simplicity 2377 to see what other people had made. I came across a lady who made this pattern into princess dresses. You can find the link here. I thought they looked fantastic. What a very clever lady and it gave me so many ideas! Miss 2 has loved Rapunzel since forever and Miss 4 is also a fan. Miss 4's other 2 friends are also into Rapunzel at the moment (same 2 little girls I made the dresses for). So I decided to make 4 Rapunzel dresses and give them to the friends for Christmas. Well let me tell you, sewing ribbon onto the fabric to make the sleeves and front yoke took FOREVER! It took me a few hours most nights for 2 weeks before they were finally finished (probably took longer because I was binge watching Vampire Diaries on Netflix at the same time).

I just used Top Poplin to make them because it was the cheapest fabric available that I could buy in bulk. I bought 4 metres each of dark and light purple fabric (only cost me $30 and I have heaps left over). Everyone who sees them thinks I should sell them. I have to admit that they do look fantastic and I just know that the other girls will love them too.

The skirt I made was Kwik Sew 3851. I have had this pattern and fabric for such a long time and I finally looked at it and decided that it wouldn't be that hard. I was right, it really wasn't hard. I am really happy with it.  When I was looking at the discounted fabrics at Spotlight, I came across sausage dog fabric. My sister has a sausage dog, so I bought it and made her the skirt. She absolutely loved it and put it on straight away. Looked fantastic. Only thing is I made it with an elastic waist instead of a draw string, but I prefer elastic to drawstring. That and I still have not worked out how to use all the functions on my sewing machine yet and can't access the button hole function...

I am really loving sewing at the moment. I would love to be able to make money from it, but at the moment I am still too slow to make my time worth it.

Well, I have more things to make and can't wait to get to it! Thanks for reading,

Jayne xx