Tinley Tee and Love Me Knot Tour

When Chelsea from Get Your Crap Together invited me to her pattern tour I didn't have to think much. I jumped in right away. I had the opportunity to work with Chelsea before in several ways and I just couldn't say no again. 

When the themes for Project Run & Play were announced, I hadn't sewn my two pieces yet. That was great, I thought I could do both things in one, and I went looking for inspiration. The first theme's 80's cartoons and my oh my, I was a child from the 80's and as soon as I googled them, there were so many I wanted to get inspired by... after all, my pick was:

I had something to work with now. I love to sew with a theme. And started sketching something. I wanted to make an outfit, mixing Popeye's & Olivia's clothes colours: red, black, blue and yellow in it. But I was going to refashion and I was limited to what I had. When searching in my pile of refashioning clothes, I was happily surprised with s women sized t-shirt with sailor prints. How great was that? I couldn't even remember I had it. I was using denim for the shorts, but then I found this suit with a very cool print in it, and I knew I wanted it as the future Love Me Knot Shorts for my daughter. After I finished both pieces, I didn't like to see them together, so I paired each of them with store bought clothes, and did two different photoshoots. The shorts one didn't go that well, we went to a birthday party at an amusement park, and because of that, she was just too excited to pose. The shirt photoshoot was actually done by dad and they had so much fun together.

Let's start with the Tinley Tee. This has become one of my favourite patterns and I am sure I will turn into it a lot from now on. Not only it has a perfect fit, it is super easy and quick sew. It comes with four sleeve options  - short sleeve, long sleeve, gathered cap sleeve and flutter sleeve, (isn't that great?!) and the option for a regular hem or a banded hem. 

I did the cap sleeve option and the banded hem one. I used the original t-shirt for front, back and neck pieces. For sleeves and back I used leftovers from (the sleeves) man's shirt I used back here. The only changes I made to the pattern was the band. My lenght is different because I used what I had to save time. 

And then the shorts... I did a few changes to the original shorts instructions. I didn't make any changes to the actual pattern pieces, but I did sew them differently. I made a knit band waist instead. The darts on the back pieces worked perfect for this. I had a little fabric left from the t-shirt I had cut and it would be perfect for what I had in mind. No waste, I was able to use every bit of it. 

Instead of gathering the shorts on the hem and attach the bias, I tried something different, and I did a regular hem, and added the bias only on the sides. At first I wasn't so sure if I liked the changes I made. You know when sometimes you risk to do something different and then you regreat it? Well, it was almost the case. But once my daughter wore it, I liked to see it on. 

Just like the shirt, the shorts are a super quick and easy sew. Perfect for begginers, or people like me, who have a new baby keeping you from spending lots of time on your sewing activities. This was a bonus for me at the moment. 

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Pinterest Challenge |Pin 2 & 3 - August|

Today is the last day of August and I am happy to say that I have cross 4 pins out of the 6 I've listed as "wish to do" for the month. I have showed you the first one last week, and today I am bringing 2 more. Uhmmm? Didn't I mention 4? Well, yes! The fourth was done but my batery died and I have no photos to show you yet, I can't pass them to the laptop until later. And actually, I might get by the end of the day with 5 pins crossed, because i am hoping to make the maracas with G. today too. 

So, the second pin crossed from the list was making a fun dish for G. I tried, but I consider this a fail. It wasn't that much interesting or beautiful after all, but my little miss really liked to eat her sandwish in heart shapes, and she loved that I gave her goji berries. She is crazy about them and eats them mostly every day. There is also plum in it. 

Anyway, after the master fail I tried it again later, and apparently I was feeling more inspired for this, since I got her a much more interesting dish. She loved it! She was waiting for her peanuts only, and instead I showed her a butterfly scene, with a flower and everything. Again, you can see some goji berries. didn't I just tell you that she loves them?! In fact I have made a 3rd one already, earlier today, but the photos are still on the machine too. 

The third pin I crossed from my list was the big sister and little brother photoshoot. It wasn't fancy because neither one of us (hubby and I) aren't professionals, we just wanted some nice shoots of both of them together in a reasonable good quality. We took many, it's not easy to have them both staring at us at the same time, or having S. not crying without his pacifier, or one that's not blurry, but we did get a few nice ones. Most likely I will print a couple to add to their room deco when I finally have a little time to dedicate to it.

I am sorry I edited this photo, I am not so comfortable sharing photos online, when their faces are showing as you've probably noticed if you've been following for a while.

The fourth pin crossed, was the puzzle. I will blog about it later, if I manage to keep it in mind...

Glimpse of our last week #11

This is where I show you bits and parts of our week behind the scenes.

It was a lovely week. We took G. to several parks in different places. Enjoyed our relax time as always, with a less crying baby for a change. At home, G. has been entertained with the everyday "toys". Ever since she was a baby she loves to play with the clothes pins. She made a sculpture out of them this time. She loves to play with my buttons too, she didn't for a while, so she was super excited. I gave her a huge sheet, a brush and paint and she did a piece of art. hehe

We visited daddy at his work and G. was so exausted after a while that she fell asleep on the floor. She keeps spreading her toys in the floor and argues it is for her brother to play with her when he grows. She loves that swing. My favourite fruit. Having fun with her cousins. My love got me a new cell phone. She's 3 and we're back to slinging around. I am slowly sewing again. Can't believe it! The reason why she must sleep alone!

Pinterest Challenge |Pin 1 - August|

I don't have a lot of time until the end of the month to get all the pins done. I knew from the start I was hoping to do more than I could, but I still hope to cross a couple more before September comes. 

Today I am sharing the first pin crossed. I bought a bag of pom poms and allowed my daughter to use her creativity. I drew a start and a moon in a white sheet and asked her to paint it with the pom poms. She started by filling the star shape, but then she started painted elsewhere. That's fine, because above anything else, it kept her entertained for a little while, and she loved to do so. 

Glimpse of our last week #10

This is where I show you bits and parts of our week behind the scenes.

Another week. This one was mainly about my kids and spending time with them. Time flies by so fast and August in nearly over. G. will be back to kindergarden in September. 

We had my brother in law's birthday and G. made him a drawing of him as a birthday gift. My house is a mess, there are toys everywhere and I can't do anything because S. is still crying a lot most days and when he doesn't, I fully dedicate to the big sister and things like having us fed. But S. smiles a lot too and that melts my heart. 

I was able to do some sewing, a pattern test. We took G. to the beach at the end of the day and we've been in the park often too. I finally bought the paint for the crib and other accents for their room... 

Knock it off Series

This is probably my very favourite series from the sewing community! I wasn't going to participate this time, I haven't been sewing, but then it crossed my mind that I had just finished a knock off a few days ago. The Series are over by now, by I was able to add this project to the Flickr group before it ended, however, I am only able to blog about it right now. 

This knock off was actually ordered by a costumer. Her little girl celebrated her 7th birthday on the 28th of July (same day nd age as my niece) and her mom threw her a Barbie themed partie. She wanted me to make her a tutu and a shirt like the one in the first photo but she requested a few things different. She wanted no bows in the shirt, the silhuette to be black instead of pink and an extra bow for her daughter's hair. 

I made a no sew tutu. I used the knots technique for the second time ever and this one turned out so much better. I might have to make a third for my daughter. She's been into Anjelina Ballerina and dances in her toes often... wouldn't she look adorable doing that in a beautiful tutu?

The t-shirt was my favourite! I searched for a Barbie silhuette online, this one was the one I liked the most, printed it, cut it out and used it as a pattern to cut it on my fabric. I added some interface to the fabric before I cut to make it easier, and then sewed into the t-shirt. Quick and easy with a perfect result. 

I have a friend whose little girl turned three on this very same day too and also had a Barbie themed party for her daughter. I wonder if she would have liked an outfit like this one... 

Glimpse of our last week #9

Yep! It comes a little too late this week again. Why? Well, my laptop went to the store to be fixed a week ago and they told me I would have it back the next day. Apparently the monitor they were sent to replace mine wasn't the right one, and because it was a holiday on friday, I only got it back yesterday! How I missed it!!!

This week went a little better than the last one. My sister borrowed me a monitor to check if my laptop was ok apart from the broken monitor. On the same day, we got a new tap in the kitchen and some new shelves in the kids closet. My daughter made art with some toys... hehehe... she said it was a birthday cake for me (although it isn't my birthday so soon). I drew for her and she painted and made some collages. She loved it by the way. Daddy did G.'s nails (hands and feet - lol). We went to the park, did I mention she loves the swings?! S. had good and bad days, in the bad days the sling was my best friend to keep him calm. G. enjoyed some time in the beach with my sister and her kids, when I joined them later that day, S. was able to be there for the first time too (of course he was not on the sand or sea, but still...).