Ok... So this month was supposed to be all about me..

But it will not be!
First, I have nothing to show yet, but I will, I finished another swiming suit for my 6 years old, and the cutest Olivia for my 3 years old, and some pants for me.. Just didn't take any pictures yet!
About this month - Some of my friends asked me to sew new dresses for their daugthers. And my sister asked for a swiming suit for her daughter. And I forgot that my 6 years old needs a new dress for her farewell party from kindergarten.
So instead of making this month all about me, here are my renewed plans for this month:
1. two dresses for my friends
2. swiming suit for my niece
3. new dress for my girl's party
4. top for me
5. skirt for me
6. bag for me
I wonder if I'll be able to make it all... The 'me' stuff takes time, you know!

Since I have nothing to show, I thought I'll share some of the cute events allover blogland and some of the stuff that I know I'll have to get!
Books
First - look at this book:

I don't know anything about this book, but I know both my girls would love to dress a doll just like they are dressed! I am seriously thinking of getting this book once it is published! I just need to find 'an American doll' here where I live!
This book is also on my list!

Much more is happening!

On the Burda magazine from the previous monthes that are plenty of stuff for me to make, I don't know when I will get to that though!

Skirts week!
I do not wear skirts! But that's not because I don't like them. I just never found a skirt to compliment mty heavy lower body part!
But I keep thinking that I might come across such a design.
So one of this month's goals is making myself a skirt!
And after setting this goal I came across this great idea of the skirts week!
I know I'll look at all these pictures and try to gather some tips for adjusting a nice skirt for myself!
I hope also to take part in the girls' skirts section - I have made many cute skirts for my girls that I think can be entered to the flicker group!

Giveaway
Clare from Clare's craftroom is giving away her new pattren - the cutest Crocodile! How cute is that?

I so hope I win!

Bye for now!

Next month will be all about me!

Yes, in June I'll try to make some stuff for me!
I plan pants, skirt, and two tops - just for me!
This month was so full, and now it's almost over!
First - I got from my husband the WII Fit Plus! Wow!!! I'll ignore the hint of me needing to get into shape and focus on the good things!
It's so cute!
Now I need to find the time to read (can't do without it!), sew (don't want to do without it) and sports (no more excuses... plus - It is fun!) and all this in the evenings once my girls are in bed...
Even with the WII, I did get some stuff done.
First - this baby set. (I already made one before). Not sure why I did it. I thought it's a cute baby gift, and I can make one to wait for a friend who's having a baby girl...

This time I put on buttons and shortened the straps. It looks better to me...
Nie-Nie
I then made the nie-nie skirt. I LOVE the way it looks, but, Wow, the work!!! So much work! I omitted one ruffle, and made the band far narrower (my dd has a round body, and skirts just tend to slip below her waist, so the broad band just didn't look good).

I usually really love designer's patterns, and make them in pairs, one for each dd, at least! But I had enough with the ruffles!!!! and with gathering!!!
I believe I'll make this skirt again... but not soon, and not with a smile... Only if one of my girls asks for it...
Kyoko
I also made my first ModKid pattern! I made the Kyoko!
I love how simple it is, and yet, it looks so special. The booklet the pattern arrives with is beyond my wildest expectations! Such great explanations.
I made the dress for my three years old. She's kind of sensivitive in her clothing, and I had to convince he to let me put on the obi. but when she allowed me...

This pattern will be very much in use!

Bye for now!

More dresses...

A few more dresses for my girls...
My first try with the famous Olivia By Farbenmix! I didn't get around yet to making the upper dress, but the knit one I made was the easiest thing, and turned out really cute!
My three years old LOVE it!
I guess it's really comfortable, appropriate also for the kindergarten activities. a HUGE success... So I know there will be more!

I also made two more Tinis.
My 6 years old loves hers! It's made from poly cotton, so really, no need to iron. It's wash-and-go!


My 3 years old still didn't get hers... I am still thinking if I should give this dress as a present to a friend's daughter... I know I should... but I have troubles giving this dress away!
I just love the fabric of this one. I got it over a year ago from dotsnstripes. How pretty is that????

I am going tomorrow with my husband to a zimmer (is this a word in English??? I am not sure... ) I mean - the girls are staying with their grandparents and we will sleep, eat and rest in a country house for two whole days! We haven't done that since my three years old was born...
To top that, on the way over we will stop in Nahalat Binyamin - the Israeli street that is full of fabric stores!
I can't wait!
So, until next week...

Mccall 4444 - (Almost) first self-made dress!

Well, It is not a first, I made one dress last year, but it didn't come out as well as I hoped... as well as the model on the pattern looks...
But then again - if I don't lose at least 10 kg, and get at least 10 more cm to my height... :-)
Anyway - I decided to try another dress, Mccall 4444


So, in a few words... This pattern is 'easy mccall'... It was NOT easy for me. Now, I am not a very experienced sewer, and there's a lot I don't know... but I expect 'easy' pattern to be suited for my skills...
The pattern is actually expalained very well, but the neck bands were a bit difficult to understand, and it has many steps... again, not my idea of an easy pattern.
Then again, I haven't made many women dress's patterns before, so maybe it is an easy dress pattern..
I've used quilting cotton. So the dress doesn't drape as nicely as in the picture... but it still looks nice.
Changes I've made:
1. I cut size 8, and expanded to 10 from the hips down...
2. I had two yards of this fabric so I didn't have enough fabric.. so I cut the dress parts about 2 cm shorter then needed.. thinking that I could add contrast fabric or something if needed later on. As it turned out, I don't think it's needed.
3. the gathering in the top area - the pattern's instructions call for gathering using two long stitches and pulling them together. I've tried that three times, and each time the thread was torn. I finally added elastic in the left part, and stretched it as much as I could when sewing.
4. in the neck bands - I put a button, not two hooks and eyes.
Other then that - no changes...
Here is it:





I actually think it looks good.. (though it requires some ironing). I like the top part, it is very special in my opinion.
The dress fits very nice over my top part, but is not too revealing (it is not, right?) I mean - even when I bend, nothing is shown that shouldn't be...
I might make another dress... this one certainly took much of my time and I know that my next one will take far less. However, since I am not a 'dress person', I want to make sure that I actually wear this dress before I make another one!

baby set..

A friend of mine had a baby girl a month ago.
I wanted to make something as a baby gift. I do not usually make such gifts, I am under the impression that most people prefer gifts that they can replace, and do not value the work and effort put into a handmade gift. But here I am talking of a co-worker, that had gotten her 'shop bought' gift, so I thought I would add something!
I used the itty-bitty dress pattern from MadeByRea.
The cute reversible jacket, the apron and the application are from patterns that I baught from preciouspatterns.

Here is the outcome




And all together


I hope she likes it!

Many Many Colors

I finally got my camera back!
So this is what I planned to post a couple of days ago...
Israel is celebrating Independence Day, I thought this would be a great excuse to make my girls new dresses...
I know, I said several times, they both have enough, but in fact, my 6 years old has gotten so tall... none of her old dresses fit anymore. My 3 years old does have many dresses, but most of them are not new. So there you go... They needed new dresses!
This time I chose Farbenmix Tini!


So, I don't often make stuff with English instructions... But I tried. I did have a problem. I made three dresses, three different ways.
I thought for some reason that the waist part is supposed to be more close fitting, with elastics, but didn't know how to do it. I don't like the use of the bobbin's elastics thread for that, I am not sure why, but it sometimes gets torn after washing...
So for the first dress, I added a band, and put elastics in it.




For the second dress - I made the front part longer and added the elastics behind it.


For the third dress - I made the front part just a bit longer, and didn't put elastics in it - so it took far less time...

I like them all!
But I think I like this last one, the soft pink one, the most!
I added these cute hair clips to match the dresses. This is so easy! I made it from a photo guide in Polka Dot Pineapple

The really hard thing about this pattern - is stopping.. It's kind of addictive. I could have done many more, and my girls would wear them all..,
but I have so many additional patterns to try!

A bit more...
Yesterday I spent the morning with a friend, tracing and cutting!
I now have about four projects that are already cut, and four more that are already traced...
It was good, and productive!

My plans for the coming two weeks -
1. Try a dress for myself... My parents have a surprise party to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday... I would like to have something new and nice to wear!
2. A baby girl gift for a friend...
3. Two more Tini-s for my girls.

On another matter - when checking for spelling mistakes using this ABC icon - I always get - no spelling errors! Even when I know there are some! why is that? Does anybody know???

Burda 07-2008-118

Hi,
I made a new top for myself using Burda 07-08-118....
I was supposed to make the twist top from Butterick, but it was too diffcult for me...
I needed something easy, some quick success...
Here's the pattern -

The instructions were VERY easy! (I do not say it often about Burda... right?). The order in which to work was very clear... and the parts perfectly match one another!
But - this patterns runs big. I made size 40, I'll have to do again in 38.
There were really no special issues here, very plain. I did change a little bit - I narrowed the body a bit to make it a bit more 'with shape' and I cut about 2 inches of the length. It still looks a bit like a pregnancy top, don't you think?
And I am not pregnant...
So, my conclusions for next time -
1. make it shorter in length
2. make it a size smaller (38 instead of 40)
here it is... (OK, here I am :-)). I may post it for Spring top week. what do you think?

too many circles.. I think. On the other hand, I may just not be used to it, most of the tops I make for myself are dark and more solid... But I like it... I'll wear even though it's too big and not my usual colors...

I also managed to make a size 6 (approxmately) patchwork skirt for a friend's daugters... I was hoping to try it on my 6 years old, but when I only showed it to her she almost cried when she understood the skirt wasn't hers... I put it away.... that's the only pictue I have.



I still have a lot of plans for this month -
1. pants for myself
2. two dresses for my girls (Tini by Farbenmix... I am struggling with it now, not sure how the skirt is attached to to the top. German instuctions do not help much...).
3. Some other small stuff I was hoping to make as gifts... not sure which yet...
well, till next time then :-)