Farbenmix Olivia Dress -Warning: Bad pictures but cute dress

I am so excited about this dress!! It is from a pattern by a German company called Farbenmix and is called the Olivia dress. I have found that for the most part, European patterns have way better sizing than U.S. patterns. Not only are they much more consistent (you find your size, that stays the same from pattern to pattern, as long as you stay the same), they are just drafted for better fit in general!

This especially applies when compared to the "big 4" U.S. pattern companies: Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick and Vogue. Their sizing is all over the place and your size in one pattern doesn't transfer to other patterns.

It varies and if you really want to ensure a good fit, this would mean making a test version of almost every garment you made. (Yeah right! I'm lucky to get something made once.) Whereas with Ottobre (a European pattern magazine), once you find your size, it will stay the same for all the patterns you sew. Less work is always a plus in my book. On the other hand, the U.S. company Kwik Sew is a great company with good drafting and some independent companies are also great.

The right side looks like it is all funky here but really, both sides are the same! I love the cut of the dress and how it flares out.

My sister's camera is dying so these aren't the best pictures, (neither is mine - I need a better way to take pictures than on the floor!) but at least we get to see cute Sarah in her dress.

Sarah the model. I *LOVE* this picture! I love that girl! She hugged the phone last time I called them. I almost hopped on a plane!

CREATE

Beautiful video from lds.org "mormon messages". Since I can't create the best thing of all -babies! right now, I will create other things!

Rice Bags

My sister Jo requested a couple of these babies to keep the kids warm in the freezing Minnesota weather. (You pop them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and they stay warm and can be used as heat packs.) I decided to make her one too. And then I just had to make one for Andrew to give with his birthday present, and of course one for Anne also! Utah weather calls for this kind of comfort too! I loooove these and also the heating pad on my bed. They make me happy!

For Sarah, the Diego lover

A T-Rex for Sam
















Andrew's Stegosaurus


I made one like this for both Jo and Anne















Sorry about the inconsistent labeling. My cursor was jumping all over the place! I don't know what's wrong but this site doesn't like me to post pictures and label them! Thanks for looking at all my sewing I have shared recently. I like that it looks like I am a prolific sewer when in reality, all this took me months to finish. I drive myself crazy with ideas and things I am dying to make, but I am slow! All your comments totally keep me going.

The End of the Rainbow

At Christmastime, I got to take my cute little nephew Andrew with me to JoAnn's. I absolutely couldn't resist letting him pick out his own fabric for some jammies. First he was kind of leaning towards the red valentine fleece. Then he found the Snoopy St. Patrick's Day and was all for that! Then he was super good while I did the rest of my shopping there (decorating my thread rack with gummi lifesavers.) He was so fun to have along. I even bought him his own little retractable tape measure since he promised he wouldn't complain when I had to measure him. He told me jokes and wanted me to tell him one, but he told me it wasn't funny because he'd heard it so much already. (Curt's "freep who.") I just have to think about him and that kid makes me smile.

When I made the kids their stocking jammies at Christmas, he said "Hey - you should have made it so the stocking would open, so we could put things in there!" I had actually wanted to do that very thing, but by the end of those, I was definitely ready to be done, not to mention I was out of time! So... we decided this shirt HAD to have something that opened on it. At first, we were thinking of a shamrock and then we thought of a pot of gold and got really excited! I had a bunch of sewing to finish before I made these, but it turned out so perfect, because these were finished last week, which just happened to be... the week of Andrew's birthday! (He's a Valentine's baby - no wonder he's such a sweetie.)

The best part of all was when he got up from his party, picked the pjs up, and with a sly grin, stole away to his room to put them right on! Now THAT is why I love to make stuff for the kids. Aggh this kid is CUTE! He was even sick that night, but he was so sweet, polite, happy and grateful for every single present.

Oh - and he is holding chocolate gold coins in his hands. This is what he was dying to have to fill his pot with. Thanks to Gram for going all the way out to Zurcher's to get them!!! He walked around all night proud as punch having them in his pot.

That was a good collaboration. I think Andrew and I need to work together more often.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jake is my valentine this year and that's ok with me. He is at an age where it is hard to know what to give him for things like this though. I didn't want to spend a lot and I knew there wasn't much he'd get too excited about. And he certainly doesn't need anything new. So, I found this cute idea and decided he would at least like the novelty of it. I know we've all made Rice Krispy Treats a million times, but here are pictures of the process anyway, just for fun.

Mmm... butter and marshmallows melting together.

Adding the Rice Krispies



Then I formed it into a "kiss" shape




I taped these together to make the little paper that comes out the top.



A kiss for my valentine!

















I might take him to do something later too, if he's not too tired after his overnight scout camp last night.

Retro Day

While I am waiting for my sister to get her package so I can post the pictures of the things she hasn't seen yet, I just had to post this picture. It's All for All or "spirit week" at Jake's school this week and there is a different theme for every day. They usually have a strict dress code/uniform so this is really fun for them to be able to wear different things.
I L-O-V-E 70's dress up. I don't know why, I just do.

Does it get more stylin' than this?

p.s. - I want to say thank you so much for all the positive comments on the outfit. Every one of them made my day. I wish there was a magic wand that could make me stop second-guessing myself so much!!

Finished Sewing!

I have finished sewing a bunch of things!! I've had some things hanging around that I have been wanting to finish. I work a little here and a little there when I have energy, so things can take me forever but I am so happy these are all done! I am going to post the pictures over the next few days.

This outfit is for my niece Sarah. Here's the top - my dad said he hated it and it was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. Don't hold back Dad. So I guess I'm curious what you think. Is it ugly/cute/in-between. Or wait, maybe I don't want to know. Be a little gentler than my dad, please. And Mom, you don't have to answer.

I don't know if the ties at the neckline will bug her, but hey, I thought it was cute. And that's what's important right? Well that, and that the receiver of the gift likes it too. And I learn more with every project so that's good too.

This skirt - I kind of morphed another pattern from a skort pattern to a skirt because I didn't have a basic skirt pattern on hand - I hope it fits and works.