It has been quite some time since I have added to my blog. My life went and got busy and complicated on me. I went back to work full time after being on maternity leave for a year and a half, but since we wanted to move closer to my family I decided to take a job that was far enough away that it forced us to move. The timing for the move wasn’t great. Between getting used to being on my feet all day grooming dogs and looking for a new house to rent life got really busy. We found a house but didn’t have a lot of time to pack before the move. It ended up being the most chaotic, disorganised move I have ever been a part of. Highlights included having our move date moved up by a week so we could share the truck with my dad who was picking up some shelving units from a friend and needed to rent a truck to do so. Then the engine of the truck seized before we could get it to the first loading point. I had to work the whole weekend of the move as I had no time to book it off. Then my dad, aunt and husband didn’t get the loaded truck to the new house until after midnight which meant my kids didn’t go to bed until ridiculously late (although my youngest did have a nap which meant she didn’t want to go back to bed until 3am.) The move all and all took two days and happened before Halloween and we still haven’t finished unpacking. I managed to get Rose’s Halloween costume done in time for Halloween but I only managed to finish Lily’s hat. I finished Lily’s costume and mine in time to see Frozen 2 though. Unfortunately I never did get around to making my husband’s Kristof costume. I just ran out of time.
For my dress I used the Mix It Up Pattern by George and Ginger. I love this pattern it has 5 different front bodice options (Yoke, Keyhole, Leaf, Asymetric and Horseshoe), 5 Different back bodice options (Yoke, Square, Diamond, Keyhole and Full Closure), 6 sleeve lengths (Sleeveless, Cap, Short, Elbow, 3/4 and Long) and 5 different skirt styles (Full Circle, Half Circle, Handkerchief, High-Lo Tunic, and Fitted) in Peplum, Mini or Dress for most skirt options. It is such a versatile pattern! I did have to size down quite a bit though, the first dress I made turned out way to big. Thankfully I didn’t cut out the opening of my circle skirt until after I tried on my bodice and I was able to figure out how much smaller I needed to make the opening for the skirt before cutting it out after I had taken in the bodice. My Anna dress was the second Mix It Up dress I made. It came out perfectly the first time. I wore a ready to wear T-shirt underneath my dress as I didn’t have enough time to make a shirt to go under the dress.
The pattern for Rose’s Elsa dress I found on Etsy Shop called Sew A Little Seam. The Pattern is called Once Upon a Pattern. If you have little ones that love to dress up as Princesses I would highly recommend this pattern! You can make dresses for kids from 12 months- 12 years old! Like the Mix It Up pattern there are lots of different bodice and skirt options and cute bonuses like sea shells (for a mermaid “bra”), a cape, a Medici collar and a Bertha Collar. It has a knit back so you don’t have to worry about a closure and the rest of the dress can be made from either knit or woven fabric. It was so easy to make and you could make a dress for pretty much any Disney Princess.
As a side note, I would not recommend making the mistake of using a mesh fabric on a dress for a child. Rose absolutely loves her dress and has it on for at least a couple hours almost every day. The dress now has a giant hole in the sleeve at her elbow. One of these days I will get around to taking that sleeve off and replacing it as I had lots of fabric left over. Also while I’m talking about that particular fabric, I would also recommend against using fabric with tiny decorative balls on it. I couldn’t (nor could anyone else I asked) figure out how to remove the balls (from the seam allowance or any that got too close to it that would interfere with the foot as I was sewing) without tearing a small hole in the fabric. The bottom line though is she absolutely loves that dress and rarely wants to take it off.
Lily’s costume pattern was also and Etsy find. It is called the Olaf Pattern by Joy2Sew. The hat part of the pattern is also good to wear as a hat for the whole winter. The size range on this pattern is also 12 months to 12 years. You have the option of stuffing the body of the costume or not. I also made the t-shirt she’s wearing under the costume out of my go to simple kids t-shirt: the Jolly Rodger Raglan by Patterns for Pirates. The pants she has on were just a ready to wear pair. (I was short on time). We had so much fun dressing up to go see the movie! I would love to do it again!
I have more projects to show you from the last few months but I think I will save that for another post. That job that I moved for didn’t work out but thankfully my husband found a new job that he is starting next week. So I’m back home with my kids with the exception of the occasional supply shift at a daycare, so hopefully I will have more time to get caught up on the pile of projects I have yet to start and get a few more posts that I have planned out finished! Currently I have a partially finished pair of jeans down on my sewing table that I’m determined to get finished for my husband’s first day of work on Monday! (I have been working on them when I have the time for the last 4 days, I’m not even close to finished yet.)
Sarah’s Sewing Space 