welcome charlotte
we have a new addition to the family! meet charlotte, maya's new doll.
maya and charlotte are already matching thanks to some nora and etta hand-me-downs.
porter in hand aunt maggie went to the basement and found the dolly table, chair, and side table she played with as a little girl.
using the toy food that aunt maggie made with her big sister (aka mommy) 20 years ago from fimo a tea party was had.
tomorrow we're going to the fabric store to get material for matching shirts.​
love,Â
aunt maggie
is this thing on?!
Between the new house, trips, lots of visitors, and a generally busy millennial lifestyle, I haven’t had time to sew, let alone blog recently. however when maya specifically requested a back to school dress three weeks ago I knew it was time to change that.
so you want to know the best part about planning a wedding? everyone wants to help!
early on in our engagement my nieces indicated a strong desire to contribute to the wedding. my mom came up with an idea: have them make pot holders as favors for the guests.
another back to school post!
maya started kindergarten this year and is the third generation in our family to attend the ann arbor public schools. so naturally a new dress was in order.
lets talk fabric selection.
back in may we went up to heldsburg for a wedding. the wedding venue, our Airbnb, the rehearsal dinner venue, and a fabric store were all within 800 yards of one another. combine this with the fact that we referred to the groom as "sargent substance" back in college and what do you get? I'll give you a hint" it rhymes with 'funk maverick bopping'.
it's back to school sewing season!
first up is maya who is starting kindergarten this year. after i saw this post from gail over at probably actually i decided to make her a lunch box.
while bay area weather is just about always beautiful and perfect my hometown of ann arbor, michigan has some pretty intense winters.
maya has developed quite the fashion sense, we're calling it 'ragamuffin chic'. (see her second birthday tunic in there?)
quick post today....
i first saw this joel dewberry print at gather here a few years ago. it was beautiful but i wasn't sure how i would find coordinating fabric so i held off.
a few months later i saw it for sale on fabric.com when i was order something else and this time i couldn't help myself.
coming off my awesome (if i do say so myself) peacock and paddington bear costumes the past two years i was a tad nervous for maya's hallowen costume this year. i mean how could i top those two gems?
well i did.
one snowy day back in cambridge I bundled up and headed to gather here. on the store dress form was a darling rendition of the book report dress by oliver + s. inspired i started looking for a fabric for my own version. i came across this ikat print and knew it would be perfect.
as previously mentioned nora and etta are quite girly. i, however, am not. so finding fabric that appeases them yet i can stand is often a challenge.
when i came across this rose and coral abstract print at gather here a few years back i knew immediately they would love it and bought a few yards.
last summer while in jackson hole for a friend's wedding i visited a local fabric store and picked up materials to make victor a flannel shirt, the scraps of which became the lil' man flannel.
at the same time i came across some pretty awesome snowflake flannel. so i got a few yards with every intention of making holiday pj pants for the girls. however a month before the holidays my sister abby informed me that her girls (nora and etta) didn't like to wear pants to bed, preferring nightgowns.
so like any good liberal arts graduate i had some iced coffee and came up with a plan b.
quick post today.
i had never heard of, let alone made, a bubble hem until i made my first bubble dress from oliver + s.
then suddenly this poofy hem was everywhere and i knew it would only be a matter of time before i came across another pattern with it that i simply had to try.
sometimes it's the simplest and easiest projects that bring my nieces the most joy.
my sister sammie is exactly the kind of mom i, as the biggest recipient of her nurturing instincts for 26 years, always knew she would be. that is to say she's amazing. she's warm, caring, disciplined when need be, and most of all really fun. so when i see maya idolizing her, hanging on to her every word, and wanting nothing more than to be like sammie, i can totally relate.
a few years ago when i was just discovering the glory that is oliver + s patterns i went to visit vic's family in pennsylvania for the weekend. now i've already talked about how i find hand sewing to be a great way to bring your sewing when you travel. but another thing is pattern tracing.
when done right pattern tracing is time consuming, especially if the pattern has a lot of pieces. add into that doing the same pattern for multiple sizes and you're looking at hours and hours of work. fun work, but work. so i brought along the croquet dress pattern and traced both versions for all three girls that weekend. not a small task.
my third oliver + s style was the music box jumper, making all three girls grey polka dot versions for thanksgivng.
the fabric is a quilting cotton from gather here. at the time I didn't know it was quilt backing (and thus 120 inches wide, more than double what normal fabric is) so i had a lot of it!
i probably should have started with this style, it's simple (a one scissor pattern) but most importantly, easy to get good results with, which is essential for beginners.
i would also recommend using snaps for this dress if you are just starting out. button holes are really tricky (i was never able to get the hang of them on my old machine). however i found snaps to be a great alternative during my first year of sewing.
when vic and I did long distance for 819 days (but who counted) one of the few things i didn't like about visiting him in california was that i couldn't bring my sewing with me. then i discovered you could do entire projects by hand. game changer.
one of the early hand sewing projects i did was birthday bunting for the girls. when i referred to them as bunting vic was incredious, insisting they couldn't be as that was something baseball players did. #allboysfamily
fresh off my awesome introductory experience with the duggar dresses i was itching to try another style.
after consulting the internet and reading this queen of the flies post and this probably actually post i decided on a pattern for my second oliver + s adventure: the sunday brunch jacket.
so armed with green canvas-esq fabric from gather here, some purple polka dot fabric from when I had gone to meet month old maya in north carolina, and a harpoon ginger wheat beer i set to work.
for the past two months all but one of my blog posts have been about old projects. (i guess is the blog version of stash busting?)
while I still have a fair amount of posts lined up i wanted to end the month by sharing more recent pictures. some updates of things you've seen before and some previews of projects i've been working on.
oh man i love the class picnic tunic from oliver + s. more specifically, maya loves the class picnic tunic. it's perfect for her casual and comfortable style. i've made it for her second birthday, her third birthday, and her winter wardrobe. but this top came before all of those.
fall 2013: after seeing gail's version here i had to try this style. so one friday night in boston armed with a dogfish head pumpkin beer and stash fabric from nora and etta's dolly's ergos, i dove in.
it's pretty obvious i love all 49 of my oliver + s patterns (94 if you count each size), but according to all the podcasts about blogging one should do 'list posts' so here it goes:
also know as polka dots for maya part 3
i picked up the playdate pattern from oliver + s on sale at stonemountain & daughter while visiting victor a while back. then it just sat in my stash for months. i have no idea why, but for some reason i just wasn't drawn to the picture on the front.
however as soon as i saw gail's version i suddenly had to make it. so one friday night with a nitro milk stout and some polka dot fabric i picked up from gather here that was in my stash i set to work.
also known as polka dots for maya part 2
as previously mentioned, when i first saw the library dress from oliver + s i was smitten. i mean a wrap dress fit for a little girl?! how could you not love that?
the only issue was the back. it was all buttons and i knew nora and etta would not be down for a dress that required assistance. so with plans to eventually make an zippered version in the back of my head (see those versions here and here) i decided to get the hang of the pattern by making a standard rendition for maya.
i found this purple and yellow polka dot print and coordinating solid at stonemountain & daughter. it was a bit higher quality (and thus a bit more expensive) than the standard quilting cottons but i had just nailed a job interview so i treated myself.
