Henry Luke Harris:: Blessing Day

This Sunday was Henry's blessing day!!

Blessed on May 4th 2014

We love this boy.

He's sweet and always smiling.

We are so blessed to have a happy little boy in our family.

I made him his little white blessing outfit. Well, I made the vest and pants. A white, collared button up onesie is just too tooooo much work. He'll probably wear the vest some more, but I'm not sure about the white pants?

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Shorts!

I finished these during KCW but never got around to blogging them. I've also got a few other things that still need to be posted too...plus a Caroline Party Dress for the girls birthday this weekend....and a baby boy blessing outfit!

Somehow these are the only shots I got...but they show my favorite parts!

Pattern: self drafted (and they fit!)

Fabric: brown+cream seersucker and a hint of Joel dewberry (from this dress)

I've been doing much more sewing lately and I love it! I've definitely learned a lot over the past two years. I learned to sew a little bit from my nana when I was really little, took a sewing class in high school, but I have pretty much taught myself. I realized last night that I really enjoy making my own self-drafted patterns, I didn't really realize how often I've done that over the past two years. But it's totally fun following other peoples patterns too and learning how they do something. It's sooooo much easier to follow a pattern - haha!!!
I would be happier if I could find just a few more hours a week though...oh! and a perpetual fabric fund! :)

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KCW Spring 2014: wrapping up part 1

KCW is officially over and I made it sewing every day! I think I've got plans to try and keep it up for at least 3 times a week too. I still have a ton of things I want to make, including finishing the Perfect Pattern Parcel patterns.

Raglan Tee and Piggy Skirt

Fabric: Girl Charlee cotton jersey and some jersey from Joann's that I dyed a looooong while back.
Pattern: self-drafted/flashback skinny tee

Piggy Circle Skirt (which she loves and promptly wore to church)

Fabric: girl charlee

Pattern: tutorial from MADE

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KCW Spring 2014:: (what day is it?!)

Doggie Tee

Sorry-- You only get iPad/iPhone pics these days!

Pattern: Figgys Celestial Tee

Fabric: Got Dog cotton jersey knit - Girl Charlee

How it went: I'm sad it's slightly ginormous on the girl. Although, she digs the doggies. My printer scaled the pattern a little too large, so I sized down, but it's still a bit big. She's still wearing it though, as we speak. So I'll make another smaller one for sure. I love the curved hi-low hem and the sleeves.

Easy pattern, took me 1.5hrs?

Totally loving KCW so far: Day 1 :: Day 2

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KCW Spring 2014:: Day 2

Here is Amelia's Easter/Birthday dress. I haven't decided which it will be...maybe both?

I totally love this dress and fabric! It'll look better once I iron all the wrinkles out too. :)

Florals +Linen are a favorite combo.

Pattern: Hanami dress

Fabric: Joel Dewberry - Dainty Daises

It was super easy to put together with the cross back bodice. It is a little thick, which I am ok with. It's still cold in the spring, so I purposely lined it with a soft stretchy flannel, because Mia loves all things soft.

I am definitely going to make a Hanami top sometime soon, because they are cute!

Also....I hate sewing buttons. Still didn't sew them on yet. I'll get to it...eventually.

...........

I also managed to squeeze in a pair of Prefontaine shorts. Being a track coach in Oregon, I couldn't resist getting these as a bonus in the perfect pattern parcel!!

Maybe I'm tired, but I struggled with the directions and getting my stitches to look nice even though I pretty much knew what to do and it was a simple sew. I think it was also using a stretchy cotton knit. I think they will be ginormous on Amelia...we will see tomorrow morning when I can get some better pictures. At least she has all spring and summer to grow into them.

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KCW Spring 2014:: Day 1

Okay, so I made these a little bit before KCW because I knew I wouldn't have time to finish and get photos of what I worked on the first day. But do know, that I nearly completed the cutest floral Easter/birthday Hanami dress!! I'll finish the hem and buttons tonight and then take photos in the morning.

So here are my "Day 1" pieces. The theme for KCW is Mini Me, so I made little matching leggings for Henry and Mia. Leggings are my favorite. So fast. So easy.

The girl has crazy bed-head, didn't stop moving and is diaper less.

Whatever.

Fabric: Girl Charlee cotton jersey knit

Pattern: self drafted

Here is another black and white combo.

Apparently, I'm into black + white?!

I have no idea when I found time to make this? I think a random nap time two weeks ago...? It's a flashback skinny tee, extra long to be more of a tunic, with a wonky pocket.

Fabric: repurposed old black thermal shirt from Dan + girl charlee stripes

Pattern: Made by Rae flashback skinny tee

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Kids Clothing Week: Spring 2014

I'm all ready for Kids Clothing Week! I saved my pennies (and gift cards!) for fabric and it's all washed and ready to go.

I also bought the Perfect Pattern Parcel #2. I mostly have been drafting my own patterns from other clothing, but this seemed like a good deal as it supports indie designers and education and has some fun patterns. Some bonus shorts came with it too!

The goal is to sew for at least 1 hr every day fBor a week.

So we will see how well I do.

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Sewn things

Look at that pile of fabric! It makes me happy. I've been saving some extra $ so I could buy a bunch of knit fabric from Girl Charlee to make Amelia her 2T spring/summer clothes + whatever else I want to make. We've done well with lots of hand-me-downs and gifted clothes until now. Almost everything I've bought her has been "extra" at this point. So I figured, I like sewing and she needs clothes....so yeah, I'm going to try and make her a bunch of stuff. Although, it's pretty hard to beat the clearance deals at Target + thrift store shopping. They both have such cute stuff at good prices.

Anyways, I've managed to make a couple things here and there. Like this ginormous skirt that didn't turn out at all how I envisioned, but it's pretty darn cute anyways. You can't really see the top fabric, but it's fun for her to wear.

I made two little hoodies. One flannel turtle fabric and another knit one with bugs. She absolutely loves the one that I can't seem to find a picture of. Which is strange, because she always has it on. I lined the hood with some really soft minky baby blanket fabric, because she loves soft cuddly blankets. It makes the hood super heavy compared to the rest if the shirt, but oh well! Both are based off the Flashback Skinny Tee with a self drafted hoodie.

Little red polka dot training panties, based off the Katrina Soaker pattern.

And below are a few things I made for Henry right before he was born. I've actually used all of these things quite a bit, so I'm glad I found time to make them!

Flannel swaddle wrap, like the ones here, but not gauzy.

Wash cloth size burp cloths.

Minky flannel baby blanket.

 

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Obsessed

I've been a little obsessed with this fabric combo lately. Denim chambray (Joann's) and red polka dots. (Dottie by Moda).

Last week I made another Noodlehead fabric basket for my sister in law and new nephew (who arrived on earth today!!).

I loved how it turned out. They are so fun to make. And this one didn't take too long to make either. Maybe 3-4ish hours over the course of the week? Mostly cutting and ironing, it seems.

The combo turned out so great I even decided to use it again this weekend for a little 1st birthday dress for our friends daughter.

It's based off of the Made by Rae geranium pattern. I just used the newborn pattern and self-drafted a 12 month sized based off of one of Mia's dresses. Once 20-month Mia outgrows her bazillion 12-18month old dresses, I'll probably buy the geranium pattern since I'd like to have the different sizes and sleeve options. How do you do a sleeve in a lined bodice?!? Agh?! Although it is fun making my own patterns--for free!

Anyways...I screwed up the button in the back pretty bad on this one. So someone else needs to have a baby girl so I can redeem myself a bit. Or Mia can just finally move on to a 2T already. She has zero dresses in 2T...hmmmm. Just realized that.

So moving on....I ended up jealous that I gifted away all the cute chambray and polka dots. So sometime during my 3am pregnancy insomnia this week, I decided I needed to make a little zipper pouch using the same fabrics. Thank gosh for Pinterest! I'm not sure what else I would do between the hours of 2am and 4am (oh and PS, 4am is a terrible time to finally fall back asleep when you wake up around 5:20am. Makes for a terribly groggy morning). Anyways...sorry to all my Pinterest friends for the millions of sewing related pins! Oops!

So here's that little zippered bag. I need to buy more cute zippers and make more.

I should probably take the time to take better pictures of the things I make. And trim all my stray threads, too.

Oh well.

I used a few different tutorials to briefly figure out the zipper. It's easy. Every sewing blogger on the planet seems to have a zippered pouch tutorial. So thank you for that!

I quickly put this pouch to good use too, holding little things I might need at the hospital when baby Henry arrives. Nursing pads, Chapstick, hair ties, bobby pins. That sort of stuff.

Now...to make a hospital bag. Guys. I'm getting a little carried away. I've got this duffle that I want to make and a shopping cart full of fabric on fabric.com. Luckily, the little dude will probably arrive before I spend all his budgeted baby fund money on fabric...

Any ideas on how to fund my sewing addiction?!

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Little Henry's Nursery Loft

Over Winter Break we finally had time to convert our tiny upstairs loft into a mini nursery for our little guy. Amelia of course uses this space too for diaper changes and playing.

We really like how it turned out.

And for a pretty small nonexistent budget I think I did a good job of keeping to the theme/colors I wanted (mint, neutrals, yellow or a soft orange, natural wood and a contrast with some black). We painted the walls Dolphin Fin (Behr)....it's a little lighter and bluer than I wanted, but it changed the atmosphere of the room enough. And we repainted Amelia's changing table a nice minty green color (Mountain Mist - Behr).

[Etsy Mountain print] [Etsy Giraffe print]

[DIY changing pad cover...w/ a tutorial like this]

[Ikea Crib + Mattress]

[DIY sheet - tutorial]

Dan and my mom found this antique rocking chair at a local antique shop last year. Dan painted it yellow a while back and it's moved throughout our house. I made new envelope pillowcase covers (like these) to fit into the loft. I LOVE love the Michael Miller Bridgetown fabric. It showcases bridges here in Portland. I bought the fabric when Dan surprised me and took me to Cool Cottons, a really nice fabric store here in Portland for my birthday. It was so fun to pick out fancy fabric and I'm glad I finally found a good use for it! The changing pad cover and the fabric basket below also used fabric I bought then. Can't remember what the orange material is and I'm too lazy to look up the sciencey material....but the neutral linen is a Robert Kaufman Essex yarn dyed linen in flax. If I had an unlimited budget, I would buy yards of this linen in every shade!

Above is one of my favorite things I've EVER made! I bought a noodlehead pattern for this fabric basket and it was sooo fun and easy to make! I love it. For now it holds Henry's hospital clothes and other miscellaneous baby items we might need.

I so love this chemistry material that I used to line the basket!

And I think this will be his going home outfit, if it fits! We found it at Target and it was too cute to resist!

I also somehow managed to make a fitted bassinet liner all on my own! Dan used this bassinet when he was a baby and we are so happy to have it! Amelia used it in our bedroom too and it worked out great!

We really can't wait to meet this little dude!

It's been fun and exhausting celebrating him and giving him a special place in the house. I have a few other things that I made too, like a swaddle pouch, baby pants, and some fitted diapers. Plus, I've still got a couple things I'd like to make before he gets here...like a simple but soft baby blanket, and jazz up some baby things we already have (like burp cloths, etc).

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