Shirred Bodice Sundress

I was surfing ebay yesterday and kept coming across all these wonderful border print fabrics draped on mannequins. It dawned on me that a border print turned upside down would make a wonderful shirred bodice sundress. Sooo ... decided I had to have one to wear to on Friday for my lunch date with sewing friend Karen.

Basic pattern is two large rectangles. For the width, I basically used my hip measurement as a starting point. Added 3-4 inches of ease and divided in half. For the length, I wanted the dress to hit below the knee, so based my measurement from my high bust to knee + hem allowance. This was 38 inches. I ended up doing a 2 1/2 inch hem.I then sewed one side seam and used steam-a-seam to finish the upper edge to within ~2 inches of the other side seam.

Sewing the elastic shirring is next. I recently purchased the #6 Bernina foot,

intending to make shirred sundresses for my little one. This was the practice piece . This foot makes zigzagging over elastic cording a breeze. I did 9 rows of elastic shirring for the bodice. Knotted one end and then pulled the other to a comfortable width for my bust. Knotted the pulled end and sewed the second side seam closed.

Shoulder straps are just strips of black knit cut on the cross-grain at 4 inches wide, folded in half lengthwise seamed and turned. I needed them to make the sundress bra friendly and work appropriate with a jacket.

Hemmed with steam-a-seam. I really love that stuff.

If you ever wanted to make a cute dress sans pattern ... this is the one to try. It took me around 3 hours start to finish and I felt WONDERFUL wearing it today.

Working on Jacket

If you've read my profile, you know that one of my interests is sewing. Well, I have to be honest, my obsession is sewing. It's my escape from realty at times. It allows my creative side to run free. For me it's not always about wearing the clothes ... it's more about the process of creating. I will get into that in a future post.

Over the weekend, I finally set up my new camera and sent my mom some pictures of two jackets that I've been working on for the past couple of weeks. Neither one is actually finished. But this is the closest that I've gotten to having a jacket that is wearable outside the house.

The Jacket is McCalls 5859

I made the wearable muslin out of some home dec material I picked up from JoAnns. I used a contrast orange denim twill for the facings and an off-white stretch poplin for the lining. It took a while to fit myself, but the jacket turned out pretty well.

One of the features I love the most are the little cap sleeves.

And of course ... I can't end a post without a picture of little bit ... asleep of the couch :).

My Birthday Present

My birthday was on May 5th ... as usual I decided to treat myself and purchased the MinoFlip for a long week in GA. It's a wonderful little device. Was able to capture little bit's movements quite easily. My favourite one is:

It also allows you to take a frame and make a jpeg. My favourites from the week ...

Isn't she just adorable? Of course she is!

On her way towards walking

This is a big step for the Robinson family!!! Babygirl has learned how to stand up on her own!!! Of course it is a gift and a curse because once she starts walking I will never get a chance to sit down again. But it will be all worth it because we can take us some long walks in the park when it gets warmer.

Checkout the end of the video she does her rendition of dance fever

Not sure if the video will play though I took the video from my Blackberry and it uses a 3GPP format.

Crawling

This is the first time I caught her crawling on film. Usually she will stop crawling once I grab the camara and just look at me. As if to say "you are not catching me on film pop. But I finally got her.

Snacking

Check out Babygirl eating some snacks at the table.

I'm trying this out

This is my first foray into posting. My husband has been providing all of you some updates. Just wanted to share with you my latest favorite picture of our daughter Brielle.