Hey Everyone,

I haven't posted anything here for a long time but I finally got around to sewing my first dress for my little girl and I had to show it off, and her of course.

Using a tute from Vegbee blog, I turned a baby t-shirt pattern into a lap-top pattern.  Then I drew the pattern into an A-line and Taa Daa, "Lap Top T-shirt dress pattern."  It's all made using second hand t-shirts.



And some action shots.  (Be kind, she's in the middle of her first cold.)

I have been really disappointed with the cloth diapers I've been using.  (Mind you they have gone through one child already.)  The Velcro has seen better days and always picks up lint in the wash.  Also, they are quite thread bare so don't absorb much.

In my frustration, don't want to use disposables (but I have been  ) but don't want to shell out $$ for cloth, I found a tute on line for t-shirt diapers.  I modified them a bit, and came up with this.  They are prefold diapers and I am using Snappies with them.  (If you don't know what a snappie is, ask and I'll post a link.)  There is old toweling on the outside in spots to attach the snappie.

(As a side note, I became quite frustrated sewing these, trying to make every thing just right, trying to figure out the right colour combos, wanting to NOT have that funny thing happen that happens when I sew t-shirt material.  General perfectionist stuff.  Then it dawned on me...I'm sewing poop catchers!!    )

On to the pics...
Laying flat...

On Monkey #4,s bum...




Second diaper and my cute-y...


I love them so much and they absorb soooo much better than our old ones!!  They even work on my 3 yr old who wares a diaper at night.  NO LEAKS!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy!

At the local thrift store I found an enormous nurses uniform shirt with this fantastic print.  I went back three times before I bought it because I just didn't know what to do with it.  So...surprise...it's a skirt!!  haha!  At first I just sewed a casing for elastic...but I hated the way it looked on me.  So I took the elastic out and sewed up the side seams so it tapered to my waist measurement.  I have very small breasts (even though I am still breast feeding my littlest) so I didn't bother with a zipper, I just pull it over my head!! 
It has some stretch to and it is very comfy.  I've been wearing the skirt all day in these pics, so forgive the wrinkles!!



Please don't mind the expression on my face, I found the whole experience on taking my own pic rather amusing!   



And a (fuzzy) close-up of the cool print...

On a previous post I showed pic of Monkey #1 wearing the short I made him using fabric he picked out.  Here are pic of Monkey #2 and #3 in new shorts from fabric they picked out.  I didn't have a pattern for Money #3, so I just down sized Monkey #2's pattern.  They are still a bit big, but he can wear them next summer too!  That is if they aren't worn through by then.

Monkey #2... Dragons!!!


Action...


Monkey #3... Fishies!!!


Monkey #1, 2 and 3...Orca, Dragons and Fish, Oh my!


I hope you enjoy the pics!  Comments make my "I-can-leave-the-computer" syndrom worth while!

All of my life I have disliked it when parents dress their children in matching clothes.  Don't know why they would do that!  I mean, really!  I will never ever do that.

That being said...

There was a Breakfast Fly-In in my city today, where people fly in their planes to have breakfast.  The rest of us without planes just eat and watch the planes.

I've been making these for a while and Monkey #2's still needs buttons and hemming but I thought done enough for the occasion.  Oh, BTW, these are my first buttons and collars.

Front



and back.



That's right, I am now one of those parents!! 

I whipped up these last night while the monkeys slept.  It's B-day party day for monkey #1 and he gets to wear some cool shorts.  He picked out the matterial the other day.  I used MaCall's 9206.




There are even Pockets! 

Thanks for looking at the shorts and my very handsome son.  Thank-you for NOT looking at my messy house!

I'm in the middle of trying to sew denim pieces together on the bias using a top stitch/button stitch/decoritive stitch.  BUT the denim, because of the stretch, is bumping up.  Does that make sence?  (I can post pics if needed.) 

My question is, How do I sew this seam without the bumping happening?  Interfacing?  It's going to end up being a skirt so I don't want to stiffen it up if I can help it.

Any ideas?  Thanks for looking.

So I saw this round table cloth and thought that it would make a cool skirt.  Took me about 30 minutes to put together but another 30 to do the math re circumference and radius, which I got wrong and ended up with an opening 3 inches bigger than I needed.  I put a big strip of ribbing on the top to make it work, than I realized that with because of my mistake, I can wear this at my waist, on my hips or just under my bust.  I can also fold the ribbing in half for yet another look.  (Apparently, I can also wear the skirt ascue!  har har!)

So, here it is!  (I had to lighten the pics.)





Twirl Shot!  Look at that hair!!



The t-shirt is a recon as well.  Thanks for looking!

I made this for my monkey #4.  I realized that he didn't have many clothes for summer, because his brothers wore them all out, so this is my solution.
It is a thrift store shirt, size 7 or 8 boys, that I bought on sale for $1.50.  (My local thrift store is quite expensive.  They are usually $3.00.)  I just sewed the side seams in a little, and sew in a crotch.  Added a piece of elastic in the back, folded the sleaves up twice and stitched them in place, then re-hemed the legs because the shirt was longer in the front and back then at the sides.

Ta-Da!

Front...


Back...


Side...


Action...


Little monkey was a little under the weather when these pics were taken, but he is a trooper!

After seeing all of the beautiful recons here and being so incredibly inspired by all of you and having recently rediscovered my girl-li-ness, I made this.

It started out as a man XL dress shirt, but it wanted to be more!  Now it's one of the coolest items in my closet!  My inspiration came from craftster, but I don't have the links right now.  (The dress shirt to a skirt idea and the godets in the pillow case idea.  I used pleats, but the idea came from the godets.)

I get to excited about new ideas, so I don't have any before shots, sorry.




The skirt on me...



The contrasting pleat...I love it!  Peek-a-boo!



Action shot! 



I am thinking of adding lace or an orange ribbon all around the skirt just above the pleat to hide the not-so-neat seams.  I also have the cuffs of the shirt that I plan on wearing with it and would add the lace or ribbon to them as well.

Comments are welcome!  Oh, thanks to my two eldest boys for taking the pics and sorry for the messy house!