Another Dress, But It Fits, Sort Of

I have been on a dress making failure kick, so I thought I would share another one!  This one actually fits perfectly, but has another small problem.  I found this tutorial for a super cute wrap-around dress.  I like how easy the pattern is, and how quick the dress comes together.  I made one, and I think it turned out really cute!

She even let me braid the top part of her hair!!!  The problem that I ran into with this dress, and it is quite a fixable problem, is that it is held together in the front by two snaps.  M, being almost 2 herself, took about two minutes to figure out how to remove the dress from her body.  I do believe that it will require buttons to keep it on, but I am not sure how that will look on this fabric.  I am going to have to play with the placement and see if I can hide them.  Other than the quick removal feature, I love it!  I think it looks fun and summery.  Now, we just need to get to the beach!

A Little Outfit, Refitted

I think all parents have some favorite outfits to see their kids wear.  D had an adorable outfit last year, size 12-18 months.  It was a blue striped onesie and khaki shorts with matching embroidery.  The problem with this is simply that he no longer wears that size onesie.  The shorts work just fine with his short legs!  I apparently loved this outfit too much  to take any pictures of it last year, but you will see it in the end.

So, I started thinking.  24 month clothes are really only significantly longer than 12-18 stuff as far as tops go.  I just needed to un-onesie it!  Out came the rotary cutter and off came the bottom of the onesie.  Then it had a quicky hem around the bottom.

D now has the more mature version of last year's outfit!

Little Pink Boy

This week is looking like this.....

Nope, D hasn't taken up boxing...  He has pink eye.  What could be more fun???  The medications does seem to be working quickly, and I think he is feeling okay, but it is keeping us busy trying to not share it with the rest of the house!  I hope everyone's week is going a bit more smoothly than ours!

Potty Training.....

No, we haven't actually started that fun and exciting chapter of twin life, but I am gearing up!  I bought a boy set and a girl set of the standard padded training pants.  They cost about $7 for 3 pair.  For twins, that equals $14 for less than a day's worth of training pants....  not cool.  So, I googled training pants patterns.  That is my typical response to overpriced sewn goods, so that is not a big deal.  But, I found a great tutorial for it, and that is awesome!  Here is a picture of "mine" with a store bought pair.

Of course, I made my first pair pretty much like the tutorial instructed me to do, with the exception of using fold over elastic for the leg and waist holes.  I think they turned out okay, but I wanted to make some changes since I have a "few" more pairs of these to make.

Instead of adding the edgings and then finishing the seams, I sewed all of the seams and then added the elastic.  This seems to work just fine with the fold over elastic.

After making the first pair from an old shirt, I knew that old tees would be perfect for the outside of these little babies, but I had to think for a minute about what to use for the absorbent middle layer...  Then it hit me!  Cloth diapers.  The ones that D and M spit up on for all of their little baby fun and excitement could now be reused and get peed on.  The cloth diapers provide 2 or 3 training pants worth of padding, depending on how long the diaper is.

I had a night with no one else home, so I sat in front of the TV, watching the last season of ER, cutting out training pants.  My stack of pieces didn't get as huge as I had hoped (I hadn't seen most of the last season of ER yet, which is why I bought the DVDs in the first place), but I got a good start on our training pants stash, as you can see two photos up.

The next time I had child free sewing time, I ran all of the seams in the serger!  I do love my serger.  I know that I can live without it and still make all of the stuff I make, but it makes it so much easier.

Next up, lots of fold over elastic.  Before this venture into potty training preparedness, I had never heard of the stuff, but found it in a tutorial for making regular toddler underpants.  I googled fold over elastic, and realized what a good thing I had been living without.  It finishes edges and puts the elastic on stuff at the same time!  I don't think I will use it on everything, like pants and such, but I can see it on some skirts maybe.  Underwear, definitely will have fold over elastic, if I am sewing it!  It reminds me of a super multi purpose bias tape, and I guess that is a good description of it.  Anyway, after the googling and realizing that my sewing room lacked this awesome supply, I went to Joann's, with a coupon, and bought some of this sewing candy!

I tried the store bought variety on the little ones, and then I also tried my original sewn pair on M, just to make sure that I had the measurements right.  I would hate to make a ton of training pants that don't fit my kids!  I was planning to insert a really cute picture of the little ones running around in the underwear, but I don't want them to have any good reasons to hate me when they get older.  I am pretty sure underwear-only pictures online might give them good reason.

Looks good, so lots of cutting of elastic, and lots of sewing.  Again, this happened at a relatively child free time.  (Naptime, anyone?)

I think we are well on our way to having all of the training pants that they will need.  Now we just wait until they show some interest!

On a Wednesday...

I realized that I haven't blogged in a week.  It has just been a bit hectic around here, and I hope to do better!  Just for fun, bunny pictures of the kiddos.  W's face was still swollen from surgery when these were taken.

Have a great day!

Even Braces are a Reason to Sew

W got the beginnings of his orthodontic stuff two weeks ago...  four brackets and headgear.  Not only lacking in fun, this creates a lifestyle change for us.  He has a  list of forbidden foods, and he has to put much more energy into keeping his teeth clean.  The orthodontist gave him a plastic bag thingy to keep his flossing/brushing/wax gear in, but it was not very inspiring.  So, I made him a bag.  It looks kind of like a clutch for a skater from the outside.  He picked the fabric from the stash.

And, on the inside, it has four big pockets and space for his headgear.

He liked it!  And now, he has a bag that he can grab when he goes anywhere and might need to get his teeth clean!

Easter 2012

We made it to church just in time for the sunrise service!  That is great for us, since that was our only service today. :-)  I love church year round, but the Easter service is always super special.  After the service, we had a church breakfast, and even W, with his super swollen face (He had 10 teeth pulled Friday in oral surgery.) had a good time.  Then we headed home, checked out what the Easter Bunny left for the kiddos, and then had a little egg hunt/pick up with D and M in the yard to get pictures of their church clothes.

D's shirt did start out being tucked in, but it came out.

M's tights aren't too cute, but it was chilly here this morning!

The egg hunt/pick up.

I got eggs!

I put mine in my bucket!

Yes, the little ones got Easter buckets.  They have baskets, but they love to play outside with buckets and shovels, so it seemed fitting.

Now, the little ones are down for their naps before a family lunch and egg hunt.

I hope you all have a happy, safe and blessed Easter.

Friday of a Crazy Couple of Weeks

It has been an insane couple of weeks around here.  My mom was hospitalized and is now home with us again.  This week was Spring Break for W.  And while those don't sound too crazy, maybe, W had oral surgery this morning.  He had to have 6 baby teeth pulled, 4 permanent teeth pulled, and one tooth uncovered, which is just a fancy way of saying that the doctor cut to where the tooth is and attached a funky thing to it so the orthodontist can wire it to W's braces.  Needless to say, it was a rough morning.  He is doing much better now, after eating, meds, and a new video game.  I am not sure which of the three things is helping him more, but whatever works!

So, I have done a lot of projects this week, but don't have them ready to write about.  Easter is this weekend, so my short term goal is to have W well enough for church on Sunday.  I have a couple of things that have to be finished before Monday, so I am going to keep this short and use the rest of D and M's naptime to try to finish those!  So, hopefully, I will have lots of interesting posts coming soon and less craziness!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Peeps for Easter

I love Dana's tutorial for making Peep bunting and all things Peep.  My only problem is pure laziness, or maybe just a lack of time.  So, instead of sewing them together, I hot glue them.  I love my glue gun!

I have made a bunting, lots of magnets, and even used her Peep template to do the freezer paper stencils that I also learned from her blog.  D and M wore them last Easter.

They were so little a year ago!  And, they hadn't started walking yet, so they couldn't run opposite directions!!!

Toddler shirts in solid colors aren't very easy to find, but I did find some, even in the right sizes.  I did use the right kind of paint this year, fabric paint instead of acrylic.  It really did make a difference in how nice the finished shirts looked.  Fabric paint can be found in the t-shirt area of craft stores.

D and M wore their Peep shirts to our church Easter Egg Hunt (indoors due to rain), and for a quick photo trip to Newberry College.

M was ready to hunt some eggs!

D is now a pro egg hunter.

W even got into the hunt!

M enjoyed her cookie!

D denies all knowledge of already having a cookie.

M wanted to see the flowers, and D wanted to make sure that we had noticed the fountain behind us.

Yes, that fountain over there.

We finally had to go inspect the fountain.

And then it was back to smelling flowers.

So serious!

This is how D's mouth looks in the middle of a word.

M posed once she had found a rock.

W in the flowers.  He has been a trooper about his braces!

D was also quite excited to see a tree, which is funny.  There are woods all around our house, and we play outside all the time.

A very determined little M!

One smelling flowers while the other one poses.  That is how most of our pictures turn out.

And... back to the fountain.

Again, he was excited, but he had no clue what it is.

I think the shirts turned out cute, and the kids were hilarious as usual!