A Sewing Beast

Yes, you heard it here first!  Camden is a bit of a sewing beast!  With two handmade skirts under her belt - and an 8th birthday! - she was able to sign up for a spring break sewing camp at Modern Domestic, which you KNOW is one of my favorite places on earth!

She'd like to write this blog post herself, actually, but I would be pained in the brain to sit through that, so, I may see if she wants to add some at the end.

She did love her class, taken with Karin Dejan (her IG page).  The instructor prepped the pieces, in terms of cutting and pinning, but the students sewed and made the fabric choices.  Camden clearly has good taste, by the way ;)  Classes lasted three hours each day, Monday through Thursday.

After they finished their projects for the day, students were able to work on a separate project, and the first day, Camden actually made a wee gift for her teacher, as it was Karin's birthday the next day.  She was pretty excited about it, and as I was trying to rush her out at the end of class, she kept telling me she needed to finish something.  She handed it to her teacher, along with a card, on Tuesday - pretty cute, I say!

I was spying on her cutting threads out of the wheel, LOL!

Her face when she realized I was standing there!  

As for her daily projects, she made a drawstring bag, a tote bag, an apron and a pillow.  They all turned out super great, and she even sewed a ZIPPER into that pillow, folks!  Pretty cool!  I was probably just as excited as SHE was each day, aha!  She chose Cotton and Steel fabrics and fabric from Elizabeth Hartman's (her blog) Terrarium line for Robert Kaufman.  Camden smiled so much on class days and really enjoyed herself and was so proud of what she made.  I call it a crazy success and secretly wish she could take THIS quilting class over the summer, but we'll see if it works into the schedule.

It was a great week, and now Camden would like to add a thought about another project she made, which I kept mostly as she typed it, not correcting all her typos:

"i wanted to tell you about this other project that I made at my class is a quilt with fringe on two sides. it is for my doll. i made it for my doll but i don't have a name for her yet.  Any ideas?"

Getting some use out of that apron!

Pattern Testing!!! Mouse House Creations!

Whew!  I had a long weekend up north, in Vancouver and Portland, visiting my old haunts, like Cafe Hibiscus, Bolt and Modern Domestic.  I'm saving Cool Cottons for two weekends from now, when I head back for the awesome Bolt sale :)  My husband and I had some nice time alone for a bit, too, which was great - while Camden played pool at her grandma's and grandpa's house....

Today, I'm excited to present not one, but TWO test projects for Mouse House Creations.  This is Hayley Crouse's first venture into pattern selling, and I'm excited to be a part of it.  She's been around for quite some time at Welcome to the Mouse House, her fun blog.  Over the years, she has blogged about her family, she has decorated and re-decorated (LOL) her house, and she has also tested for several other pattern designers, so, there are many neat projects to check out.  Also, she has written tutorials for other patterns of her own, and she's designed fun play areas for her children (envious much over here!).

The pattern I tested was the Norah dress, yet to be released, though keep yourself posted on her Facebook page, as it won't be too long before it's out.  The pattern is a quick, fun design.  You can go tunic, dress, collar, no collar, short sleeves, long sleeves, ties, no ties - things of that nature.  For both of mine, I did go long sleeves, ties and collars.  One is for Camden, and one is a fun surprise for her friend!

The first version is a lovely print I picked up 1.5-2 years ago, I swear.  I wasn't holding on to it, all "my precious"-like....I just had no idea what to do with it for the longest time.  And here we have it!  For the collar and tie, I wasn't thinking and did NOT interface, which I'm sad about, but I suppose life moves on.  Also, with this dress, which is Camden's, I did a zipper back, which drove me nuts due to my own silly errors...imagine lots of seam-ripping - though the final effect is lovely :)  Camden isn't a tall child, nor is she tiny.  She is 38.25 inches tall with a round belly.  I usually make things in a size 4 for at this point, though she's more of a 3 in the legs and a 4 in the waist/shirts.  She had tried on a size 5 version of the dress, and for some reason, when tracing and cutting, I went with a size 5, though I'd meant to do the 4.  No worries.  I think the 5 fits her lovely.  I did not lengthen the dress itself, though I had lengthened the sleeves a bit.  The pattern goes together nicely and quickly.

For this next version, which is a gift, I did a size 4, lengthened the sleeves a smidge and DID remember to use interfacing in the collar and tie, aha!  The results are, of course, much better!  Also, as the zipper was not an option included in the pattern, I wanted to make sure to do the button closure, which is also super cute!

Hayley was great to work with, and she busted her butt, helping us out with questions and looking over the pattern multiple times.  It was nice to see how closely she was working with her digitizer, too.  I super appreciate nicely-done pattern sheets in a pdf, and these are laid out beautifully!