Two Times the 2 and 2 by Oliver and S

It happens to be super early, Thanksgiving morning.  I have cupcakes to bake in a few hours, but while everyone sleeps, I thought I'd whip up this blog post before our fun weekend ahead.

A bonus of sorts...and a mini catastrophe:  I did manage to use fabrics from my stash - for allll four pieces - SCORE!!!  I also managed to cut one of the tree blouse pieces UPSIDE DOWN - NOT score  :(  You will note this creates a bit of a problem when using a fabric from your stash....this print is no longer available (and in my searches to replace it, I found the other coordinating prints from that line - who knew?!).  I finally found it on Craigslist, with the help of some other "researchers"  ;)

Yesterday, I managed to snag a few pictures of the Oliver and S blouse and skirt set - the 2 + 2.  I tell you WHAT:  It is MUY DIFFICULT for me to take pictures of pleats.  I probably should have taken a non-action shot, so, don't hate on my complete lack of photography skills.  These were rushed, LOL, and my child, when presented with a camera these days, has to be either a "monster" or she has to tip her head sideways and look other places, rather than at me or the camera.  It's a tough break for me ;)

The pattern itself is lovely and easy to follow.  I do have ONE beef, which could be entirely just ME, still not sure about that:  The directions have you but the button loop on the wrong skirt piece - like, the directions and the picture don't match up.  So, I attached it to the back piece on the first skirt, the minty one, but I did it the other way on the second.  Anyway, I did silly things to make up for the button placement on the green skirt, so, ignore my tomfoolery there.

Can't believe I'm showing this photo, as it drives me NUTS...both the buttons and the topstitching!

Otherwise, the pattern itself is lovely, naturally.  I will say I wish my rectangles had come out prettier, which you will notice in the photos.  My top stitching is even, but when I turned the piece/s out, I guess I was a bit lazy, though I swear I tried to make them look nice.

I did the size 4, and the skirts are definitely big on Camden, both in waist and in length - this is the first skirt that doesn't involve any sort of elastic, so, the poor girl with no bum has to keep pulling her skirt up, aha!  I think the short-sleeved version looks less sloppy on her for the reason that there is just less fabric overwhelming her little 3.5 year old body.  As I alluded to above, pleats are tricky - they were pressed out super neatly five point two seconds before I took pictures, but she sat down for a minute, and it was all over for the red skirt, aha!  The green fabric is just quilting cotton, but the red is a cross-weave or something - and neither will hold up to bum-smashings.

Lastly, I included some super fancy hand embroidery ;)  This is definitely something that slows a person down, as I also wanted to hand stitch the hem of the skirt to cover the back side of the embroidery - and because I didn't want to have a a visible line of edge stitching on the right side for this particular skirt, as I think it would detract from the overall look.  My French knots look better than they did on my first embroidery project, but the trees overall look a bit of a garbled mess, aha!

These are trees - CLEARLY....LOL, and they are pretending to match the ones on the blouse

I did a running stitch here

Blog Shout-Outs!

Today's theme?  Blog shout-outs!

I would like to highlight some fellow crafty ladies out there in this big, bad world.  I look to these blogs, amongst others, for inspiration - and a good laugh!

Ali Cat and Co.

First up is BRIANNE over at Ali Cat and Co.  (FB page here.)

She is a woman of many talents - sewing and baking amongst those.  (Speaking of baking, I REALLY need to try this Lemon Cake recipe some time!)  Specifically, though, she has really latched onto making bags.  She loves her some Swoon bag patterns and is making me quite envious of these bags...probably mostly because of the hand embroidery!  She must have a boat load of bags tucked away under her bed.  

She also has two super cute girls, for whom she also sews - pictured below are two patterns she recently tested - the Norah dress by Mouse House Creations (It's out now, peeps!!!  And....only $7 through today!) and the Saffron dress by Zafarani Designs (shouted out below).  

The Life of a Compulsive Crafter

Next up is MAE over at The Life of a Compulsive Crafter.  (See her FB page.)  She happens to blog so she doesn't drive her non-sewing friends crazy with all her hopes and dreams about sewing, LOL!  She does do a bit of the "selfish/mom" sewing, but mostly, she sews for her little girl and boy.

She has a sweet style, girly (well, not so girly when it's for her son, aha!) and understated, and she followed along with the last Project Run and Play.  One of my favorite looks was this one - her Bubblegum dress!  Also on her blog are posts about conscious living, and I will soon be guest posting on her blog (think deodorant!).

Ginger Dimples

CRYSTAL over at Ginger Dimples is a hoot and a holler.  (FB page here.)  She adds a little zing to her posts with her sense of humor - and has made me envious over the years with her awesome Halloween costumes and great Project Run and Play Sew-Along entries - this one being my FAVORITE...and she knows I want to snatch this for my daughter, LOL!

She's only been blogging for eight months now, but she's been sewing for a long time, and one thing she noted in the last PRP challenge was that she wanted to challenge herself and do something she hadn't done before (not sew with ANY woven cottons!) - I think she covered that!  What a great 80s style her daughter has ;)

I have to say, though, that one of my favorite things about Crystal's blog is that she details fun mom-sewing!  (And word up, if you're reading this - I haven't seen any of that in a LONG time!  No hints or anything...)  Here is one photo of her cuteness in a dress she made!  (And here's a link to a lovely mom-and-me project she did!)

Zafarani

Lastly, we have KARLY from Zafarani Designs.  (FB page here.)  She is a funny lady with a big family!  Most of her sewing is for them, which is fine, as she loves to show of both her sewing and her kids, LOL!

One thing I have to say about Karly is that she is SPEEDY!  She always seems to have a million projects - and seems to finish them super fast!  Because she has her share of boys AND girls, she gets the chance to sew for both quite often.

And thing I'm admittedly probably NEVER going to do is sew up a lovely crib set, which she did!  I give kudos to anyone who does that, as it always seems like an effing lot of work to me, if you'll pardon my French!

Above, though, you saw the lovely Saffron dress Brianne sewed, and it was released back in August.  Already, so many people seem to love it!  I know Camden does, as it's pretty twirly!  Karly will have a new pattern coming out, hopefully later this fall, and having seen the sneak peak, I'm pretty excited!

Karly also joined in on the PRP Sew-Along challenge, and I thought both of these entries were great - her Mad for Plaid for her son (because quite often, we don't see enough BOY sewing) and her Candy entry for her daughter - so fun and bright!!

One other note is that some of these lee-days are over at That's What She Crafted, a blog combining their talents (with another lovely lady) into one ultra-awesome experience!  (FB page here.)

Thanks, ladies, for letting me include you in my blog shout-out post!  I can't wait to see what y'all have up your sleeves in the coming months!