Twirly dresses!

So once upon a time, almost three years ago, I made my niece a twirly dress. It was the Madison pattern from Made for Mermaids, and there's the Dolly Madison matching pattern for 15 or 18" dolls. (My niece has an 18" Our Generation doll from Target.) I made the prototype out of random bright fabric I had on hand, intending to then make the next ones probably from Nemo fabric, and then who knows after that.....But my serger didn't want to play nicely with making ruffles, and so I had to hand gather miles of ruffles, and I never got past the prototype, even though she loved it. 

But then a few months ago I got a message that her twirly dress was getting too small, and she was sad and wanted a new one. Which made me decide that, yes, I should finally get around to that. But I still put it off a bit, and then finally bit the bullet. It was at this crazy point that I decided to make TWO Nemo dresses instead of trying to decide which print to use for the bodice vs the skirt. Thank goodness my serger decided to give me a break and produce awesome ruffles this time!

These are size ten, midway between tea and maxi-length (I think I just went maxi on the doll dresses), and I tried out the piping instead of waist ruffle. I really like how the piping looks, but I'll ask my niece what she thinks before another one appears.

I do my ruffles double layer so I can avoid hemming them. ;) I also think it gives a bit more weight to the hem, so that maybe they won't flip up as much. I really like how these turned out and hope my nieces loves them!

A new cardigan

Another one that is finally getting blogged months after finishing. This was another Butterfly Cardigan for my niece, with a sort of matching cardigan for her doll. My niece loved the first one I made her and had asked for more, so this is now her third of these cardigans.

The fabric is a thin knit that's been in my stash for quite some time. I think I used some to make a T-shirt for one of the Things, or maybe I just was going to. Don't remember for sure. I definitely was annoyed with this fabric throughout the making, but it sure looks cute when done! This went to her as part of her Christmas gift.

More niece PJs!

Apparently I forgot to blog these, because both pairs of PJs were finished within a day of each other and mailed off in time for me to get pics of my niece hunting for Easter eggs in her back yard wearing this very pair of PJs! 

The purple isn't as dark as it looks in the photo. The boots flannel was purchased from JAF on a flannel sale sometime in 2018 - maybe Black Friday? - as I recall. I think I had cut out the first set but not actually sewn them when I bought the new flannel, because I was that sure she'd like it, but by the time I finally finished the first set, she needed the next size up in pants. So I decided that I would use a solid for the sleeves and ruffles (just like the bug set, but in that case, I had no choice because it was deep stash). My best options were purple or green, so it came down to which ribbon trim went best, then use the other color for the sleeves/ruffles. ;) Yep, that's really how I pick these things sometimes.

I would say that while the ribbon trim doesn't add a ton, it does give some visual interest to the tops, as well as making it easy to tell front from back. I may experiment with lace or ruffles, but honestly, I think the fabric print is the main attraction, and I want these to be comfy and fun. This is size M again.

I may go for another pair or two this fall. Maybe my serger will behave better for the ruffles, and I won't have to do them with zigzag over thick crochet thread to gather the ruffles. That is the WORST!

And even more face masks (contoured!)

 What can I say? This is definitely the season of face mask sewing.  I found a "hack tutorial" for improving this pattern - and the ironic thing is that if you go back to the original pattern, they have updated it to add another size and most of the improvements from the "hack tutorial." So now there are sizes 3-6y, 7-12y, teen-adult woman, adult man. And there are instructions for adding a filter pocket (though their pattern still has only two layer) and a nose wire.

Here we have my latest sewing.....all of these are for friends/family. In this particular photo, the beer print is adult male, the Star Wars Halloween is child 7-12y, and the other three are all teen-adult woman. None have a nose wire, because I hadn't figured out a sleeve for it yet or gotten wire that can go through the wash. Not pictured is my son's all white (by request) mask, in which I did put a sleeve for the pipecleaner nose wire.

Another batch for friends/family - these are all teen-adult woman.

Last but not least, another adult man. This time I did put a sleeve in (3/4" twill tape) and pipecleaners for a nose wire. But I completely forgot to get a pic of the inside. Oops!

Still more to come! I've already got another 16 cut out......

Lots More Face Masks! (Pleated ones)

 I've been kind of on a roll here, making masks for friends and family who need/want them. I wish I could find where I got this tutorial, but I have no idea. However, there are plenty out there. This is a two-layer pattern with a pocket to insert a filter of choice. The original pattern called for elastic loops, but I am low on elastic and changed it to ties. In some of these, I use grosgrain ribbon. In others, twill tape. Just depended on what I had and what went with it.

The top (banana) mask is a size large. The others are small. All are for friends/colleagues.

Both of these two are for me, to wear during surgery and extend the life of my surgical paper mask. I found that with the size small, it was difficult to carefully insert the surgery mask into the pocket - just not *quite* big enough. So I wore the fabric mask over the paper one, in case of any....mishaps.

These are both size small, for colleagues.

This is a size large, for a family member. The size large is the same height as the small, but it adds about an inch of width for more coverage.

And here you can see the pocket.

There's also a spot to sew in a nosewire. I used pipe cleaners folded on themselves and twisted together while I wait for my wire to come in. And after the first few, I decided to sew the channel open-ended, to allow for removal for washing or to replace it as needed. I think that might be a better idea, especially when using pipe cleaners.

Another pair of ruffly little girl PJs!

Well, it took awhile, but I'm granting my niece's wish for new ruffly PJs. This is again KS 213, but in a bug flannel this time. And the contrasting sleeves and ruffle are because this is deep stash, and I didn't have enough. But I think it looks super cute! This is cut in a M.

And I'm not done yet!

Ruffly girl PJs

So way back probably almost 2 years ago, I decided that my niece would like some new PJs, and I cut out KS 213. Since this was the first try, I used a flannel from deep stash. But I bought ribbon to go with it and dress the front up a bit. I cut out size S and started in, and then my serger was misbehaving, and the ruffles were a bit daunting, and life happened. So it was about a year ago that I finally decided to take the bull by the horns and finish. And they're super cute!

You can see the colors better here.

And the pattern comes with doll sizes!

My niece was very happy with the new PJs, but the pants were snug and short, largely because I'd taken so long to sew them after cutting them out. I had enough of the flannel left that I simply cut a new pair of pants one size up, and I gave her the bigger pants when she came to visit last fall. And then, of course, she told me how much she loved them and wanted more. :)