Happy Halloween!

Tonight was "halloween froggy"s big night on the town and this little girl was loving every minute. We've been practicing saying "trick or treat" for some time now but -- with the night finally here -- it all clicked and Graham and our friend Brent tell me she had it down to a science as she went door to door.

Kellee and I stayed back to hand out candy which I enjoyed probably way more than is normal. I just love these darn kids and how each one has a totally different approach to the situation. Some are out to charm you, others are painfully shy, some are adorably grateful, others give you dirty looks when you say "take two." (As if they don't have enough in their pillow case. )

To toot our own horn, we're pretty sure her costume took the prize for "best homemade." We already started scheming future sweatsuit and felt creations, however, when I asked her what she wants to be next year she emphatically said: FROGGY!

One of my goals for the long weekend was to spend time in the sewing room and I was able to steal a couple hours this morning to make this little top.

Deconstructing old clothes is such a great way to make things for Maggie with little effort. This project started with a button-down shirt that I loved but had to stop wearing after I wore a hole into the elbow. All of the ruffle detail was already done for me. I just had to reduce the size of the collar, trim down the width, and sew a hem to cut this down to size. The only extra step was to repurpose the ruffled cuffs by converting them into capped sleeves.

I did forget one very important step: taking Maggie's measurements! You can see how the buttons are pulling across her tummy in the photo. (Darn!) Looks like her cousin, Lucy, is getting a new shirt for Christmas. Kathy, expect this in the mail soon.

I found a new blog, last night, that inspired me to break out the sewing machine. (Check out Katie Did and her beautiful sewing projects.) This post got me thinking about a headband for Maggie and with some scraps of felt, crimping shears, and a bit of elastic she has new fall accessory.

It felt good to sew again. Wishing I had more time for it.

This chronicles the making of a new dress for Maggie. It's been a particularly fun project because I got to make use of the stamp I made during Katie and Taylor's visit. (Katie and I had a crafting session... she finished a scrapbook and I made the stamp by cutting some flowers out of foam and adhering them to a clear block.)

This dress is simple enough that I didn't need a pattern, but I'm wishing that I took some proper measurements because (as you can see in the photos) it is way too tight for Maggie. She'll grow out of this in the next hour!

Hailey and I collaborated on a little summer dress for her and she came by, today, so that we could put the finishing touches on it. It was so fun to go to the fabric store with her and have her choose the dress pattern and fabric. I was quite impressed when she flipped through the big books of dress patterns at how confident she was with what she liked and what she didn't like. She also totally understood that she should only choose the shape and style of the dress and that color and pattern would be chosen later. (I think that concept would be totally lost on me when I was her age.)

She settled on a long, empire waisted dress with ribbon straps and a ribbon bow around the waist. Not surprisingly, the fabric she chose was pink and covered with daisies. And the best news is that it fits! We did well.

Over the weekend I stole an hour or so to finish this little romper for Maggie. It has been sitting – unfinished – in her bedroom for months and I'm so glad to finally see it complete. 

It's a Butterick pattern (4965). The fabric came from a skirt that I purchased, years ago, in a Kansas City thrift store and the buttons are from my grandmother's collection. A while back I had a set of Meghansville tags made by a woman I found through Etsy and (for once) I remembered to stitch one in.

Hopefully this will be just the right size during the coming summer months.

The rag doll is complete! I was digging through my box of fabrics and when I came across my grandmother's collection of handkerchiefs I quickly realized that they had just the right look I was going for with just the right amount of fabric. I settled on a simple green one with her name embroidered in the corner, folded it in half, and wrapped it around the doll. She needed a top, so I cut some panels from some spare yellow fabric and stitched up the sleeveless jacket. After tying on the belt and painting on the face with fabric markers, she's ready for the world.

For obvious reasons, her name is Mildred.

Over the weekend, Kim passed along a parenting magazine that had a story featuring a great little rag doll with exaggerated arms and legs and an adorable silk dress. Since I spotted that doll, other similar rag dolls are popping up in the blogs I visit like this one and this one.

I decided to try my hand at one and came up with the form you see, above. She's not perfect but I think with the right dress, hair, and makeup she just might turn out. I'll be sure to post an update once complete.

This is a sneak peak at the dress I'm making for Kathy's baby-to-be. The fabric is recycled from a linen pencil skirt I bought at Goodwill that never quite worked out. I plan to make the same dress for Maggie in a winter weight fabric. Graham was already sweet enough to cut the pieces for me from a tweedy brown skirt, handed down from Anne.

To make, I modified a Simplicity pattern (3509) by omitting the cap sleeves, doing a center pleat rather than gathering, and running buttons down the back instead of a zipper. When cutting the pieces, I decided to remove two inches of width from both the front and back panels and, fortunately, this worked out to be just the right amount of fabric for the pleat and button plackets. The final step will be sewing in the buttons and for some reason this is giving me fits. One of the button holes has turned out to be an irreversible catastrophe.