Alice in Wonderland Party Part 1

So, my daughter turned 11 and had a party. An Alice in Wonderland party. Because she is an enormous Alice fan! I didn't take any pictures of the processes by which I made most things, BUT I do have many pictures of the party! And of the fun items I made/found/bought/traded for!

First I will start with my girls and what they wore.

The birthday girl wanted to be the Mad Hatter, so I made a dress, jacket and hat for her to wear. Her striped petticoat was from her halloween costume last year.

The top of the dress was made using an oversized t-shirt that was screen printed with suspenders, buttons down the center, and a bowtie. I had to cut off the bow tie and then applique it on after I had the dress made since the shirt was so large.

The skirt was made from a super soft lime green microfiber sheet with embossing in it. And fun pick-ups using ribbon to show off the striped pettiskirt.

I just so happened to find the PERFECT fabric for the jacket in the clearance section of JoAnn's a few days before the party.

Two different types of buttons placed wonky to each other.

For my younger daughter I made an Alice dress, apron, and bloomers. I had already made the hair clip.

The whole outfit together! The apron is a separate piece so that it can be removed if wanted. The skirt of the dress is made from a beautifully embroidered, very soft, upcycled sheet.

A ruffle added for cuteness. And the lace strip down the middle has sequins on it! :)

Together they looked completely adorable!

Part 2 will have some of the party details in it! :)

The June Bug Dress Pattern Remix - PR&P

I'm not one of the contestants on Project Run and Play, but that sure isn't stopping me from playing along and entering the side contest! The first challenge is to take the June Bug dress by Jess of Craftiness is Not Optional and to change it up.

This is the materials that I used:

A couple of curtains and what's left of a pair of navy cordoroy jeans. (I used the other leg of the cordoroy jeans for an apron for my sister a while back.)

A closer picture of the two curtains.

Also used, but not pictured is one side of a duvet cover.

Please excuse the wrinkles - I don't usually care for ironing and avoid it when I can! And since these two pieces are the exact same size, and the exact sizes I needed, I didn't worry about the wrinkles warping the size of the fabric too much. Also excuse the picture quality for the ones above. Taking these pictures was an after thought, and my camera batteries were dead, so I used my phone.

I turned those things into this! I used the top part of the June Bug Dress to make the top of the jumper, and a pattern I'm testing for Little Lizard King for cargo pants for the pants part.

A fun jumper that is perfect for wearing while doing the laundry. Even if doing the laundry just means airing out your tutu skirt, super hero cape, and other fun clothes in the nice crisp air!

The fine whale cordoroy pants left over was turned into the top part. The buttons holding on the loops to hang the curtains were used for the closures. I cut in the bodice through the arm holes so it wouldn't be so wide. The loops themselves were used at the shoulders to make adjustable ties. The cordoroy goes vertically on the back and the two front side panels, and horizontally in the center panel.

I added a couple of the loops to the back of the bodice to serve as ties to tighten it up.

A closeup view of the bodice front. I added a pocket on top of where the blanket is using the duvet cover. I also added the dragonfly button.

I used the duvet cover to also make useable cuffs for the bottom of the pant legs. The cuffs at the bottom of the pant legs, combined with the ties at the shoulder, and the generous width of whole thing means this should last about a year! I also added a butterfly button because it looked like there needed to be one. ;-)

A side view of how cute this outfit is!

A nice view of the pretty flowers that hang out around the bases of the clothes line trees.

And now just a few pictures of how cute she was during this photo shoot....because she is just so cute! ;-)

So You Think You Can Sew

Or as I will start referring to it: SYTYCS. This is a new sewing contest by Mommy by day...Crafter by night. And guess what! I've entered!!
I found out about the contest thanks to Little Lizard King....and I'm so excited to be a part of it! Or, to TRY to be a part of it!! HA! Keep your fingers crossed I make it into the top 12! If I do I'll be having some fun projects/tutorials for you to follow along with too for my entry each of the weeks I'm in the contest. How fun would that be?!
I used this post about my new Fancy Layers dress and Ultra Ruffle velvet cheetah pants as my entry post.

When you're a toddler EVERY floor is a dance floor.

Sirens are distracting and interesting!

I would love to be in this challenge, so I'm definitely hoping to make it. But I'll probably play along even if I don't make it into the top 12. And I'll to my best to have tutorials along the way! :)

Snuggly Owl Pillow

OK, so this isn't exactly a tutorial. But there is a free owl pattern/tutorial through Sewing Republic from Bernina, which is now combined with their blog We All Sew thanks to Ashley at Make it and Love it. (If you haven't yet discovered her blog you need to go check it out! I LOVE all of the fun stuff she comes up with!!)

I made this adorable stuffed owl using the pattern she made for Sewing Republic. I used one of my husband's shirts that had been VERY well loved for MANY years for the main body in the front and back. On the front I actually used the back of the shirt, and on the back I made sure to use the breast pocket on the back for hiding little treasures.

I altered the way the wings were sewn on. I decided it would be fun to have the part of the wings that's towards the center of the owl be open instead of sewn down. That way little things could be hidden inside the wings, or the wings could be folded back over the sides.

To do this I had to sew down the center body piece. Then I made four wing pieces. Cut out the wing pieces as you are supposed to, and then with the wrong side on top of another piece of fabric's wrong side cut another wing piece. Do this again for the other wing. I then used silver binding around the edges for added texture before sewing only the outer edge into the side like the pattern calls for.
This was a Christmas present for my daughter's friend last year. Her friend LOVED the pillow. :)