Circle Skirt

With some extra Riley Blake Seaside (in Blue Bikini), left over from the beach outfits, I whipped up my first  circle skirt from Dana's tutorial on MADE (finally!).

I should have made one long ago, because Louisa's favorite wardrobe pieces are measured first on degree of twirliness, and second, number of pockets.

Seaside (Oliver + S Tea Party Dress and Playsuit)

We were invited to join some dear friends for a week at the Outer Banks this July. I wanted to do something special for the four kiddos, and I fell in love with the Seaside line by October Afternoon for Riley Blake.

I made three Oliver + S Tea Party Sundresses (two in size five, one in size two) and one Playsuit (size two). Size five is the biggest size in the pattern, and it left room to grow for the four-year-old girls.

Father and Son Ties

Matchy matchy for Father's Day!

For three years the Crozet Gazette has been lucky enough to be a sponsor of Pink Ribbon Polo, a really fun local event at King Family Vineyards, which is a fundraiser for the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. It is traditionally held on Father's Day.

This year, I had a lot of fun making some special (pink) accessories for the match, to celebrate the amazing man who is known as Daddy in our house.

Pink Cake Three Ways

Our special four year old was lucky enough to have three celebrations this year... one at school, one with family (on the very day), and one with friends (the weekend after). And, each got her a different version of my go-to cake recipe, Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes from More from Magnolia, with Rachel Ray's icing recipe—which, by the way, is honestly the best cupcake frosting I've ever had. I make half the recipe.

I made mini two-layer cakes for her birthday dinner at home. She shares her birthday with her Nona, so they each got one—with their own mini cake-banner, too. I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch, baker's twine and my ubiquitous Cavallini and Co. Alphabet Stamps.

Out of the same batch of batter and frosting, I made ice cream cone cupcakes for her to bring to preschool. These were the traditional treat for my husband's school-birthdays, so we decided to carry it on. I got mini ice cream cones (at Target) to make them more preschool portioned.

[Oh... late night school-cupcake baking. A rite of passage, I think.]

To make these, stand the empty ice cream cones in a muffin tin (or a mini-muffin tin), fill them two-thirds or so with batter, and bake as usual. 

I piped the icing on and dipped them in sprinkles to make it look like (pink) soft-serve. 

AFTER they were baked and cooled, I put tin foil over the empty muffin tins and poked holes to secure for the cones in (BEFORE I iced them, so that they wouldn't be tippy when I decorated and transported them.)

Finally, for the friend party, I made regular sized cupcakes—same recipes, of course. The ballerina toppers were by Meri Meri (although I bought them last year).

We decided to go with the age=number of guests rule (4 friends for a 4-year-old) this year, and had a simple sprinkler/kiddie pool/trampoline party in the backyard. She had a blast and we did too.

Crafty Chloe Doll Bed

It's no secret that I love Heather Ross—her fabric, her illustrations, her patterns—so, it's no surprise that I ordered Crafty Chloe for Louisa as soon as it came out. The book is FANTASTIC. And, it inspired me (and Louisa) to do a little crafty crafting of our own, for Lou's twin friends who celebrated a birthday last weekend.

At the end of the book Chloe gives her friend Emma a doll bed she makes out of a clementine crate. There are instructions from Heather (via the Martha Stewart Show) on the Crafty Chloe website. We decided to give the twins their own copy of Crafty Chloe and a homemade pink doll bed, just like Emma's.

Echino Cars Toddler Backpack

Leo's backpack (or more accurately, toy train tote) gave me a chance to use Rae's Toddler Backpack pattern again, which has been updated to include lining and enlarging instructions since I made one last fall for Louisa.

For this one, I used Echino Mini Cars (from Echino Nico 2011) in green and brown (which I purchased while I was in New York a while back at Purl Soho). I interfaced with heavy weight pellon, and lined it with Michael Miller Lime Toot Toot from etsy. I'm not the first one to use the mini cars for a Rae Toddler Backpack, but it is a great fabric for boys, so no wonder.

I added two side pockets, one slip, one elasticized for a water bottle, just like last time. And I added an inside pocket and pencil slot, and a patch on the other side with his name and phone.

Children at Play Dress (Simplicity 5226)

I wanted to make Louisa a play dress, and found this pattern, Simplicity "Easy to Sew" 5226, in my drawer (not sure where or when I got it). I decided it would be good for putting to use some of my Sarah Jane Children at Play Michael Miller prints that I've been hoarding. I bought these (and a bunch of boy prints that you will hopefully see up here soon!) from Hawthorne Threads when they were first released last year.


I really like Sarah Jane's illustrations (Louisa has this print over her bed, and Leo has this one over his crib), and Louisa loves white dandelions, so that drew me to this print, Summer Gardens in Lilac.

She actually requested this dress this morning... "the one you made with the dandelion girls on it, you know, Mom?"

I wish I had made the bias binding around the collar and arm holes out of the flower print I used on the ruffle (Meadow in Pink) but I was trying to save that yardage for another project, and also, I hate making bias tape. So, I used some close-enough-pink packaged tape. It closes with a single pink button and fabric loop in the back.


Everything has to have a pocket these days. Lots of treasures to keep track of.


I turned and stitched most of the seams, used some french seams, and serged the bottom. I also made it quite a bit shorter than the original pattern.

Here it is at play!

Running with her classmates in her school's Mini Relay for Life:


And at the first Friday's After Five of the season, getting her face painted with her dear pal Dorothy:

Wiksten Tank (Spring Top Sewalong)

Like so many others, I jumped on the Wiksten patterns when they recently became available as PDFs. The patterns get great reviews and I was not disappointed by the Tank.

I used Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile in Diamond Mine Sky, and the same in Coloring Garden Dusk for the trim. The pattern calls for the bias trim to be hidden but I folded it narrowly to show off the contrasting fabric.

My topstitching is far from perfect but it isn't too noticeable on the floral print. I also had a hard time getting the hem to fold nicely on that durn curve!

I bought the voile last summer from Fabricworm.com when I was inspired to make a tank like this one (which I LOVED as soon as I came across it on flickr), and of course I never used it til now.

I made a size medium based on my bust measurement but it is too baggy around my middle. Next time I'll definitely taper it in a bit. I know it is supposed to be loose fitting, but this looks maternity (when I am not holding my hands on my hips to keep the poof down). The fit is a little off in the back too with some gaping at the neck.

The fit on this one from the Quilted Tortoise is perfect, in my opinion. She also inspired me to spend the time to match my pocket perfectly!

This is my first entry into Rae's 2012 Spring Top Sewalong. Hopefully I'll get a chance to follow through on a short sleeved Renfrew Top as planned for my second entry!