The Train To Crazy

My girls

My older girls were visiting family on the west coast for a whole week. My youngest and I spent our time doing puzzles and enjoying the neighborhood.

We even did a bit of this. I eat mine a bit differently, however. 

It's good to have the girls back now though. It's nice to have the noise back in the house. They were missed.

Completely unrelated, I'll be doing a product review soon from the company that brings you everything from bathroom vanities to strollers. I'm still deciding what I'll be reviewing but it will definitely be something that will be useful to me and probably something you're interested in. Well, maybe.

Make it, Wear it!

 

Welcome to the blog party where you can see all things made to be worn! Thanks for joining us. Did you get a chance to see last week's entries? I was so excited to see so many wonderful entries! Take a moment and browse through them all. From refashions to jewelry and everything in between, it's all worth a look!

Here are some of my favorites, though it was so hard to choose!

1. Piccoli Piselli's 90 minute shirt and Sailboat pants are the cutest boy outfit I've seen in a while. I'm definitely in the market for those elephants now

2. I am Mamma made this cute studded cuff

3. Lemon Tree Creations made a great Express necklace knockoff 

Have some bandanas sitting around? There were 3 different entries with bandanas last week.

1. Over At Perkins' Place made some bandana shirts

2. Those Northern Skies made a handy little bandana bib

3. Kids Stuff World made this Little Miss Hipster dress with a bandana 

So, have you been creating this week? Please share your creations that you've made to be worn!

The Rules:

1. Click on "add your link" below. Enter your item information. You can even add a picture now! Please link to the actual blog post that includes your project so it is easy for people to find!

2. Pretty please link back here IN your blog post. You can grab the button if you want.

<a href="http://www.thetraintocrazy.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab308/thetraintocrazy/makeitwearitbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="make it wear it" /></a>

3. Go check out the others who are linking! Have fun and get inspired! Leave comments because everyone loves comments! 

Maternity dress

Cute, comfortable maternity clothes are hard to find. For me, dresses are hard to find. They are either too tight in the butt or they are made of too light weight knit and that isn't a pretty thing when you are a bit overweight...

I'm attempting to make some of my own. This is my first attempt. I mostly love it. When I bought the fabric I couldn't decide if it would be sheets for my youngest or a dress for me. The dress won out.

 

There are so many great old churches here. I've been dying to take pictures at one.

The back is shirred. I made the front of the dress longer, to accommodate the growing belly. I hate when shirts and dresses get too short during the last couple months of pregnancy. Hopefully this one won't.

The top is lined but I didn't line the skirt.

I debated how high to make the top portion. I'm thinking it is a bit too high now but doesn't it just seem like all maternity dresses are low cut? 

Make it, Wear it!

 

Welcome to the blog party where you can see all things made to be worn! Thanks for joining us. Did you get a chance to see last week's entries? I was so excited to see so many wonderful entries! Take a moment and browse through them all. From refashions to jewelry and everything in between, it's all worth a look!

Here are some of my favorites, though it was so hard to choose!

 

1. I am Momma made this scrappy belt   2. At Second Street did this great jewelry makeover   3. Sew a Straight Line made these 3 little bow ties

1. Farah Makes Stuff made this great impressionist blouse   2. 2 Many Ideas has this great tank dress tutorial   3. Featherty Sews made this great striped dress

Now, what have you made lately?

The Rules:

1. Click on "add your link" below. Enter your item information. You can even add a picture now! Please link to the actual blog post that includes your project so it is easy for people to find!

2. Pretty please link back here IN your blog post. You can grab the button if you want.

<a href="http://www.thetraintocrazy.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab308/thetraintocrazy/makeitwearitbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="make it wear it" /></a>

3. Go check out the others who are linking! Have fun and get inspired! Leave comments because everyone loves comments! 

And then there was one...

You know when you have your first child and you wonder how in the world anyone can take care of more than one child? And then you have your second and you get a crash course in taking care of two at the same time? And then they get a little bigger and begin to play together and you wonder how in the world anyone can take care of just one child? That's where I am this week.

My mom took the older two on a nine hour airplane journey to spend a week at her house. Now I'm left with one clingy toddler whose playmates are gone. And we all know how fun clingy toddlers with no playmates are!

When we dropped my mom and older two girls off at the airport my little one didn't get to say goodbye and was devastated. We had to run her into the airport so she could kiss her sisters goodbye. Then when she got back to the car she started chanting "me, mommy, me, mommy" over and over. It was pretty cute to see her get excited to have me to herself but that cuteness has worn off a bit. I'll let you know how it goes!

Too large shirt to maternity shirt

I found a really cute shirt at Target today. I bought it a couple sizes too big to accommodate that growing baby. The problem with shirts that are a couple sizes too big is that there is too much room under the armpits and the chest. This was my simple solution.

Just a few rows of shirring made a big difference. It could probably use more but I'm leaving it this way.

It looks much better now from the front. Less like a too big shirt and more like a maternity shirt.

  

Kid's clothes challenge week day 5

In spite of my lack of posting, I've done well with my kid's clothes challenge this week.

Day 1: These pants

Day 2: I cut out 2 pairs of pajama pants. Sewed them together incorrectly, cut off the seams (way too much of a hassle to remove the serged seams...) and then went to bed for the night.

Day 3: Finished the pajama pants!

Day 4: Made a darling little skirt/shorts combo. Tutorial to follow soon...

Day 5: I'm hoping to complete another little skirt/shorts combo and begin taking pics for the tutorial. Oh, and I have my Mom's Group all morning, rush to gymnastics, home for baby's nap, then off to the dance recital dress rehearsal, then dinner, then collapse on the couch out of pure exhaustion... Oh and I must get to the dry cleaners today as well.

At some point this week I completed these as well. They were started long ago...

 

Pant from this tutorial. I cropped them because they were getting too short, added the side slit and the button for detail.

Skirt using my A-Line skirt tutorial, plus the ruffle.

On a completely unrelated note, do any of you mac users have Aperture? I started using it for storing my photos and the color is absolutely perfect on Aperture and when I import it into my blog it looks awful. I'm sure brother Google will have some answers for me if you don't...

Make it, Wear it!

Welcome to the blog party where you can see all things made to be worn! Thanks for joining us. Did you get a chance to see last week's entries? I was so excited to see so many wonderful entries! Take a moment and browse through them all. From swim suits to parasols, to dresses and skirts it seems that there was a little something for everyone! 

Here are some of my favorites, though it was so hard to choose!

1. A Lemon Squeezy Home has a tutorial for this super adorable Sunshine Dress  2. Kitschy Coo sewed this amazing "Serving Wench" top  3. Sassy Style made this funky textured headband

 1. Frundy turned her sweater into this great cardigan  2. C.R.A.F.T. patched jeans without an outside patch 3. Piccoli Piselli made this wonderful Frida top 

Now, what have you made lately?

The Rules:

1. Click on "add your link" below. Enter your item information. You can even add a picture now! Please link to the actual blog post that includes your project so it is easy for people to find!

2. Pretty please link back here IN your blog post. You can grab the button if you want.

<a href="http://www.thetraintocrazy.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab308/thetraintocrazy/makeitwearitbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="make it wear it" /></a>

3. Go check out the others who are linking! Have fun and get inspired! Leave comments because everyone loves comments! 

Kid's clothes challenge week

Elsie Marley's Kid's Clothes Challenge Week started yesterday. Her to do list this week is, shall we say, impressive. I'm going to participate but I'd just like to be able to make a few sets of pajamas.

Of course, none of my to do lists would be complete if I didn't do something not on the to do list before starting anything on the list.

So I made these.

Super simple. Just pants using this tutorial with a little ruffle added.

  

(not so) subliminal messages

10/10/10 

Ducklings!

We participated in the Duckling Parade in Boston today. Oh my goodness. What is cuter than a whole bunch of ducklings following the Make Way For Duckling path to the Public Gardens? Well, this is.

That's right, 3 of the cutest ducklings showing off their feathers. 

Or hugging sisters.

Or maybe this.

It was so much fun making the duckling costumes. The little one is made from a cotton knit. The top is smocked as well as the very bottom. The ruffled bum used as much fabric as the entire dress. It was worth it. So cute.

 

The costume on my oldest, with the other ruffle bum, is made from a costume fake suede. I used this tutorial for the romper. I added 4 layers of ruffles on the bum. She wore a tutu under the romper to add volume.

 

The costume on my middle daughter is what the girls call the "fancy duckling." The dress fabric is a costume satin. The ruffles are chiffon. The dress is loosely inspired by this tutorial. There are yards and yards of ruffles that circle the dress. The bottom has elastic to give it shape. She is also wearing a tutu under the dress to give it volume.

 So, how about those ducklings?

  

When pattern editors don't do their job

My girls needed shorts so they picked out some cute striped seersucker fabric at JoAnn's the other day. I debated about whether to make my own pattern or not but then decided to whipped up the shorts in Simplicity pattern 2711. Without thinking much I just followed the directions and sewed them together. Then I tried them on my daughter and noticed they looked weird. The stripes were all funky and it was a bit tight in the upper thighs and bell shaped in the lower thigh. The rise fit funny. I was about to toss the pattern in the garbage when I looked at the instructions. Sure enough, they instructed me to sew the rise up as the leg holes. It doesn't work so well that way. Pattern Review only has one review of someone sewing these shorts and they mentioned the pants were cut odd and the waist didn't fit well. I think I've solved the issue...

See what I mean? Awful. Thankfully I had bought enough fabric to still make two pairs of shorts sewn up the correct way. (The older girls both wanted the same shorts...)

Much better.

Now they fit well.

The only modification I made to these shorts was to lengthen them just an inch. With hot slides and swings, long shorts are a necessity.

Have you encountered patterns that tell you to sew them up incorrectly?     

Make it, Wear it!

Welcome to the blog party where you can see all things made to be worn! Thanks for joining us. Did you get a chance to see last week's entries? I was so excited to see so many wonderful entries! Take a moment and browse through them all. So many great Spring tops, refashions, knitted items, kid's clothes, and on and on.

Welcome To The Good Life made this JCrew inspired Molly Hanna necklace.

Sew A Straight Line made this Brave New Top for Made By Rae's Spring Top Week. (There were many Spring Tops in last week's party and they were all wonderful. Many of them were finalists in the competition!)

 

Brown Paper Packages made this adorable Kensington Dress

 

Flamingo Toes made this awesome Flower Ribbon Shirt

Now, what have you made lately?

The Rules:

1. Click on "add your link" below. Enter your item information. You can even add a picture now!

2. Pretty please link back here IN your blog post. You can grab the button if you want.

<a href="http://www.thetraintocrazy.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab308/thetraintocrazy/makeitwearitbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="make it wear it" /></a>

3. Go check out the others who are linking! Have fun and get inspired! Leave comments because everyone loves comments! 

The BEST girls' dress tutorials

Summer is nearly upon us. It is dress season. I don't know about your girls, but my girls absolutely love dresses. That's a good thing, because I love to make dresses

There are a TON of little girl's dress tutorials out there in blog land. I've taken the liberty of narrowing it down to just my favorite dozen. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Of course you will. They are cute, and free! And I really can't say enough about these. They all deserve you to click through and at least look at them! So much variety in style, color and design.

Ruffle Peasant Dress by TaDa Creations

Shirred Top or Dress by TaDa Creations

Sweet Shirred Summer Dress by Prudent Baby

Reversible Girl's Pinafore Dress by Stuff I Live For

Popover Sundress by Oliver & S

Last Minute Frock by Grosgrain Fabulous

J-Crew-y Ruffle Dress by KoJo Designs

Another Ruffly J-Crew-y Dress by KoJo Designs

Fairy Romper by Samster Mommy

"In The Garden" Shirred Twirly Dress by From An Igloo

Wrap Dress by Tiny Happy

Bubble Dress by Made By Lex

So what do you think of this list?

This list Works For Me. Do you have any favorite dress tutorials that I haven't included? I'd love to hear about them!

Who doesn't love Craigslist?

I know the answer to that. Young girls being trafficked for sex. 

Boycott Craigslist and urge them to put a stop to their sex ads that often boast "young girls for sex" or other such deplorable things. Does this get your attention? Read more from Tom Davis.

Read this open letter to the CEO of Craigslist. Then sign the petition.

Then spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, a blog or email!