The cutest models in the world...

Here are a few pictures of my nieces wearing some dresses I made them. Here is the yellow dress I posted last week. The straps were a little long. When Abby was taking her nap I adjusted them up a little. This dress is a little long, but I think I like it like that. Plus that means she will be able to wear it longer =)

Here is a pillowcase dress I made earlier this summer. I never took a picture of it so I couldn't post it. But here is a picture with Emma wearing it. I added the ruffly strip and flower at the bottom to add some extra cuteness. She was really not wanting to take a picture and this face was made in between crying. Maybe one day soon I can get a closer picture of the ruffle and flower.

When I get a picture of Abby in the orange dress I will post that too. I can't wait to see how it looks on her!

My posting might become even more scarce (if that's possible, I haven't been doing so good since the move) because we will finally be moving into our own house!!! Yeh! Everything we own will be under one roof instead of scattered in 5 different places (and that's not an exaggeration!). Hopefully, this time next week we will be out of our rental and making our new home ours.

Best wishes!

Summer Fun Dresses

Such sweetness!

Here are a few more projects that I have been up to lately. These were so easy and quick to make. This first one was kind of an uh-oh, but I like how it turned out. It is slightly long on Abby, but I fixed that and hope to have pictures to show you soon. I went to visit my sister and her son and daughter yesterday. While the kids were napping I got a hold of this dress to shorten it a bit. On each side and in the center of the front and back, I sewed a basting stitch the length it needed to be shortened. Then I pulled it tight creating ruffles and then tied the thread off. It resembled a roman shade. I think it will look much cuter than this long dress.

The yellow dress is adorable on her. It is a bit long too, but she will be able to wear it for a while. I used this tutorial here which is very easy to follow. This is the dress I was trying to make with the orange fabric, but I cut my fabric the wrong size. Oops. Oh well, I think it turned out cute. I love the cross over straps on the back! Ok, back to the yellow dress. I don't have any pictures of Abby wearing it, but maybe soon. Instead of standard, flat straps, I created ruffled straps which I think turned out really cute. And of course, the fabric flower was added for some extra cuteness.

Book Slipcovers

Looking for that perfect gift for book lovers? These book slipcovers are so easy and fun to make. I gave these two to my mother for Mother's Day. She loved them and is asking for some more for her friends. I made two different sizes. One for smaller paperbacks and one for larger paperbacks.

You can make them reversible too! The one on top is not reversible because I added the flower embellishment. But if you want to leave off the embellishments, you can make it reversible.

This one is reversible.

This is the inside of the slipcover, but it can be reversed to make it the outside.

This is a great way to use up some scrapes and protect your books from all the fun stuff that comes with summer - i.e. pool water, suntan lotion, popsicles, etc.

I hope you enjoy some summer reading in style!

I'm Still Here...

Hello? Is anyone still there?

Wow, it has been a while. Too long! It has been a busy month for the Torrances. I had the privilege to stay with my niece and nephew while their parents took some neighborhood kids to Kids Across America. I had a blast with kiddos! Here are the outfits from this post. This is the twirly skirt that I love making. I need to get busy and make some more!

And the tie applique I made for her big bro:

Then there was lots of bubble baths. This child loves him some bubbles! He asked two or three times before lunch if he could have a bubble bath!

I love those kiddos. I can't wait to see them again!

Then I went to Atlanta to spend some time with my sister while Michael was on a motorcycle trip. And a week ago we were here:

Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica! We had a blast. We went with our old neighbors from Statesboro.

It was great hanging out with them and catching up. They are so sweet and so much fun. We spent a lot of time here with our feet in the sand...

And looking out at the amazingly clear blue water. It was so beautiful! And when we were not on the beach or eating, we could be found here...

This is the main pool. There is another one we spent more time at. It was a little smaller and about 20 feet from our room. I love the lounge chairs that sit in the water. So nice. I miss me some meat patties though!

These are just a few photos. There are photographers everywhere ready and willing to take your picture. We had mini-photo shoots just about every day!

And this was our dreaded last walk on the beach =( It was really hard to get back in the swing of things, but that's life. We can't make a living in paradise!

This was a very nice and much needed vacation for the two of us. I am thankful that we were able to share it with such good friends.

I hope to start posting more in the days and weeks to come. I hope that you will hang in there and wait for more to come! Hope you all are having a safe and fun summer!

Just Something I Whipped Up...

I picked up a few T's for my niece at the store. I didn't know what I wanted to do with them, but I definitely wanted to use up some scrapes! I had a pink long-sleeve shirt that had some small holes towards the bottom. So I cut off the sleeves to make it short sleeve. With the part cut off I made some ruffles and sewed it around the neckline. The bottom ruffle was a little off center and it was driving me crazy! I had two choices: remove the bottom ruffle and try sewing it on again, or adding another design to cover up the mistake. I opted to create something to cover up the mistake. I didn't want to chance re-sewing the ruffle because my luck the same thing would happen again! I created this cute flower out of the same fabric and attached it. I hope it holds up in the wash!!!

Here's a close up.

And another ruffled collar. This is left over from another project. I sewed two stripes together on three sides, leaving one short side open to turn. I slip-stitch the end closed and sewed down the middle with a long straight stitch to create the ruffles. Then sewed it on the shirt. I think it will be adorable on the little princess.

Here's another Twirly Skirt I made from two fat quarters. Wal-Mart sells these fat quarters for a $1 and they have some cute designs. The shirt I bought and appliqued the circles on.

Then I made a shirt for the little guy so he can match his 'lil sis. There were some scraps left over, believe it or not so I used it for the tie. I love how this tie turned out! I think it is so cute!

And here is the matching duo:

Have a great day!

Dress Refashion

So I found this cute little dress at Wal-Mart. I was just passing through the clothing department and it grabbed my eye. I thought it was a cute little summer dress. When I got home and tried it on, it was a little short for my taste and a little plain.


So I dug through my scrape fabric stash and had just enough of some zebra print to add a little length.

The top of the dress has a cute lace around the neckline. But the waistline was missing something. It needed an additional touch too.

I just so happened to have enough fabric to make a belt as well. I didn't make it long enough to tie in a bow, so I formed a cute little flower instead. I think it turned out so cute.

And the final look. (Please excuse the unmade bed; I like to procrastinate!)

My only problem now is it has shrunk a little since I've washed it. So it's still a little short, but we will see if it will work.

Happy Wednesday!

Flirty Skirt

I have been holding on to this post for a while. I don't know why I have not posted it sooner because I absolutely love it. I finished it a while ago and I don't remember step-by-step what I did, but I will try to give my best description. It's pretty easy and pretty basic. This project actually started out for my oldest niece, but I messed up so I made it for the little one.

Before you start cutting, make sure you measure the little one. Unfortunately, my niece's and nephew live about 2 hours away, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a skirt for the appropriate size; in this case 12 months. I measured the length and waist band. I wanted the top section longer than the bottom. I guess the top section is about 2/3 bigger than the bottom. Be sure to add about a 1/4" for seam allowance and add extra length for the elastic. I added about 6" to the width to make it scrunchy. First, sew the side seam of the top band together. Then sew the tube for the elastic. Make sure you leave about a 2" gap to insert the elastic. For your bottom band, you can pretty much make it as long as you want; depending on how ruffled you want it. To make the ruffles, adjust your stitch length to the highest possible. Sew about a 1/4" from the edge. Do not backstitch and make sure to leave some extra thread on the ends. Pull the thread so the ruffles begin to form. Sew the raw edges together. Pin it to the top band with the right sides together working the ruffles so that they are consistent all the way around and sew. Double fold, iron, and pin the unfinished edge of the bottom band and sew to make the seam. At this point, it should look like this:


I apologize that I don't have pictures of the previous steps. I got a little frazzled when I realized I messed up and stopped taking them! As you can see, once I figured out it would work out for the little one I started taking pics again.

Thread the elastic through the tube. Before I finish the seam, I like to pull the overlapping ends of the elastic out far enough to sew them together. Then finish the tube and your done! Step back and visualize how cute the little one will be!

This skirt wouldn't be complete without a cute matchy shirt! So I created three yo-yo flowers and sewed them on the shirt. (Oh my gosh, I can't get enough of those chubby arms!)

Here's the little model! She is so happy because I have finally given in and let her play with my phone! She is busy trying to figure it out!

Still trying to figure it out!


And the fabric petal flower I made here matches perfectly. I am so glad they are finally staying in her hair!

I bought some fat quarters at Wal-Mart the other day. I am going to try to make some more of these fun skirts out of those. Hope it works!!! And I hope you enjoy!



Sarah