halloween – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Princess Merida – My October Finish

12 Comments / 2015 Finishes, A Lovely Year of Finishes, Clothes, halloween / By Melissa Dunworth

I did it! Despite throwing my back out, I spent 5 hours yesterday, sitting on a heating pad and sewing. I know I couldn’t have finished if I had needed to cut anything but luckily I cut out everything a week and a half ago. To date, this is the most complicated pattern I have made. This is only more complicated than Elsa from last year because there were so many more pieces. I still disliked sewing Elsa more – that slippery fabric was AWFUL!

This is Simplicity Pattern 1557

Here she is, the sleeve gauntlets are made, she even has a bow and arrow (thanks Nana and Baba).

I made her the cape to go with it, she was a little upset that I didn’t do the applique on the front that the pattern shows, but we watched the movie this weekend and when I pointed out that Merida does not have an applique of herself on her dress, she was fairly satisfied that she didn’t need one either.

I just love the way she looks with the cape on! This costume will last forever because it was 6 inches too long and instead of cutting the excess off, I simply folded it up and hemmed it, that way as she gets older I can let it down and it will last a little longer.

I don’t consider myself a clothes person, but the more I sew for Anne and the more I see the joy it brings her, the more I enjoy it. I will always be a quilter first but I will do just about anything to put a smile on my baby’s face!

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate, and happy princesses to those who don’t! I for one have a very happy princess in my house right now!

PS. You have until Halloween to link up your October Finish! Get on it!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – October Finishes Party

9 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts, halloween / By Melissa Dunworth

Welcome to the end of October. To say my month hasn’t gone as planned is a bit of an understatement, but I’m still alive and kicking so I guess I can’t complain too much. I am still working on the Merida dress for my finish – I got injured yesterday and spent some quality time in the ER so I’m not sure if I will finish in time for Halloween, but luckily we have lots of other princess dresses Anne can wear. Here is my progress so far:

As you can see I have quite a bit of work left to do and my studio is a complete disaster!

How about you?

What one item did you choose?

You have two requirements to be entered into the prizes this month.

1. Link-up the first 7-days of the month

Please choose ONE project

and

2. Link-up {on this post} in the last 7-days of the month

Only with a completed, successful project. And yes the same one that you choose earlier in the month.

Add your blog post or flickr photo (with appropriate descriptions) to the linky party below.

Please grab a button or link back to Shanna and I so other people can join in the fun!

And if you are on twitter or Instagram tag #ALYoF

**Please note, the linky party is the same here and over at Shanna, so there is no need to enter twice **

Here’s our amazing prizes this month…thank you sponsors!

1. One PDF pattern from Honey, Bunny, and Doll Designs

2. Thimblepie’s Quilt Supplies – Custom fabric package, 3 yards plus free shipping anywhere

3. Green Fairy Quilts – 3 pdf patterns

4. $15 gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop

5. One PDF pattern from Michele of Aiming for Accuracy

6. PDF Pattern from Katy – The Littlest Thistle

7. One PDF Pattern from Meadow Mist Designs

8. PDF Pattern from Persimon Dreams

9. One pdf Pattern from Clover and Violet

10. One Charm pack or $10.00 gift certificate to
Stitches n’ Giggles (winners choice)

11. Sew BitterSweet Designs one pdf pattern

12. One PDF pattern from Sew Sweetness

Happy Halloween from Queen Elsa

14 Comments / Clothes, halloween / By Melissa Dunworth

The things we do to make our children happy. I, for instance, have been known to take on sewing projects that I know will make me completely miserable just so I can see this smile:

Pretty much since the Disney Frozen movie came out Anne has been telling me she wants to be Elsa for Halloween. We have seen a million costumes at the stores, but NO! She saw this pattern:

And immediately had it in her head that mommy would make her dress and she would be one of a kind. Well she is definitely one of a kind and she definitely forced mommy to learn a whole bunch of new sewing skills. Working with sheer fabrics, hand sewing an underlining into a garment and how to do a rolled hem, just to name a few new skills.

Do you like our Teal Pumpkin peeking out from behind Queen Elsa? She is here trick-or-treating at our house because she knows we are an allergy safe house. In fact, in addition to “safe for Anne” candy (she has a deadly allergy to peanuts and tree nuts) we are giving out Halloween pencils. She insisted on a pencil for posing for these pictures this morning. She drives a hard bargain, and then for my troubles…she froze me!

Happy Halloween from Queen Elsa (Anne) and me. We hope you have a fun and safe day!

Sewing Throwback Thursday

8 Comments / Clothes, halloween / By Melissa Dunworth

This is me…stepping into the sewing confessional. I have a secret to share. In 2011 I made a Poodle Skirt for Anne’s Halloween costume. It was WAY too big for her, so big that it kept falling off, though perhaps if I had FINISHED it I wouldn’t have had that problem. It also didn’t help my cause any that my awesome mom bought the cutest tutu to go underneath it to act as a crinoline. Anne fell in love with the tutu and decided that she would rather wear that than the unfinished skirt. So I did what I thought any beginning clothes sewist would do, I just abandoned the project. Here is Anne on Halloween just before she turned 2. Get ready for some serious cuteness. (Oh! And there is one finished sewing project in these pics, her trick-or-treat bag was made by yours truly.)

Here she is with her daddy! So stinking cute if you ask me!

Anne and I, she just brings so much joy and sunlight into my heart!

Here she is trying her first sour candy from that night….

Of course we got a reaction face shot!

Now that you have gotten through all the cuteness that is my baby and family, you can now see a pic of the finally finished poodle skirt. Anne still fits in it (which tells you how over sized it was 3 YEARS ago!) but will only fit it for about 3 more seconds.

And lets face it…in the eyes of an almost 2 year old this skirt just could never compete against that lovely and fluffy tutu skirt. Doomed from the first sighting of tulle!

I leave you with my husband’s awesome pumpkin carving from 2011.

Do you have any sewing confessions that you would like to make?

October Finish – Cutest Pink Tiger Ever!

15 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Clothes, halloween / By Melissa Dunworth

I actually finished my goal way at the beginning of the month. The most complicated article of clothing I have sewn to date, Anne’s Halloween Costume! I took her shopping at JoAnn’s to pick her fabric and being the pink girl that she is as soon as she spotted the pink tiger stripe, it was all over but the paying.

I used the Simplicity 2855 pattern and was able to use the smallest size, which is nice because the 2 small sizes were printed separately from the larger ones so I could save them for a future costume. This pattern included tons of new skills for me. The costume is a zip front jumpsuit. Inserting a zipper into fleece was all new to me, I had to sew the entire costume with my walking foot, and I made a lined hat. I’m very proud of the way it turned out and as you will notice…I think Anne likes it too!

Here she is from the front, the pink socks were a total coincidence (as I said, this girl loves her pink!). I even made her little mittens – which will come in handy tonight when it is FREEZING!

Check her out from the back. And now for the real cuteness – she felt the need to check out her tail! LOL

So there you have it! My October Finish! Did you finish your goal? There is still time to link up!

We have lots planned today. There will be a costume parade at Kindergym, then preschool in costume, and finally trick or treating later this evening. I bet she sleeps really well tonight!

Happy Halloween!