~baby shoes~

I have tons of shoes for my little lady

but the ones that fit are all boots or

fancy little mary-janes that require socks.

I hate taking her into public places with no shoes.

I've been forced to do it the past month because

the sandals I have for her are too big and

it's just too hot to put her in the shoes 

that do fit. I finally got around to making

her some comfy little shoes that I 

can throw on her piggies when we go to the store.

I think these may be the cutest thing I have ever made.

I love them.

Click here to see the pattern and tutorial I used.

I have sewn other baby shoes in the past

but really wanted to find something a little

more girly. When I came across these I knew

I just had to make them. 

While it was fairly easy, I will say that 

the tutorial probably wouldn't be great 

for beginners. If I hadn't made baby shoes

already, I would have struggled a little.

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, 

just used it as a guide.

 These were the first pair I made. 

I screwed up on the ruffle when I was cutting 

it out. I cut the ruffles on the fold so they

are twice as wide as they were suppose to be.

I do that a lot.

A pattern piece can make so much sense

in my head when I'm cutting it out

and envisioning how it fits and then

I go to sew it and it's totally off the mark.

Does that happen to any of you?

Oh well-they turned out cute anyway.

I loved these so much that I

had to immediately cut out another pair.

Both pair were made with fabric I had on hand.

 These purple shoes were made out of vintage fabric

that I got from my Mom a few weeks ago.

I'm already thinking about the next pair I'm 

going to make her. Shiny black with red soles.

You just wait.

These whip up in about 45 minutes.

So easy.

Remember that blanket I'm complaining about 

working on for the gal I hardly know? Well, I 

decided to make her a pair of these booties instead.

I'll still finish the blanket but will give it

to a close friend who's expecting (if she has a girl).

If all else fails, I will just keep it for my little lady. 

Guess what I'm working on today?

My jumpsuit.

Tune in later for pics of that.

~what the ????~

Most of us have experienced those

"What the hell was I thinking?" 

moments in our lives.

Whether it be with an outfit, hairstyle or old boyfriend.....

 Here's an example of one of my many "what was I thinking?" hairstyles:

...and I remember thinking my hair looked so good that day.

BAD. BAD hairstyle. My only defense is that it was the 80's....

there were a lot worse out there.

Occasionally I start a 

"what the hell was I thinking?" project.

Example:

I started a faux chenille blanket for a gal I know who's 

expecting a baby girl any day now. 

It's my first blanket of it's kind and it's safe to 

say IT WILL BE THE LAST.

What the hell was I thinking?

Although this is an easy sewing project, 

IT IS SO TIME CONSUMING AND MONOTONOUS.

It requires sewing together 4 layers of fabric with several 

straight stitch lines.....I'm talking the diagonal length of the fabric

in lines 1/4" to 1/2" apart.......across the whole piece! 

 

I am dying!

I'm only halfway done with the stitching and then I have to 

cut each area in between the lines. Then I have to bind it.

I am seeing double and triple when I sew these lines.

I'm reconsidering who I give this blanket to.

While I love making baby gifts, or any gift for that matter,

 I have become more choosy about who I 

make gifts for. I want to be sure the person I make it for

is going to appreciate the time and love put into it.

I barely know the lady I'm making it for and I thought this

would be easy, using materials I already had.

Boy was I wrong!

My friend who made one for me when I had my little gal

says only the first 50 lines are bad....after that it goes fast.

Well-I'm past 50 and I'm still hating this project!

She also said it will be worth it in the end when I see 

it come together. 

While I'm sure that is true, it's not true enough 

for me to want to make another one anytime soon.

MEGAN-THIS MAKES ME APPRECIATE THE 

BLANKET YOU MADE EVEN MORE!  IF I EVER QUESTION

YOUR LOVE FOR ME I WILL JUST HAVE TO LOOK AT 

THAT BLANKET TO HAVE REASSURANCE!

~might as well JUMP~

I rarely never sew anything for myself.

It's not that I don't have the desire or the ideas,

there are just always other projects and gifts 

that need to be done for other people.

I have been seeing a trend this summer that

may have given me the push to actually 

sew a little project for myself.

 At the expense of totally making an ass

of myself by admitting this I'm going to give it a go:

MY NAME IS PAULA AND I LOVE JUMPSUITS.

 Some will argue that they are totally 80's.....

maybe even 60's or 70's.....

actually, all of the above now that I think of it. 

But, I don't care. 

I love them.

I think they are adorable and I've been 

searching for a shorts jumper to add to 

my pathetic summer wardrobe.

Problem is, I can only find very short shorts jumpers

and I DO NOT wear short shorts.  

I think I'm going to take a crack at sewing one.

Here are a few I found online for inspiration:

 This one is from Target....I think.

I think it's around $25.

 This one is my favorite.....Michael Kors.

It was on sale at Macy's for about $70.

I love how casual, comfortable and effortless it looks.

This one is Bar III at Macy's...

on sale for $30.

I love the a-symmetric neckline.

 This one is capri's.....so basically, pants on me.

It was only $7 at Walmart on clearance. 

I think I might get it in black just to see how I like

the longer jumpsuit.....

come to think of it, maybe I'll buy it and cut it off 

into shorts. Now-there's an idea.

Rrrroar....sexy momma jumpsuit.

I love this. 

If only I had an exciting evening destination

to wear it to....(and the height to pull it off)

This is Rachel Roy at Macy's for $130.

I'll let you know how/what I decide.

I actually JUST ordered the $7 jumpsuit from

Walmart and plan on cutting it the length I want.

I ordered it in black.

I couldn't even get the fabric for that price so I 

figure I might as well try it.

Imagine it with a cute belt, ROCKIN jewelry

and some butt-kickin heels or sandals.

Ooh-I hope this turns out as good as I envision.

~princess dress-take 2~

Another birthday.

Another princess dress.

I learned a lot making the last one 

and decided to do a few things differently this time around.

 

As you can see, same concept as the last one

but different execution.

The first thing I did differently was the t-shirt.

I decided this time around to buy a t-shirt in 

the little girls clothing section instead of a generic Hanes t-shirt.

I was hoping it would give it a little more shape.

It did, but still not as much as I was hoping.

Aside from the shape, I ADORE the graphics

on this little shirt. The faux strands of beads

gave it just the touch it needed for the bodice.

It saved me the work of any embellishments up top. 

For the skirt I used fabric scraps I had on hand.

I didn't have to buy one single cut of fabric for this project.

This time I didn't sew the skirt together up the side until

I had all the ruffles on. So basically I was sewing ruffles

on a long straight piece of fabric. Once I had all the 

ruffles on I sewed the side seam up on the skirt

and attached it to the shirt. This was a total

no-brainer and I wondered why the heck I didn't 

do it that way last time??????

The colors came together so nicely with the t-shirt and 

I love how it turned out so "shabby chic". 

Once I had the skirt attached, I realized that I should

have attached it closer to the purple ruffle so I had to hand

sew the turquoise layer on.

I figured, "hey-why stop there?", and 

added the little pink blobs  rosettes to finish the look.

I like the final product but still ended it knowing that

I would do things differently yet again when I make another....

which will probably happen next month when we have

ANOTHER birthday in the family.

I figure by the time my little lady is old enough

for dress-up, I'll have this mastered.

Total cost-$5 for the t-shirt.

Not bad eh?