Skirts!

Last month I took a break and made my favorite little girl some skirts. She's a very *ahem* fashion forward girl with her own sense of style. They needed to be bright... colorful... and not "go" with anything in particular. She despises anything matchy-matchy.
Pockets were a must as was fullness. She may be 11 but she still needs that twirl factor!
I pulled tips from Freshly Picked, MADE, and pure "you can do it" inspiration from Miss Jemellia.
I made a total of 6 skirts. If you have been reading this for any amount of time you have already figured when I do something, I OVER-do it :)

And today's ensemble:

 

And this is from last week.... 

The pockets were super easy, nothing like putting in a zipper! I did find that I was still too stingy to part with much of my "good" fabric and ended up buying specifically for skirts. I wish she had been more "girly" when she was little, this is fun! 

Beautiful Balance Checkbook Cover - Complete!

I gotta say this was easy, easy, easy!
Curves, no problem. Magnetic snap, no problem. All that danged interfacing, no problem.
I live for small projects like this. All the fabric requirements under 1/4 yard, heck yes!
Liked it so much I made two :)

If I had this to do over I would probably change the flap fabric, did not realize how prominent it would be!
I am thrilled with the backs though, so glad I went with the matryoshka dolls.

The insides.... Still a little eh on the flap fabric and chickens together, too too much going on.

I'm not saying I don't still love the chickens, I do really, but maybe a little less of them would have been better!
I learned and used a solid for those lining pieces...

 

Nice, right?! So cute. I am taking Michelle's advice and working on a wallet pattern of my own :) 

So, next month is the Perfectly Pleated Clutch, for reals this time! Still not looking forward to choosing fabric for this bag. Still predicting a train wreck!

April's Bag - Beautiful Balance Checkbook Cover

 Alright! April's "bag" is the Beautiful Balance Checkbook Cover. I must confess that I don't actually USE our checkbook very often and I'm pretty sure our checks have our address from 3 years ago. Whoops.
Nevertheless, I know it does not have a pretty cover. So here we go!

I am once again pulling fabrics from my stash.
Yes, I will admit to buying the country-iffic peachy chicken print. I thought I would go to the grave with those chickens! But here they are and they go fantastically with my lovely Japanese matryoshka doll print. The brown swirly with teal hearts is just perfect too, hoping I can line it up all fussy like for the flap :)

Matryoshka dolls- outside main
Brown swirly- outside flap
Peachy chickens you all are jealous of- inside print

I am going to be honest and say I am scared of those curves on the flap. And of the magnetic snap, this will be my second time using one of those and let's just say the first time was not so successful. Fingers crossed!

Weekend Finds!

Ah, Spring! Around here that means Estate Sales. 
This weekend was particularly successful, the owner was an avid embroider and hankie collector.
I picked up so many lovely pieces, perfect for little aprons :) 

Souvenir hankies!  

This is a sweet little table runner with some pretty colorful birdies :) 

And this is my shopping buddy. Squirt found himself a velvet remnant he doesn't want to part with :)
No, doesn't want me to make him anything out of it, just leave it like it is so he can snuggle it.