Bringing them home - Sew Many Books - God knows all about me!

Bringing home my guest posts!

Wow - am I happy to be here today!

I hope you guys have been following this wonderful series and all the wonderful creations based on books!

I am Tone from Bless - I create mostly for my twin girls, they are my muses and my inspiration!

For this series I chose to use a book I bought for my girls when they were three years old. We live in Norway, but the girls' father is from the U.S, so I'm always looking for English books to practice their English. 

We have read this book so many times. I think after a month they knew it by heart. We had so much fun reliving it through the photo shoot!

Without further ado, here is:

God knows all about me,

by: Kate Toms

 My creation: the pyjama pants

Fabric: JoAnns

Pattern: self-drafted

Thank you so much for having me, allowing us to relive one of their favorite books as young girls and for me to finally sew up the pyjama pants I had promised the girls!

Stars and Stripes outfit

This is my project for the Red, White and Blue oveday.
r at Sugar Bee Crafts!

I am Norwegian, and we live in Norway - our national day is May 17th and we wear our national dresses that day, BUT - my daughters also have their American citizenship. Princess in particular loves everything American!

She has wanted a pair of American flag leggings for the longest time. They are everywhere this year here in Europe.

I made her this pair, together with the Stars and Stripes sweat shirt.

Use a pattern for leggings, one you have or check out Go to patterns.

I just cut up some we had at home that were a little small and made my own pattern. One leg should be navy and one leg should be red. 

Use white fabric paint to paint on the stars on the blue fabric and the stripes on the red fabric.

Sew up!

I'll give you a tutorial later for how I made the shirt. I drew up the pattern myself and we quite like it!

When you've cut out the pattern pieces, use white for the stars and stripes and red for the red stripes. 

I used dry brushes, because I wanted that worn look.

The shirt has two loose ties at both sides so that it can either be tied or loose.

She's so happy with her outfit, she decided to wear it after the photo shoot!

Now that's what I call success - and I think it fits in with the attitude clothes she likes to wear, but yet decent enough for her mother!

And as for the paint .... if you're in a rush, like me - like because you forgot a deadline, for example .... dry the paint with your hair blower before you sew the pieces together!

Wrap skirt

 I totally agree - I could have ironed the skirt before putting it up on the blog.

Oh well, there's always a next time, right?

The Skirt Week Challenge ends tonight so I figured I better post the skirt today, and since it's already 9:50 pm here, I needed to get the pictures over with.

 I will post a tutorial for this skirt, after I make another one for the other twin - of course not looking exactly the same, since they don't like the same things ...

But let me tell you, this is a quick skirt to sew! And I really like the look of it.

Lucky with this one, I guess! I guess this skirt makes my fourth just this week! I'm on a roll. I do have a pattern for the dress to finish though and I have some other clothes "in my head" - waiting to be made. 

My girls are really getting bigger - they're 8 and they don't always like the nice, cute clothes. They want attitude.... And I want to make clothes that fit their personality, while still trying to teach them to dress appropriately. So I guess you'll be seeing a lot more of bigger girls clothes that are still decent around here in the future!

Do you have any thoughts on the topic? Please share!

Bubble skirt - trying to explain ...

I just love the whimsyness of the bubble skirt, my girls not so much. I had to remove the elastic at the bottom - then they really liked the skirt.

Sort of an explanation for a size 8:

Two rectangles: 70 cm x 37

     27,5 x 14,5 inch

Four rectangles: 35 cm x 20

   14 x 8 inch

Grab the biggest rectangles first. Sew the side seams. Fold over about 10 cm, 4 inch and sew three seams - leave an opening in the seam for the elastic. Add two rows of elastic.

Now take the four rectangles. Sew all the side seams into a circle.

Fold the skirt in four, side seam towards side seam and then fold one more time. Now you have the place for where to attach the four rectangles. You can see this in the above picture - the seams of the four pieces do not align with the seams of the skirt.

Add piping in between the skirt and the four rectangles as you attach them.

Make the hem wide enough for an elastic, leave an opening in the seam for adding the elastic. Make the elastic wide enough for walking - this is a crucial step - otherwise you might see some injuries!

This is the same skirt as two posts below - only a shorter version. You know what to do if you want the longer version ...

Enjoy the skirt, with or as in our case, without the elastic in the bottom!

Kids clothes Week - Day 7

 I did this skirt Sunday, I promise... A favorite dress that's too small, made into a skirt! I just cut off the top and attached an elastic, pulling on it as I sewed.

 And this picture just makes me so happy! Spring is finally here - this is my favorite spring flower - I picked this for my grandmother EVERY spring - several times every year. Today my daughter came with these for me! Happy mother.

 I made another carousel top - into a dress. I liked this fabric better than the pink one - sturdier, not so wobbly and all over the place.

 I put the "carousel" in the front - the conversations in our house go like this: How is Ariana wearing it? In the back? Okay, Then I want it in the front...

 My twins just do NOT want to wear the same clothes - and I've always urged them to dress differently, so I'm happy with this. Ariana (pink dress) is more girly girl - and Arielle is more "clean" and rocked!

 I made the bottom edged curved.

This pattern is a fantastic pattern. I cut the fabric Sunday (still counts as KCW, right?) and sewed it up today - in less than half an hour. I had already sewed it once - but it's so nice, goes together so quickly and I can alter it any way I want!! The fit is also very nice. My girls are 8 and I cut it in size 8!

I buy all my fabrics in Norway, so I don't think it's of much interest for most of my readers ...

Tomorrow is Labor Day in Norway -  a day off of work - can I hear a HURRAH!!!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 4

 I finished the other Malibu Romper from Lil Blue Boo. Arielle picked her own fabric after seeing her sister's dress. She is in looove! This is so her style ... Don't quite know what I'll say to her grown up style ...

 The red spots on her back ... bug bites. Her teacher even called me yesterday, telling me I needed to buy a cream. Talk about feeling like a neglecting mother!!! She has 48 bites!They itch.

My little 8-year old, trying to pose and look old ... using words like pathetic and metaphor - and knowing what they mean!

Just don't grow up too quick!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 3

Soooo ... this is how far I got yesterday on the second Lil blue Boo romper made dress. I cut the fabrics, sewed up the back, got started on the lining in front. And then there was no more thread on the bobbin, it was late and I messed up the winding of the bobbin, so I decided it was time to go to bed!

I will finish this today and I then I will start on my other patterns I have planned - they keep adding up, don't quite know which one I'll tackle today! But then that's the fun of it all, just jump on the pattern I feel like!

Happy sewing, ladies!

Kids Clothes Week - day 2

 Today I've made the Lil blue boo Malibu Romper into a dress - and let me tell you

THIS WILL BE MY NEW GO TO PATTERN! Five seams including the hem - way easy! It took me less than an hour to cut the fabric and sew it up!

I love how the back looks!

When the other twin saw it, she immediately went to the fabrics and found some fabrics for a dress for her - she originally wanted a romper pants, but changed her mind when she saw this!

That's what I call success!!!

Kid's Clothes Day 1

 i had planned on making Lil Blue Boo's romper today, but I didn't have any paper to print the paper on ... (I forwarded it to my job, shh, I'll print it there tomorrow - we are allowed to ... just saying)

I like to recycle ... when I have clothes that I don't want/fit anymore, and I like the fabric, I put it in my remodel pile ... this skirt used to be my tunic. The fit was never right for me ... used once or twice. But Princess A loved the fabrics used. She tried to pick it for another project, but we weren't able to use it for that.

So ... today I had one very happy girl - telling me, "mommy I can't use this skirt with long sleeves, you know..." "Oh, why not" "Mommy, you just don't know what's stylish ..."

Happy she's happy!

Pattern tester, pattern tester (singing)

 Don't you just looove a good pattern? I know I do, and especially the kind my girls love too. This pattern has it all!!!

Heidi from Elegance and Elephants has made a beautiful, beautiful pattern.

 1. The pattern is REALLY well written, with LOTS of pictures to explain every step!

2. It is so beautiful

 3. I love the design

4. The girls love the design

5. It has several options - like with or without the pockets!

 It is not a very difficult pattern to sew, but it shouldn't be your first sewing project.

6. It can be worn with or without tights - and because of this, be worn all year!

I really, really recommend this pattern - and I am soooo happy I got to be one of the testers. Princess (jeans version) used it to school the first day it was finished - and she felt so stylish!

I think Heidi is starting her sales of the pattern tomorrow - and she has a give-away going!

I have another pattern testing going on, so I should get back to the sewing machine!