Each Other's Company

For some reason we have been having such amazing weather lately. I am in no way complaining! I am a summer person all the way. It's actually the only season I enjoy, so having a day in January, in Colorado, that was almost 70 degrees was more than welcome in my life! Beauty Bug and I decided to take this day and just have fun. We had to take one of my nieces to an appointment (side-note it took FOREVER) so we just got out of the car and played. It was so nice to do that again! Today's outfits aren't really anything special. These pictures are really just of us having fun together and enjoying each other's company. :)

Red, White, and Blue

This Sunday that just past was Youth Sunday at my church. The youth chose the colors red, white, and blue to wear. Since, I am the Youth Leader at my church, you know Beauty Bug and I just had to participate! The problem that I have with red, white, and blue is that it's VERY easy to look "4th of July" in these colors. This is something I wanted to completely avoid, and I think I did just that. :) For Beauty Bug and myself, I went for thin blue and white striped dresses with red cardigans. I self drafted my cardigan and the next time I make it, I will make sure and increase the width on the front. It was wearable, but far from perfect. I used a  red ponte de roma, which was very thick. Sadly I don't remember the type of fabric that I made my daughter and my dresses from. It was super, super thin and see through, so I had to line them with a navy blue light weight stretch fabric. I had to make sure the saints weren't exposed to what was going on under those dresses. LOL!! I made a navy blue belt for myself. It's just some fabric wrapped around some elastic. I also made a striped bow to go on my daughter's dress. My daughter's dress was also self drafted. I literally just traced a shirt and elongated it to make her dress. For my sister's skirt, I made her a high low gathered skirt with an elastic waistband. I've made so many gathered maxi skirts that I feel like I can do them in my sleep. lol Now let me tell you, when I first saw it finished I HATED it! I mean I couldn't stand it! But seeing how my sister styled it, made me fall in love. 

Now onto what we all really came here for: Pictures!!!! :)

Floral Leggings and Peplum Pencil Skirts

Since it's a cold and snowy day today, I figured I'd liven things up. Well...in my own mind at least. I am in no way a "winter lover". If I could have my way, I'd live in a place where it's between 80-90 degrees year round. I like it hot, but my husband and children wouldn't probably make it in a place like that. lol In the summer of 2014 I found some beautiful denim look floral knit fabric and Joanns Fabric and Crafts. I knew right away that I wanted to make some leggings with them for Beauty Bug and myself. The fabric was 2 way stretch and had a soft feel. Some knit fabrics can feel at little scratchy at times. 

It wasn't until after the leggings were made that I had the idea to make the peplum pencil skirts from the same fabric. Now, initially I was totally against all things peplum, but after making these pencil skirts I am hooked! Now I'm making everything with a peplum attached, I really need to exercise some self control. lol These pictures aren't the greatest. Some of them are out of focus and quite grainy, but because these pictures made me smile today as I was going through my phone, I decided to share them with you anyway. It's always nice to have something to smile about; something that warms you up, on a cold winter day. :)   

 

Orange and Black Animal Print High Waist Maxi Skirts

When I saw this fabric, I knew it had to be a high waist maxi skirt. Something about this fabric just screamed that from the bolt. It's a rayon challis and these maxis are gathered and have an elastic waist band with sashes made form the same material as the skirt. I made this when I was still afraid of zippers, buttons, and all closures in general. I still will make a maxi with an elastic waistband when I am short on time, or short on patience. Beauty Bug was not the happiest while taking these pictures with me. Lol

But it wasn't anything that an ice cream sandwich couldn't fix. Lol Thank the Lord for our youth department at church, They swooped in and saved the day for us. :)

Tan and Black Large Print Houndstooth Tops

You will quickly come to know that I am in LOVE with houndstooth and leopard print. I feel like it's become quite the little obsession since I've began sewing. it's even rubbing off on Beauty Bug. She'll notice those prints when we're in the store rather quickly. So when I found this tan and black houndstooth fabric at Hobby Lobby, I knew we had to have it. we had to have all of it. If my husband only knew...Hahaha! I decided to make a sleeveless sweater mini dress for Beauty Bug, and an off the shoulder double peplum top for myself.

Beauty Bug's sweater dress was quite easy to draft. I literally took a shirt from her dresser and traced it onto the fabric. I made sure to trace it about an inch bigger for seam allowance. Some people do less than that, especially on knit fabric, but I chose an inch because it's much easier to take a garment in, than to let it out. I added a couple inches to the length of the shirt to make the sweater mini dress, and I also added a bow and band on the front of the dress for a decorative element.

 I used Simplicity pattern 1613 for the top, and I self drafted the double peplum on this shirt. For those who need a little hep in that arena, Mimi G Style has an awesome tutorial on how to make this exact top. I didn't actually use her tutorial, because I am now in a place where I can make a top like this on my own, but her tutorials are so AWESOME!! They are very easy to follow, and on a lot of them she teaches you how to make your own patterns so you can make items time and time again. The black straps on my shirt are not a part of the top. It's a black tank top that I wore to keep my bra straps from being so obvious.

I do have more plans for this fabric because I have more left over. I'm sure it'll make another appearance on the blog. :)

Summer Strapless Jumpsuit

Good morning! So on this lovely Tuesday evening, I would like to feature Beauty Bug herself. I made this strapless jumpsuit for her in the summer of 2014. I was drawn to this fabric for her because it's a knit fabric with a crazy print. It's very busy, and Beauty Bug worked it. Lol The jumpsuit was self drafted; no pattern was used. I usually tend to self draft her outfits. I've only recently began purchasing patterns for her. These pictures really capture her personality. This crazy print was perfect for her because it matches her personality to well. She's a ham who loves the camera. Lol I plan on making a pencil skirt for myself from this fabric. If I do make it, I will make sure and post it to the blog. Oh, and I promise you, she did all of these poses on her own. :)

Leopard Print and Denim

Hello and welcome to our blog! My first post is going to be a "getting to know you" segment. My name is Evanny and I am a mother of 2 wonderful children, and the wife of a great man, and I love to sew. I created this blog mainly to keep track of the things that I have sewn for myself and my daughter. I haven't been sewing long, in fact I'm only in my 2nd year of sewing. I have a lot to learn, so I am always seeking out new techniques and styles to try. This blog will not only feature my triumphs, but my failures; because without failure there's no room for improvement. I refer to my daughter as "Beauty Bug" and named my blog after her. I love dressing us alike. I might as well do it, before she becomes even more opinionated than she is now. Haha! Beauty Bug is 2 years old and she already has an eye for fashion. She usually knows what she wants to wear, and she demands that I make it for her. LOL She likes to choose the fabric for our outfits, and ask me repeatedly "is that mine?" while I sew for us. Lets dive right in, here's today's Mommy and Me outfit post and details:

 My top was made from a pattern by the Mccall's pattern company. The pattern number is M6754 and I found it to be very easy. Although the pattern has a peplum, I decided not to add that addition because I really only wanted to make the top for the princess seams.  Beauty Bug's top was self drafted by me, and her top is sleeveless because she has a denim jacket, which was purchased and not made by me. 

My skirt is also a Mccall's pattern M6745. This is a dress pattern, but I only used the skirt portion, Now this skirt sent me to a place! Construction-wise it was absolutely fine, and I have used it again since making this skirt. But this was at a time when I was afraid of zippers (I still am a little bit). Installing that zipper was a task of it's own. I had to have looked at a good 75 tutorials on YouTube and read 58 blogs about installing zippers before I did it. When everything was said and done, I had installed the zipper several times (I lost count) and the final zipper is pink because I broke the one that matched the skirt. Beauty Bug's skirt is just a regular circle skirt with an elastic waistband, which seems to be her favorite type of skirt. Whenever She wears one, she loves to twirl around and watch the skirt flow. 

I really hope that you'll stick around and see where this blog goes. This is my first time blogging and it shows for sure! LOL! I'll get into the groove of my blogging style and it is my hope that you will stay with me as I develop, not only in blogging, but in sewing as well. :)