Prelude to Dolmania

Another bundle of my wares has arrived at Monkey and Bo and I included this Summer Forest tee for her daughter.  I've been told that she did a little dance of appreciation which must be the highest praise possible.

So........... Is everyone ready for the Dolmaniac Sewalong? I'll post the details tomorrow!

The Green Flag Dress

Maia's nursery has just been awarded 'Green Flag' Status, which for the unfamiliar (ie everyone) is a credential for awareness / education / implementation of eco matters within schools and nurseries.  It's actually a pretty big deal and quite hard to get so there was a party today to celebrate.  The brief: wear green.  When the brief was delivered: yesterday.

It was just as well for me that sleeveless skater dresses are even faster to sew than the those with sleeves, and I made it last night. Between the hours of midnight and 1AM.

Obviously, she had many other green things to wear but she claimed this fabric for a dress as soon as it arrived.  She already has two long sleeve skater dresses and three short sleeve ones so with our trip to  Summerworld (ie the States) coming ever-nearer it was time for some proper warm weather attire.

And god bless you, Green Flag, for forcing Elsie wear her skirt.

The New Specs Challenge

I can't quite believe that she's been wearing glasses for a full year now.  Which means a whole new set of specs!  The good news is that her prescription hasn't changed so we can use the old ones as a (much needed) back up pair and don't have to shell out to re-lens her sunglasses.

She tried on dozens at the opticians, but I'm very happy that she settled on this slightly cat-eye red pair. As fetching as the zebra prints were, the red has more mileage.  See how it matches her red winter coat? The winter coat that she is wearing on the last few days of May?

The first day of new glasses fortuitously fell in the first week of the photography e-course I'm doing through Capturing Childhood.  We're working on our lighting nous, and I actually took most of these shots in manual mode and I didn't even need to edit the sh*t out of them.

We are in unchartered waters, folks.

The Super BFF Skirt

Yes, that's Jamie at the centre back. Not sure what's going on there but he needs to work on his photo-bombing.

It is a beautiful thing to behold the pure friendship and deep attachment small people form with their friends.  These girls have been the best of pals for several years now.  When not sharing their mutual enthusiasm for all things 'girly', they can often be found walking hand and hand bickering over who loves the other one more.

Almost exactly one year older and almost a full head taller, Maia is very protective of her wee pal.  Her nursery teacher told me this morning that Maia voluntary abstained from a game of musical bumps yesterday in an act of solidarity after Elsie was eliminated. If that's not love I don't know what love is.

It was her birthday over the weekend so I needed to rustle up a gift. Some interesting facts about the birthday girl: She speaks in a South African accent despite living in Edinburgh with two Scottish parents. And she has worn trousers exactly once in the past two years. If it isn't a skirt or a dress, she's not interested.   To be honest, I'm not sure if this skirt will pass muster either as it is distinctly shorter than Amish length. 

In less than two months, Maia will be starting school and the dynamics of their friendship will invariably change.

Hands up if you think they'll still be BFFs.

Princess and the Frogs

 

Because Wiki decrees it and ergo it must be true, there are several collective nouns for a group of frogs- a colony (too boring), an army (unlikely), a knot (incongruous), a bundle (no thank you) and a froggery (redundant). Oh, and a fester of frogs. You win, fester, for your apocalyptic  imagery.

A customer recently sent this lovely bubblegum pink fabric with lime green frogs for me to fashion into a party frock for her daughter.  I found a perfect two-tone pink speckled fabric in my stash for the lining and away we went.

The cut I was sent was a lot more than the pattern required so I made the skirt super gathered (almost 100 inches around!) with a deeper double-folded hem for extra body.

Sew Mama Sew Knit Fabric Giveaway

Apologies for the radio silence in these parts, it turns out at least 75% of the world's population wants a Rainbow Party Frock. It is a full time job just answering emails about them.  To reward everyone for their patience, however, how about a little giveaway?  Every single year without fail I miss the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day, it's a good thing they extended it to giveaway week this year.

Since the last time I had a fabric giveaway, I've probably doubled my shop stash so there's a lot more lovely prints to choose from.  Including three new ones that arrived only yesterday!

Hello, delightful Summer Forest with your birds, foxes, deer and rabbits with trees, flowers, bushes and hills.  I think I love you.

And look, two coordinating plain jerseys in lime green and red.  A perfect colour match with Summer Forest....

But also Little Red! The red has a slightly orangey tone so it's not a perfect colour match with prints that are overwhelmingly cherry red  but it would be a fabulous contrasting red for heaps of colours and prints.  The lime green is a perfect colour match not only with Summer Forest and Little Red Riding Hood, but also with Green Astronauts, Lime green and blue stars velour, and Rainbow Happy mushrooms!

Because I'd like to be able to include everyone in the giveaway and in light of the recent Royal Mail postage increase from  ridiculous to scandalous, the giveaway is for half a metre of the fabric of your choice.  To celebrate the Scottish Week That Is Summer  (which started on Monday and will last a few days yet!), to enter just leave me a comment telling me what you're looking forward to the most this summer.  Of if you are of the ornery-persuasion, what you're looking forward to the least.  The giveaway will be open until 25 May 5pm PST, and the winner will be choosen randomly.

*******************Giveaway is closed!************************

 Congrats to Melissa Palmer, and thanks for all the comments!

Rainbows, big and little

Of all the things I've ever made, I get asked to remake the Rainbow Party Frock the most. 

This week I made a little size 2T and a big size 6Y, for girls more than 6000 miles apart.

It makes me happy to think of two girls wearing the same dress on opposite sides of the globe.