Sister Tuck Dresses

I have a love affair with tucks and pleats and box pleats. I just love the small details of them. I have made Collar's Tuck dress for Sydney a couple of times and every time I love it so much. I haven't found the right fabric for it for about 2 years now. But after seeing Creations by Michie's Apron Dress had a tuck version I knew I had to make the girl's matching dresses.

This delicate lawn has been in my stash for a couple of years now. It is so thin and airy I want a gown out of it, but alas, I only had two and a half yards of it. So, I had just enough for matching tuck dresses for the girls.

Sage's dress is a newborn size. She is almost two months old now and I am hoping to get their pictures made in them on Saturday. I know I could have made a larger size, but I wanted her dress to fit her.

Sydney's dress is a size 8 and she has plenty of room. She should be able to wear hers all summer long. I made hers sleeveless for those hot Florida days to come. Sydney is already so tan she should be beautiful in this white.

Here is a picture of Miss Sleepyhead this morning. She is only awake for about an hour a day, so I have to really be ready with the camera if I want to see those pretty blue eyes.

Easter Thoughts

This year Easter sewing is sneaking up on me. Probably because I am having such a wonderful time squeezing on baby legs and talking to my sweet new addition. I am smitten, I must admit. I forgot just how wonderful every day is when I see her discover something new or just stroke her soft head and play with her hands.
Sydney has spring break this week so I have a helper when I want to do something. That helps alot! She is really a wonderful little helper. We are going thru magazines and machine appliques and thinking of spring things for her and I am constantly trying to coordinate in my head something for the baby. I am in heaven!
So, today I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things I have made for Sydney for Easter.

This was the last year I was requested to make a matching dresses for all her babies. It was a pink swiss dot that I made Sydney Collar's yoke dress and her babies all had matching yoke dresses. We were a huge hit at church with all her babies.

Sydney loves Beatrix Potter's Jemima Puddleduck. I think I have read that story to her a hundred times and every time she laughs and giggles the whole way through it. So when I found this cute smocking plate I knew I had to make it. This was the same year as the pink dresses. The pattern is Children's Corner Mary De out of orange chambray.

Here is the cute Mommy with all her babies following her.

This next one is a redrafted Children's Corner Lucy. I still have some of this fabric and I think it would make a cute bubble. Mmmmm! Maybe this year...

When we lived in Williamsburg, Easter was usually about the time a cold front would appear out of the blue. So I made it a habit of making a coat for Sydney when thinking of her dress I would also pick out some corduroy for a matching coat. It was wonderful to have a beautiful set.

This one was soo many roses that I don't know what I was thinking. The dress was a yoke dress and the coat was from Children's Corner. I also made the matching bonnet.


Here is another coat and dress combination. This time the Fabric Finders floral and the lavendar corduroy all came from Bessie Mary.

I used Children's Corner Mindy for Sydney's dress.

I surprised Sydney with her babies in their dresses Easter morning.

And last but not least is this Mary De. These floppy bunnies all looked a little different, but I figured in real life they do too.

Okay, off to the sewing room to figure out this year's matching girl's dresses. The countdown is on! I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my past Easter creations!

Pretty in Pink

Another day another sleepy baby in a beautiful daygown. I love this! Today we ran some errands and had lots of ooooh's and aaaaah's over how sweet she looked in pink. Everyone told me that she looked like a little doll dressed so sweetly. I felt so proud that I was able to sew for my girls. I always feel sorry for those babies in just a onsie out and about with their parents. Who wouldn't want to dress their little angel like this?
I think I have found Sage's color. She is so pale that pastels look so sweet on her and with the pink in her skin tone it really does look good on her. But I am bias, I believe.
She wore herself out so after a late lunch she sacked out on me before I could prop her up and pretty up the bassinet. So this is the only picture I got of her today.

This is one of my favorite Old Fashioned Baby patterns. It's called Sweet and Simple daygowns and it is anything but simple, but she has it right with sweet. It has these wonderful pleats under the arms and on either side of the front. The other day, Sage wore one it green. I think I need to go see what colors of lawn or batiste I have so I can whip up another one. Here is a picture of it when I first made it.

My little angel

As I finish up some pretty Spring dresses for my girls I had my little angel in white. I made this cute Old Fashioned Baby daygown and love how it looks on her. I see more white dresses in her future. I love the simplicity of this little dress and the delicate tatting on the sleeves and neck. The sleeves are a bit long on her little arms, but I am sure in the coming months she will grow into them nicely. Here is a picture of the dress when I made it.

And here is my angel wearing it. I agree, that these daygowns are much cuter on a little one. What isn't cute with that sweet round bald head!

Sage has finally figured out that the paci really does make it all better. I didn't do a pacifier with Sydney and instead walked many nights rocking her back and forth in my arms. Until she discovered her two fingers that stayed in her mouth for years it seems. So this time I gave in and decided that I would give it a try. It really does soothe her while she is trying to sleep. So much better on Mommy and sleeping too!

Another day another daygown modeled

Yes, I am having just way too much fun playing dress up with my new baby girl. I love being able to dress her now. It makes those months of making daygowns and imagining her in them so satisfying.
Today, while I sit and sew her a new baby dress, she is happy sleeping and showing off this beautiful daygown. It is Old Fashioned Baby's Sweet and Simple daygown.

Today I plan on finishing up Sage's dress and working on Sydney's. I am very pleased with them so far. I think Sage's needs a diaper cover so I will riffle through my patterns and try and find one that has bloomers for newborns. I am sure I have one somewhere. Any suggestions?

Naptime in a daygown

This morning after bathing my two girls I put my new baby girl in one of the daygowns I made her. Well, this one to be exact.
Although it was a little large, I loved it! I think with this wonderful warm weather my baby will be in daygowns every day so look for some modeling shots!

Baby Bubble and a new project

My days are a mixture of feeding Sage and changing diapers. I love every minute of it. I love smelling that sweet head and giving soft kisses to her neck. I forgot just how precious and these days are and just how fast they go by. I am trying to savor each and every second of these lazy days with her when she just eats and sleeps.
Here is a little project I finished up right before I went to the hospital. It is a Children's Corner Jaime Bubble in a 3 month size. I love little ones in bubbles. It makes stuffing them in the carseat so much easier. Nothing upsets me more than a wrinkled up baby in a beautiful dress. So I can see lots of baby legs out and free in this little ones future.

This adorable pima cotton has been in my stash for a couple of years. I love the pale shade of blue and will look really pretty on Sage when she finally holds those baby blues open for longer than ten minutes a day. I asked Sydney if she wanted something to match and she looked at me and said, "I am not a baby, Mommy! That's a baby fabric." I was thinking the same thing, but just thought I would ask. Which is why it has remained in my stash for so many years. I have lots of baby fabrics that I am so glad to be able to use up now.
This morning I happen to catch her eyes open after she ate her late breakfast. I quickly grabbed my phone and snapped this picture. Those dark blue eyes are really pretty and I sure hope they stay that way. They are the same shade as my grandmothers. I remember staying at her house and looking at her pretty face and wishing I had those pretty blue eyes. It makes me wish she were here to see all the things I have made for my girls. She passed before I had either of my girls and is the one who taught me to sew.

This is how I most of the time see her. She is in her carseat and ready for our morning workout. We have been walking the neighborhood and loving the Florida warm weather.

Here is my latest sewing project. I am thinking some spring dresses for my girls. I love this sweet floral lawn. Hopefully, I can work on this today a little bit.

I am thinking Spring today!

I know here in Florida that we really haven't had much of the winter weather, but with this wonderful spring weather we are having right now I am in the Spring sewing mood. I have been pulling out pretty florals in my stash since yesterday and I have quite a few lawns and piques that need to be baby dresses and bubbles for Sage and sweet sundresses for Sydney.

So, to start off my spring sewing I thought I would show you some of my favorite spring dresses from the past.
This first one is just a very simple smocked front peasant dress. With just a touch of smocking this dress was a huge hit everywhere we went that summer.

This dress is still one of my favorite things I have ever made for Sydney. It is an AS&E pattern and I love the effect of the trellis stitch worked on the backside of the floral fabric. And the ruffles just made it so girly. I had Sydney's picture taken wearing this dress and I can look at her sweet face wearing this dress every day when I walk down the hall.

These cute seersucker dresses were made for a customer of mine. What child doesn't like ice cream cones? So these were a huge hit with them all spring and summer time long.


This adorable little set will be a staple in my house for the next couple of years. I can make this set without even looking at the directions I have made so many of them. Also, in about an hour and a half I have a complete outfit that uses up hardly any fabric at all. Here are two of them.


And since April showers bring May flowers then a sunbonnet Sue set is always festive for little girls. I love making an aline jumper and then a matching blouse with it. Just makes such a pulled together look.

And lastly, here is the same dress pattern but this time I shortened it to top length and added a ruffle. Made some capri's and here is a preppy little set.

Okay, now off to my sewing room to cut something out. I feel very inspired and I hope I have inspired you to start some spring sewing.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love love love Valentine's Day. I think the cupids and little hearts just bring smiles to my face. Sydney has been cutting out hearts on little squares of paper for days now.


Today she had her Valentine's Day party at school. She was very excited addressing just the right Valentine's cards yesterday. It was very cute.
Since I have a newborn, I did not make her a dress like I normally do for Valentine's Day. This year I let her pick out a machine embroidery heart for me to put on a ready made dress from Montag. Add some red leggings and we have a fun casual Valentine's Day outfit. She was pleased and loved the shade of blue with the red.

For some reason, she refused to smile showing her teeth this mornings. Oh, the joys of having a 7 year old. It could have been her baby sister crying the background was just too much to spark a smile.

So, what are your plans for this wonderful Valentine's Day? I plan on giving lots of hugs and kisses to my family and maybe cut out some construction paper hearts and decorate the dinner table tonight.

Father/Daughter dance

Last Saturday was Sydney's first Father/Daughter dance. I think Chad was way more excited about it than Sydney was. It was loud and dark in the cafeteria and Sydney doesn't like either of those things. She was ready to go after about 30 minutes. But here is her dress. I chose a satin batiste in cornflower blue. The pattern is from AS&E. It is called Garden Party. I added half and inch to the back just to give her more room when giving Daddy big hugs on the dance floor. She said she felt like a princess wearing it. The bow in her hair is a 3 inch double satin ribbon in cornflower blue also. Both from Farmhouse Fabrics. 

I did a very simple 5 step trellis for the smocking and used sapphire seed beads. Loved the simplicity of it.

Chad ended up having a tie that perfectly matched her. They were just cute as can be going out on their "date".

At the dance they had another proud father take this picture. I wished I could have gone and just snapped pictures of them.

But, I had better things to do...I had to smell my sweet baby's head and give soft kisses to her forehead. I was in heaven.

Baby Sage is here

Well, Tuesday morning at 8:03 am baby Sage Piper was born. She is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Well, other than Sydney, of course! She weighed in at 7 pounds even and was 19 inches long. Tiny and sweet!Here is Sydey showing her off. She is one very proud big sister.

Coming home outfit ended up being the white swiss flannel gown by Grace Knott. The weather was a little cool and she was just swimming in anything else I brought.

Here we are leaving the hospital room.

She is the best baby. She eats and sleeps so well. I have gotten more sleep in the past couple of days than I did the last month I was pregnant with her. She has to be awakened just to eat. Four hour stretches are not uncommon. We feel so blessed and are really enjoying all of us home and just cuddling with the newest sweetness in the world. Life is indeed good!

I need to recover so I can go make something sweet and little bitty for her to wear. I am thinking either another Grace Knott gown or maybe a very tiny bishop.
I have been asked if she looks like Sydney, and she does. She has the same cute button nose and lips. Her coloring looks paler than Sydney and her hair is much lighter. It will be fun to see if it changes. Her eyes are very pale too.
Have a great day. I will be spending the next couple of weeks just smelling that sweet round head and playing with cute baby toes.

Baby Bubble Buggy

I love these little diaper shirts and cover. The pattern is Creations by Michie's Diaper shirt and Cover. It is a wonderful way to do a little shadow work on a sweet baby outfit. This one is a size 3 months. I made it out of scraps of white and pink broadcloth. Talk about easy laundry! No ironing needed. The bias binding is a floral lawn.

My one wheel looks a little wonky. But for some reason, I sort of like the imperfection of it so I didn't go back and and redo it. Would you have?


I am getting down to the wire here. I have 7 days left before I check into the hospital. I have two more things I have to get done. One for the baby and one for Sydney. I sure hope this baby doesn't decide any surprises and wants to make an appearance early or I am in big trouble.
Okay, back to smocking!