(like the rod stewart song)
i'm a millennial living in the bay area who loves dark beer, the environment, and sewing for the tiny humans in my life. more
All tagged nora
so you want to know the best part about planning a wedding? everyone wants to help!
early on in our engagement my nieces indicated a strong desire to contribute to the wedding. my mom came up with an idea: have them make pot holders as favors for the guests.
my brother-in-law scott, also known as nora and etta's dad, is a big time hunter and fisher. so when I saw the cotton + steel mustang line, with it's animal and arrow prints, I knew it would be perfect for his daughters.
when I was in portland this past weekend nora and etta put on their new bee mine dresses and we went for a walk around the block.
i'm up in portlandia for a few days to see my favorite kindergartner and second grader. today we had a pretty awesome walk to school.
if i had one regret about my 2015 sewing it's that I didn't make enough for my older nieces nora and etta. at 5 and 7 they are a tad pickier than 3 year old maya and baby neela.)so I promised myself the first project of 2016 would be for them.
when oliver + s announced their pattern mash up challenge I knew I had to try it. so over the next few weeks of commuting i developed a vision came together that combined four different oliver + s patterns.
these skirts satisfy two of my sewing resolutions: busting my stash and sewing more patterns.
i was doing what i always do when planning a project: sitting cross legged on the floor, patterns on my right, stash on my left, a mason of a triple rock porter in front of me pulling together various combinations and seeing what might work. when i came across this pairing of a lightweight cobalt eyelet and the sunday brunch pattern from oliver + s i paused:
remember that awesome fabric combo i came up with for maya's second playdate dress? well i had a fair amount of fabric left over and i was at a loss for what to make with it.
then i remembered the book report dresses i had made a year earlier. maybe the cut of the pattern that worked so well with the busy and bold ikat would also work with the tessellation print.
each time I think I've blogged all my past projects another one surfaces. here is another one i found.
i was so smitten with the library dress pattern from oliver + s after making it first as instructed for maya, then with a zipper modification for nora and etta's back to school outfits that it wasn't long before i made two more for nora and etta, this time from a simple purple polka dot cotton.
one snowy day back in cambridge I bundled up and headed to gather here. on the store dress form was a darling rendition of the book report dress by oliver + s. inspired i started looking for a fabric for my own version. i came across this ikat print and knew it would be perfect.
as previously mentioned nora and etta are quite girly. i, however, am not. so finding fabric that appeases them yet i can stand is often a challenge.
when i came across this rose and coral abstract print at gather here a few years back i knew immediately they would love it and bought a few yards.
last summer while in jackson hole for a friend's wedding i visited a local fabric store and picked up materials to make victor a flannel shirt, the scraps of which became the lil' man flannel.
at the same time i came across some pretty awesome snowflake flannel. so i got a few yards with every intention of making holiday pj pants for the girls. however a month before the holidays my sister abby informed me that her girls (nora and etta) didn't like to wear pants to bed, preferring nightgowns.
so like any good liberal arts graduate i had some iced coffee and came up with a plan b.
a few years ago when i was just discovering the glory that is oliver + s patterns i went to visit vic's family in pennsylvania for the weekend. now i've already talked about how i find hand sewing to be a great way to bring your sewing when you travel. but another thing is pattern tracing.
when done right pattern tracing is time consuming, especially if the pattern has a lot of pieces. add into that doing the same pattern for multiple sizes and you're looking at hours and hours of work. fun work, but work. so i brought along the croquet dress pattern and traced both versions for all three girls that weekend. not a small task.
my third oliver + s style was the music box jumper, making all three girls grey polka dot versions for thanksgivng.
the fabric is a quilting cotton from gather here. at the time I didn't know it was quilt backing (and thus 120 inches wide, more than double what normal fabric is) so i had a lot of it!
i probably should have started with this style, it's simple (a one scissor pattern) but most importantly, easy to get good results with, which is essential for beginners.
i would also recommend using snaps for this dress if you are just starting out. button holes are really tricky (i was never able to get the hang of them on my old machine). however i found snaps to be a great alternative during my first year of sewing.
when vic and I did long distance for 819 days (but who counted) one of the few things i didn't like about visiting him in california was that i couldn't bring my sewing with me. then i discovered you could do entire projects by hand. game changer.
one of the early hand sewing projects i did was birthday bunting for the girls. when i referred to them as bunting vic was incredious, insisting they couldn't be as that was something baseball players did. #allboysfamily
nora and etta are active little girls. very active little girls. but they are also quite girly and like to wear dresses and skirts.
so a few years back i decided the badminton skort from oliver + s would be the perfect style for them and with some polka dot cotton i picked up on sale from gather here i gave it a try.
for the past two months all but one of my blog posts have been about old projects. (i guess is the blog version of stash busting?)
while I still have a fair amount of posts lined up i wanted to end the month by sharing more recent pictures. some updates of things you've seen before and some previews of projects i've been working on.
