KCW Day 5&6 : A Geranium dress for Olivia

This dress pattern is one of the most popular ones amongst sewing bloggers with girls. After my first attempt of the geranium dress, I can see why it's so loved. The options and variations are almost endless, the optional piping detail is absolutely beautiful and the deep pockets are perfect for a little collector to keep tiny treasures.

I was a bit nervous about the lack of "girly" details and my choice of color for little Miss O, but she gladly received it and loves it. In fact, she asked to wear it to church today which made my arty heart very happy!

KCW Day 4: Another harem romper for Owen

I just had to make another one of these! This one was even quicker to put together, it took a total of 30 minutes to sew. I didn't even bother to try and take pictures of Owen in it, I suspect my kids need a day's break from the mamarazzi! In any case i was out of crackers to use for bribing, so action shots were just not going to happen today.

I think this fabric print is a little more boyish than the one I used for the first romper, although I was quite surprised when Olivia asked if the romper was for her and seemed a bit disappointed when I told her it's for her brother. Maybe I'll make one for her before the end of KCW?

KCW Day 3: A hipster outfit for Owen

Day 3 and I'm still going strong! This is my record for KCW so far as in the past two challenges I participated in I only managed to complete two projects out of a planned six or seven. And this time my beautiful boy has been scoring some mama made clothes too, I think I'm slowly getting this "sewing for boys" business :-)

This hipster outfit was inspired by Pinterest. Can you shout PINSPIRATION! I usually prefer more classic, or a mix of classic and modern clothing for my kids, but I just fell in love with this look for little boys. Comfy tee and stretchy pants, perfect for running around to places you are not supposed to be and climbing on furniture.

The raglan style top is a free pattern by Naptime Creations and I used a silver permanent marker to draw the arrows. Yay for free patterns! And it really is a nap time creation sort of project, it took about 30minutes to complete. The pattern for the pants is from Brindille & Twigg, same pattern maker for the harem romper I made on day one of KCW. She designs Scandanavian inspired kids' patterns, again, really cute, practical and comfortable patterns for babies and kids.

This boy's hair is as wild as our weed infested garden! I do not know what to do with it. I've been toying around with the idea of cutting it, but my heart won't let me, it's just too cute, plus when he starts school one day he will not be able to keep it so I'm leaning more towards keeping the golden mess until then.

Speaking of cuteness, these squishy legs and this adorable face are so worth staying up till 2.a.m sewing!

KCW Day 2: Bohemian babydoll dress

This dress is my absolute favorite thing I have ever sewn for Olivia. The pattern is called Bohemian babydoll dress by Elegance & Elephants. It was a simple project for the most part with a few challenges here and there. I love, love, love it and will be making one more for her this summer.

I am enjoying this season of Kids Clothes Week so much. I think it has partly to do with the fact that I prepared for it far in advance. I assessed what clothing items my kids will need this summer, collected and printed the patterns and even cut out the pattern pieces for some of the items, ready to be sewn as soon as KCW arrived. It feels so good to plan something and follow it through and it feels even better to know that most of my kids' summer wardrobe consists of mama-made items! 

I asked her how she likes her new dress and her response was, "It's pretty, can I have some sweeties now because you took many pictures of me." Yes friends, that is how I get these pictures :-)

KCW Day 1: Harem Romper

Yay! It's finally here, my favorite time of every season…Kid's Clothes Week! You don't know what I'm talking about? Well this is the week where my sewing machine, computer and camera become my best friends. KCW is a seasonal sewing challenge where thousands of seamstresses and sewing bloggers from around the world commit to spending an hour each day sewing for children. I am guilty of spending way more than hour on some days, I have even gone to bed at 3 a.m. when I am too excited and inspired to complete some sewing projects. I love KCW for many reasons including the sense of community, the inspiration, the creativity and the contagious excitement! 

For Day 1, I made something for my dear boy. He hardly gets new clothes, sewn or bought so I am challenging myself to learn to sew for him. 

The harem romper by Brindille and Twig is a very easy and quick sew, I would say it is easy enough for a complete beginner. 

Hubby and I can't decide if this romper is a little girly? It might be because the sail boats printed on the fabric look like polka dots from far. I'll definitely sew another one for him using a more boyish print because it's such a comfortable outfit for a busy little boy.

Talking about busyness, Owen's latest obsession is writing…on anything and everything. It's almost like he walks around looking for pens and crayons and when he finds them he sure makes his mark.!

Sugar and Spice top

When Olivia saw this fabric she was delighted at the color and the print, pink and butterflies! I just knew I had to make her something out of it as soon as I could, especially because lately she has not been a big fan of Mama's choice of fabric. Why or why do they have to grow up?! (aaahhh sad face). I love making her clothes so it's an extra bonus that she loves this fabric, hopefully this means the top will get lots of wears! The fabric is so special because it was gifted to me by a dear friend who had bought it probably decades ago to sew for her daughters who are now probably my age. How special is that!

The pattern is the Sugar & Spice Dress & Top by Peek-a-boo pattern shop. It was fairly easy to sew, just a little time consuming for a slow sewer like me. I had to discipline myself and not binge sew, so I completed it over two nights. My machine broke down right as I finished the last stitch. Boooo!!! I've been having terrible frustrations with my sewing machines lately, but thank goodness one of them is fixed now and up and running again. Yay, just in time for Kids Clothes Week next week! If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this space.

Miss O is also wearing her first pair of jeans! Hahaha, this girl has had a thing against jeans since she was tiny. She refused to wear them no matter how much I tried negotiating and bribing. Her two reasons were, they look like boys' pants and they are not nice like leggings. This pair is really soft so she welcomed it and seems extra delighted to match with Mama :-)

The Sugar & Spice pattern has two variations. It can either be top or dress length and there is an option to leave out the flutter sleeves, but I absolutely adore flutter sleeves so I kept them! She probably won't like this style for too long since flutter sleeves have a "little girl" type of look, so I might as well use the opportunity while it lasts.

This little girl has been full of hilarious phrases and stories lately. She surprises us everyday! The latest is that she is married to a boy in her class and this morning while dressing her she said to me, "Mama, I'm still married to M" I asked when they got married and it turns out that this all started because she had a long white play skirt on a few days ago and I commented that she looked like she was getting married! Hahaha, so Mama planted the seeds!

She's also been loving the nae nae song, Mama's influence again :-) I started learning the dance moves so I could impress the youth group at church and she (and Owen) joined in! We just need to get Daddy on board now then we can post a video on Youtube. In these last few pictures she was dancing the nae nae :-) I love silly, crazy, funny family moments…memories to be treasured forever!

DIY Stenciling - Oh Deer!

About a year ago I came across DIY stenciling projects Pinterest. Today I decided to try it out and I think I've been bitten the stenciling bug! My husband had better hide all of his plain t-shirts because I might just run out of kids' stuff to go crazy on!

The tutorials I saw on Pinterest use freezer paper, but we don't have that in South Africa so I has to improvise. I printed my stencil design on normal printer paper then I used glue stick to attach it on a piece of  fusible interface. I then cut out my stencil shape and ironed the paper + interface onto the vest. I painted over it with fabric paint and then peeled it off. I'm probably not making much sense, but if you are interested in a more thorough and detailed tutorial, search for "diy freezer paper stencil" on Google and you'll get lots of step by step instructions.

My DIY freezer paper is not ideal, it was not easy peeling off the interface as it is meant to permanently stick in fabric once ironed on as a result some of the paint smudged a bit. I'll keep experimenting with more ideas until I find one that is ideal.

I'm pretty chuffed with my first project. A vest for little Mr. O :-)

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Olivia: Your first face paint experience.

Owen: Crazy hair and baby belly!

KCW Day 2: Traveling to Swaziland

I love how the simplicity of this skirt shows off the beautiful Swaziland print on the fabric. One of Olivia's favorite aunties travelled to the great kingdom of Swaziland during the December holiday last year and brought this fabric back as a gift for me. The skirt was super simple and quick to make, an awesome project for a beginner sewer. I'll definitely be making more of these for my dress/skirt loving girl.

KCW Day 1 and 2: Traveling to Zanzibar

It's Kids Clothes Week again! This is a seasonal challenge where sewing mamas, grannies, aunties, maybe even daddies from all around the world dedicate one hour a day to sewing kids' clothes. I participated for the first time last season and I loved it! I love the excitement, inspiration, creativity and sense of community that KCW brings.

This season's theme is traveling. It's so interesting to see how everyone is interpreting the theme. From airplane appliqués to map printed fabric, it's all lovely! I will be using fabrics from different parts of Africa to make a few items for Olivia, little Owen might score something too this time.

For day 1 and 2 ( more like night 1 and 2!), I made a flutter sleeve top and shorts. The fabric I used for the top was bought in Zanzibar, five years ago, on our honeymoon. Back then I didn't sew, but it was a bargain at R7 (then $2) for over two metros of fabric. Little did I know that one day a special little girl would be happily running around in a garment made from it. Life is beautiful!