Yeah so this is proving to be much harder than I assumed it would be with my life. I JUST WANT SCHOOL TO BE OVER. I am really tired of the pick up/drop off thing. My kids are dying to just sleep in and play! I got a few orders this week I needed to fill so yesterdays blog dress didn't happen, an order did. Today I am going to work on a few more of those great skirts with the pockets. They are very similar to the "market skirt" on the MADE blog but I mostly just borrowed her pocket idea and the great white contrast and put them on my twirl skirts. I love fellow bloggers.

We leave tomorrow for Minnesota. It will be my daughters first mini-duathlon and my first elite race. Spending a week in a walking cast may or may not have helped. I will definitely be rested but I am SO ready to run again. Any of you out there who are self-medicated like myself with adrenaline and endorphins can understand where I am coming from. So anyway, my next few days will be full of running, riding, great friends, the American Girl Store in the "mall" and the shark exhibit too. Talk to you again soon. Think fast thoughts for me. God Bless...HJF

Day 12...Sadies Skirt

So I got the tutorial for these great pockets on another blog called Made and thought they were just rockin! Added them to the idea of incorporating white and a twirl skirt and I just love it. This one is going to little Sadie for her 3rd birthday, hope it fits, it is so teeny tiny.

Day 11 "That machine is so loud!"

NO blog yesterday, my hottie husband said that my machine is too loud (and my zig zag isn't working) and he really just wanted to watch a movie. Working on a new idea from a fellow blogger who is just great called dana-made-it today!

Day 10

Ok, here is dress # 10. It is made out of a Riley Blake fabric called summersong. I love the colors and am really adamant about lines lining up in the back with these stripes. It bothers me when they don't. So, these fabrics (and the plain jane flowers) challenge my brain a bit and I love that! I sold the plain jane one today so I am down one dress for my 30 challenge AND, my race in MN is coming up soon, better get a move on huh?

It is pouring down rain/snow here so tomorrow will be a great day to do projects. I have been scouring the blog "Made" and found a great market skirt with pockets that I want to try. Tomorrow it is!

Day 9 one behind

This is the dress that I ran out of elastic on, but finished today. My sister in law came over tonight to take pictures that I cannot wait to post. She is way more talented than she knows and has an incredible eye for photos. My daughter was the modeling superstar that she always is and we took advantage of the beautiful evening light, Montana mountains, great fence lines and sweet farm equipment both new and old. In case she has them up before me, check out www.aliciafryphotography.blogspot.com

I got a few orders today so I am going to spend my "office hours" tonight cutting out fabric and preparing for tomorrow. I am officially in a walking cast now which is making for quite a bit of unwanted extra time but hey, it is all in Gods plan for me and I am thankful that I lead the life that I do.

Until tomorrow, sweet dreams and God Bless.

Day 8 dress to skirt

Ok, so I ran out of elastic and it got way too late last night to post, but I did do this little project yesterday I thought I would share.

My daughter has this dress that is her "favorite" along with all the rest of them. Well she stained it horribly at school but it had a great lining and she supposedly loved it so, I turned it into a skirt. Super easy with a seam ripper and some elastic...hence the fact I was out of elastic for a dress that will sell. Plus, I now have an extra hook and eye closure, 3 cute buttons and a zipper out of the project.

So, this dress had a zipper. I took it out, then lined up the fabrics and continued the seam that had ended at the zipper. Tada, no zipper.




Just remember to leave the taking in that held to lining onto the dress otherwise you might want to safety pin or pin them together so that they stay even


Then I cut of the dress as high as I could which in this case was right below the stain.


Then I turned down a quarter of an inch and then another 1 inch to allow for a casing. I sewed as close to the edge as I could but left about an inch in order to get the elastic threaded through the casing. I threaded 19" of 1/2" elastic through the new waist, sewed the ends to make a full circle with the elastic and then sewed back on the outside to finish the casing.



The bottom seam was already done so now she had a skirt with a lining in less than an hour!

Day 7

So I didn't get this up last night but I did get it finished...so cute. Love the twirl skirts, don't love how long they take but they are so much fun. This one is anywhere from a size 2-4ish depending on little girl size. I started the evening off sewing the ruffle on upside down and then had to rip out 100 inches of seam to redo! Yikes. Luckily for me I had a few extra dvd episodes of the real housewives of new jersey to watch while I sew. Don't tell anyone that my husband is secretly entertained by that smut too. Either that or he just wants to keep me company and tolerates whatever is on the screen.

Day 7 Vintage Pillowcase

I am not going to lie, I made this dress with my daughter in mind not to sell. I found this vintage baby blue pillowcase on ebay and just fell in love with the embroidery on the bottom plus it matches her eyes perfectly. Don't get me wrong, if someone is dying to have it, it's yours...there are more pillowcases to be found on ebay! Plus, it gives me an excuse to go antique searching with my friend Sara. This one must be pretty old cause I had a hack of a time trying to get the wrinkles out. I must admit, starting with a finished pillowcase is a whole lot easier than starting with fabric and I love the vintage look. Birdie has always been a little bit "Little House on the Prairie". She wants a dress that she can chase chickens and work in the garden in. This is it. In fact I think I like it better than the bright colored ones...at least for today, I am in a simple kind of mood.

I am running out of bias tape, wonder if it would be fun to have a bias tape maker so that it would always match? I think tomorrow I am going to make a skirt out of the dress she just stained. Maybe I will do a tutorial. My husband is getting pretty tired of me spending every night making dresses, better try for nap time. Until tomorrow, God Bless

Day 6

Giddy Up Little Cowgirl...this is so cute. My daughter picked out this fabric but I thought it was screaming out, "make me into a baby dress". I am sure I will be working on a larger size tomorrow for Birdie though. A twirl skirt would be darling as well! I am a sucker for the brown and pink combo. Oh, this would be cute with a monogram letter on it too! Maybe I will try that with Birdie's. Good Night!

Day #5

So, I didn't really love this fabric when I started but now that I am done, I REALLY do. I have never done a dress with the same color on the bottom but I think these really flow well together. This is a fabric from the Moda collection called tomato tea time and tomato rabbit hole. I made it the size that my daughter wears so that my sister in law can take pictures. I cannot wait to see how it looks with her red hair.

Day 4

Oh how I love spring, or summer, or whatever you want to call this season that we are in here in Montana. Point is...it was sunny and warm today and I LOVE sunny and warm. I started todays project as a brown and pink butterfly/stripes combo but it wasn't speaking to me so I am going to turn it into a twirl skirt.

I have been staring at this fabric for a week now totally anxious to play with it. I think it is another combo that has too many wonderful colors to zone in on just one so the heck with it, love them all! I cannot believe I am already making 4th of July stuff but hey, it is going to be here before we know it. This darling one is a size 2ish. Off to bed, night!

Day 3

So I got this idea from another blogger that I just love to follow. Hers is FreshlyPicked. It is an elastic waist skirt and my daughter is a huge fan of them. No more of those drawstring elastics inside the waist and no more skirts that are way too big and I have to safety pin them, "but mom, I'm not a size 4"! Then I have to reply, "yes Bird I know but that is the only size waist that fits you we will have to put leggings underneath. Mini skirts on my 7 year old, be done!

Done early, my neck is killing me and I am out of here for a much needed date with my hubby. In fact I just heard him drive up. Heidi J out!

Day 2

Got in a minor (my mini van had to be towed and may be history) car accident today. A lovely gentlemen who had handicapped plates and was on oxygen so bravely ran a red light and took me out. The 1 out 100 chance that my kids weren't in the car with me happened today. My head hit the side window due to the fact that the airbags on my 2008 vehicle failed to deploy. Nice huh? Anyway, they towed my car, I have a wicked headache and I am sans car. But, I wanted to get this dress done.
So here it is, dress number two (well technically three) on day number two. I didn't get the ric rack on tonight because I didn't have the thread color I wanted with it. I am going to put aqua ric rack on the mid seam. My husband says that seam color should match the ribbons but well, I disagree today. There were just two many great colors in this to not emphasize them all. Rock on and good night...hope that little old guy that crunched my kick ass van is ok. I wonder if I can transfer my Alaska Grown plates to my hopefully new rig?

Dress #1

Yeah, I did it! I finished not only one but two of these dresses today and it is only 9:15. That puts me in bed for a decent amount of sleep tonight. This is a Michael Miller fabric called "plain jane". I just love the color contrasts. I made two of these cause it seemed easier than making them at two separate times since I already had all the supplies out. Took awhile in the beginning because I wanted the seam in the back to match up with the flowers so that you can't see the seem at all. I know, I know a little obsessive compulsive but let me tell you what, that is one nice seam! It is one inch more narrow than all the other dresses I have made but just as cute none the less.

Sweet dreams