Mama's Got a New Problem - It's Called Sewing

So I started being serious about sewing about 2 years ago. Did some things here and there, learned some skills, had some fun, but still preferred "rogue" -style sewing - minimal pattern, mostly freeform.

Well, there's a new craze called Pinterest. It's a visual website bookmark thingy that you can share with the world. And the world has shared with me a LOT of super-cute and fairly easy tutorials on sewing kids clothes (mostly girls' dresses). So I jumped right in. I am now losing more sleep than ever, and spend many nights sewing!!!

Here are some recent projects (the websites for the tutorials are in the project name):

This is the Layered Twirly Dress. It's a tank top she already had with an added elastic waistband and two layers of skirts. She loves that it twirls. It was my first real jump into sewing clothes for Maggie. 

A Midsummer Dress
Feeling emboldened by my success with the twirly dress, I marched to Joann's, bought some more fabric, and went to work. Took about 4 1/2 hours. Would've gone quicker if I could read directions properly. And not be left-handed. I blame that on 75% of my sewing problems. Maggie loves this dress, and I am SO glad because I've worked the hardest on it. Went slowly, made SURE everything was as perfect as I was able to make it.

 And so then James had to get a matching onesie with necktie and faux-suspenders.

Both dresses had patterns in the tutorial that you had to improvise. That sounds scary to some, but honestly, the little packages of tissue paper patterns that you have to cut out just right and match things up freak me out. Online tutorials are more free-form and that just works for me.

So after two dresses, 3 circle skirts (imagine just one layer of the twirly dress, no tank top attached) and James' onesie, I embarked on my own creation. Sylvia gave me a bunch of fabric a while ago, and one was a light blue cotton material. They were screaming to become summer PJ's for Maggie. I wanted a traditional look to them and for it to be a top and bottom, not a gown. I found a tutorial online for ruffle pants, modified them to bermuda shorts-length, then looked at a dress tutorial for how to do the top part and instead made a button-up tank top. Also a winner! She loves them.

I have one more dress' worth of fabric to use, and an online pattern that I want to make as well. I'll post when it's done.