H2O + Sun = Fun

This cute little sun design was used in this month's challenge over at Applique Forum. The design is from Luna Embroidery over at Etsy. I had no idea what I was going to do. I started to look thru my patterns and saw the Ruffle Pop skirt pattern from Tie Dye Diva. I found my inspiration. I pulled out so many fabrics to audition. None of them seemed quite right. Maybe it's because for years I have been collecting fabrics for quilt making. One piece of fabric might have worked but I didn't have a piece that complimented it. What I ended up with are these bargain basement $1/yd Wal-Mart fabrics. About six weeks ago, Wal-Mart has some huge fabric blowout. I think I picked up seven pieces of fabric. The blue and yellow certainly fit the sun and water theme. I can't say the blue fabric worked for the water applique but I wanted everything to match.

Now that I settled on the pattern and the fabric, I needed to figure out how to pull everything all together. The design comes in both small (4x4) and medium (5x7) sizes. The largest size was best for the t-shirt. I decided to bring the design down to the skirt and the smaller size was perfect for that.

The design did not have a saying and I felt I needed something. I kept searching for surfing sayings and that wasn't getting me anywhere. So I changed search words and then tried summer sayings and found the "H2O + Sun = Fun". Perfect!

I'm pleased with the outfit. I wish the fabric was a tad higher quality but it works for a summer play outfit for my niece.

A Little Blog Maintenance

 I've decided to do a little blog remodeling. I made the decision to remove some blogs on my blog roll that haven't been updated for quite a while. I've also made the decision to remove most of my friends and family. Yikes! Run for cover! This blog has always been about sewing, sometimes cooking and crafting. The primary focus has been to hopefully educate and inspire people who would like to learn more needlework. The blogs haven't been removed because I no longer love my friends and family. It's that their blogs are either neglected or do not pertain to sewing. I'm not saying the decision is permanent but I'm trying it for right now. Only two blogs made the cut. My friends Pat and Laurie are both award winning Fiber Artists. They are still listed on the right hand side under Friends and Family.  My readers hopefully will be inspired by visiting their blogs.

The other reason that I did the remodel is that I will be blogging over at AppliqueToday.com. I am one of several moderators over at Applique Forum. Applique Today is under the AF brands. As part of my job as a moderator, I will be writing an article for the blog at least a couple of times a month. Our goal at Applique Forum is to educate and inspire our members in the world of machine applique. I would think most of my articles will be also posted here. I will also be pulling past articles from Sew Lost For You and sharing them with Applique Today. My blog encompasses many aspects of sewing and machine work whether that be quilting, machine embroidery or working with leather. As the name implies, Applique Today will be discussing all things machine applique related. If you have an embroidery machine, I hope you head on over Applique Today. There will be about ten or so mentors contributing to the blog. Applique Today (formerly An Applique A Day) has been revamped since we now have several people to help write the articles.

I hope to see you at both sites! As always, thanks for visiting me here at Sew Lost For You!

Ellen

The Gumball Outfit

I've been wanting to try my hand at a vinyl design. The gumball design was the perfect choice. The applique is from Planet Applique.

Now, what better to go with this shirt than a........................BUBBLE SKIRT!

The pattern is McCalls 6276. The pattern may look familiar to you. I made the ruffled skirt several months ago for my niece.

My niece loves this outfit. My sister sent an email that she wore it all weekend. She had two parties to go to and she wore it to both parties.

The Branding of Kayla

 Every fashionista deserves to have a brand, right? I've been thinking about this for maybe a year now. I wanted to experiment with making a brand for my niece. So off and on I've been playing with fonts and putting letters together and working on names. Of course I didn't bother to get my niece's input or my sister's for that matter! I tried working with Kayla's last name and the monogram just wasn't quite right. So I had to venture down a different path. I had to give Kayla's brand a name. So Kayla Couture (and so much more!) it was.
 My goal is to use her logo on more of her dress garments, not so much her play wear. The font that made the final cut was "Just Another Serif" from 8 Claws and a Paw. Too, too bad that Chanel has the best logo around and I couldn't use that. Drat.

Alright, let's look at some of Kayla's garments and accessories. I think every couture house has some very basic, chic black and white ensembles. This outfit was one of the very first that came to my mind. I got this fabric in the clearance bin. Quite honestly, I get a lot of Kayla's specialty fabrics in the clearance bin. Cottons cost a fortune but nicer garment fabric I can get for cheap. Too bad for the industry that people don't use the fabric but I luck out with some steals. Back to Kayla's outfit. I immediately thought she needed a pencil skirt to go with this t-shirt. I spied the fabric at Joann's I think. It might have cost me $1 or $2 to make. The pattern that I used is McCalls 6274. If you look at the pattern, the skirt kind of has a safari feel to it. Well all I had to do was to omit all the pockets. Viola! Pencil skirt!

Here is my version of the pattern. What do you think?

Notice her logo at the bottom of the skirt?

Doesn't this dress look huge? I made it a size 8 so it will work for back to school. This pattern is New Look 6018. This pattern is now out of print. I'm grateful that I purchased it when I did.

Now for some accessories. A sunglass case.

A summer hat.

A beach tote.

Finally, this is for Kayla's mom. I figured my sister needs a lingerie bag to wash Kayla's shirts in.
The Frame is the Mia frame from Planet Applique.

Well, that's it for now. I have a few more ideas for Kayla Couture. Stay tuned!

A Patriotic Tank

 This month's challenge over at Applique Forum was the design had to be "red, white and blue and a little sparkle too." I'm still catching up with not being home much in April. I wasn't planning on doing the challenge but the $2.00 tank sale at Old Navy changed my mind. Now my challenge was to figure out what I was going to do. I wanted to incorporate a fireworks design. But what to put with it. Certainly there were a lot of great patriotic designs to choose from. The design chosen is from Applique A Day. The fireworks design is from Lynnie Pinnie.

I think the shirt meets the sparkle criteria. I used sequined fabric for the star, metallic thread for the fireworks and rhinestones.

Poodle Girl

When I saw this design from Hang To Dry, I immediately thought of finding some French or Parisian fabric to make a dress or skirt to go with it. One day in the sewing room, I spied the leopard print knit and immediately thought about pairing it with a bright pink. So I made the skirt (without a pattern!). I wanted to put curved pockets on the skirt but then decided that that might make the skirt a little bulky.

Ugly Fabric Challenge

I'm a sucker for cheap fabric. I always walk by the clearance sections when in a fabric store. This ruffled fabric was calling me one day. It was pretty cheap, maybe a dollar so what the heck, let's take a chance. My original thought was to run ribbon on the front bodice. I decided to forgo the ribbon and leave as is. The bodice is large on my niece. I made the bodice instead of cutting off a tshirt. It almost looks adult size but it's a size girls size seven.