It was not a banner fall/winter for sewing projects. In fact I only ended up with one homemade Christmas present (well, not counting the chocolates, but more on those later).

Luckily I had a request for father/daughter aprons from a friend or I might not have sewn at all. I needed the inspiration and this was a perfect project that I really had fun with. Because they were aprons, and because these two are fun goofy people, I had free reign to have as much fun with the fabric as I wanted. Though as my two sewing friends with attest (and enforce) I am not allowed to sew with fabric where the pattern forms straight lines because I just don’t take enough time to get them to line up – well… somehow I ended up breaking that rule on both aprons – oops. But I couldn’t help it, I saw the perfect fabric and had to have it.

So, with each one, I really took my time, ironed at every step, measured and straightened and lined-up the fabric and patterns and cut slowly (and channeled those two sewing friends the entire time) and it worked! Well, the hello kitty fabric is at a slight angle, but the cowboy fabric is perfect. And both pockets are straight and line-up pretty darn close to perfect. And because I slowed down, I really got into the process and am so much prouder of the final product. Maybe lines is what I needed after all?

Dad’s apron: Text straight? check. Sheriff’s badge front & center? check. pocket lined up? check.

Daughter’s: I had leftover fabric from both aprons so made napkins to complete the set.

The back of both aprons – yes they’re reversible – there was too much good fabric to choose from.

Bonus photo: I’m now the proud owner of a serger – hopefully this will help me step it up and start sewing some more.

Now that I know there are very likely no nieces in my future (what  to do with all those dolls & My Little Ponies I saved…?) I’m exploring all the fun things there are to make for little boys. And, thanks to good friends who have daughters, I have some adopted nieces to spoil when I’m feeling the need for something girly 🙂

And the past couple weeks it’s been girly central around here and I loved it!

First up… a friend who’s expecting a little girl. Now she’s not a girly girl at all, but I did learn that she loves the little a-line pinafore dresses and conveniently my 1 yard wonder – fabric by fabric book had a pattern for a sweet little pinafore dress. I kept her in mind when picking fabric: a yellow and grey chevron (I also used this in her baby quilt and had to  use it again since it was my favorite) and a super cute fabric with little green woodland critters. The pattern called for a scalloped edge on the bottom which I did for the green, but it didn’t feel quite right for the chevron so I folded that part of the pattern under and cut a straight edge.

I’m not always a fan of bias tape, but thanks to these dresses I discovered 1/4″ bias tape which is much, much cuter as trim. Yellow of course for the chevron and because I couldn’t help my self (and it is one of my favorite color combos), pink for the green dress.

the back

Love it!

the back, again

So sweet

 And next up… we get really girly! Another friend has a four year old who loves pink, purple and sparkle so it was no holds barred on this one! (Though I do have to apologize in advance because wow that glitter tulle sheds everywhere! It’s glitter mania in my house right now). She’s also in love with ballet so this was an easy one – tutu time! Thanks to the many, many helpful tutu tutorials online – the cutting takes awhile, but otherwise this was a really fun and easy project.

Pink glitter tulle, purple glitter tulle and some opalescent for an extra fairy look.

I don’t really want to know how many little strips I cut – but it started out as 5 yards of fabric!

And, so cute! I can’t wait to give it to her, but this one’s for a birthday that’s still a month away.

I’ve been inspired lately by my “Super Nephew” – the bonus of sewing for a two year old is that things are small and projects are quick.

First up for the little chef was an apron. A good friend made a bunch for little ones in her life for Christmas so I borrowed her pattern and experience while it was fresh and whipped up this cute one.

The best part is that he’s turning out to be quite the little baker and loves the Kitchen-Aid!

Of course when I first gave him the apron he tried it on like a cape which prompted his parents to encourage him to ask for a cape (meanwhile all I was thinking was noooo, I don’t want to sew with shiny fabric). With a few suggestions he decided he wanted a shiny red cape with a star on it.

I wasn’t so excited about this project, but texts from my sister letting me know he was asking about his cape and even remembered it was red with a star two weeks later gave me some much needed motivation. I got a little more excited when I got to the fabric store and realized I could work a chartreuse green into the mix and a fun blue too (I did go with a nice traditional red at least).

Turns out the hardest part was picking the pattern (cause I’m not a wing it kind of girl). I ended up going with this one. Then I invited my sewing buddy over knowing there was a much better chance of avoiding throwing the project on the floor if I had a witness. Turns out that sewing with shiny fabric isn’t so bad when the pieces are small and you use lots of pins. I finished it in an afternoon (and may have already made a second one, but that’s a secret…) and it is ridiculously cute – I had no idea I’d be so excited about sewing a cape.

I was going to wait until I saw my nephew next, but that was two months away and seemed like a mean thing to do to an excited two year old. So I packed it up and put it in the mail and was rewarded with photos like this:

The cape & no pants look is quite the classic and has been making me smile all day!