Short Week

Yesterday I finally got to start making some kid's clothes. I cut this shirt out of an old sheet and found some soft lace in my trim stash. The Punk declares that it's a "pretty dress."

This is the best shot of the awesome sleeves.

I adore using shirring to shape flat square pieces of fabric in body hugging comfort. I finally took the leap into shirring when I got my copy of Little Girls, Big Style by Mary Abreu. The hardest part about taking the plunge into shirring was resetting the tension dials on my machine. It was quite the mental step for me. Since then it has gotten much easier - I whipped this up in a morning.

I was worried that she might look upholstered with such a large print; instead it gave the shirt exactly the right mood. The Punk has some very specific style for a six-year old. She picks handmade hipster pieces over store bought almost every time. The really ironic thing? Our family is naturally "boho." You know - the actual definition of boho: wearing what's available and comfortable instead of what's in style (among other defining characteristics that we've integrated into our family culture). We really hate the word "boho" as a modern style definition....it's gotten a very bad reputation with us. It is, however, the very best word to use to describe my Punk's style.

A great start to my personal kid's clothing challenge week, yes?

Now the bad news: this is the only piece of clothing you will see roll out from under my presser foot this week. About halfway through this blouse, my machine started whining at me - the whine that says, "I should have been serviced four months ago and I refuse to sew another item until I get a check-up." I limped it through finishing the blouse and then whisked it off to Ron at Johnson's for some spa time.

Furthermore....

My afternoon was filled with the sunshine of meeting Anna from Quiltmom's Journey. She is a delightfully wise lady who was as generous with dispensing hope as she was with sharing her scrap stash. I offered her a fabric trade about a month ago and she came through above and beyond what I expected. My mom and I squealed our way through the sack of scraps that Anna gifted me with. Check out these treasures!

I love the swirls and I squee'd especially loudly over the orange with pink suns.

 
Blueberries! My favorite fruit. These blues already have a specific purpose.

I've been collecting greens for a design that I wrote a couple of months back. I heart the swirls on the left and the ferns on the right. Photobomb by the Pixie.

Polka dots and pinks (and prints that read as pink) were claimed by a Punk-ish photobomb.

This unbelievable pile sent us into a swoon: all music, all awesome, all love. You may not know it, but our family is just one long line of musicians. Most people in my family play some kind of instrument: my brother is a very popular DJ in Kelowna, Husband is a musical genius, and my grandfather released over 20 culture-specific albums during his musical lifetime. We have high hopes for the Pixie to be the culmination of decades of genetic musical talent and genius.

These are brights that didn't even make it into my stash - they were passed under my nose and then claimed by my mother for a quilt she's planning to make for a very special grad. She even picked through my stash and claimed some fat quarters and scraps that I had no specific use for (that neon green and yellow!).

Most of these fabrics will be put to use in what I hope with be a delicious twist on the string piecing craze. I came up with this great idea an entire decade ago, but my first attempt with this pattern was aborted because I didn't have enough knowledge. You'll see soon enough....

And without my sewing machine this week, I'm going to be sorting, cutting, and stacking. Sounds like fun.....I miss my machine already.