Crafty Day

First up. I have had these around for a long time. Like 3 years. I always meant to hang them up in the cute nursery, but it never happened. Well, Baby Girl likes to play with them sometimes and it drives me nuts. So, finally I decided to make it happen! I was feeling crafty (and she found them again), so I got the kids and knocked it out.

A glue gun and some ribbon is all it takes.

I ran out of ribbon, so the ladybugs are kinda short. Oh well.

All hung up. Looks just how I imagined. Yay!

Secondly, I decided to make cookies with the kids. I looked up egg-free cookie recipes and stumbled on this blog post about making cookies in a bag. Cool, we can do that. I put the ingredients in the bag, with some help of course, and let them squish away.

Looks like fun right? Yea, they lost interest pretty quick. It turned into a hand work out for me. So, I put it in a bowl to finish mixing and cooked them up. I let the kids taste the dough (it is egg-free so why not). Capri loved it. No surprise. Rome hated it! Actually spit it out. Funny kid, has some texture issues.

All cooked up.

Pretty tasty-tasty. I think Rome didn't like the gooey center of his cookie, so he crumbled it and ate only the outside. Fine with me, I can finish that for you buddy! The rest of the cookies were eaten by Mom and Dad anyway. Daddy loves chocolate chip cookies, and I just don't give my kids sweets that often. Especially when they don't finish their dinner, which is often.

And what is crafty day with out a little Batman action?

Next up is this shirt I got at the Dollar store. I know, great place to find cheap clothes. It is super big and I thought it would be great for my coming summer huge-ness.

First, I put some ruching elastic down the sides.

Then I gathered a section at the neckline and sewed it about 2 inches smaller. It was just a little too wide at the top.

Then, try it on. Looks okay now, but I bet by July it will be so comfy!

Last, this super cute looking maternity-already dress.

I have had this dress for a while. My sister actually got it for me when I was expecting baby #2. Yea, so, 2 1/2 years ago? I never wore it. It looks comfy and cute, but just doesn't have enough room for my chest, so it looks funny. I figured I have been doing this altering stuff, I could fix it no problem. Just put a black sash around the middle. I got out my seam ripper and before you know it, had a huge hole in the front of my dress. All ready to...do what? Just putting a sash isn't going to give me more room for my bust. It would just cause the same problem I had before. A huge seam across them middle of my (ever larger) bosom. I just can't handle that. It looks weird. Well, this one might take a bit longer than anticipated. I will have to think about it some more.

On the plus side, I got all of this stuff done while my kids were awake! And finished four projects in one day. Amazing!

Modify

I have been working on lots of projects lately. Quiet books (not finished), summer maternity shirts, maternity dresses, super capes to give away (not even started), finally hemming 3 or 4 pairs of pants. Yea, keeping busy. My current obsession is to alter clothes to fit my belly and be more modest.

First up, some t-shirt I found at Old Navy on clearance. I thought they would be perfect with some elastic on the side seam.

I measured one of my favorite Motherhood Maternity shirts and tried it out a couple of ways.

I think it turned out pretty good.

Except I wanted to put some ruching on the sleeves too, to make them shorter and cuter. That didn't work so well and isn't finished yet. I better hurry though, they might not fit soon. This belly just keeps growing on me.

Next up is this halter maxi dress I bought for $10. It is supposed to be a maternity dress, but it fit a little funny. I was going to just cut off the back twisty part that was too tight, but then I started thinking. It was way too long. So...

I started by cutting 12" off the bottom.

Then I cut one halter front off to switch it to the other side that I liked the pattern better. I unpicked the elastic out of the waist. Sewed on a back panel. Looked up how to make a sleeve pattern and cut out a mock up out of black fabric. Sewed, unpicked and modified the sleeve, sewed, unpicked, gathered, and re-sewed the sleeves back on. It didn't really have a sleeve opening, so it was a bit harder than I anticipated. It took a while, but I figured it out.

The last thing to do was to put in a modesty panel so I could wear it without a tank underneath.(oh, and sew the waist elastic back in) I first followed the shape of the front to make the panel, because one side is wider than the other. (because I flipped it over) However, it was too wide and I had to wear a tank underneath anyway. (I wore it for Easter) I fixed it later and it looks great!

Hubby says it isn't very flattering, but it is a maternity dress. They aren't really made to be flattering. It is however very comfortable and light enough to wear all summer. Yay!

Almost last project, this dress I got in Europe in high school.

Yes, its that old. I still love it though. I have had it on my project list for a while because the back slit is just a little too high now a days. So, I put in a little modesty kick panel.

I did this after the much harder Easter dress and thought, "Hey, I can put sleeves on this one no problem." Actually, I even used the sleeve mock ups that I cut out for that dress. Since they were regular sleeves and in the fabric that was the same black polyester stuff this dress is.

I think it turned out pretty good too. I hope it fits later when I can actually fit into it.

Now onto the last maternity shirt to be ruched and finish the sleeves on the almost finished ones. Almost done, right? Never...