All my kids have odd size beds. Our bedrooms are quite small, so to fit all the kids in them we got two extendable beds from Ikea. My son has the leksvik and my daughter has the super cute minnen.  They start out about toddler size and then you can make them longer as the children get, well, longer.  The baby has a wooden travel crib, sort of like this, that I got off craigslist for next to nothing. He is just about to outgrow it, which sucks because it fits perfectly in the corner of our room.

The Ikea beds are kind of awesome and kind of annoying (that pretty much describes everything at Ikea, doesn’t it?).  The only sheets that fit them are of course at Ikea and they are uncharacteristically boring: I think the options were red or blue. This past week I finally got around to making some fitted sheets for everyone. I made them out of vintage sheets I picked up at the thrift store:  sheet from sheets–not my most creative moment.

There are a bunch of tutorials out there on how to make fitted sheets, so I won’t bore you with how I did it (though, if there are a lot of you out there with these Ikea beds I could rustle up the measurements I used).  Between these sheets and the thousand pairs of elastic waist pants I’ve made, I am done with the whole pushing the safety pin through the casing crap. I know there is a tool out there that makes this bearable, isn’t there? When I find it I’m going to retire my extra large, sad, bent up safety pin.

I’m really not one for the whole princess thing. And I thought we had avoided it, until on her fourth birthday my daughter wished that “all princesses would be sparkly.” There has been a health dose of princessness since then, even though I rarely ever buy princess paraphernalia–and wow you can buy just about anything save for major appliances with a princess slapped on it.

It’s not so much the prince saving the princess that annoys me, it’s the total lack of substance on the part of the princess. Well, that and the rampant consumerism of it all (see above).  For the most part the princess just lies around looking pretty all day long. Because of that I rejected them outright until I found myself looking at a fashion magazine in the check out line and realized it was just grown up princess crap. So I guess if I can indulge in pretty girly things, I can indulge my daughter a little too.

And so the princess dress. It’s not sparkly or even very flooffy, but it’s pink and princessy and she loves it. The pattern is from Carefree Clothes for Girls and with it’s quilted bodice (that’s for you nan) and raw edges it’s more Cinderella before the ball than at the ball. The pattern was easy and a lot like the other dress I made from the book. The only part I couldn’t figure out were the button loops. There was a diagram on how to make them, cut I couldn’t decipher it out, so I just crocheted some chains with quilting thread and sewed them in. And it worked out well, washes up nicely, and gets dirty often. For me it’s a dress with a silly amount of baggage, but to her it’s just a pretty dress to pick flowers in.

I was sick of the stupid bathroom towel always ending up on the floor. So I whipped up this bad boy in the spirit of those awesome old fashioned public bathroom continuous towel thing-a-ma-jigs (which I can seem to find on the internet; have they ceased to exist?).  All it took was a little patchwork bias tape to cover the raw edges and velcro to join the ends.  You could use buttons or snaps, but I could not because my monkey of a son would then use it as his personal bathroom swing.

The towel fabric is a waffle weave muslin that I found when I was looking for fabric for the kids’ summer towels or summer robes. I only bought a quarter of a yard so I could see if it would soften when I washed it. And it did, nicely too. Then I went to get some more, only this time I went to Joann’s instead of the fancy fabric shop, and when I washed the three yards of it I got, it came out super thick and shrunk up (see above).  Does Joann’s just carry inferior everything, or did I wash it wrong? Has anyone worked with waffle weave muslin before and have some insight?  Because I really like how the bathroom towel turned out and had visions of making kitchen towels for everyone for christmas out of this stuff

Wouldn’t it be great in the kitchen? I suppose linen or terry cloth would work just as well.  I’m going to have to use the shrunk up stuff to make the kids’ robes; I just hope they don’t make them look like little sumo wrestlers.

I’m ashamed to say how long ago I started this shirt. I think it was supposed to be for Rae’s spring top week, which was in April. Well, it is very much summer here now and it’s finally done. Too late for one contest, but just in time for another. ha! The shirt started out as this ridiculously large muumuu swim suit cover up from h&m. I had been looking for a stripey shirt for summer, but couldn’t find one that was just right.  I saw this gigantic number and liked the stripes, so I spent all of 5 bucks for it.  I thought with that much fabric I could probably screw up and still come out with a shirt.

I used a 70s knit shirt pattern I had squirreled away and it worked out ok. I lent the pattern to a friend so I can’t show you the pattern picture, but it’s a v-neck, raglan sleeve shirt with a little bit of gathers at the point of the V.  I’ve had shirts like this before and they have always been flattering.  I didn’t gather it as much as the pattern wanted me too because it made the V neck too high up and I wanted a  deeper V, so next time I’ll try to figure out how to make the pattern do both those things at the same time. It also came out a little boxy and a little short, but I think I can fix that next time.

I have no idea how the pattern wanted me to finish the neckline, which is why this shirt has been sitting around unfinished since April. Finally I just slapped a half ass binding on it and called it done. And I’m happy to say I actually wear the sucker. Out of the house even.

When I first saw the actual mociun tie front dress I think I was pregnant and it looked like some sort of godsend. A dress that is stylish and functional through pregnancy nursing and beyond? I mean that doesn’t ever happen. Then I saw it on cakies last year and she was pregnant and obviously thinking the same thing. Her post led me to Anna’s blog, wildflower::pretty, and she told me how to make it. Of course it took a year for me to actually get up the courage to start.

I made a muslin and thank god I did, because my first try turned out ridiculously poofy. I had to alter it a few times before it fit at least kind of right, but I forgot to alter the pattern I made, so then I had to take the whole muslin apart and use it as a pattern for the real dress. Then I was so nervous about actually making it that I cut it a little bigger than I should have. When I’m nervous I make things bigger, which isn’t so much of a problem with kid’s clothes, but I don’t want to bank on getting bigger to fit into my own clothes.  So I had to take it in a bunch, which fucked up the arm holes and left me with no extra fabric for pockets. And this dress really needs pockets.  I made it a little longers than Anna’s, which might make it a little dowdy, but I’m not big on knees.

But even with all of that I still really like it. It is the perfect dress for summertime and yes, for nursing too. I am definitely going to make another one, but I think I need some fabric help. I used a really lightweight shirting for this dress and it’s ok, but it’s doesn’t hang quite right–it’s a little stiff. I just noticed the original is silk crepe. Man, I know nothing about garment fabrics. All I know is that I like natural materials and I don’t like ironing. Can I have both or was polyester invented because ironing sucks?  Where do you go to buy fabric for clothes (no saying Mood you spoiled new yorkers)? There is a nice little fabric store in my neighborhood where the fabrics themselves are nice, but the prints tend towards the old lady end of the spectrum. How do you buy fabric online if you don’t know what it feels like? Any advice at all would be super duper appreciated.

I feel like I have to say something about ripping this design off, because I so obviously stole it. I love the clothes at mociun and have bought clothes from them before, but can’t really afford to do so. And I could have never afforded this dress, on sale or not.  Is that enough? I support small designers and I’m not copying their designs for profit, so why do I still feel crappy about it?  Imitation blah blah blah flattery, right?