Now that Kid’s Clothes Week has a new home (and new blog) I don’t talk about it as much on elsie marley, but I should. You might not know that we have 4 challenges a year now. Every season you can dare yourself to sew 1 hour a day, each day, for 1 week (I double dog dare you).

This season’s KCW is coming up quick: January 27- February 2. You have just the right amount of time to pick a pattern or two, stare at fabric for a while, and then jump feet first into KCW.

But before all the sewing begins, each day this week on the KCW blog we have ways for you to win new patterns and fabric. You have a full week to enter each giveaway, so there is still plenty of time to put your name in the hat for a new Figgy’s pattern (Monday’s giveaway). Today’s giveaway is for some amazing knit fabric from Girl Charlee. There are many more awesome prizes in store, so check in on the KCW blog every day this week!

This week is exciting for another reason: I am going to Alt. The alt design summit is a conference for bloggers in the creative field. It is three days of classes, lectures, round table discussions, and fantastically silly theme parties. I am both super excited and completely terrified. To prepare for this conference, I have done things I haven’t done since high school, like plan my outfits and paint my nails…

…and done things I’ve never done before, like design my business cards. Obviously, I went the goofy route. They are a little memorable, right? At the very least they serve a purpose–you don’t know how many emails I get that start, “Dear Elsie”.

This week is a busy one! You will be entering fantastic giveaways at KCW and I will be trying desperately to crawl out of my introverted shell and (god help me) network. Let’s wish each other luck.

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Shannon from luv in the mommyhood asked if I’d like to sew up a version of her new pattern, the Sally Dress. How could I say no? It’s a simple dress with no closures, super big pockets, and three variations of sleeve length (zero, short, and elbow). The perfect staple dress, really.

But what fabric to use? I knew I wanted something for winter. I wandered around the fabric shop trying to find the right material: twill was too stiff, flannel was too clingy, suiting was nice, but too expensive. I kept coming back to the corduroy, but my mom jammed me into so many awful corduroy jumpers when I was a kid (sorry, mom) that I just couldn’t do it.

So I  left the shop empty handed. I was all set to make a polka dot version out of some homespun fabric I had on hand. When I spotted this huge, raspberry purple, wool skirt in my stash. I picked it up for pennies at the thrift store ages ago. The plan was to make it into a smaller skirt for me, but there was just enough to eek out a Sally Dress from it!

The only thing left from that skirt is the waistband. I used every little bit of fabric that I could!

When I was just about done, there was a brief moment of panic when the lighting made the dress look like a bad waitress uniform (specifically, a Perkins uniform–if you live in the states). When I brought it out of the depths of my basement studio, thankfully, it was a lovely little raspberry jumper again.

If you make the sleeveless version, there is only 1 page of the pattern to print out. One Page! You get to skip all the pdf pattern puzzling, but there is some mental origami that goes into making that bodice. Don’t worry, Shannon holds your hand the whole way. And in the end you have a beautifully lined bodice!

It seemed a shame to waste the (already hemmed, perfectly matched) skirt lining, so I lined the skirt part of the dress as well. Now it swishes and twirls with the best of them!

But sadly, there wasn’t enough fabric to make the awesome pockets on the Sally Dress. I used the last little scraps to make some in seam pockets, but it’s not the same.  Still, it’s a great little jumper.

How would you like to win a copy of the Sally Dress pattern? I knew you would.

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The winner is #19, Erin! Congratulations!

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To enter the giveaway:

* Leave a comment about what fabric you would use for the Sally Dress.

For additional entries:

* follow elsiemarley on Bloglovin, Feedly, or by email. Then leave a comment telling me you did (or already do).

* like elsiemarley on Facebook. Then leave a comment telling me you did (or already do).

* like luvinthemommyhood on Facebook. Then, that’s right,  leave a comment telling me you did (or already do).

Giveaway ends Friday October 4 at 9pm (central time). Good Luck!

Don’t forget to follow along with the rest of the Sally Dress pattern tour to see all the different versions of this lovely dress!

* Shannon kindly gave me a copy of the sally dress pattern in exchange for this post. My opinions are, as always, my own.

We have had a very chilly spring here is Wisconsin this year. Thank goodness too, because this sweater dress has been on the to sew list since the fall! You know how it is: all the new, exciting projects always budge in line.

the pattern: Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee , size 7. Obviously, I lengthened it. I also created more of an A-line shape by drawing an angled line from the armpit to the hem. Kristin explained how to transform the pattern into a summer dress for last spring’s KCW. Speaking of, did you see we kicked off a week of guest post-ers on the new kcw blog?

the fabric: an odd bit of sweater-y fabric I found in a thrift store in northern Wisconsin + a bit of a purple sweater (the one I used to make this cardigan).

the sewing: The main part of the dress came together super quick. The neckline tripped me up a bit. Mostly because I tried to use the neckline from the purple sweater. I had to rip it up and start again over. I also used the cuffs from the purple sweater, which I don’t like, but they aren’t awful so I skipped redoing them.

the fit: spot on! The last flashback skinny dress I made, I sized it up myself. It worked, but it wasn’t perfect. Rae has since sized the pattern up for bigger kids. The skinny tee is such a wardrobe staple, I know this pattern will get used for a long time.

The dress is getting worn–caught on film a few times, too! Paired with a polka dot tights, wellies, and a stocking cap one time. Another time she even matched her mama!

February birthdays can be kind of a bummer. I know because I have one–and so does my son. So I try to throw parties for him that make people with summer birthdays jealous. There will be no awesome tail gate sledding party for you, Gemini. Ha ha!

This year, my son wanted a winter picnic party on the ice (take that, Cancers). Also requested were, marshmallows, glow sticks, a cake shaped like a 6, and popcorn. All birthday wishes granted! I wasn’t too sure how the cake would turn out, but it seems there is nothing more frosting can’t solve.

I stumbled on these glow swords at Target, and wow! were they a big hit! I had planned to have some sort of balloon game with glowing balloons (a la pinterest), but you need 1. clear balloons (not just white ones), 2. super bright glow sticks (not the skinny, cheapy ones from target), and 3. actual pitch black, not 7pm.   Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

The kids didn’t seem to mind.

Before the epic glow battle, we built a big fire and roasted marshmallows. By the way, roasted marshmallows in your hot chocolate is the best thing ever, which is also how my son described his party.  I have to agree–nothing better than turning 6 with a giant fire on a frozen lake!

I have been on a bit of a crocheting kick recently. After all the sewing for kcwc I got rather sick of looking at my sewing machine. And I got sick of certain little people poo-pooing things I made for them. So I went to the yarn store and bought some beautiful, soft, and squishy yarn to make something just for me.

I’m not usually a fan of things trying desperately to be something they are not–think tofu dogs. Crochet is not knitting, even though they both use yarn. Crochet is its own art and has its own strengths that I try to showcase. But I wanted so badly to make the bandana cowl pattern by Purl Bee.  Looking at it was painful, because it is so perfect, but I can’t knit to save my life.

Thankfully someone made an equally awesome crochet bandana cowl–no tofu dogs in sight. The cowl is the same shape as the knitted version, but I think the stitches were chosen by someone who loves crochet and knows how to show of its strengths.  It worked up super fast in the gorgeous wool/silk blend yarn I bought. All the cowl details are on ravelry if you are interested.

ooo! looks like there’s a little crochet on crochet action going on in this last picture.