Beach fashion times three

We took our annual beach and lake trip last week.  And it was a hot one!  Lots of time to just sit in the shade by lake and digest the yummy food the inn we stay at provides.

And finally, a reason to sew up some swim cover ups!  I'd been dying to try out Dana of MADE's Beach Robe pattern and so after securing some sale towels from Sears (alas no Target for cheap nice towels here)  I made two up.  One as a present for one of Miles baby girl friends and our neighbours.  She's just 4 months older than Miles and she is adorable!  I'd been wanting to make her something for a while, but couldn't decide.  She's not a dress wearer, so I thought a robe would be useful for when she goes to the pool or after baths!

Yes, I made Squiggles wear it to get a photo.  For the hood lining and one side of the tie on each robe, I used a fat quarter of fabric.   While not an explained option in the pattern, I saw that one of the pattern testers had put the pattern fabric as one side of the tie, and I loved the contrast so I did the same on both robes I made.  I think it totally adds even more cuteness.

I love blue and green, and love the fabric combo on Squiggles robe!

Two other things I realized with making these.  Cutting terry cloth towels is hard!  And the fibers get everywhere.  Number 2?  I don't know how to sew bias tape properly.  I should have listened to my mom, who tried to explain it, but no, I was sure I understood it.  Well I didn't.  And while it generally looks ok....  it could have looked waaaay better (just don't look to close).  A final note, I made the smallest size (9-18mths) for Squiggles because he's on the small side, despite being almost 15 months, it fits fine, but I should have made it a tad longer!  I made the medium for his 18 month old little friend!

As an additional little project, I made myself a coverup.  Look, we match!  I was inspired by the Beach Towel Dress on MADE, but I didn't use a pattern, just kinda winged it using her post with the elastic thread.  It was still a bit too wide, but its ok.  It was sooo easy sewing with the elastic thread that I'm totally inspired to use it again!

I may have bought some new fabric on my travels, so I have lots to stuff for upcoming projects!  Now to just find the time..!  Also, still need to work more on taking better photos, not too happy with these!  Although I'm glad to report I discovered how to make the pictures bigger on the blog! YAY!

A bear, an apron and a return to work

My maternity leave finally came to an end this week, and I returned to my job on Monday.  No so bad, nice to see people and do adult things without having eyes in the back of your head.  But I sure do miss Squiggles.  I like him a whole lot :)  Thankfully, because Mr. Bear is a teacher, he is home with Squiggles for the summer before we begin the adventure that is daycare in the fall.  They've already had lots of fun together this week, so I'm glad :)

I had wanted to finish a bunch of project I had in the queue before I went back to work, but not surprisingly, time ran out!!!  The office is still a disaster (although it is down two crappy bookcases, which is a definite plus)  And there is a small pile of cut fabric on top of a much larger pile of uncut fabric just waiting for my attention.

One of the two things I did finish was my second knitting project, a little green teddy for Squiggles from Erika Knight's book Simple Knits for Cherished Babies.

Despite it's miniature size, boy it took a while.  That's likely because it was full of knitting things I hadn't done before.  Simple enough stuff for most knitters, but not for me!  What I can say is that I'm pretty darn comfy with increases and decreases now, but still not so good with taking out stitches in any sort of organized manner.  Lets just say I had to completely take out and remake a few of the pieces of this little guy!   But he sure was a good learning tool!  And generally I think he's ok,  my seaming is not perfect and he almost looks like he has pointy cat ears, but ya know, Squiggles doesn't notice.

I made him a teeny sort of bow tie, although it could be improved, but it does hide my questionable neck seaming!

I also made up an apron on commission from my soon to be sister-in-law for her sister.  I like making aprons, you can use crazy fabrics, you don't have to worry to much about fit, and people love them!  Its made from this McCall's Pattern.  I like the basic design of it, it's a bit funky but not to crazy.  My sister-in-law likes it, and is sure her sister will too (I made my sister-in-law a similar one for Christmas last year, and her sister coveted it!)

I'm toying with the idea of designing my own apron, it's a gift I often make for people and I have some ideas about what I like and don't like in the several that I have made.  I recently also discovered that there is this quilt shop in the suburbs that actually stocks some actual nice designer fabric (moda, amy butler, anna-maria horner, etc) that would make awesome aprons.  Normally I'm just limited to what my local chain store has, which is sometimes ok for aprons, but I think I could make some that are a bit more modern with these fabrics.  And apron skirts are perfectly sized to be made from a fat quilt quarter!  So it's pretty affordable to get these fabrics for that purpose.   I'm making a trip to the big big city of Toronto soon, and will hopefully hit up some nice fabric shops there too!

That's all for now, I have more things brewing, despite my return to work!