Beach-y Towels

These are some hand towels I embroidered for my Mom. She likes to use the small towels for guests by each sink and her house is near the ocean, so I often do sea-related items.

I digitized these fish. My Mom had a purchased towel with a similar design and it was ruined by bleach. I have made this for her a few times. I love the bright tropical fish, but the bleach invariably turns them pastel!

This design was a freebie at Embroidery Library. I thought it was cute and I like the sentiment, too.

These hand towels are about 9"x18" unfolded and I got a set of 12 on Amazon. They are very nice and soft and I think I have almost used them up!

Anne of Green Gables Sailor Dress

This week Create Kids Couture hosted a sew-along/challenge with the theme "character inspired." The idea was to make something with any combination of their patterns that was inspired by your favorite character. Many people made amazing Disney-type outfits from Incredibles, Toy Story, or Princesses, but I thought of Anne of Green Gables.

My sister and I used to watch the PBS movies all the time! I still watch them often! So I pulled them out and googled Anne dresses and decided to go with her Sailor Dress. Here are the ones I was inspired by: 

I was mostly going for the left blue striped, but I did the white collar and a full skirt like the right one.

Katie and I had fun setting up our props and taking the photos. Our model is my friend's little girl Evelyn, barely 6 years old and cute as can be. We set up a tea party in the backyard with an American Girl Doll in a light blue Edwardian dress. The china tea set is Katie's and I had the antique linens.

We also took some photos with "Henny Penny" one of our 8 week old chicks (the calmest). Don't you love this special effect of a sketch over a photo?

We also used some of our vaious size and color eggs as a prop. I love this side view and we also got a great back view of this one:

The pattern is CKC Sybil with added piping details, much fuller skirt (2- 60" widths) and sashes. The size 6 fit like a glove and was the perfect length. The fabric is a sheer cotton shirting and the collar is a sheer white cotton with a woven line pattern. I think the navy piping adds great detail. The sleeves are the 3/4 length that came with the pattern, but I added a little fullness (not Anne's famous puffed sleeves, but similar to the ones in the inspiration photo). I bought the straw hat and added the ribbon.

We also took some photos with the doll riding in an antique wicker rickshaw I recently found at an estate sale. Apparently these came in sizes for babies and dolls and were popular around the turn of the century. Anne of Green Gables takes place in 1908, so it fits our theme perfectly.

Our little model is a cover girl!

I had way too much fun with the photos- there were literally dozens of great ones. Here she is on a stamp!

This was such a fun project: I only wish I had a month to do a whole set...Diana, Gilbert, Minnie May, even Marilla... ohhhh lots of ideas!!

Cute Cat Coordinates

I have a friend whose grand-daughter loves cats and clothes with cats. When I found some cute cat fabric, I thought I'd make something fun.

I found 2 coordinating fabrics in my stash: green dot pique and turquoise pique. I bought some yellow rick rack and ribbon too.

The swing top is Pickle Toes Tulip Tie Top. I turned the facing to the outside to give it some interest and I faced the ties with the green also. The rick rack was tucked into the facing seam and used at the hem. The rick rack gives the hem some body.

This is a closer view of the rick rack peeking out. The cats are enjoying a rainy, windy day, but the colors of this print are all sunshine!

The shorts pattern is Cole's Corner Ruched Shorts. Both top and shorts are size 5. These shorts are very easy to make and the way the ribbon casing is stitched leaves very nicely finished seams inside. I added a loop of ribbon to the back of the waistband for easier dressing. I would recommend both these patterns for quick, easy, and fun sewing!

The word on the street is that the little girl receiving this will love it!! I hope so. I had a great time making it and now I can add 2 more pattern to my "completed" list!