Buzzmills

Corduroy Farrow Dress...

At the end of January and the very beginning of February I found myself fervently sewing up a few things...birthday gifts, of sorts, for me.  

My husband and I were preparing to head off on our "first ever since having two kids night away" and my hope was to have my suitcase packed with mostly me-mades for the occasion.

The first make was my new toaster...and next up...a Farrow Dress from Grainline Studio...

I have to say that initially I wasn't quite sold on the Farrow.  I think it was the pockets that were throwing me off.  To me, it felt like in many instances that the pockets pulled out and away from the dress too much, making it seem a little too frumpy for my liking.  But then I saw this dress for the no pockets tutorial.  I had already fallen in love with Jen's white pocketless wedding version so I thought I'd give a pocketless Farrow a try.  

I used a fine wale corduroy from my stash.  It's a nice soft grey with the tiniest little white polka dots scattered on it.  

I didn't want the dress to be too stiff and wanted it have some flow, the light weight of the corduroy gives the dress a nice drape, while also keeping me warm (it was going to be a frigid birthday weekend)!

I made the size four according to my bust measurements but I wish, I think, that I had made the size two instead...next time I think.

I also, totally missed a step and forgot to add the seam allowance (I think that's what I did wrong, it's been a while now since I sewed it!) after removing the pocket pattern piece and had a mismatched front and back.  I made it work by adding a little "pleat" (that's what I'm calling it) to the back.  

The pleat also helped to tone down some of the volume in the dress, sometimes I find the volume of a-line dresses to be just a little too much for me and my liking...

I really love this dress though!  I am looking forward to making it in a rayon challis or something similar and perhaps lined as well.

I love, love, love it with heels and tights and taking it out on a fancy night on the town...but it's also totally perfect for more casual wear as well!  

Casual as in no makeup with the messiest of top-knots for your daughter's ninth birthday party...when you may or may not have just tossed it on moments before her friends arrived over top your sports bra and running undies, un-showered and post 19 mile run...yeah, perfect for moments like those!

But hey, it was my birthday dress...and there was a birthday party going on!  So, while the kids ate mini chicken pot-pies on the deck for lunch, I deemed that the perfect time to snag some pictures, make up or not!

You take what you can get right?

Toaster Sweater...

Instagram and the sewing community...the perfect match for an abundance of inspiration!  Right? 

Earlier this year I was seeing so many amazing Toaster sweaters of both varieties all across Instagram.  Finally, it was too much for me to resist...and I caved.  

I treated it as a birthday gift to myself...and I'm so glad I did!

I made the #2 toaster option, in the end falling for the wide neckline and the mitered side vents/hi-low hemline...

The fabric is this amazingly soft and drapey sweater knit that I got on sale at my local fabric shop.  Initially it was to be a sweater for Henry as he was the one who picked it out, but hey...there have been plenty of times (too many to count really) where it's gone the other way around, fabric ear-marked for me ends up as children's clothes.  So this switch around seemed fair.  Plus, there's still plenty left for something for him...he's a tiny guy!

I love the drape of this sweater knit with this pattern.  It makes the sweater so easy and comfortable to wear.  

It makes it perfect for both "dressier" occasions, but also perfect for everyday "hiking" wear!

This sweater has gotten a ton of wear this past month.  I'm glad I caved!  I'm thinking I might even need to make a super light weight summer time version sometime soon!

Secret Valentine Exchange 2017...

This year was my first year participating in Sanae and Ute's annual Secret Valentine's Exchange.  This was their 4th annual SVE. This year there were 426 other makers from around the globe who joined!

What fun to be a part of such and amazing conglomerate of creative folks!  If you follow me on Instagram you've already seen what I received from Lindsey two fantastic Charley Harper zippy pouches and fudge!  

Today, I thought I'd share what I made for my Secret Valentine...

My Secret Valentine was Julie, from Our Chez Nous.  Lucky for me, I'm already an avid follower of Julie on Instagram and almost immediately I knew that I wanted to sew her up a bag of some sort so that she could tote her knitting from ice rink to ice rink...

I sewed up the smaller of the two Stowe bag sizes in canvas "Bound Cheshire Feathers" by Art Gallery thinking that it'd be perfect for tossing in her latest knitting project...

And added a pop of neon orange in the binding...as she said that she liked orange.

Inside the bag I added a little leather loop snap to hook keys or what not if needed...

And a sweet little birdy tag...because why not?

Being that she's Canadian...and figuring that one can never have too many cold weather gear items...I also made an upcycled pair of wool mittens...

I used my Sweater mittens tutorial, my new serger and the same wool knit from these "woolies" to make them.

I added some little blue felt flower appliques too...because blue is another of her favorites...

And, since I was a little bit behind in getting started I thought I'd use a car trip to NYC to stitch up a cross stitch necklace/key chain...

I say necklace/key chain because I couldn't quite figure out which was best...I left it up to Julie, though she says that she can't decide either!

It'd been ages since I'd stitch one of these, the last one was a rose but this one I wanted to make more geometric and "modern", while also adding in Julie's favorite colors...

I got a note from Julie the day after she received her gift saying that she loved it all!  Phew!  I was so happy that she enjoyed her gifts!

February tends to be so crazy between our birthdays and Valentine's day and I hesitated to sign up, and I do admit that my gift arrived a couple of days late...but it was so much fun "stalking" and planning and making and wondering and gifting and receiving that I'll likely do it again next year!  Not that I'll plan ahead next year and I'll likely be tardy once again...but still!

Thanks again to Sanae and Ute for putting it all together!

Sewing for "Holidays"...and Heart Pins...

There are lots of reasons I like to sew.

To be able to wear something I've made with my own two hands.  To see my kids looking adorable in their mama mades.  To see something that you envision become a reality...

But, I'm realizing more and more that one of the biggest reasons...is so that I don't have to buy the crap tees that they sell in stores!

I'll admit that there are occasionally fun tees to be found.  But more often than not they have, as far as I'm concerned, inappropriate text spewed across their fronts.  

Call me old fashioned I guess.

But, just because I don't particularly care for the wording used on those RTW tees doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good "holiday" themed tee.  

Who doesn't love to celebrate a holiday by dressing festively?  These are those moments where I reach into my fabric stash, pull out a favorite t-shirt pattern and sew.  And, lickety–split before you know it...a new "festive" shirt is born...

I literally find myself doing this over and over again the day, or in many instances, the night before a holiday...or an event, like "Sneetches Day" at school...

Having the supplies on hand and the ability to sew makes it so easy. 

And, more often than not...much cuter!  And always, in my opinion, more kid appropriate!

Not to mention the fact that I usually let the kids chime in with their own input and designs...so that they get to truly make it their own and make it something that they want to wear!

Like these Valentine's Day Flashback Skinny tees...kid ideas meet felt and iron on vinyl...

Or, these Bethioua raglans ...

made by "hodge podging" together the little bits of yellow fabrics I had sitting around to make a couple, very unique, Sneetches tees... 

In the end, I know, it's because I enjoy sewing so much that I whip these thematic tees up last minute.  But, it's also because I enjoy seeing the kid's personalities and their individuality shine through when wear something uniquely their own.  

Also, it makes me happy.  It makes me happy that they are still letting me make them things and that they genuinely enjoy it!  

PS...on a slightly different note...these heart pins!!!

I made more than forty of these sweet little heart pins for each of the kid's classmates.  They were the "topper" for the class party goodie bags and while they did take a bit of time, cutting out individual shrinky dink hearts, baking them and then gluing them onto tie tack pins...I just love the way they turned out!  

And, in fact, find myself tacking my own little red heart pin onto my collar or shirt over and over again...

Just a little reminder that "all you need is love"! 

And, maybe, in the end...that too is part of what drives me to make tees, pins, fun foods...for the kids...it's one of the ways that I am able to remind them each day that they are loved.

Cheesy?  Maybe.  But I don't care.