Buzzmills

Sequin Star Groove Dress...

Well, if you are going to have a party...you'll need a party dress right?!

Since she loved her last Groove dress so much it seemed like the perfect choice for a party dress!  Not to mention, I already had the pattern printed out and it's a super fast sew!  

This dress is made with some super amazing drapey, and soft, and light weight rayon french terry (?) that I already had in my stash.  I had been holding on to for a while now to make something for myself (I actually had a groove dress for myself in mind) but, you know...sometimes these things happen.

I mean it really was the perfect fabric...and you only turn 10 once!

To make it an extra special party dress and because it was an Olympics party after all...I appliqued a reversible sequin star on the front too...

I appliqued the star the same as I always do...carefully cut out the shape, applied heat and bond to the back and, using a pressing cloth, ironed it onto the dress.  After the appique had been ironed in place, I stitched around the entire edge with a zig-zag stitch. 

It seems to have worked as it's already been through the washer and dryer (thought I will say that I turned the dress inside out for that).

I found my sequins here. (not an affiliate link.)  

This was my first time sewing with sequins.  And, I'll be honest, time wasn't really on my side as I was trying to get these made last minute for birthday gifts so I wasn't really over thinking it (or thinking it over for that matter) and really just went with it.  I sewed slowly, but directly through the sequins, had no issues with my invisible zipper, though you do need to make sure the sequins are flipped away from the zipper as you are sewing.  I think that, for the applique the key really is to use either heat and bond (my favorite) or wonder under so that you know the applique will stay put. 

To say that she loved it...is kind of an understatement!

There were squeals!  As well as squeals of "thank yous!" when she opened her pillow!  

The dress is crazy cute and comfy! And that pillow gets played with so often!  My husband initially didn't understand what I was talking about with the sequins and thought it was kind of weird that I was making her a pillow...and then he saw it and understood the magic of those sequins and he too was hooked! 

It's the little things that make things special. 

And I love making those little things that make big smiles! 

An Olympic Sized 10th Birthday...

Over the weekend we had our first party in our new house!  

An Olympic themed 10th birthday!

Every year, the kids get to pick their birthday themes...and this year, with all of the Winter Olympics excitement in our house, it seemed only natural to have an Olympic themed party!

Seeing that this was the big 1-0, I really wanted Violet to have a hand in all of the planning and such...We planned the food, the favors, the games and crafts together.  And, she helped to make some of the goodie bag items and treats as well.  It was fun to have her help and I think it made the party all the more special to her!

She and I made Olympic themed bracelets and tucked those into the goodie bags...

Along with some candies, hockey stick pencils, and flags...

The decorations were mostly international flags, along with a few balloons and white tigers...

For the food we kept it pretty simple with Korean chicken barbecue (a nod to the host country), Olympic colored fruits, and chips and veggie "torches"...

Violet and I made sugar cookies and with royal icing, and then drew one Olympic rings with edible markers for a treat...

And for the birthday cake...a marble cake decorated to look like the Pyeongchang Olympic mascot, Soohorang...

I'm not a master cake maker by any means!  But he turned out kind of cute, and really all that mattered was that Violet liked him which she did!

We played games, like "snow boarding"

Olympic ring toss,

"Speed Skating"

and archery...

We crafted our own Olympic torches...

And, at the end...there was a medal ceremony...

in which everyone was awarded their very own Olympic medal.  Violet and I made the medals using polymer clay, and paint...we were pretty thrilled with the way they turned out!

And while everyone else got "Happy Birthday" crowns to wear...the birthday girl donned a handmade crown of laurels for the occasion...

I think the birthday girl was pretty happy about how everything turned out!  I know that everyone had a great time with lots of laughs and giggles (including mom and dad!) and it was so fun getting to know some new friends and know that this transition that we've made is moving along pretty well! 

Turning Nine...in Style...

It's been a whirlwind of celebrations, as February tends to be, around here...

Between my birthday at the beginning of the month, Valentine's Day in the middle and Violet's near the end of the month it feels like non stop celebrations during this short month.  I've yet to get to share my birthday makes or any Valentine's makes, though I have shared much of them on on Instagram...

But today, since it's still fresh in my head...and since it's Kids Clothes Week this week...I thought I'd share Violet's requested birthday outfit...

It was a whirlwind of celebrating over the weekend, first family and then friends the next day...

I had hoped to get her birthday dress completed in time for her birthday party, but, alas...there was not enough time...

I did manage to pull together a sweet little gathering for her and her friends though...

Violet wanted a story telling (for our fairies, of course) party...There was book making to record the stories...

Fairy house making, while telling stories...

And fanciful, fairy-like cupcakes...

Oh, and also, somehow a miracle of Spring-like temperatures in February...and as it turned out her school picture dress turned out to be the perfect dress for the day!

But, post party there was also the business of the birthday dress...one that I knew Violet was very much looking forward too, so I spent the day Monday sewing and sewing... And then, of course, the warmer temperatures were taking a momentary leave of absence...and so I needed to sew some more to make a little cardigan as well...

The last minute cardigan is the Fishtail Kimono from Chalk and Notch made from some amazing and soft ombre sweater knit from Joann.  This sweater was a lightning fast make and oh so cozy and satisfying!

Not to mention that the color matches perfectly with this amazing floral from Soft Cactus (forest treasures)...

While she truly loves her new cardigan, and to be honest, it was something she'd been asking for for quite some time...The dress is what she was really after!

The Laure qipao dress from Straightgrain.  So grown up and sophisticated.   

"Fancy but not too Fancy" as Violet proclaimed! 

Perfect for a girl like her!

This one of those dresses that, as I sewed, I wished it was mine!  From the beautiful fabric to the piping and the qipao neckline...it's just so lovely!  

At the last minute I found this "button" leftover from Henry's Christmas "blazer" from last year...and it was the perfect addition!

She truly couldn't have been happier with her birthday ensemble! 

While I didn't make it in time for the party...it was finished and ready to go off to school on her actual birthday...

Which seems like pretty perfect timing to me! 

And then after school...we had some fun taking pictures!  

 

 Happy 9, Violet of mine!  

Kids Clothes Week, Star Wars Pjs and a Birthday Celebration...

Well, here it is again...Kids Clothes Week!  Honestly, I love seeing all of the KCW makes from everyone each season, but I just have such a difficult time keeping up now that there are four KCWs a year!  Not to mention, two of those often tend to fall right around the two kiddo birthdays in our house...which makes it more challenging to find the time to sew amidst party prep, etc.  Speaking of birthdays...

Last week we celebrated Henry's 6th birthday!  Twice! 

It just so happened that on his actual birthday there was a balloon festival nearby in the evening...it also just so happened to be a glorious evening without rain (unheard of in these parts of late!).  So we celebrated with balloons and strawberry shortcake, his traditional cake, yum!  And then, over the weekend, we had some friends join us for an animal explorer birthday party complete with an animal scavenger hunt, custom patches and a panda cake!  Of course, it was rainy for the party...so my pictures are all meh...but it was still a ton of fun, pictures or not, I promise you!

So, while I might be playing catch up this week and sewing up kid clothes that I can't actually show you until next week...I did sew up a couple of birthday presents, some of which being the traditional birthday pajamas...

Not surprisingly, Henry is still quite enamored with Star Wars, and everything Star Wars...I don't see this ending anytime soon as I just made our neighbor friend a stenciled shirt the same as Henry's for his 11th birthday...but I am fully embracing it.

Henry talks about the "good guy symbol" all the time, and for a long while I didn't quite know what he was talking about, until I was on the hunt for some Star Wars fabric in Joann the other week and found this awesome fabric...

Low and behold...the "good guy" symbol!  The fabric reminds me a lot of last year's comic book pjs and shorts.  I used the parsley pants though I definitely should've made the next size up, oops!  The shirt is just an American Apparel shirt that I had in my "stash" from making appliqued shirts to sell it too is on the small side, but I was in a time crunch! 

I added a simple freezer paper "good guy" symbol stencil to the front.  He was so excited when he opened his new pjs late on his birthday night and he immediately put them on!

This is already his second wearing...but, of course, asking your little guy to get his picture taken at the end of long day, post baseball practice and past his bedtime, isn't always the best idea...but then...

You pull out the lightsabers...

And there is a second wind...

and everything is a okay!

Phew!  May the force be with you...

 

A "Tinkering" Celebration and Trinity Tee...

Violet turned eight last weekend!  I vaguely remember turning eight, maybe simply because there is a picture of me sick in bed blowing out the candles on my cake, pitiful I know...but also, I think, it's because eight is such a big year.  It's a year in which you become more independent, in all things...not just little things like tying your shoes and such, but bigger things too like crossing the street by yourself, going to the bathroom at a restaurant by yourself, making big kid friendships, reading chapter books for hours at a time, you know 8 year old stuff!

Every year, of course, she is excited for her birthday, but this year her excitement seemed different...more like she knew she was teetering on the edge of little kid to big kid.  Each morning this month she would amble down the stairs, check the calendar and proclaim, "It's __ days till my birthday!"

And for this year's birthday party, she decided she wanted to have a "tinkering" party...

We had a ton of fun planning what kind of tinkering we were going to do, so much so that our initial list was way too long for a two hour party!  But, after some editing...we came up with some fun tinkering stations...

We had a "nuts and bolts" table, with nuts and bolts and tools as well as some other odds and ends and scraps of wood with pre-drilled holes...

There was a build your own lego car table...

And once the cars were built the kids could either attach a straw & balloon for propulsion or affix a magnet onto the back and move the car along using a magnet wand. 

Obviously one option was faster than the other, but it was challenging to get the right technique for each option...and then, of course there were car races too...

There was a mini zip-line (similar to this) that kids worked on using bobbins, paper clips, fishing weights, buttons and more...this took quite a lot of tinkering to get to work, but super fun when it did!  We have pvc pipes, blankets, logs and more for fort building...

And lastly, there was a super fun, yet quite difficult game that the kids made up that consisted of a magnet on a pulley and you adjusted the length of the pulley string to help you aim the magnet at the numbers on the board...

Goodie bags were filled with mini gear erasers, handmade (by Violet) gear necklaces, handmade chocolate tool candies, and then whatever goodies the kids made while they were here...

 The table was covered in craft paper, pencils and graph paper too, in case someone had a design urge during lunch, of course there were lots of little tools too, on the cupcakes and cookies too!

I'm pretty sure fun was had by all, but I do know for sure that Violet was thrilled with the way it all turned out...

Oh and this year's traditional birthday dress...turned into a tee instead due to the tinkering theme...

The shirt is the new trinity tee pattern from rock the stitch and Violet loves it! 

Everything about it! 

The graph paper inset is leftover from Henry's backpack (Schematic fabric from Carolyn Friedlander).  I had just enough, well nearly just enough...thus the little orange flannel at the tip, which is actually pretty perfectly suited anyhow for this shirt and Violet couldn't be happier about it!

The tiny shoulder pleats...

the high-low hem, the 3/4 length sleeves...It all got high marks from Violet! 

There will surely be more of these trinity tees in the future!  It really is the perfect eight year old tee!