Princesses Anna

Emma and Olivia both asked for Princess Anna (Frozen) dresses for Christmas but for various reasons (mainly my sewing machine being in the shop for repairs for 3 weeks) I didn't finish them until April.

The decoration also caused some problems. I was going to use the applique design that came with the pattern (McCall's 7000) but it was a bit a bit too big and clunky so I bought a machine embroidery design from My Sewing Art (through Etsy I think) and it stitched out beautifully. 

And, finally, here they are in their dresses - still waiting for their cloaks:

What do you mean, Easter is almost here?

It feels like Christmas was just a few weeks ago. In any event, here are the outfits I made for my granddaughters for Christmas.

Olivia was delighted with the Elsa dress I made for her:

But Emma was not impressed with her outfit. "It's pants! What were you thinking, Grandma?" I even had to bribe her to try it on for a photograph.

So, while she was enjoying a holiday by the beach, I made a skirt to go with the outfit. And she was much happier with my second attempt.

Catching up - turtles

It's a long time since I blogged - for all the usual reasons of being busy - but I have been making things over that time. The theme for Olivia's birthday party was turtles and her favourite colour is green, so I was very pleased with the fabric I found for her birthday outfit - if you enlarge the photo, you will see that the dress and bag are covered with turtles.

This photo gives a better view of the dress:

Explorer Backpacks

A couple of years ago, I made a nature bag for Emma. However, I wasn't very happy with the bag - it was a bit floppy - and Olivia didn't have one.

So I have made new bags for both girls. Each bag is lined with the fabric used as external trim and they have lots of pockets, both inside and outside, for all those things that they might collect. They also contain bags and containers, as well as necessary equipment such as binoculars, magnifying glasses, pencils, books and so on.

Cloaks

For some time now, Emma has been fascinated by cloaks. She would wrap any piece of fabric she could find (and there are quite a few in my stash) around her shoulders. So I decided to make her a proper cloak - purple, of course. 

And then I remembered the issue with bags at Christmas time, so I found some pink fabric and made a cloak for Olivia as well. Emma loves her cloak but Olivia was less impressed by hers - though she's happy enough in this photo.

Christmas outfits

Okay, it's already March but here is the last of my December sewing bee - I can't remember what I actually made in December but there were dresses, hats, bags, Christmas stockings . . . And it's taken me this long to finish getting photos. 

Emma was reluctant to model her outfit: "I don't wear it every day, you know. It's only for Christmas and special parties". However, after some high-level negotiations involving chocolate frogs, she really got into the spirit of it. I used Simplicity pattern 5540 for the hat, dress and matching purple shorts (not visible in this photo) and scaled down the reversible bucket bag pattern from Lisa Lam's The Bag Making Bible for the matching bag - which is lined with the dotted fabric I used for the dress.

And here is Olivia looking very cheeky in her Christmas dress (Simplicity 7189):

Olivia wasn't very happy when they opened their presents on Christmas Eve. She acted as if there had been a gross miscarriage of justice - or someone had switched the gift tags around. Why? Because she didn't get a bag! So the next day (yes, Christmas Day), I made a bag for her to match her birthday outfit.

Here are the two girls with their hats and bags, posing with Daddy before heading off to the coast:

Both bags are reversible - this is the reverse of Olivia's bag:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar saga - the final instalment - Olivia

When I bought the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt kit (about 8 months ago), Olivia took the photo from the kit, climbed up on the couch and sat gazing at it lovingly. So I bought more fabric for a quilt for her - but then I had to buy more after passing the first quilt on to another child. She loved the quilts so much that I had to hide them whenever she came around. 

Finally, on her second birthday, she became the proud owner of her very own Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilt - and here she is enjoying it.

And I'm not making any more!

Zigzag hemline

I made this dress for Olivia from a New Look pattern (6136). I'd never done a zig-zag hemline before and managed the sew the lower band on upside down, so had to re-do it. A very suitable outfit for the very warm weather we've been experiencing this summer.

Dresses by Grandma

I made Christmas outfits for Emma and Olivia but didn't manage to get photos of them wearing them at the time. However, they wore them on the weekend to the Multicultural Festival.

Emma in her dress and matching hat (I love her sandals):

Emma and Olivia posing with their grandfather:

Olivia's dress has cute ladybird buttons on the back:

A birthday dress for Olivia

 I made this little outfit for Olivia's 1st birthday party.

And here she is wearing it at her party. She really enjoyed Pass the Parcel.

Christmas dresses

Here's Emma in her Christmas dress (the photo was taken at Christmas time but it's taken a while for me to get around to posting it).

And here is Emma's baby sister, Olivia, in her Christmas outfit. Olivia arrived just a few days before Christmas, so she had to wait a while for her outfit. As for the slightly large hat, she outgrew the small size before I finished it, so I skipped the medium size and made a large one. It's still a bit too big but she will probably grow into it very soon.