Disney World

Yes, that's right, folks, we're goin' to Disney World!  (Ok, actually, we have already been and come back; I couldn't tell the entire blog world that we were going to be gone for a whole week!) I did lots of sewing and crafting to get ready for our trip.  I'm so excited to share this idea that I got from Made.  Yes, that's right, I made t-shirts into dresses for my little girl who, all of a sudden, will not wear anything but dresses.  The fun part was finding Disney shirts to turn into the dresses and then finding a contrasting knit for the neckline. I made three different versions, one from an extra small women's tshirt (trick or treat), one from an extra large girl's shirt, and one from a large men's shirt - all this to say that Dana's pattern calls for a man's t-shirt but you can fiddle around and make a smaller shirt work!  Endless possibilities with this idea!

 I found a couple cute Disney appliques at Joann and decided not to leave Alexander out.  He was happy to have a couple shirts to get into the mood.

 I had grandiose plans to have several family looks but ended up with just this one.  We got all sorts of compliments on our Perry the Platypus shirts/dress.  I made Charlotte's headband to match and she loved wearing it.  I highly recommend working with knit fabrics.  So much fun and easy because it doesn't fray at all.  Here we are, looking for Perry with Phineas and Ferb.

Sign here!

I knew the kids would be excited to meet all of the characters at Disney and I wanted a good way for them to remember their time with Mickey and pals.  So, I made autograph/photo books.  I made a book for each kid using 8x8 scrapbook paper and Disney stickers.  Then, I took the books to Staples and had them spiral bound.  We tied a Mickey ribbon to our big sharpie pens and were so pleased when the characters noticed their 'pictures' in the books.   The kids showed off their books to everyone and I'll add photos of the kids to the books as soon as I can get the photos printed.  These are great souvenirs for the kids and much more fun to look at than the plain, boring books offered for purchase at Disney World.

Donald noticed that his page was decorated just like his shirt!

Charlotte meets Goofy.  He was VERY tall!

The front of the books, please tilt your head to the right since I can't figure out how to turn this picture.

Inside the front covers  have dates and "If found, please call my cell number" (I covered up my phone number so I wouldn't get calls from random strangers). 

We all love that Eeyore signed his page with a backwards "e."  

I grumbled a little bit when putting these together because it took quite a while and I tried to research which characters we would see so I could include them in the book.  However, I am glad that I took the time to do it because we had fun finding the characters and making new friends.

Sewing update

And here I am, again, letting you know that I am busy, busy, busy!  My sister-in-law, Michelle, had a baby a few weeks ago and she wanted a few boyish burp cloths to use since everything that she had for Lily was pink.  I threw these together, along with a matching 'Taggie' blanket for sweet Jackson.  I used the Gerber brand cloth diapers that come in a big pack from Target.  I'm sure there are lots of tutorials out there on how to add the fabric/ribbons to these but I just winged it since it was a fairly easy task.  

Here's Jackson wearing the gown that Amanda and I made for him (it matches Lily and Michelle!).  He has the cutest blonde hair and is a really pretty baby.  Can't wait to watch him grow up!

Also, Michelle started talking about how she was going to try to sew Lily's Halloween costume and I volunteered to help (seeing as how Michelle was going to pop out a baby at any moment).  I was excited to deliver it to Michelle because it turned out really cute.  Yes, I'll toot my own horn because it turned out and I was happy!  I used the Children's corner Louise Pattern (the same one that I used here and on another dress that I don't have a blog post about).  It's amazing how a pattern can use different fabric and a different hem-line and it looks totally different.  For this Minnie dress, I added a collar, sleeves, and shortened the hem.  I also added a ribbon sash.  The pattern comes with a collar but it didn't look like Minnie's so I used the same line of the given collar but changed the shape so it would mimic Minnie's.  The puff sleeves were easy to add and I think the shorter skirt allows the dress to flare out a bit better.  We put a pink tutu under the dress to add more volume and to make it more fun to twirl.  I can't wait to see pictures of Lily in her Minnie dress!

And, I have to say special thanks to my WONDERFUL hubby who got me a children's size 3-4 dress form for my birthday.  It's pictured above with Lily's Minnie dress on it and I think it's just fabulous.  Not only does it make taking pictures of my creations much easier, I've already used it during creation to make sure that a garment would hang correctly and fit Charlotte.  LOVE it!!  Thanks, husband who doesn't like to be named on the internet!
Now, back to my sewing machine and serger.  I still have to finish Alexander's costume (pirate), start Charlotte's costume (Tinkerbell), and make Peter and my costumes (Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head).  No pressure!