Stuff I Just Did; Stuff I Will Do

Hey, all! I got to do a lot of sewing over the holidays, so I thought I'd sum up here. I'll start with Thanksgiving. I started with this:

Sketch and fabrics for Goofer Bean's Thanksgiving dress.

Those became a blouse, bloomers, and dress set. It was an adventure-- I'm still learning to budget my time with a baby in the mix, and I didn't make a mock up of the pattern I drafted. The blouse ended up too short, but I figured out a fix that wouldn't show. Goofer Bean wore the ensemble for Thanksgiving, and looked absolutely darling!

So cute!

Showing off the sleeves and bloomers.

A pretty good view of the front.

The back.

So there's that. Then I started working on Christmas projects. I had quite a few of those: a pair of stuffed dogs for my nephews, a baby's first Christmas ornament, a stocking, and a Christmas dress for Goofer Bean, and (this one was unplanned, but lots of fun) a stocking for my younger nephew. That last one is actually the first one I finished:

It's hard to see, but the little white spot is an elephant.

My sister-in-law had the cool idea of using one of her son's old pajamas as trim for the stocking. My mom partnered with me. I made the pattern, which, admittedly, didn't turn out quite as I envisioned; I didn't add seam allowance, so it turned out narrower than I'd planned. I cut and sewed all the trim on and did the embroidery, and my mom did the actual construction. It turned out pretty cute!

I started the puppies before the stocking, but didn't finish them till afterward.

The pattern in front was for the Thanksgiving dress.

The finished dog above is my younger nephew's. I forgot to get pictures of both before I gave them to the boys for Christmas; hopefully soon I'll be able to update with pictures of both.

I couldn't find any baby's first Christmas ornaments that I liked for my baby, so I got some Sculpey clay instead! Here's what I made:

The actual ornament is about three inches tall.

I was pretty proud of how it turned out-- even cuter than what Hallmark had to offer this year!

Goofer Bean's dress and stocking were the biggest project. Here's how I started:

Sketch and fabrics

After working on my nephew's stocking, I decided it would be cool to make Goofer Bean's stocking out of the same fabric as her dress, if I had enough. It turns out that I did! The dress could use a tiny bit of reworking (I ran out of time to do the back seam as well as I wanted), but it's really pretty! Here are pictures:

Dress and stocking!

A better photo of the dress

Sleeve detail

Bodice detail

My dollbaby opening her stocking on Christmas eve.

So, that's what I've been working on. The next few projects on my roster are for Goofer Bean's birthday. The first is a fluffly ruffly birthday dress:

Sketch, fabrics, and trims.

I also want to make her a teddy bear. I'm deciding between two patterns:

I wouldn't add the patches, and would probably
make the eyes bigger. Plus I'd use the same
fabric for the muzzle and the main body.

I might try to add foot pads, and would omit the
stitch that they seem to have put in the belly.

If anyone has feedback on which pattern I should use, let me know in the comments!

Once those are done, I have several ongoing projects, plus I'll be trying something new. I've been inspired by my cousin Rebecca, who has a small crochet business (Crocheted by Rebecca on Facebook-- check it out; she's awesome), and I want to start a business of my own: Rhymes with Finesse Needle Arts. I'll start by selling small keepsake stuffed animals, made using outgrown babies'/children's clothes (or any other sentimental fabrics customers send me), and if that goes well, I might expand from there. So be looking for that starting in April or May!

So that's what's up! Thanks for reading!