Baptism Dress

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you can get baptized at eight years of age.  I have a daughter that is coming right upon eight and I made her a dress to wear to her baptism.  She won't be wearing it during the actual baptism (they have white jumpsuits for that), just before and after.

I used a modkidboutique pattern, Kyoko.  The fabric is a white with white embroidery lined with muslin.  I used white linen for the sash and grosgrain for the ties.

 The skirt is much more full when she wears the dress.  I also got her a white hair flower and necklace to wear.  I can't believe how quickly she has grown!

Girl or Boy?

I took my oldest daughter to help me pick out fabrics for this baby girl quilt.  She and I picked out a dozen combination's before we settled on these fabrics.  She had fun and wants to sew, which makes me happy!  We liked the nesting doll fabric because we were nesting dolls last Halloween.  She said nesting dolls are like being pregnant, and my husband speaks Russian.  The other fabrics are Riley Blake and Michael Miller.

 

 I quilted this quilt with a meandering daisy pattern.  It just went with the fabric really well.

The overall effect is a bit busy, but I really like the way it turned out.  My kids still use the baby quilts I made them and so it's nice for them to be bright and cheery.

I also made a blessing dress for a baby girl.  I wanted to go with the kimono theme again, so I used a side snap shirt and attached a fabric skirt to the bottom.

  I also added some lace to the top.  It is really simple and light, but should work great for tiny baby.

Now it's just a waiting game to see if I will use the boy stuff or the girl stuff.  Any guesses?

Boy or Girl?

First up boy-I made a quilt with Michael Miller's baby line for my possible baby boy quilt.  It is a basic brick pattern and goes together really fast.  I love all the prints and didn't want to make any of them too small.  I love the bicycles so much that the quilt is backed in them.

I also made a blessing outfit for a baby boy.  In the LDS church we bless our babies when they are small, it's really a beautiful ceremony in which my husband will give the baby the name we have decided upon and then a blessing.  I had a vision of a cute little white linen kimono for a boy blessing outfit.  So I set to work on it and ended up with a very small Karate Kid outfit.  But is is very soft and cute in person, so I will just go with it.

I do really love kimonos on babies, but we won't know for a few weeks if we get to use this outfit or not! Next up girl....

Whale of A Backpack

My kids don't actually ask me to make stuff for them very often.  Either they are inundated with what I do make for them, or uninterested.  I took Isabella fabric shopping with me to get some baby quilt fabric.  She saw this fabric by Ann Kelle and just had to have something made out of it.  First she wanted a dress, I thought it would be quite a dress for an almost eight year old, but no big deal.  Then she was having trouble with the zipper on her backpack and decided she needed a whale backpack.  Yikes!  I looked around for some backpack patterns to no avail.  There are some out there, just not quite what I was after.  Finally I decided to make my own and just went for it. 

It was one of those moments where I could see in my mind how everything needed to come together and I couldn't stop until it was all finished. 

There are things I would change if I did it again (aren't there always), but I am so far pleased with the outcome.  The backpack has three exterior pockets, no interior. I think the straps will need some further reinforcing at some point, we will see. 

And I think I would have liked to buy a piece of leather to cover the bottom.  Just for the sake of durability.  The pack does have a purse zipper, so there are two pulls, and I really like that.

  Bella was very satisfied and will be wearing it for the rest of the school year she says. 

 

The main fabric is Ann Kelle Urban Zoology by Robert Kaufman.  The polka dot is a Michael Miller print and the solid orange is a Kona Cotton from Jo-Ann's.