New curtains on the way

I'm hoping to take advantage of this 3 - 4 day weekend by sewing up some new curtains for the bedroom. I got these off-white curtains with the grommets at Gabe's a couple of weeks ago for $7.99 each. They are the right shade for the room. The fabric is almost like a cotton duck so it should be thick enough to keep out the light. Mr. Lemon and I like our sleeping room like a cave. In fact, I keep my alarm clock in a drawer next to the bed because the light keeps me up.

This blue stuff is a set of two panels that I will use to sew at the bottom of the curtains to cover up that unsightly 1988 forest green (see above). I'm also going to fold over the grommet section at the top of the curtain because large curtain rods are like a million dollars and I really don't think the look works with our mid-century melange of styles. This color is perfect. It's my favorite shade of teal/dark robin's egg blue. It's almost variegated so that the lighter color is the same as what's in the bedroom and the darker shade calms it down in a much needed way.

As for the bed: We want this Mandal bed from Ikea because it is made of actual wood and not a composite but I don't like the unfinished birch look for our room. I think it will completely clash with the Broyhill Brasilia hutch that I'm stuck on. I'm all about mixing styles but that's a bit much. I'd paint it but I don't really want to spend $350 on something that I have to refinish. I'd have to do the drawers too. The drawers are actually the best part about the bed. Since our house is about 900 sq. ft. we need all the storage we can get. Does anyone know of a good bed that will meet our needs?

Feature

My little polka dot dress was featured on the Fabric Loft blog as a source of inspiration for people using Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection. If you live in the UK, check them out. They have a great selection of fabrics. Read the full post here.

Tillbrook Romper

After seeing this post over at Mon Ami, I had to buy this pattern and make the romper myself. I found Mon Ami Journal through the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week challenge and both are excellent blogs for inspiration.

Luckily, I found the pattern on Etsy right away. It was a size 3. Perfect!

The pattern was super easy to follow. I didn't have any issues with the instructions or the fabric. I chose Alexander Henry's Tillbrook Sprites for the body of the romper and some of the coordinating print for the straps. There is a LOT of pink in the pattern so I went with a solid green for the top and I love how it pulled out the hints of different greens from the foliage around the fairies.

I used teeny tiny buttons for the top closure. They have a hint of pearl to them that's a welcome shimmer against the bold green. The ones in this photo are green. The original buttons are red so they pop out more against the solid.

The 3t is a bit roomy but I'm hoping we'll get some use out of this next year. In fact, it seems like there is a trend toward vanity sizing in kids clothes and that really pisses me off. Kids clothing should correspond as closely as possible to the age. Two-year olds should be able to wear a size 2, three-year olds should be able to wear a size 3, etc. Of course there will be bigger kids and smaller kids but you get the idea. Zadie grew out of most 2t big box store clothing right about the time she turned 2. But when I sew vintage clothing patterns in a size 3 they are massive. Ok, end rant.

Anyway, to solve the problem of the romper being enormous, I just sewed a second button about an inch above the original. I took the photo above (with gnome) after putting the romper on her for the first time. In most of the shots, it is just hanging off of her (and her hair is wild). The new button makes it fit much better and when she grows, we'll just start using the lower button. This is the garment I used for the snap tape tutorial so you're finally able to see it in action. I don't know why it took me almost 3 weeks to sew a couple of buttons on.

Soft Shenanigans

Zadie is heading off to daycare this week (sniff). At home she sleeps with an entourage (and calls it such): blankie made by Auntie Steph, Mila, Elph, sometimes Rat, and The Soft. The Soft is this oddly shaped blanket that I made out of the fabric that was left over from this awesome cape. Our packing list for daycare includes any special sleeping blankets the child may have (and practically half the house). I would love to send The Soft along to daycare but it is just going to get left there, grossed up, and who knows what else.

So after a discussion, Zadie agreed that a Special Soft would do for daycare. She requested blue and luckily they had some in stock. It's not as slippery as the crazy stuff I bought last year so it was easy to stitch up. Since I had some left over, I made Mila and Rat their own special softs. The pictures show the shenanigans that ensue when the three get together. On top she is pretending to sleep. I'm not quite sure what is going on in the second photo but that is usually the time out spot. As you can see, everyone loves their new softs (and you can see the alphabet version of the pretty pinafore in action, well, sort of).

Bounty (and then some)

Our garden has been prolific in new ways this Summer. For years we've grown zucchini, yellow squash and pattypan without doing much. We've never been able to grow an acorn squash or any other type of Winter squash despite a great deal of effort. This year, however, the tables were turned. We have had some lovely spaghetti squash, some tiny acorn squash, and lots and lots and lots of butternut squash but the yellow squash and the zuc in the picture were the only two we got. Crazy! We've also got several million delicious cherry tomatoes (and I'm not complaining).

In other news of bounty, I got Zadie this AMAZING wool coat at a yard sale for a couple of bucks. I love the patterned velvet collar and shoulder thingies.

Check out the hat. Cute. The pics are not quite true to color. The coat is not navy but it's not bright blue either. It's really quite perfect.

I bought a 2t coat for her last winter and rolled up the sleeves. The smaller size would not zip up so I went up a size and I'm really hoping it will fit this year as coats are wildly expensive. As it's been nothing but 95 and humid around here, I will not torture her with a trying on session. This yard sale find is a 3t so my bases are covered (what's with all my quippy little cliches this post?).

Vintage Pattern Overload

A local church had a rummage sale in their basement last weekend and I spotted a box of patterns as soon as I walked in the door. I asked, "How much for the patterns?" The lady at the card table replied, "Oh, 5 cents each."

There were 20 patterns total. As you can see, most are a size 34, just a little too big. Several were a 36. Two of them were from the '80s and so ugly that I couldn't bear to photograph them.

I've put the ones close to my size in my pattern bin and the rest have been stored for later.

Lucky, lucky me. I'm not ready to deal with any of these yet but they are nice to have and dream about.

Getting organized!

I have really been working hard on getting the office/studio in shape. On a whim and in a fit of impulse buying fury, I snatched up the last two Liberty of London bins from Target a few months ago and promptly filled them with important stuff. One holds my patterns (see disaster above) and the other (a different size and shape) is filled (well, actually overfilled) with clothes I plan to repurpose.

After not being able to find any of the patterns I was looking for, I tore the whole thing apart and took care of business. Here is the newly organized bin. I took out all of the photocopies and pages I printed from the internet and pdfs and they now live sleeved in brand new binders sorted by type. I bought two "natural" cardboard-like ones from Office Depot and two shiny brown ones with cool covers from Target. I'll hot glue some ribbon down the spine of the shiny ones because they are too shiny and, well, I found that ribbon I mentioned before and I think it will look so cool.

I'll show you the whole space as soon as it's finished. I picked up some more of that cardboard looking stuff in the form of photo file boxes from Michael's to replace my plastic lidded tubs. Mr. Lemon is now using the tubs and they are perfect for him. The best thing is that even after a trip to Ikea during which I found NOTHING that will work for the space we have, I stumbled upon a little gem at our local Lowe's that is precisely the dimensions I need to be both a coffee/side table and a storage solution. But it's out of stock so stay tuned. I did find it online but shipping, wow. Patience, grasshopper.

The only problem for me is that I have these fabric cubes that fit in the square spaces and the green ones are so ugly to me and I hate them. I bought them on clearance but I want to get rid of them and that is just not something I can do if I can't use them somewhere else in the house. So maybe I'll cover them up or something. We'll see.