Candy Cane Striped Skater Dresses

Yes, I know, it's a wee bit early for Christmas stuff. I apologize for contributing in any way to the phenomenon of the Christmas onslaught beginning before Halloween, but I wanted to make some matching dresses for my nieces for their holiday card photos, so a bit of forethought was necessary.

I had some great red and white striped knit in my stash, care of the Real Martha (meaning it's old-school, maybe from the early '80s) that I thought would be perfect for Christmas dresses. Combined with the Kitschy Coo Skater Dress pattern, which worked out so well for my nieces earlier this year: Christmas-worthy (but still wearable in a non-Christmas setting) candy cane-esque dresses!  They've got a bit of a Where's Waldo feel to them, but nothing a cute kid can't pull off!

I love this pattern... so cute and so quick! I can cut and sew one together in about an hour if I've got everything set up.  Not much to say about construction. Like last time I made it, I did the neckline a bit different than in the instructions, inserting it in the round. Otherwise, by the book.

Can't wait to see them on the girls!!

Polka Dot Yaletown Blouse

Ikat Print Prefontaines

Whew, that was a long sewing break!!  I'm super happy to get back in the game with this quick win:

Made with Moxie Prefontaine shorts!!  A belated birthday gift...  I love my panda pair so much, I thought I should share the Prefontaine goodness.

Hopefully my somewhat tragic fabric placement in the front of the shorts doesn't irk the birthday girl!

I made them with Amy Butler Kasbah faux-ikat fabric, remnants from my Meghan dress from last year. The navy ponte trim (also used on my previous pair of Prefontaines) is leftovers from Tim's Newcastle. 

These Prefontaines came together like buttah.  What a great pattern... 

Hopefully the birthday girl will share photos of her rocking these Prefontaines once they arrive at her place!

My Makes Featured! Also: Cats

Long time, no post! We had a wee bit of a health crisis here at Chez Cookin' and Craftin' over the past couple of weeks. No worries, everyone is better and back at home after a hospital stay. Needless to say, I didn't get any sewing done recently.  

In lieu of new sewing, here are some cat photos. Specifically, my cat invading my sewing space. Well, the tangled undercarriage of my sewing space. Dude loves to craft. And has some impressive chompers:

While you'e at it, check out these other blogs, where some of my recent makes have been featured!  

I'm honored!!

My Summer Jazz Dress was featured on the Snapdragon Studios blog.  Do take a look at their cool stripey version of the Summer Jazz Dress... makes me itch to make another one soon!

My Moneta, Myrtle, Megan and Vogue shingle dresses all made it onto the Curvy Sewing Collective August round-up! Love that site... what an awesome, talented, and confidence-inspiring community!

Finally, my batik Minnie Mouse Sally dress was featured as part of a "desert rose" themed round-up on the Kollabora blog a few weeks ago!

Thanks, ladies!!

Back in Black: Moneta

Dooooods.  My first Moneta, the one made from fabric that earned me the scorn of the cutting lady at Joann, was so comfy, cute and easy to put together that I was destined to make another right quick.

This all-black Moneta is definitely not the most show-stopping or thrilling piece I've ever sewn... but I am pretty sure it will be among my most worn.  It's basically a blank slate for accessorizing.  Need a backdrop for an enormous necklace? a colorful scarf? a particularly loud blazer or cardigan? Solid black Moneta responds "Yes, please, choose me! Accessorize the shit out of me!"

Par exemple:

I won't say much about the construction of the dress because I did exactly what I did for my first Moneta, which is to say I followed the directions to a tee.  The only change I made was to cut out the 3/4 length sleeves, which was actually more of a pain than I thought it would be, purely because I had to sort through the PDF pattern to find the pages corresponding to the longer sleeve pattern in order to print them out.  Mayhaps Colette could make things easier on that front in the future by identifying the pages or making a separate file for the various sleeve options?