Playing catch-up!

Whew, has this month been busy!  After a trip to Chicago and a resolution to a minor health issue that left me too exhausted to work, I'm back to sewing like a fiend and catching up on my mountainous back-log of orders.

First up, some oven mitts and matching hanging dishtowels, made from super adorable matroyshka-themed fabric, which the customer special-ordered and had sent to me.  It was a heavier weight fabric, almost like a canvas, and by the time I was done making these, I'd really fallen in love with it.

I had actually finished the oven mitts quite some time ago, but had a bunch of fabric leftover, so she requested some dishtowels with a piece added so you could hang them over an oven handle or the like.  I drafted the towel pattern myself and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Definitely going to be making more of these.

Next is an apron knot dress, based on the Portabellopixie pattern, made from the same skull fabric I used for one of E's skirts. 

Last, but certainly not least, is a strapless shirred dress for the daughter of my favorite photographer, who also happened to take the pic of the little girl in the apron dress above.  Her daughter is really into maps, so this fabric was perfect for her!

 

Egg-o-rama

 

I realized that I never posted the fabric eggs I made for Easter this year.  I despise the plastic eggs, not just because they're usually filled with candy, but mostly because my child freaks out if I try to throw the actual eggs away, empty or not.  So I end up with plastic egg halves scattered all over my house for months, as I gradually sneak them into the trash.  Bleh.

Last year, I saw a couple different tutorials for making fabric eggs, one with a secret pocket and one without, and bookmarked them, thinking I'd give it a whirl. Of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I never got around to it.  But this year, I remembered to look the tutes over again a few days before Easter.  Hey, that's progress for me!

These were surprisingly easy and fast to make. I spent one evening digging through my scrap bag and cutting out as many pieces as possible, and then about an hour or so zipping them through my sewing machine.  The only really tedious part was hand-stitching the holes closed, but again, it was accomplished in just an hour or so in front of the TV, the night before.

The secret pocket eggs were neat, but while they're larger in overall size, the pocket didn't hold more than a jellybean or two.  My child couldn't quite dig the jellybeans out and, in her frustration, started biting them out, which then led to a sticky old mess inside.  Ew.  Next time, we'll stick to the regular old pocketless eggs, which were smaller and more nicely egg-shaped.