My SWAP plan!!!!

The basic idea is that you make 11-12 items and they form a cohesive wardrobe for the whole year. This is the picture of Fall/Winter collection, but it works great for the summer as well. To tell you the truth, I'm a bit torn about the brown leggings/tee combo. Kind of boring, but definitely one of my key neutrals (brown) that I will get plenty of wear out of. Man! I love this kind of thing so much. I'm still looking for the perfect overall pattern, or the not so perfect but accessible and not in French.

Frankenpatterning a coat.

I made my daughter a coat. I'm not sure why, but I hate making coats. Probably something to do with zippers. To be honest, I actually enjoyed almost the entire process of this making. I used a wool for the outside, a quilted cotton for the lining, and bound it with a coral stretch wool I harvested from a pair of bizarre pants I found for two bucks a few years ago. I knew they'd come in handy some day. I love wool. I love sewing with wool although it's hard to keep up with kids who need wash and wear garments.

Charlotte fell in love with Boden's Dreamcatcher's cape coat. Before I had the chance to decide whether or not it would be worth spending $125 on it, it was sold out. So, I was looking on Amazon for a similar shape and found a very lightweight cotton cape with ears and a doll on the pocket. It wasn't heavy enough for winter, though, so we (that's actually me) designed this based on a few coat patterns and voila! fait accompli! (we are studying French.) I looked and looked for a pattern in this shape. It was the most frustrating part of this project. I'm kind of pleased with how well it turned out, although I forgot the hook.

 

Something weird is going on with the pockets. They were even at some point. Maybe putting on the buttons messed it up. Maybe I'll unpick that one. 

cute and cozy. She loves it and that's what counts.

Happy Movember!!!

11 year old carved this cute kitty all by herself!

the spring or broken main. We haven't decided yet. 

She's sooooo pretty!!!!!

I caught the peeping tom on film! Wait, no, that's me.

Trick-o-treating in the neighborhood! People get into it.

HAPPY MOVEMBER!!!!

JUST.... mustastic!

A few more sunrises

Unicorn t-shirt. Makes me happy. 

I've been working on my new House of Slide covers!

Well, the first one was a total success, I think, and by first I mean second. Ahem. Let me explain. For some reason I don't quite understand, I started with the second book. Maybe because it had the cutest umbrella. So... I think Hybrid is a VERY cute cover. I love it. I think it's a bit spooky and evocative of the change she makes from caterpillar to butterfly. It took 641 photos and 40 yards of tulle to make this cover, plus a blue wig, a unicorn t-shirt and the super cute blossom umbrella. I think it's pretty spot on, though.

The second was pretty much disastrous. The photoshoot, the lighting was PERFECT and then bam! Eight photos in and my battery pack was dead. Apparently I need a backup or something because it always seems to die when I'm counting on it. And then my photoshop kept crashing and wouldn't save anything and... Headache. I do not love photoshop. Although it is sometimes less stressful than it used to be, it's still a mysterious beast I don't understand. In spite of that, I came up with something almost okay using a variety of sources that don't blend perfectly because... well, lots of reasons. AT any rate, this is the direction I'm going because pretty dresses sell and I am a heartless marketer. I'll probably redo the photo shoot and come up with something better and more cohesive. Or not. Depends on how crazy things get.