Princess Emma's Jumper

The title of this post is in reference to a comment from my latest and littlest client - "Oh, I feel like a princess!" Whenever I make something pretty for Penny or put her in a twirl-y skirt she says, "I'm a butterfly!" or rather (I a bufferfi!) It makes me sad because we lose that magic at some point.  I mean if we put on something that makes us feel beautiful, it causes us to smile, but if I put on a dress and twirled out of my closet saying "I'm a butterfly!" my husband would wonder what I hit my head on the way out of the closet.  So I relish in delight with happy little girls and their new beautiful dresses.  We become so self-defeating with our image at such an early age - it is refreshing to see confident happy ladies (regardless of their age!) Off my soapbox now and onto my recent work!

I have been chomping at the bit to show you my latest and greatest in P2 jumpers.  I was contacted a month or so ago by Stacey.  Stacey and I went to high school together back up at LC!  We reunited on Facebook (which has seriously been the best thing I could have ever done personally and professionally) and she saw some of the images of jumpers past.  She contacted me to make a jumper for her little darling, Emma.  Since Emma is about Penny's age it was another opportunity for me to perfect my 3T pattern.  I finally have the measurements I for each cuts of fabric and how much fabric that equates to when buying.  I am embarrassed to say I am such a "winger" when it comes to sewing, but I felt it was high-time to actually make it a bit more concise.  So anyway, I realized while working with Stacey that while I enjoy pulling together the perfect custom piece, sometimes it really helps to have options.  So I went to may favorite local fabric store (Always in Stitches), where the ladies are so kind and just let me hop around the store pulling bolts and pairing them up and photographing them.  I was able to give Stacey 6 different options and she chose from that lot of fabric.  I gave you a teaser last post, but I can't tell you how much cuter it all came together in person.  Presenting - Emma's Jumper:

As you know it's one thing for me to like it, heck I made it, of course I like it, but I am always nervous about what my client thinks. I woke up to a wonderful email that I am happy to share - it has totally made my day!

Oh my goodness, Annie!  The jumper is AMAZING!  I absolutely LOVE it!  It's perfect.  Emma was thrilled with it, too.  I opened the package and showed her and she said, "Oh, I'm a princess".  She then wanted to put it on and played around in it.  You did a fabulous job.  I'm so bad, but I totally want another one. :)   I took some pictures and I'll send them to you soon.

Thank you so much!

Stacey

Thank YOU Stacey for working with me to make the perfect jumper for your girl.  I can't wait to see the pictures (and maybe work on something special for you again)! 

Next up: McCartney's Big Girl Painting!

Have a great weekend and talk to you all next week! Thanks!

shameless pictures of my girl in her new jumper...

Okay so I was fairly cryptic in my last post - which when accosted by some of my friends, I found humorous because I really can't believe that people are interested in what I have on the horizon. That's me, lack of confidence girl.  I will fill you in on that later, but first I have a new jumper to share.  

I was hired to do a jumper, so went out and picked out some fun fabric and such.  Turns out it wasn't exactly what my client was looking for - no problem, so I decided that it would be just perfect on Penny, and it is.  You see I don't sew every day (yet) so I like to do a small personal project before I launch into a hired one.  It's like getting my sewing legs about me.  Plus, I wanted to try a few different things in the way I laid out the pieces and how I put it together - which ultimately saved me time and made for a much more finished looking product.  I am happy - now if I just had a serger, it would be perfect, but that will have to wait until a few clients from now (it finishes the raw edges of fabric). I also was pretty happy to test drive my new pressure foot.  So if you are at all familiar with sewing machines they have a foot, a little two toed foot that puts pressure on the fabric evenly so that your stitches are straight and your fabric is smooth.  Well about a year and a half ago my pressure foot broke -it was plastic and I had my needle set wrong and BAM - it was gone.  So one would think that finding a pressure foot for a Singer sewing machine would be fairly easy.  It's a name brand and the machine is just ten years old.  Well you would be wrong.  There is only one store of ALL of central Indiana that carries the foot I need.  It was in my old neighborhood, but I don't get down there much and when I do the store is usually closed. I could order it online you say, well that would be true, but I wanted to see the foot, size, etc. since I also join pretty tiny ribbon together -so larger feet wouldn't necessarily give me what I need. So store shopping was my only option.  A few weeks ago I sauntered down to the ol' neighborhood and picked up my foot - a metal one.  I am smitten.  Up until now I've been sewing with a zipper foot - which is a pressure foot, but it only has one side so you can sew in zippers, making my job feeding the fabric and joining ribbon that much more difficult.  It is amazing what correct tools will do for a project.  So sewing Penny's jumper today was a dream, it actually takes my more time to cut my pattern out than to put it together - now anyway, with my new foot.  It went together like with out a stitch (pun intended) and Penny is a doll about being fitted and letting me pin things onto her.  Ah, such a girl.  Well here are like a billion pictures of my ragamuffin girl in her new dress that she reluctantly took off before bed:

details

discovering pollen

Penny rarely walks, she's always running AND falling and then running again

hello model pose (mom clearly takes too many pictures of this child)

 wishing the grill wasn't there...

Penny has naturally curly hair, so we experiment on a daily basis on how to tame the beast during this humid time of  year, we've yet to win, but we aren't quitters...

mom and her girl

So what I discovered with my latest client is that I like giving choices.  It takes some of stress off of me to find "the perfect" fabric, as if I were reading their mind.  So instead I went out and found 6 sets of perfect fabric and emailed her the options - she loved two and we agreed that one really was going to be the best fit for her - here's a teaser:

I've got to be honest with you, I LOVE to pick out coordinating fabric and pull it together with just the right accents.  I never thought I would love it as much as I do, but I do.  So these evening I'll be cutting out my next project and hopefully getting that done this weekend (coming your way Stacey!)  Working on this project has opened my eyes to a new world of possibility.  I don't have things completed, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I am expanding PP into a few girlie items.  Right now it's just my jumper and I'm farting around with a top and skirt pattern, along with little purses and such.  One thing at a time though.  Right now I'd like to incorporate what I did with this project, offering several groupings of fabric and allowing my client to choose from those fabrics.  Of course, I'm always game for a creative license endeavor, but I think that a lot of people like the ability to choose, making it entirely their own.  I guess I'd like to ask some of my loyal friends and fans for their input on how you think that should be laid out - do you have any suggestions? I'm all ears - so for now I am annoying my friends with girls who shop and shop well - I've been fortunate with a multitude of hand-me-downs so I am not as savvy when it comes to shopping for the little ladies.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, be safe and enjoy.  I'll be hanging out, sewing and painting (I am working on what I think is one of my coolest paintings yet) and I'll post again soon!  Thanks!

BTW - if you haven't had a chance to check out my Noblesville Blog for the Indy Star - I'm going to include a link here on this page - check it out or RSS it if you are interested.  Thanks!

Jump for Jumpers!

A Penny Pickles first: jumpers!

As you may know, I have a basic knowledge of using a sewing machine.  So I've done a few things here and there, pillows, roman shades, quilts, camera straps (my newest!), costumes, pajama bottoms and last but not least dresses for Penny.   In February when I posted pictures from Penny's second birthday, I mentioned how I created a pattern and dress for her.  A friend from college, Lindsey, seemed to be taken with the style and asked if I would make something for hire.  I was a bit nervous because I've only sewn for my kids, not to mention I can fit them as I am making it, so I know it will fit.  So as I thought about it, I thought- sure, lets go for it!  Lindsey gave me creative license to pick out the fabric and extras and gave me the following parameters:  She had a friend due at the end of June.  She has a 2 1/2 year old and is expecting her second daughter.  Lindsey wanted me to make matching jumpers for the girls.  She like the style of the tie straps, that way mom can adjust them based on the girls height.  The great thing about these jumpers is that they can be worn alone or with a t shirt or long sleeve t shirt.  You can also pair them with tights, leggings or jeans as the weather gets cooler or the dresses get shorter. So I found fabric that I fell in love with, spent about an hour and a half in the button and ribbon section of Joann's and went forth and conquered the great unknown of sewing for others.  

Actually it doesn't take that long to make these dresses - its the details, like the fact that I rarely find ribbon that I am thrilled with alone, so I combine it with other ribbon to make what I am looking for - which takes time, not to mention layering buttons because I again, am not moved by what I find off the shelf, so I add buttons to one another to get the look I am envisioning.  

The 3T jumper was easy, I used Penny as my guide, the smaller one though, was a combo of using the measurements of one of Penny's baby dresses and a baby doll that is pretty close to that size.  We're pretty high-tech here!  I am happy to report they are done, shipped and I am THRILLED with how they look.  I am even pretty happy with my packaging, I added little thank you charms (thanks mom) and velum envelopes with washing instructions (thanks again, mom).  I am always so taken with good packaging so I am always trying to get mine a bit prettier than bubble wrap - this was my chance!

So with out further ado, I present the jumpers:

Sorry couldn't resist the last one, I love the "rapid fire" ability of my camera that caught Penny twirling  - love it!!!

Anyway - I am so proud of my handiwork and I am hopeful that Ming and her daughters enjoy the jumpers once they receive them.  Thanks Lindsey for asking and taking a chance on my sewing skills.  

Next up Conner's tiles - its my latest nursery piece - it will be a few days - so until then - Thanks!