I'm alive.

I really thought it had been a whole month since I'd sewn.  Scrolling through posts it looks like I maybe sewed something at the beginning of the month, but it might have been the end of April when I sewed something and then posted it here in May.  Anyway, it feels like a month since my sewing machine and I have had some quality time together.  Life pretty much took over, and as much as I love sewing, there was just no time for it.  May turned out to be totally busy.

I did sew stuff this month, but nothing too big.  One friend asked me to help with some decor for a school event.  I made the bunting.  Some other crazy creative mom made the lemonade stand.

I also made a camera strap for a friend.  If you have a SLR camera, may I suggest you sew yourself a camera strap?  Honestly this came together in probably under an hour. The hardest part?  It was probably seam ripping the camera strap leather ends off of the original strap.  Still wasn't that hard.  Again, you should try this if you haven't already.

Then finally this week I got my act together.  Or at least tried.  And, on Monday I went to Old Navy and the plain ribbed tank tops for girls were $2 each.  Only $2.  These plain tanks needed cute, colorful skirts or shorts to go with them.  This was Grace E Belle's last week of school.  On Sunday I thought I'd start sewing and have something new for her to wear every day this week.  It didn't happen.  But I did finally kind of get my groove back Tuesday night, so Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday she got to wear cute handmade outfits to school because that is what matters most!

The line up...

Wednesday

I sewed this skirt in March but it wasn't my favorite, so I never posted it.  

Grace loves it though, so it got to be handmade item number one of the week. 

 I used the Lazy Day free tutorial and just doubled it.  

I basically cut two Lazy Day Skirts and sewed them together to make the skirt extra bouncy.  

Thursday

I had anticipated that Grace would wear this on Wednesday, but the skirt is kind of narrow and Wednesday was P.E. and she needed maximum stretching abilities for P.E.  The pattern for this is from Dana at Made.  It's called the Layered Skirt.

Annee first tipped me off to it.  Maybe she'll share the one she made days before I did.  I tried it mainly because months ago I pinned a pin on Pinterest on how to use my serger to make ruffles quickly.  Let me tell you this link and what it taught me about my serger pretty much blew my mind.  I'm serious.  I made this entire skirt in 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Does that blow your mind?!?

As fast as I could send my strips through my serger they were perfectly ruffled.  Now it did make the ruffles tighter then I needed them to be, but just like when you do basting stitches and then gather by hand if you gather your ruffle to tight you just slowly unruffle it.  That's what I did with my ruffles for this project, and I'd say the ruffles look darn good if I do say so myself!

So if you have a brother serger follow this LINK.  It will change your life.  It's pretty much changed mine.  I will never hand gather again.  Never.

Lastly, Friday...

I wanted to use this fabric originally for the layered ruffle skirt, but I didn't have enough.  I've been searching for a chambray to make Knot Shorts out of, but as per usual my JoAnn's let me down.  How can JoAnn's have so much of the wrong kinds of fabric?!  So, then it hit me that I should just make the knot shorts out of this cute blue fabric I've had in my stash for way too long.

Kind of loving these shorts.  When my husband saw me making them, he asked if they were for me.  I totally started laughing.  I stand a whopping 5 feet 2 inches off the ground.  I guess maybe they could be for me if I were into the daisy duke look.  Thank heavens I'm knot.

I'm loving the knot shorts for Grace.  I did make them reversible even though the reverse side isn't my favorite, but it gives Grace variety which I've learned it totally important when you are 5 and three quarters as she likes to be called.

A little heart on the back since there is no tag in the shorts.  That and a reminder that they were made with love. 

And that's all for now!  I guess I did have something to show for my hiatus.  Now that it's summer time, who knows what will happen.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Long live summer vacation!