Playful Lawn Emery Dress

Happy Monday! Today I have a finished garment to share. I actually finished this dress in December, but have gotten really behind with photographing my handmade clothes! I know I am always saying this, but I hope to get caught up soon.


Michael and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary this past week and I wore this dress to dinner. I talked him into taking a few photos before we left! So far we've kept up a tradition of taking a photo together on our anniversary. Including our wedding day we've got three years of photos! Here's to many more.

Almost three years ago I saw an amazing dress at Quilt Market made from this beautiful vintage-y floral lawn from Playful by Melody Miller. I knew I'd have to snatch up some yardage of the print and make one exactly like it for myself. The dress pattern is the Emery Dress by Christine Haynes. This was before I had made the pattern (see my first Emery here), and this dress really pushed me over the edge.

Lucky for me I panic bought this fabric, so I have enough left over for another garment!

Fast forward to December of last year, I wanted a new dress to wear for Christmas and it was finally time to use this fabric! This pattern was so dreamy to sew up in lawn. I used Cambridge Lawn in ivory for the bodice lining, and a light blush colored thread throughout.

This dress turned out so pretty that I actually hand stitched the hem! This was completely new for me, and I never could have imagined a scenario where I would be willing to do it. I'm so glad I did, it was totally worth the extra time and care. The lawn is so light, I was afraid that simple top stitching on the hem would affect the hang of the skirt. I love how delicate the hand stitching makes it look.

I used this hand stitching tutorial by Christine on the Craftsy blog.


This past Christmas I wore the dress with a fuchsia cardigan to up the vintage vibe even more. This dress is a piece that makes me feel confident and pulled together, always a good thing to have in your closet. Plus it's super comfortable, an added bonus!

Happy Sewing!

Adventures in Softie Making: Seymour the Whale

It's time to share my latest softie, Seymour the Whale! I've really enjoyed stretching my skills to make these, you can see my last two sets of softies here: Henrietta Hippo and Moo Moo + Baby Bunnies.


For my whale, I used the Seymour Spyhop pattern by Heather Bailey. Five years ago (whoa!) I made an elephant softie from one of her patterns, so I knew this whale would turn out cute. I thought this grey/blue print from Flower Shop would be cute for the main body. For the belly, I used an adorable tiny pindot that I picked up on a whim, but have used quite a bit!


Look how cute he turned out! This is a pretty small softie, much smaller than the hippos I made last.


I chose to make a pretty simple whale, but the pattern includes instructions/pattern pieces for making a whale, orca, or a narwhal!


The eyes are really different, rather than a button or embroidery, they're made from a piece of cut felt and a small black bead. I probably could have pulled them in a little tighter so they sunk more into the whale's face, but oh well!


I think the tail was the trickiest part of this softie, but it really wasn't too bad. Being sure to clip the seams properly after sewing makes a big difference.


I had fun making this little whale, and it was a good excuse to go down by the lake for some photos. Now I need to figure out what softie to make next!

Happy Sewing!

Handmade Gifts: Sewing Tool Organizers

Happy Monday! Today I'm sharing two sewing tool organizers I recently gifted. I used the #10 Caddy pattern* by Sew Can She. These are my third and fourth caddies I've made with this pattern. See my first two here.


First up, a caddy for my Mom! I made this for her birthday. Jacey gave me some of this adorable sheep fabric* by Lydia Nelson, and I knew my Mom would like it. I paired it with some Momo scissors fabric for the pockets, and some stashed blenders for the binding and the interior.


Puff sheep! So cute. I think this color combo fits my Mom's taste and craft room well. These caddies are fun to customize. I added a circle of felt to the bottom of each can, and covered the top sharp edge with duct tape for safety.


Next up, a caddy for Amanda Jean! I've had this Lecien 30's cheater print in my stash for ages, and I've never known what to do with it. This seemed like the perfect project to use it for. I paired it with a print from Curiosities* for the pocket and stash blenders for the binding and interior.


I knew Amanda Jean would get use out of one of these caddies on her retreat and teaching travels. I'm always toting mine along when I travel to sew!


As I mentioned, I've made this pattern before, you can find my first two caddies here. I've been buying whole peeled tomatoes in the #10 can size (it's over 6 lbs!). We make this easy pasta sauce pretty often. I split the can into three equal portions and freeze them. It's so cheap to buy them this way! For Madison locals I buy mine at Woodman's.

Find the pattern here: #10 Caddy Pattern* by Sew Can She.

Happy Sewing!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

August Monthly Report

Happy September! It's time for August's monthly report. See past reports here.


Stitched up a whole bunch of house blocks (I shared a quick tutorial for these here) last week. Now to lay them all out and sew up the top!


I can't seem to go very long without making a lined drawstring bag. This is the project size, which can be found in the pattern. It's my favorite size to hold knitting projects. This adorable house fabric from Alexander Henry was just asking to be a bag!


I made and gifted this basket to Michael's Mom last month. She is teaching first grade this year at a new school. I pulled out this old ruler print from Tailor Made by Cosmo Cricket, perfect for a classroom! It's been a while since I made one of these baskets, this is the Divided Basket Pattern by Anna Graham.


I picked up my Briochealicious shawl this past month. I hadn't touched it in a while. I love brioche knitting, but I definitely have to be in the right mood for it. I'm about halfway through the second brioche section and it's getting big! Now that Fall is just around the corner, I'm looking forward to more knitting.


Julie from The Intrepid Thread sent over some Tilda fabric for me to play with. This is the Harvest collection by Tone Finninger. I've already cut into this bundle, and stitched it up into log cabin blocks! Will share those soon. You can find this collection for sale here, and be sure to sign up for their Tilda First to Know List too!

To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I'm tracking my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track my here. Here is how I did in August:

August Fabric
Used up: 14.25 yards
Brought in: 6.5 yards
Net: -7.75 yards
Year to date: -159 yards

August Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: -3731.5 yards

I'm very happy with my fabric intake this month. I didn't use up a lot of fabric, but that's okay. Now that a move is in our near future, I've gotten a lot more serious about what is coming into our apartment in general. Hopefully I can keep that up.


I've continued to cut and sew plenty of garments. I finished two more Gemma tanks this month, both from rayon. I have a third cut out, plus a few other garments lined up. I cut out an Archer Popover a few months ago that I really want to dedicate time to soon. Plus I'm trying to draft a pattern from my favorite sweatshirt from the Loft. I traced out the pieces this weekend, so hopefully I can cut out a tester soon.


I didn't work on many works in progress this month, but I did sew a few blocks for my Liberty churn dash project. I'm making blocks from Quilting Happiness using my Liberty tana lawn stash.


School is back in Wisconsin today, so surprise! George back to school photos!! I found this tiny backpack at Target and immediately snatched it up. George bunny loves bananas, so it's perfect!

Have a great month!