Why I've been MIA

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. I have not been idle. I've been doing TONS of pattern testing and working on my own pattern as well. Here's some peeks of all I need to blog about. :D

Mae's Shirt

Tikatuly Usha Dress

My dress pattern :D

And Heidi & Finn's Sporty Maxi Dress

Maybe next week I will have more time to blog. I still have a couple more patterns to test and my own to get up on the computer! :D

Heidi & Finn Summer Maxi Dress

I was selected to pattern test Heidi & Finns newest pattern, the Summer Maxi Dress. 

This pattern was really quick to sew up and I love that it's so basic that you can add things easily to change it up and make it unique. 

I made two dresses in one day. Which, with 5 kids on my plate, that should tell you how easy and fast this pattern is! 

The first one I made out of white cotton gauze fabric. I had originally planned to do an ombre dye, so that's why we started off with white. In case I screwed up massively, I chose to take pictures of it first. So here's Aevarie in the all white version:

And yes, the ombre dye did NOT work. It still turned out all purple and wearable, and that's all that matters!

I love the added flowers!
 And again I have to clarify. My girls are really tall, so on an average 7 year old, this dress would go down to the floor.
We made a second one out of knit and modified the length to fit Aevarie. The pattern doesn't recommend knit, but knit is just so comfy and I couldn't resist! So here's that version:

I added a ruffle at the bottom too for that "unique" factor. I love that she could totally wear this to bed. He he he. :D

Zoe was dying to try on the purple one (although Aevarie said she could only borrow it for the day). 

Fit her perfectly! 

The weather has been horrible but the girls really wanted to go out and get pictures. Luckily it wasn't really cold, just super windy. We don't have to mention how many pictures have been taken of this dress......

You can buy the pattern here at Heidi & Finns Etsy Shop. And seriously check out all the other amazing versions of this dress on their blog. 

Loved this dress (we actually just finished our 3rd one last night!) and Thank you so much to Heidi & Finn for choosing me to be a tester! :D

Update: Here's our 3rd dress. I just love it!

Silly Pictures and some awesome shots

My kids are nuts. Total nuts. They're silly and weird, and it really shines through when I take pictures. Generally speaking, it takes me TONS of pictures to get a "normal human being" look. So because we had so many today, I wanted to share some of our nutty ones and my little "commentary" to go along. Enjoy!

Ms. Cooperative:

This is a great pose mum!

Creeper

I can somersault

Can't leave out a headstand

"I am a robot"

I can see up your nose!

Eeh, what happened to your face???

Mid-picture snack

Zombie child indeed

You can't eat my brains cause I ate them earlier!

I can't eat Aevarie, I shall eat my dress instead....

Since we have no brains, our heads make an awesome hollow sound!

No more pictures, please!

I swear I don't know where they get it from. 

Riding on an invisible motorcycle

Old Cronie

Blur girl!

Ugh. These pictures are giving me a headache.

And here's my "reward" shots:

More on the dress later! :D

Sunshine Dress

Rather ironic that I made the "Sunshine Dress" last night by Shwin Designs, only to wake up to lots and lots of gray clouds and rain. 

I've been so excited to make this dress. I bought the pattern in the full Sun and Surf collection, which sadly is no longer available as a whole, but you can buy them individually at Pattern Anthology. If you didn't get these patterns, you should. I have already made the Beachy Boatneck, which Gavin loves and has asked me to make more. And I have the Coastal Cargos cut out in 2 sizes as well as the Submarine Pullover almost finished. The designers are already working on their fall line and I can't wait to see it! lol

So on to the dress! I loved the original colors and design of the original dress and Aevarie did too, so we just followed suit. The only difference is the size of the stripes. I found this hypnotic small stripe fabric that I thought would be awesome. Little did I know that looking at it for that long would make me super dizzy and eventually end in a headache.....I just can't help keep looking at it though! 

This dress also sports pockets:

We obviously had to make a bow to match.

And here's a close up of the back buttons. And yes, I used teal thread. Why? I could say cause I thought the splash of color would be cool, but really it's because I couldn't be bothered to re-thread the needle. ;P I honestly do love that color in combo with these, and I may just have to make the Santa Monica Cinch in teal to go with it. :D

And it just wouldn't be complete without a silly picture.

We can also take out that bottom drawstring for a big twirly skirt. I'm sure this summer it will be worn both ways many many times. :D 

I hope your day is much more sunshiney-y than ours! 

Side note: I was not paid in any way to express my love for these patterns. :D