All That Glitters for PRP

This week's Project Run & Play theme is All That Glitters. Elena is all about the glitter and glamour these days, and purple and pink. She is really lucky that I have such a ridiculous stash of fabrics, trims, and clothes to upcycle. The only thing I had to buy for this outfit was the glitter elastic. So we are all happy with this outfit.

This has become Elena's favorite pose. She is hilarious. I'm just glad when she is willing to take pictures and keep it fun. So anyway, the skirt is self drafted with a yoke and a gathered on skirt. It is a simple style to make and flattering. The fabric is corduroy given to me (Thanks again Mrs. M.) and fulfilling all of Elena's dreams of pink and purple and my dreams of warm and no ironing. The elastic was Elena's idea and I dare say it was a great addition.

The bolero was made from a hand-me-down novelty sweatshirt with sparkly snowflakes on the front. It is a modified version of McCall's 6914. I didn't make the band ruffled like they did but otherwise, it is the same shape. It's warm and cozy and works well to cover her arms because the t-shirt is short sleeved so that we will be able to wear it this summer.

 The t-shirt is a modified GYCT Tinley Tee, agian. Is that 3 in a row?  I think so. It just goes to show that you don't need to own a lot of different patterns if you are comfortable with a little frankenstein-ing. This one is the gathered sleeve again, but without the elastic inserted. I did a lettuce hem instead and love how they hang. I made the sides straight down instead of mashing it with the Nessie like I did last week on the fringe one because I plan on her wearing it tucked in most of the time. Instead of a neckband, I did it as a binding since that gives a little dressier look too.

But the biggest change to the t-shirt pattern, was to move the shoulder seam 2" forward and then widen the top of the front shoulder pieces so that I could gather it on. I love how sweet it looks. It helps that this fabric is a rayon knit with lots of drape. In it's former life, it was a maternity t-shirt.

So there we have 3 more pieces that will carry into spring and summer. Thank you to Project Run & Play for the inspiration. It's been nice to get creative and make things that make my little girl so happy.

Cosplay - Twilight Sparkle

There is nothing quite like the Project Run & Play themes to get me creating outside my box. Elena is absolutely thrilled that I decided at the last minute to play along with the Cosplay challenge. She is a big fan of Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony. I didn't even realize when I settled on this idea that we have not only the Equestria doll version, but a couple of pony versions too.

We had to do a really quick photo shoot under not great circumstances - no time, no light, early morning, only 5 hours of sleep for me... I was not hopeful. We did our best to have fun with it.

 Here are the characters in case you aren't familiar. The bright colors are fun, and the shapes are nice and simple. I was able to use bits and pieces from the stash and purchase nothing.

The t-shirt is a mash up of my 2 most used t-shirt patterns for children: GYCT Tinley Tee and the CINO Nessie. The top half is the Tinley and the chest down is the Nessie. I love the Tinley's gathered sleeve option and the Nessie's just enough hi/low hem and swing shape. This is now THE perfect tee in my opinion. The neck fringe is something I had been thinking about and then See Kate Sew happened to do a tutorial very recently. Great timing. I think it's really fun. Elena was sad that I didn't make a pink bow like Twilight Sparkle has but I think it's more versatile this way. The fabric is leftover scraps of Stenzo jersey from Mable Madison.

This skirt really cracks me up because it's a huge departure from my usual style. I find it amazing that I even had these fabrics around to play with. The skirt itself was a polyester knit top my mom bought at the thrift store and gave to me because it had a million seed beads in many strands forming an attached necklace. I cut off all the beads for a future use and threw the shirt in the stash thinking I'd probably never use it but that I'd keep it around for a while just in case. The ribbon and glitter embellished stretch mesh matched perfectly. I bought about a half yard piece from the thrift store for 50 cents not knowing what I'd ever do with it, but I knew Elena would love it.

For the skirt pattern I used a pattern piece from a dress, but modified it enough to not name it. I just needed an idea of the top curve for about a half circle skirt that would be about 10" across. I folded the edges of the netting under and sewed them down with a double needle to keep it stretchy. It is hemmed with the double needle as well. The waistband is a separate casing with 1/2" elastic. She loves it!

She was really not into the pictures today, but I was happy to get any at all. She mostly watched TV while I tried to get her to look up once in a while. You know how it is. Am I going to offer her marshmallows and such at 8 in the morning? I didn't resort to any bribes and we got out the door on time so it's all good. See you next week for the All The Glitters theme. Lucky girl is getting 2 glittery outfits.

"Nothing But Knits" Challenge

This Project Run & Play theme of Nothing But Knits is my jam. Knit clothes are my favorites and definitely Elena's favorites too. They are so easy to wear and so easy to sew. Tunics and leggings on Elena are top of my list for what to dress her in for preschool. They are comfy, inexpensive, functional, and help her be self-sufficient.

I wanted to try a different shape on her this time. She's so thin I wanted to see what she would look like in a rounder shaped tunic. I used a standard t-shirt pattern (the GYCT Tinley Tee) but redrew the sides to curve out a couple of inches. The body of the shirt is made of a cotton lycra repurposed ladies sized mock turtleneck. It has been transformed from the dowdy to the cute. The striped sleeves and pockets are cotton lycra from Girl Charlee. There is elastic in the hem to draw it in, but still pass the sit on the floor criss cross applesauce test.

The pockets are a fun touch and were inspired by Elena's love of a stuffed owl toy I made her years ago. She has been playing and sleeping with "Who-eee" a lot lately so I found a template online and cut up a bunch of scraps and appliqued them on by hand. Honestly, I had to do it by hand because that whole part was an afterthought. She had already worn the outfit with plain pockets once before we had that idea. My favorite part is the blue sequin eyes.

The leggings are plain brown Laguna Cotton Stretch Jersey Knit. Nothing fancy about them, but so very soft, comfy and useful to her wardrobe.

Now for Who-eee. He is made from an old fleece jacket with a broken zipper and a bunch of odds and ends and some crocheting. He was completely free-formed, improvisational kind of sewing. That is so much fun for me. That was pre-blogging days so there was never any thought of making him picture worthy.

And now more pictures because she was in a ridiculously cooperative mood and that is rare.

Thanks for reading. The contestants did an amazing job. Be sure to cast a vote and comment on their hard work. I have to go decide on my favorite now and I don't know how I'm going to do that.