Red Riding Hood

I’d like to introduce you to my little Red Riding Hood. She’s not roaming through the woods to see Grandma, but forraging for baguettes and pastries on Saturday morning in the city.

Though she might need to hide from the occasional wolf,

she also has time to practice for her ballet class.

The minute I received my copy of the long awaited Little Things to Sew, I knew this cape would be perfect for the upcoming auction at my son’s preschool. Moonstone has an arts-based curriculum, and the children are creative and imaginative little people who enjoy dress up. Though whimsical, it’s also perfect for everyday wear in the spring and fall. It’s sized in a 3-4T  for your preschool Riding Hood.

Though I can picture this cape in navy corduroy for the Madeline look, or in black velveteen for Christmas festivities, I knew that the first time I made it needed to be in classic red. For spring, I chose linen in a bright red for the shell. Linen is a durable fiber with lovely drape. And since my Red Riding Hood is a stylish, urban adventuress, I wanted an equally daring print for the lining.

I found it at Spool, purveyor of just such fabric. Spool has kindly donated a gift certificate and one of their artfully composed fabric bundles to the auction. I settled on “Singing Forest” from Jay MacCarroll’s newest collection. It features a floral design overlaid with a bright graphic dot. This was the perfect foil to the traditional red – a woodsy themed print by a Philadelphia artist!

When my Red Riding Hood goes on an adventure, she doesn’t have time to worry about her nice clothes. Her cape is machine washable. She also needs her cape to be fully reversible, so that she can change her mind at a moment’s notice.

This cape is very much a one of a kind item. The projects in Little Things to Sew are copyrighted designs and intended only for personal use, though I have permission from Oliver + S to donate it for the auction. You can’t buy this at a boutique or craft fair or Etsy shop or anywhere!

The auction opens on March 19^th, 2011 and closes on April 9^th, 2011 and 11:59pm. Certain items - including my cape! - will only be available at an exciting live auction event on April 12th at the restaurant Distrito. Moonstone will use the proceeds to create scholarships, provide professional development for staff a well as make improvements to the school building. Moonstone, Inc. is a non profit organization and your contribution is tax deductible. To bid on my cape, the Spool gift certificate, a session with Amanda Hall Studios or many other exciting items and experiences, click on the link in my sidebar.

If I've overdone the number of photos here, it's because I had so many wonderful shots I simply couldn't decide! This is my very favorite project to date and I'm just thrilled to have it documented so beautifully. I want to thank Amanda Hall Studios for these exquisite photos and for all the fun we had on location at Washington Square Park last Saturday.  If you are blown away, as I am, by how Amanda captures these fleeting childhood moments with such fine artistry, visit her site to see more of her work and learn how she can tell your family's story. Amanda Hall Studios is auctioning a photo session, which will surely be a hot item. I also want to thank “my” little Red Riding Hood, the lovely Miss I next door, for her tireless modeling. I hope they will both visit again soon!



ice cream dresses with a special guest

 My kitten's spring wardrobe is coming together nicely. But I'm sewing ahead, and since my baby doesn't sit up or fill out these dresses yet, I asked a friend if I could borrow her darling 6 month old. Not only did she think it sounded fun, but she even took the photos for me! I'm quite pleased to present these professional photos of my work.

 

Have you ever seen a more scrumptious little chin? Oh, right, this is supposed to be about the dress! This is an Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress, which I made somewhere between tunic and dress length to allow a soon to be crawling baby plenty of movement. The fabric is from the Modern Affair collection by Art Gallery fabrics. Quilting cottons are not my favorite for garments because they're often quite stiff and require much pressing to look nice. However, Art Gallery Fabrics cotton is quite fine, which I find quite nice for baby clothes. I scored this at my local sewing shop, who carry a good selection by Art Gallery.

 Though I have kept these play dresses simple, there is room in this pattern for embellishment. The pattern includes a notch in the collar and pockets as well as contrast tiers. (You would end up with a dress that looks like Neapolitan ice cream, get it?)  You might add piping or rickrack tucked under the yoke or some ribbon at the hem. In a solid color, this dress would make a nice canvas for embroidery or applique.  For now, I opted for a monogram at the center front.  My new sewing machine can do all kinds of lovely decorative stitches and I'm completely hooked on this simple detail.

 I love this shot. The tops of my children's heads have always been dear to me. Perhaps I still remember the distinct feel of a baby head inside my belly. You probably recognize the City Weekend print in this version. This is another quilting cotton that has an exceptionally soft hand.  It even has a little drape to it. And it's so perfect for baby clothes that I wish I had bought more before it sold out.

The single button closure at the top allows easy dressing of an active baby. The construction of this dress is so simple and the end result so lovely, it's easy to understand why this pattern has become a favorite among Oliver + S fans. I've made this a few times now, with and without pockets, bands or notches and I am always pleased with the result.

In its most basic incarnation, there are really just two pieces, a yoke and a skirt. This means little tracing and cutting. There are no sleeves to set or fancy plackets, so the whole thing comes together quickly. I think this is perfect for play clothes.  The assembly may not seem intuitive if you come to this from more traditional garment sewing, but I promise that if you trust the instructions, it will work out. The genius of the construction is that the yoke and yoke facing sandwich the skirt pieces and form the sleeves at the same time. With French seams at the sides, everything is neatly finished, inside and out. Once you've done one, you'll come back to this again and again -- lawn and voile and seersucker right now will turn into baby cord or flannel or denim come fall.

I made a 6-12 month dress and two bibs in less than a yard of fabric. I made some bloomers from a contrast fabric, so the total cost was just $15 for each complete outfit. There are plenty of scraps for another project. Even as she gets larger, I believe sewing will continue to be economical, something that's important to many these days. Realistically, I'm saving some money on the endless need for children's clothes and that lets me enjoy my hobby guilt-free.

My obliging model found it comfortable as well. She did lots of rolling around in the dress with no trouble at all and the fabric still looked nice slightly rumpled. She really steals the show, doesn't she? Such personality and such big beautiful eyes! She'll have her own custom Ice Cream Dress very soon.

Many thanks to the lovely Miss V and the talented Amanda Hall Studios for showcasing my stitching while I work on improving my photography basics. I have another collaboration in the works and I can't wait to show it to you!

one more for the boys

Before the end of boy month, I've one more project to share. Can you guess what this is?

Here it is chugging off to work, that very favorite of all boy vehicles...

the digger! Excavator, as the boys would correct me. In proper CAT yellow too.

My second son became interested in "diggies" at 18 months when the Easter Bunny left a small plastic one in his basket. He took it to bed with him that night and every night thereafter for a long time. He sparked my older son's interest in diggers and our walks became city-wide hunts for machines. No matter how urgent my rush, I had to stop at every construction site to watch the diggers work. For his second birthday, we had a veritable army of diggers atop mounds of "dirt" frosting.

 and everyone dressed appropriately as well. 

For quite a long time, it seemed we all lived and breathed diggies. Diggies became diggers and now my very grown up boy will say "No, Mom, that's an excavator!" (or loader, or grader or whatever else such machines are called.) That's 3 1/2 for you.

My Diggie Boy sweater includes an intarsia design is mostly from Lucinda Guy's Big Digger Sweater in Handknits for Kids. However, her sweater called for a dropped shoulder and instead I followed a generic scheme for a set-in shoulder from Ann Budd. I added a knitted hem at the bottom and sleeve cuffs and buttons on the shoulder so the crew neck would fit over the head of a two year old.

Also, the boys pointed out that the shovel in Lucinda Guy's design was facing the wrong way. I corrected that and I suggest you do as well.

Next, we're getting back to girl stuff, though there are also boy projects that won't make the boy month cutoff. I'm very excited about my current project. In fact, I've scheduled a professional photo shoot to show it off properly. Please come back to see it!