Pink Lemonade First Birthday

My last baby is one year old. 

Yeah, I am tearing up a little just typing that.

Anywho... let's move on now. Since it was our last (sniff, sniff) first birthday I went all out! I have always wanted to do a pink lemonade theme and these silly kids keep going and getting their own opinions about things. This was probably my last chance.

We don't usually go "all out" for birthdays. Just our family and some cake, ice cream, and snacks. A pack of balloons and a little crepe paper if I feel ambitious. This time I put a little extra effort into the decorations, but only because they will be used in her nursery, too. We have parties in our sunroom since it is a large, open area. We actually set up picnic tables outside this time, but I kept the food inside. I just hung some pink balloons and yellow crepe paper (the other kids insist on this) and put some silk daisy bunches that I got on clearance at Joann's and Michaels in some clear vases.

On the windowsill I arranged some pink and yellow items like her first dress (yellow) and her first hat (pink).

I also mod podged some frames I already had and printed out THIS free printable from Daisy Cottage Designs.

I painted some wooden signs, too, just 'cause I am on a sign kick for my etsy shop and felt like it.

Yeah, I am totally redoing that one...

Oh, and each month I have been taking her picture in a washbasket, so I clipped those on the wash line that already hangs out in my sunroom.

For the food I found lemon and strawberry cake mix at the store so I did a batch of each in cupcakes. Of course, I added sprinkles. Gotta' have sprinkles! 

Of course, there was ice cream, pink lemonade, regular lemonade, and other goodies. I also made striped jello in lemon and strawberry.

The most labor intensive thing I did for Hannah's birthday party was to make her a romper. I have wanted to make her one for awhile now and this was a good reason. I got the fabric at Joann's and I actually bought a pdf pattern. I am not going to source the pattern because I was not very happy with it and do not think that it was worth the money. The final product was still pretty cute, though!

I think it is too big, so maybe she will get to wear it some early next summer. The ruffles should be higher, too. Well, I learned some things anyway...

Here it is compared to the very first thing I sewed for her. 

Oh, it is so tiny!!!

Excuse me. I am gonna go cry and eat some more of the leftover ice cream now.

 Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

Vintage Baby Dress Collar Tutorial

Here it is! The last Easter dress for this year!

I let the other girls have a little say (or a lot) in their dress designs. Hannah doesn't care. It is fantastic!

I wanted it to be simple. So unlike me, I know! I wanted little hints of blue and a sweet, vintage baby look.

Then, because I can't really let things be simple, I went over the top (after Easter) with a bonnet, shoes, and a diaper cover. Well, I didn't finish the diaper cover quite yet. I'm procrastinating...

The bonnet is the Peekaboo Bonnet pattern I bought

HERE

. You can see the first one I made

HERE

when she was so teeny tiny. *sniff, sniff*

It is actually reversible, too.

As you can see by these before and after pictures, she prefers not to wear the bonnet.

But, it keeps her safe from the sun, so too bad!

The shoes were made with

THIS

pattern. They went together pretty well, but this is the second time I have made baby shoes and the little buggers do not want to stay on. I guess all baby shoes are like that, but they look cute anyway. :)

So, back to the dress...

It is just a basic dress with puffy sleeves, a collar, and buttons in the back. I was a little intimidated by the collar, but it isn't hard after all.

I didn't take too many pictures as I was sewing (and it really isn't anything wildly original anyway), but I did get enough to show you how I did the collar.

So, get your dress pieces all cut out and ready to go...

Sew the shoulders seams of the front and back bodice pieces of the main fabric and lining.

Use the sewn bodice, folded in half, to draft a collar pattern. It needs to extend

out

1/4" in the center for seam allowances and shift 

in

3/4" at the back for the button closure.

Cut two contrasting collars and two linings (they can be the same fabric, but I was making do.) Interface one side of each collar- I used a midweight interfacing.

Sew the right sides together using 1/4" seam allowance and clip the curves.

Flip and press really well, then sandwich the collars between the main fabric and lining. To hold the collar in place nicely, topstitch the edge of the bodice underneath the collars. This will hold the seam allowance in place and keep the collar from flipping up.

If you want to make trimmed, puffy sleeves like these, Jess has a great tutorial 

HERE 

(although mine have a little more poof at the top.) The rest of the dress was made just like my Gracie Dress shown 

HERE 

and I cut the skirt from the edge of the sheet (no hemming! Woohoo!) 

Here are the rest of the dresses in case you missed them...

Until next year... 

OK. Not really. I have a few more tutorials and fun projects in the works here. If you don't want to miss out on that you can follow my blog with GFC,

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Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do

, 

Motivate Me Monday

, 

Anything Goes Monday,

Take a Look Tuesday

, 

Naptime Creations

, 

Carolyn's Homework

, 

The Winthrop Chronicles

,

 Handmade Tuesdays

,

Inspire Me Wednesday

, 

We Did It Wednesday

, 

Adorned From Above

, 

Your Whims Wednesday,

Not Just a Housewife

, 

Weekly Homemaking Party

,

Create It Thursday

, 

The 36th Party

, 

Friday Favs Party

, 

Saturday Sewing

, 

Think Pink Sunday

, and 

Threading Your Way

.

Vintage Easter Dresses

Oooh- the word "vintage" has become oh, so trendy.

Yes, I am jumping on the bandwagon.

It started out with this...

...two flat vintage sheets that my nana bought maybe in the 1970s and vintage trims, notions, and buttons given to me by some friends. The colors matched perfectly. There are 5 colors in the sheets (other than white) and I have 5 girls, so they each got their own accent color.

So, after 6 days of wild sewing, early Easter morning my girls were wearing new dresses from the vintage sheets that belonged to their great-great-grandmother.

I am so blessed to be able to do something special like this for my girls.

Tutorials coming soon(ish)...

***UPDATE*** Here are the tutorials and full posts for each dress!

vintage-sheet-easter-dresses

Sunrise Dress Tutorial

Blushing Izzy Dress Tutorial

Lydia’s Sweetheart Dress Tutorial

Gracie Dress Tutorial

Vintage Baby Collar Tutorial