Bathrooms and Bobbins

 I still have no toilet ....... or running water. Wonder what I have been doing?  Well, without benefit of running water, my options are limited. I have been hanging out in my sewing room. No water required for sewing and my little lair happens to be closer to the bathrooms on the side of the building. I am limiting my fluid intake.

I pulled out some scraps and made a few little things for my great granddaughter, Jailynn. She will be three this spring. I made some leggings and a top out of the green and lavender stripe to go with a little lavender skirt for Christmas. I found this scrap of green lightweight corduroy after I had sent it. It was a little short, so I added a ruffle, then decided to make a little applique of a purse. I couldn't find any buttons I liked, so I just used the extra cording form the purse applique and made some little ties to pull through the button hole.

 Then I saw another small piece of fabric. Is this just the happiest fabric? Reminds me of blowing bubbles.

 I liked the idea of a circle in a circle, so I stacked the buttons that I found in my button box. I was looking for orange, but they were four hole and didn't work with the big button.

 Another scrap. I call this the happy insect dress.

 Happy buttons. I had some ladybug buttons in mind, but I made the straps too wide and they didn't work.

 She will be able to whirl and twirl.

I fell in love with this fabric. This is for my 6 year old granddaughter. This is a combination of two patterns. I liked the rose, but there was only one ruffle on that one. My Jada is a multiple ruffle kind of girl. My main obstacle was that one of the patterns was for little girls and the other was sized for big girls. This was my trial run and I wasn't entirely happy with it. Then when I started looking for a top to match, I found an exact match impossible to find.

 Not to be defeated, I made some more. I decided to stick with solids and do a contrast thread color that I know the girls have in tops and tights. The two-tiered skirts are for the youngest. At age 3, Zara is tall for her age, but three tiers would still be too long.

 I really had to work to get all the pieces in this scrap of fabric. I altered the pattern completely and the tiers have no seams. At this point I decided to just make my own pattern. This fabric is shiny, but I don't know how it will fair in the laundry. I am afraid it may need to be ironed.

 This is a lightweight corduroy and launders nicely. And ..... I paid a little over $1 a yard! I did two rows of a satin stitch on one, just because I wanted to see how it would look.

 Two rows of different colors. This is a bottom weight twill. It wants to ravel. I am hoping the first laundering will eliminate the stringy look.

 Another twill. A jumper for Zara. I liked the idea of a zipper on the outside. I had a lime green, but it was too long. The white works and she can pair it with lots of colors. It should go into Spring and Summer, too.

 This pattern looked so cute. I was disappointed. I made this for Maya. Maya looks really good in vibrant colors. I only hope this looks better on.

Then I found some mending. I made this last year and it somehow got a hole in it. Good thing Gramma saves everything. I added another applique to cover it.

I made two more skirts today. Just trying to stay out of the way of he who fancies himself to be a plumber.