A Little Dress

How was your weekend?


I spent much of the Saturday sewing and finished a lot of things to share with you. Sunday saw us at church and then off to Ender's last baseball game of the regular season (still waiting to see about tournament play), home for a bit of a rest then off to the park with friends. It was at the park that things turned crazy. Ellie started to fall off a step and I grabbed her arm really hard to keep her from falling- and ended up pulling her elbow out of place- nursemaid's elbow. Fortunately Brian's hospital was nearby. We had to go to the ER to have it re-set which was a fun experience for all of us. As Ezra put it, "I was about to cry too and I wasn't even hurt!"


She's totally fine now, but I still feel really guilty. The doctor assured me that it's a common injury in toddlers, and often because of something like this very incident.


Back to the making...


I finished a lot of projects this weekend. Far more than I thought I would, in fact, and I think I also worked out some of my psychological issues with cutting fabric. The grand total for the weekend is:


Ender
1 pajama set
1 pair of pajama pants

Ezra
1 pajama set
1 pair of pajama pants

Ellie
2 dresses
2 "wearable muslin" skirts
1 skirt
2 diaper covers


Now, the pajama sets for each of the boys were already mostly done- I just hems, cuffs and waistbands to put in. Also, Ellie's two dresses were at least half way also. The first just needed a hem and the second was up to doing the side seams (so about half way).


I'm still trying to get photos of the kids in everything that was finished over the weekend, but it's a work in progress. Ellie is currently in that "one big blur" stage whenever the camera comes out. She either acts totally silly and crazy because she's aware of the camera's presence, or she comes racing to come and look at the picture on the camera screen. So for today, here are one of the little dresses:

The fit is a little on the big side- I purposely made them a little big so that they will fit until spring- we'll just roll sleeves for a little while. One little roll up will do it. Right now they are dress length, and eventually they will be tunic top length. In the spring as long as the body is still fitting okay I'll turn the sleeves into short sleeves to extend the life of the top.

After this latest stretch of sewing I'm reminded why I identify as a knitter and not a sewist: sewing is not a terribly relaxing activity for me. I just don't enjoy the process of sewing the way I do with knitting. Cutting material is always so nerve racking for me, and I get frustrated more frequently if things don't go exactly as planned- partly, I think, because I'm not experienced enough to know what to do to fix things if they aren't working quite right. Thankfully I have my mom (expert sewist) close by to help when my machine won't behave and I can't figure out why. I know many creative folks who are just the opposite- and feel like knitting is repetitive and boring and that fabric is where their joy lies. I love that there are so many venues to pursue what we each really enjoy.