Much like I did for Vino, I stitched up a bunch of clothes for Blondie's little princess. Even though I love pink, I specifically shied away from sewing pink clothes for her figuring that she would get more pink stuff than she knew what to do with at the shower. Let's just say I wasn't incorrect in my assumption. ;)
First up, my favorite baby gift of late - a minky blanket and coordinating
Bedtime Story Pajamas from
Oliver + S. I fell in love with this ladybug minky fabric last year and bought a ton of it for my stash. It was nice to use some of it for my bff.
I chose a coordinating red and black quilting cotton for the pajamas. While I thought it might have been too loud at first, it got rave reviews from my co-workers, and Blondie liked them as well.
Blondie and Chaz are huge Chargers fans and I thought it was only right that their little girl have an appropriate outfit to wear to help cheer on the team next year. I've made
Butterick 3782 before and I still think it's a winner. This particular version was made from a mid-weight white stretch denim and Chargers quilting cotton. I cut everything on single layer to get the patterns situated just so, although I miscalculated a bit on the back. Oh well, at least I made sure to get the logo right on the booty of the diaper cover. ;) Blondie reported back that this was Chaz's favorite gift. I can't imagine why....
Lastly, I wanted to make a quintessential summer dress for the little gal. I stumbled across
Heather Ross Mendocino Swim Class fabric in Pacific and absolutely fell in love with it. It screamed summer, but also felt chic and not too childish. The problem, of course, is that this fabric is now discontinued and only sold on the secondary market. Hmph. I really tried to find something else, but I kept coming back to the Swim Class fabric. I finally just bit the bullet and ordered 2 yards from an Etsy seller - one for this dress and one for my stash. Hey, if I was going to go to all the trouble to get this fabric, I wanted some for me, too.
Can I just tell you that not only is this print adorable in person, but the fabric itself is amazing. It's a beautiful crisp cotton with a slightly brushed feel. Even after a tumble in the washer and dryer, it maintained it's character. I really wish I had been sewing when this line was first released. I think I would have bought the entire line, no joke.
Anyways... the dress. I knew I wanted a classic sundress - round neck, sleeveless, big gathered skirt - and ultimately settled on
Simplicity 3854. When I first cut out and sewed up the skirt portion, I really thought I had made a mistake. I could have worn the thing as a (very short!) skirt, it was that wide around. However, once I started the gathering and got it attached to the bodice, I fell in love. LOVE! You guys, I think this might be my favorite thing I've sewn to date. Like, I've already warned Blondie that if we ever have a daughter, I totally want to borrow this back from her. I made sure to finish everything with french seams or bias tape so there isn't a raw seam to be found. I really love the juxtaposition of the formal dress shape with the casual quirky cotton fabric. The deep machine hem on the skirt also adds to the balance. This really feels like something that would be sold in a baby boutique, so I was pretty much thrilled to be able to give it as a gift.
One last touch was adding a baby bolero (from the same pattern) in aqua cotton. I think a bit of piping might have dressed it up, but I was very under the gun, so self-bias tape had to do.
Not clothing and I had to break my "no pink" rule here, but I did make her a set of flannel-backed burp clothes. I knew that the nursery was pink and brown and thought she might appreciate that at least one thing that I made matched her theme. Again, this is becoming a favorite baby gift item - easy to make, useful and super cute!
So, it is a damn good thing we had Blondie's shower when we did. The following Saturday morning, at 36 weeks, her water broke and by lunch that day, she was cradling her daughter MJ in her arms. :) I was able to go and see her after Thanksgiving and OMG, she is so teeny tiny and absolutely precious. Blondie and Chaz are smitten and I can see why. Blondie is a trooper and we still made it out for a bit of Black Friday shopping with Sporty where she was able to get a bag of tiny little clothes for MJ. Needless to say, they didn't have a whole lot of newborn stuff on hand so now she is all set for winter. I figure it's only a few years before Blondie's daughter will start to join us on our crazy after-Thanksgiving shopping excursions. Puts a smile on my face just thinking about it. :)
