Sunday, September 26, 2010

Inspired by my own Magic Babies

It's been a busy fall so far. Here is a quick post showing you what I have been up to the past few weeks.

Here is one of my Magic Baby muses with her daddy's guitar. She is wearing her fruity flower dress, one of my early prototypes. Since the knot shoulder closure proved to be difficult in dressing her, I have redesigned the shoulder closure. Still, she looks adorable, don't you think?

According to their mothers, all of my Magic Babies are growing like weeds, and need new clothes. I have gone back to my upcycling ways from thirty years ago, when I was a young mother and had to refashion existing clothes for my children. Here are a few examples that I made for the new crop of babies in the family.

This is a cute swing top with matching pants. I upcycled a sweatshirt for the top, then added some applique and a knit contrast edge. Can't wait to see her wearing it. For the pants, I had some matching stretch baby wale corduroy. Perfect!

For this next three piece outfit, I used part of a stash of clothing my sister recently gave to me. This was made from a sweater skirt and top that had been my mothers over two decades ago. I paired it with a paisley challis, made matching buttons, added some lace, and voila!

The challis was tricky to work with on top of the knit, but I just moved slowly, and it worked. I used the existing sweater neck edge, but sewed it on separately. The challis band extends around the back into cute ties. I talked my husband into filming a tutorial while I made the matching buttons. I'll post a link to that later.

The matching sweater skirt has a soft waistband and a challis and lace edge.  I added a pleated skirt from the lightweight challis, which hangs underneath the knit.
For my other little Magic Baby girl, I took an existing onesie and added a double ruffled skirt with the pre-made sheer trim. Then, from the remnants of a purchased fleece blanket, I couldn't resist whipping up the polka dot jumper!



There are many more to show you, but that is enough for now. I will finish with two new designs, not made from something else. The first is a layered skirt made from sheers and tulle. My daughter calls it the "Prom Dress." The last is a custom order I just finished. It is a size 8, and is a version of my Little Frenchy design for toddlers. I call the bigger size the Frenchy Girl.



I just finished a new coat design made with polka dots for winter. I call it the Twirl Coat. More to come!

4 comments:

  1. there's nothing more fun than dressing little girls :)
    my girls are grown now and dress themselves :)

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  2. It really is fun. I am glad to have the chance to experiment making things just for fun!

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  3. Thank you for stopping by...you are so correct ...our special babies hold the keys to our creativity and our hearts. You have made some incredible things...we now have a new 4 week old grandson Lyndon Allen. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

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  4. Hi MH, and loved reading about your new grandbaby. Congratulations, and hope all are doing well : ) Hugs!

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