What Catie Wore Wednesday #74

Sorry, not many photos this week but the few I have are pretty cute.

I can't remember if I bought this skirt for her just before or just after she was born.  It was on sale and I fell in love with it but a 4 was the smallest size they had so I bought it and I've just been hanging onto it.  Finally, it fits and it's just as cute on her as it was on the hanger.

We found this hat for her and handed it to her so she would try it on but she adamantly insisted that it was too big and wouldn't try it on.  We wheeled our shopping cart over to a mirror where we showed her just how cute it was and she's loved it ever since.  I love the way her hair curls around the bottom and this hat has already saved her from a sunburn once this summer so I'm real happy we bought it.

Reading a book on her own on Sunday morning while wearing her Yellow Dress. Her hair looks all adorable and curly hey?  Too bad she rolled around on the bench so much and rubbed her head against Daddy so much that by the time Sacrament meeting was over she may as well have just gotten up from a nap.  I guess I need to stick to the pig tails.

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed the beautiful weather and went on a picnic to the park after church.  She's in love with the swings and will sit for 20 minutes, happy to be pushed.

She asks to, "Go Fast!"

Yellow Dress

Not only did I complete an actual project but I made a dress.  Perhaps if you've followed my blog for a while and you've seen some of the sewing I've done you think this is no big deal, but I swear, for me this is a big deal.  I can look at a stroller to be re-covered and feel nothing but excitement but show me clothing and I get real scared.  My lack of experience shows up really quick too.

About a week ago a friend of mine pinned a picture of a dress and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Sadly the link wasn't a good one and it took you to a daily deals site where I couldn't find the original dress. I couldn't find any better photos so all I have is what you see above.  I thought about trying to re-create the dress for Catie and it took me the entire week to work up the nerve.  I finally went to the store, bought supplies and started with every expectation that somewhere along the line I'd fail miserably.  No pattern, no tutorial, just that photo along with very little clothing experience.  My only reassurance came from the many, many clothing tutorials I have read on the blogs I read and let me tell you, reading all those tutorials sure payed off.

Surprisingly things went very smoothly.  I used my seam ripper a shockingly small amount of times and the end result is pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  Two major changes I made from the original, I knew immediately that I wouldn't use ricrac.  Some of you may disagree with me here and that's cool but I think that nothing makes a piece of clothing look more homemade than ricrac, the only exception being if it's sewn into a hem so you just see the cute wavy part.  Anyway, I knew I would replace the ricrac with piping which would mean some extra fabric piecing but I love the look of piping so it was worth it.   I also used less buttons, but not on purpose.  I debated at the store between big and little ones, went with the big and they ended up being too big to fit 6 like the original.  Turned out I loved three even more though.  Okay, enough blabbing, here's the final photo.

The bodice is fully lined so no seams show, the skirt is lined with some white satin that I had on hand to keep the dress from getting stuck on tights and diapers and such and there's a zipper in the back.

Here's a close up of the bow, buttons and piping.

The zipper is not the most beautiful you've ever seen but it works.  If my skills were a bit better I wouldn't have needed the hook and eye at the top but sometimes you have to make compromises and I'm sure my next one will be even better.

I love the really wide hem and I think the piping gives it such a sleek look.  Sorry but there is no way I have the skills to post a tutorial for this dress, especially since I really made things up as I went along.  But hey, if I could figure it out so can you.

And a couple of photos of how cute Catie looks in it and some honesty about how I really feel about the finished project.

I think the dress is just a little long.  I would have liked the look of the dress if it was slightly shorter but it's far too much work to change and it's okay as is.  I also really wish I had moved the straps in a little further, they sort of slip off the shoulders, again not worth the effort so they're staying as is.  It's possible that bow is a bit large but I enjoy it anyway.

What really matters is that Catie loves it.  She put it on and looked in the mirror and started to spin.  I actually tried it on her a lot of times at different phases and she never fought me which is a huge indicator of how she felt about the dress.  I'm calling this a success.

  Linking To Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, It's Sew for You,  Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Lemon Tree Creations,  Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello, The CrEaTiVe CraTe

What Catie Wore Wednesday #73

When Brad is off work we try to make an extra effort to do fun things with Catie during the day, since Friday was a holiday we headed over to Stir Crazy, a family play place.  Catie had a great time climbing and sliding and playing on this red car.  They have a bunch of coin operated toys that are hugely over priced so we never pay for them but she still likes to ride the car.

And a couple awesome, strategically taken bath photos for you.

I'm not one to buy Catie an Easter dress but this year I found this dress that I could not resist and it just happened that the first time she wore it landed on Easter Sunday, so Easter dress it became.

I cannot believe how grown up she looks in that photo. She's so tall and she's wearing grown up flip flops and looks like such a lady.  I thought I'd give you a photo from around the same time last year so you can see just what I'm talking about.  What a difference a year makes, especially when it comes to hair.

We were playing Red Light, Green Light which she thinks is just about the funniest game she's ever played.  It involves lots of stolen steps and even more giggling.

What Catie Wore Wednesday #72

I found this "dress" in a pile I'd forgotten about so I put it on her, check out those sleeves.  She definitely won't wear it again especially because it was so short.  I tried to convince her to wear something else but she insisted in staying int his all day.  I enjoyed the two hats she's wearing and the headband though.

Watching tv with Daddy on Sunday afternoon.  She's wearing a pretty dress, every time I put it on her she says "Princess"

"Painting" her nails with an old make up brush.  She likes to paint Mommy and Daddy's too.

Here's a random Catie tidbit for you.  In the car we often listen to Disney music, Catie loves to guess what movie each song is from and I don't mind the music, plus anything that entertains her in the car is a bonus.  There is one song though that Brad and I cringe every time it comes on.  It's from Pocahontas and is called Savages which should be enough right there to see the problem... as soon as they say the word the first time Catie pipes up from the back seat, "Savages!  Savages Mommy!"  She repeates this many times during the song.  Hopefully this doesn't carry on anywhere other than than the car as it could lead to a very awkward moment.

We bought this puzzle at the dollar store and it's prioved to keep her busy for far longer than I anticipated. She got to be really good at it far quicker than I thought she would.

She wanted to wear a pretty dress today but she was already in clothes and I didn't want to change her so I suggested she wear the cape I made her for Halloween instead (that she refused to wear then).  She loved it today and wore it for quite some time.  Her pink ruffle headband is always her princess crown.

We asked Catie if she wanted to go to the park the other day and we were both disappointing that we didn't have the camera rolling.  She jumped up shouting, "Yay, the park!" and continued to jump up and down.  Mommy was freezing but she had a blast which is all that really matters.

Catie and Daddy on the slide

Wearing Daddy's very large pajama shirt

And finally, my favourite, her brand new bicycle.

I told her we were going to the store to buy her a present and as soon as she saw the bikes she was ecstatic.   We ended up having to go to a few different stores and every time we left empty handed she was devastated.  When we finally found one she immediately plopped onto it while I payed and then cried for her bicycle all the way to the car as I carried it.  I put it on the backseat next to her and she rode home with her hand on it the entire way.

Don't be fooled by the photo though, she looks like a tricycle riding pro but she hasn't actually figured it out yet and it's too cold to go outside and try so I think it will be some time until she masters the skill.  So far she just sits and watches tv on it and she sure thought it was a treat when I let her eat lunch on it yesterday.