a dress was made.

over spring break i sewed my first ever dress. maybe one day i'll take pictures of it. with my kids clothes week motivation running high though, i've moved on to dress two. let's pretend it wasn't forty this morning, shall we.

i drafted the pattern for this one myself, and it was by far the easiest one yet. i just traced a bodice from a well fitting dress, added seam allowances and was good to go. i plan on making all of the margot dresses in celebration 

the bodice piece is lined, and i sewed it using the order rae shared in her tutorial. i used a different method on the first dress, and i greatly prefer this one. super simple and really straight forward, especially with the videos.

adding the piping, on the other hand, was way harder than it should've been. in classic libby fashion, i may have accidentally clipped a hole in it while i was joining it closed, so now there's a weird patch, because i didn't want to have to rip it all out and start again. easy dress = lazy seamstress.

margot doesn't seem to care though. she's digging her green apple sucker. and trying to share it with dad.

the fabric is from hobby lobby. i used a cute gold polka dot fabric for the lining. no one will see it, but i like knowing it's there. i also used a sweet vintage wooden button for the closure. it makes me happy.

rocking sheeps and suckers make margot happy. picture taking moms make her confused. so do moms who put her back in her church clothes way after church time. she has a rough life.

today wraps up kids clothes week, so you should go check out all the awesome things folks made. i also made two more pairs of shorts, but those will have to wait for another post (spoiler, one pair is made out of this ridiculous fabric). i'm about four pairs of shorts behind in bloggingness. it's a word.

from vintage pillowcase to skirt.

sometimes you just need to make something that takes twenty minutes. like a skirt from a pillowcase.

i recently got a bunch of my grandma's old linens, many of which had really beautiful hand embroidery on them. i decided to take this pillowcase and make a margot skirt from it. i couldn't resist with that bright orange and happy blue.

it was a super quick sew, which was refreshing. i didn't even have to hem the bottom since i used the embroidered edge. i just sewed a side seam, the waistband and stuck in some elastic. my machine was even already loaded with orange thread!

such an easy time sewing was bound to be met with a difficult time picture taking. you can't have it all, folks. margot was feeling extra uncooperative today. like when she decided that sheep needed to be relocated. she's strong like ox.

from this new vantage point she could more easily point out what was concerning her. 'what happened' is her new favorite phrase. i guess it's something that jon and i ask her all of the time... in this case, something was apparently wrong with the curtains.

and i just found out it's kids clothes week! so i get to share this extra special, super easy skirt as my first project. go over to the site and check out all of the awesome things people are making.

this kid is too cool.

yeah, so let's talk about this one for a second. who is this kid, and where is my baby?

too. big. too quick. stop. now please. ok, thanks.

and with that, on to the real reason for the post (as if most of you don't come here for the margot pictures), a freezer paper stencil tee-shirt. i haven't made a freezer paper shirt since before margot was born, and i had forgotten how easy it is and how awesome it turns out. a one of a kind tee-shirt in under an hour? yes please.

margot greatly enjoyed the photo shoot sucker. all of the ridiculous faces were made that day.

the shirt is pretty self explanatory. i mean, how can you look at this kid and not say 'oh my.' i can't, that's for sure.

too much sass. i know sunglasses inside are a bit much, but we were originally going to photo shoot outside, but were thwarted by the rain. and really, toddler sunglasses. they're the best.

no pattern this time, but if you want to make an 'oh my' shirt of your own, i'm sure you can manage. and if you do, post a link!

hello louise.

in celebration of sew mama sew's six weeks of softies, i finally worked up the motivation to sew margot's first official doll (not counting foxes or monsters). say hello to louise.

i designed louise myself, but she was inspired by all of the beautiful rag dolls from around the internet--like emily's black apple dolls and salt water kid's back pack dolls.

i had a lot of fun making this doll, and spent maybe a bit too much time designing and making all of the accessories. they're all removable too (even the hair bands!), which i think will be fun for margot in the future. right now she just takes off the shoes and then says 'shoes, shoes, shoes' until i put them back on, only for her to take them back off within two seconds. it's a fun game.

i kept the base colors pretty basic--black and white stripped leggings and a black polka dotted top. this way, she's pretty timeless and adaptable, and i can make future clothing to fit margot's whims. for now, i'm enjoying margot not being able to communicate her whims and instead making clothing to suit mine--like a mustard yellow flat front skirt with an elastic back waistband for easy removal (which i now want in my size) and faux-leather chestnut mary janes.

both margot and i are undecided about the coat. while it was ridiculously fun to make a fully lined coat for a doll, i think it turned out a bit too 'business casual'. margot i think agrees, because she always wants it to be taken off.

i had a hard time getting good pictures of margot with louise today, as margot was on a mission. i take most of my blog pictures in her room, because it's the only one with natural light, and today when i had my white board on the floor taking pictures, margot decided that the board was a bed, and thus it must obviously be stuffed thing nap time.

so she proceeded to bring all her stuffed animals to the board, all the while putting her finger to her mouth and saying 'shhhhhhh.' she then laid down herself (sort of) and said 'sleep, sleep, sleep.' needless to say, she's the cutest person ever.

fun story--jon named the doll. he really wanted louise to be margot's middle name, but he couldn't win me over on it. i'm not sure getting naming rights to a doll is a very good consolation prize, but that's what he got. she's a pretty swell doll at least.