Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Little Devil Dog Cami Dress


For the little marines out there, I've created these two dresses. I have more of this fabric. However, it seems like the print is darker than most of the Marine uniforms I've seen around here. So if anyone happens to be a subject matter expert on Marine uniforms, please let me know if this looks right.

And does anyone know what a Devil Dog is? Initially, my husband said, "oh it's a little Jar head dress." Then he quickly added, that wouldn't be a good name to go with, and he suggested Devil Dog...a term I've never heard before. Certainly, this is uncharted territory for me.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Black Lace Back Cami Dress

This is the dress I made instead of the pink Halter top I'd planned. I decided that since I was adding a large ruffle to the skirt the top needed a bit more support to hold it all up in place. The lace back Cami is perfect for this sort of construction.

Pink Halter Top

Originally I planned to match this 4T Halter top up with a dress. Then I decided it wanted to be a baby doll shirt instead. Oh, it goes so well with these pink pants!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Fun side Project Update


I've been working...no, that's not accurate....I've been doing other things and not working on my daughter's snow white costume. Today I put the practice costume together real quick before we headed out to town for her Skate lesson. This is just the practice dress, to help inspire her during practice. The fancy one will have shimmer fabric and puff sleeves.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Coming Soon!

A Marine Camouflage print Dress. The fabric arrived today, and the yarn that best matches is brown. I have several skeins already on hand and I'm planning on making up one of these dresses as soon as possible.

I also received some Air Force Print fabric, but it is not suitable for dresses because it's a nylon laminate. I knew that it was suppose to be 100% nylon, but I didn't not realize it would have a laminate side. This fabric would be more suitable for making bibs, diaper covers, aprons, and anything else that requires a water proof side to it. So the Air Force Dress will have to wait till I can find another source of fabric.

It's kind of difficult to tell with this picture, but it looks like (in real life) either the light tan or pale teal green yarn would go with the Tiger Stripe Air Force fabric.

These fabrics are not easy to get a hold of.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Halter Top Shirt



This is the first Halter top that I've completed. I could stand to work on this concept a bit more, but for now you can find this top listed in my shop. I had planned to have my youngest model this for me. But she didn't want to today, so I had to get my eldest...
This is suppose to be a 2T, but as you can see, it fits a 5 year old too! She's just really skinny. I'm trying to fatten her up, I promise I am!

Friday, May 9, 2008

A fabric sample of my stash


I've got a new match...now I wasn't really thinking this was the right season for this fabric...and it's a rare mama who finds this sort of print appealing, here it is Jen.

Lemon-lime-ade out of lemons and well


When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or in Angoraknitter dress speak, when left over fabric isn't enough to make a dress, make a....Shirt!

So from the first top I made for the dress below, I made a cami top.


The best part is even though it's not as stretchy as my usual cami tops, it still fits a wide range. It fits my 2 yr old,


And it fits my (about to turn 5yrs next week) 4year old. What a range, ey?


I've not decided what to do with this. Should I list it on Etsy? Should I keep it? I don't know yet. But whatever I do, the ratty old jean shorts will not be included in the listing. They're really bad, cause these shorts used to be my son's shorts, and they've been very much abused.

The trade Dress

Another Etsy artist asked if we could trade. Now, I've done this before on AmityMama, and perhaps once on Diaperswappers, and I'm usually hesitant because, frankly, I'm usually left feeling like I got the lesser end of the deal. There I said it, I am a knitting snob. I think it takes far more time and effort to do what I do then most other crafts.



This time, I think it will be a much more even deal. I'm even a little bit excited to be honest. It's much more fun when the trade feels fair.


But this dress had a rough start, and I had to start the top over...well because I've not added a decorative stripe to a cami in a while. In the past I just added it and because I usually do some shaping to the back of the cami, the stripe would come out looking just a tad off in the back. When I finished the first cami for this dress I decided to do without my usual shaping. It looked great...except, the bodice wasn't as stretchy as it normally is. It seems the shaping is very important and should not be forgone.


So I sat on the project for a day fuming and thinking. Then I came up with a new knitting innovation for the cami stripe...a new approach that allowed for both the stripe and the shaping. And now, this dress, and this lesson is complete.

Stripes will no longer look odd, it will look perfect!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

A word about Line drying

I highly recommend drying my dresses on a line. Indoors is best, really it is, because the sun can be just as harsh as the dryer. However, if you need to get out a stain, there's nothing more powerful then the desert sun.

If I've run out of room on my little indoor rack, I use my outdoor line too. Usually, I'll fold the dress over so the top is away from the sun or hanging down at the bottom. Today I had a lot of laundry to do so I just put them up as quick as I could and just tried to make them all fit on the line. They were all completely dry within two hours. My girls are very spoiled.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

ACU Cami


This dress I finished last night...

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Blueberry Lace Back Cami

Sorry, this is for my youngest daughter. I've had this fabric, and had been showing it to folks for the last two years now. No one ever wanted a dress with this fabric. So I decided to use up all the fabric on this, and I don't have anymore of this print, sorry.