belle epoque

two steps back! That is how it is with a baby, apparently, and after a few good days, poor HMB has been sick for nearly a week. However, before she got sick, I took all of the wonderful crafty mom advice and managed to cadge a minute here and there to complete something crafty (yes, there was a day or two with no shower but hey, priorities). Without further ado, my first sewing project with my beautiful new sewing machine! Meet Delilah

I made her using Emily Martin’s pattern on MSL.com. It was super easy and soothing- a perfect project for a sleep deprived person with 2 minutes here and there for crafting. Also appreciated by the person who’s wreaking all the havoc around here:

Despite the photo, she’s actually not so into dolls right now. But we had a six-month-old visitor who wiggled with all her might to get her hands on Delilah, so I imagine in a few months miss S may be interested too!

I’ve never liked the expression “spoiled rotten,” mostly because I’ve been fortunate to be treated very well by my family and my friends, and I hope it hasn’t made me too rotten. I know other people, too, who I’d consider pretty fortunate who are also grateful for everything they’ve been given. So, I go for spoiled silly instead, because it is rather giddy-making to have such gloriously generous friends! Well, wee miss s. appears to be on the road to spoiled sillyness too, because look at what has come in the mail from our lovely crafty friends

A beautiful patchwork bib from the dear and talented Linda!
And super sweet Christy sent along the most insanely sweet dress bib and bloomer set

Could you pass out? I adore bloomers (even though back in the day I remember HATING to wear them).

And you know, I’ve been a bit spoiled myself. Want to guess what this is?

Awwwww yeah. When craft time is limited to nap time, it helps to have the best, most efficient tools available to get the job done. I’ve already been playing with it and it is a REVELATION. More to come, and happy Saturday night to you!

I got to spend a super-fun morning with Natalie and Lulu yesterday, filming today’s CRAFT:Video Pattern Podcast. In it I demonstrate a super easy and quick zipper pouch made out of the leg of an old pair of jeans, based on a project in my book Jeaneology! I know many of you are advanced seamsters, but please go check it out (if nothing else, you might get a laugh from my goofy facial expressions), and perhaps send it along to a sewing novice you think might enjoy it! If you’ve come here from CRAFT:, welcome and thank you so much for visiting!

I know, I promised dress patterns today but there are too many that I love. So I’ll need some more time with that. In lieu of dresses, I’ll tell you that I’ve been really into the C.Z. Guest/Babe Paley quality of the full, formal skirt with a button down or sweet cardigan that I’ve seen around lately:

Brooks Brothers and Vogue, respectively
I love long patterned skirts with lots of volume, and while this might not be the most practical of daywear, it would be fun to recreate to wear out for tea or lunch with a friend who’d appreciate it (or perhaps to a daytime wedding?). I’d probably look for the fabric in the home decor section of a fabric store, seeing as it would take a rather a lot of yardage, plus there are often great patterned silks, satins and glazed cottons in home dec, which might have just the right amount of body for a big skirt. If you’re more into the Little House on the Prairie/Field and Stream look, you could use a calico or a plaid. I’d use this pattern:

The gathered version rather than the circle one, and lengthen it to the floor. For the top perhaps this tailored French-cuff button down, or, if I was a knitter, one of the adorable chunky knits from Wenlan Chia’s new book, Twinkle’s Weekend Knits. I was flipping through and coveting it in Borders but reluctantly left it behind, since I’m always very inspired by knitting books and magazines, but then very frustrated by the actual knitting (beginning with how expensive yarn is!). But there is a fabulous turtleneck sweater pattern in there that would be a perfect compliment to a big fluffy skirt until warmer weather returns.

I’m enjoying coming up with these little fantasy outfits– I hope it is fun-ish for you too! I’d love it if you want to join in– please comment with a link to a post/photo of an outfit you’ve recreated from a favorite movie/painting/magazine (by no means need it be Spring 08!), or if you’d like to comment with a link to a picture/scan of an outfit you want to recreate (in your own style, of course), I’d have a lot of fun picking out patterns for fantasy outfits for people other than myself! So, please pipe up if you want.

In case you haven’t seen me lately, let me assure you that I am officially huge and roly-poly. Moondoggie is highly amused by my walrus-like efforts to get out of any reclined or semi-reclined position (but since he is a wonderful husband always tells me how nice I look and helps me up). Lately, when semi-reclined, I’ve been perusing and fantasizing about the new patterns out for spring from Vogue, Simplicity etc, and thought I’d share some of my favorites with you. I’m not totally delusional– I know I won’t have a ton of time for sewing post-baby, but it is still fun to pick out a new wardrobe by matching up what I’ve been clipping from magazines/catalogs with the latest patterns. If I can keep it going, I’ll do a couple of posts like this and show you a few different outfits I’d make if I had my druthers.

One of my favorites from a recent Anthropologie catalog is this:

Which I would recreate using this Alice & Olivia for Vogue wide-leg pants pattern#1035, and Divine Details jacket/short trench pattern #8480:

I’m really into the wide-leg pant, which doesn’t work for me at all right now (the proportions are all wrong!), but I hope will be kind to me in a few months. I’d probably make the trousers above out of red-striped canvas ticking or dark stretch denim (I refuse to be a slave to the fabric suggestions on the pattern envelope), then add some decorative buttons to the front for the sailor effect. And I do love the idea of a red canvas or twill jacket, though I actually do have a big length of tan twill my mother got for me so I’d probably use that, then perhaps add some red ribbon trim around the collar and pockets.

To complete the outfit, under the jacket I’d wear a white boat neck t-shirt, which most likely I would purchase from Old Navy (the time and effort I’d spend sewing one is not justified for something they do so well and economically!). And I’ve been wanting a pair of soft yellow leather boat shoes, which would be perfect with this outfit, I think. I like these ones by Isaac Mizrahi for Target:

Next up? Dresses! There are a bunch of cute ones I’ve got my eye on…

I’m still here, and crafting! Even uploading pictures and stuff, just not posting it all on the blog, mainly because I’m increasingly waddly and sleepy, and concentrating on getting my mess cleaned up and somewhat organized before the wee girl arrives next month.

I’ve been terribly belated in saying something about the truly amazing baby shower my friends threw for me here in San Francisco. I was just blown away, and could go on and on about how wonderful and generous they ALL were. But because this is primarily a craft blog, I’ll show you the crafty bits– mainly some ridiculously beautiful gifts from talented Etsy sellers that make lovely baby things. I am sure I’ll be going back to them once the wee girly arrives!

We had to pass these booties around so everyone could stroke them. They are so sweet and soft I wish they came in my size. Camilla, who was one of the amazing co-hostesses of the party, got these for me after reading about them on Bloesem. They are by Winkel and are a delicious baby gift. I can’t wait to put tiny feet in them!

And my friend Shelly went beautifully overboard in her crafty gift giving too! First of all, she makes the most INCREDIBLE baby blankets– I’ve never seen anything like them, and, again, I wish they came big enough for me. Though it probably is better they don’t because I’d never come out from under them. I told her the theme of the baby’s room (pink, brown, green and birds), and she made a custom satin blanket to match, as well as giving us a trio of wonderful flannel receiving/swaddling blankets

As a member of Etsy Kids and Etsy Moms, she also came across a slew of fantastic etsy sellers who make darling things for babies, like

This outfit from dilly bop designs

Wonderful baby shoes from diddle dumpling, a sweet Waldorf doll from the little nest and a puzzle ball, whose label I lost (chime in if you made it!). And…

A beautiful squishy soft block from hoobaleedoos

I’m not posting all this *just* to show off my awesome loot, but also to give you the scoop on a bunch of great crafty baby gifts and etsy sellers! I don’t know how it is where you are or at your age, but it seems like Moondoggie and I are in the midst of a baby boom here in San Francisco, so it is always great to find unique baby gift sources. On that note, we had the honor of going to the bris of a new baby in our circle. Of course on such an important day, he needed a gift.

Yes, I really, really love the Wee Elephant pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. This one is made in the tiniest baby-wale corderoy I’ve ever seen. It is so incredibly soft, I think this is my favorite one yet.

I’ll be hanging out with my friend Lauren today, on the first Western stop of her book tour for The Seduction of the Crimson Rose. If you want to meet her too, she will be at M is for Mystery in San Mateo tonight at 7pm! She’ll also be in Houston, Dallas, Nashville and New Haven, CT this week, so check out her site for dates, times and bookstores. Her whole series is romantic, adventure-filled, funny and eminently entertaining. Even if I hadn’t been friends with her since we were 5, I would recommend her books to you wholeheartedly.

You might remember, if you’ve been with me on this blog for awhile, that I used to sew myself lots of clothes. Perhaps it is superficial, but I LOVE clothes– looking at them, thinking about them, buying them, making them. While I am absolutely aware that there are tons of wonderfully chic and stylish pregnant women out there, I just haven’t felt inspired to sew for the past few months–particularly the last month or so has felt like a bit of a style-free zone around here. The urge to make some clothes, combined with a bit of boredom hand-quilting the wall hanging (after just thread basting it I was ready to quit), came together in a burst of crafty creativity to make Claudine. Who goes to ballet class:

Then goes visiting

and stays to tea with her best friend

She is not a toy for a small child (her hat is held on with pins!), but one for me to dress and make clothes for until I am back to slightly more normal proportions and can make some new spring/summer clothes for myself. I’ve a collage of pictures of skirts and dresses from magazines and catalogs, and have already begun plotting how to spend baby’s naptime in front of the sewing machine!

But before that, there is much nesting to be done around here, so no more non-baby diversions! Well, at least not too many…

*Update* I just found out that the lovely Phoeknits did me the honor of nominating me among her ten top picks for The You Make My Day blog award! I am so flattered, thank you Phoe! You totally made my day. I’ll be following the rules and nominating ten of my favorites very soon, promise.

We’ve been back in San Francisco now for nearly a week, but an icky head cold, two days of dental work (fun!), nasty rainy weather and general almost-8-months-pregnant laziness set in to keep me away from the craft room! I finally felt better today and got started on a project I’ve been wanting to make for months. I think the next 6 weeks or so will be taken up with larger-scale baby-centric projects like this one, so I’m going to break my rules about showing works in progress, as if I don’t, I won’t have anything to show you at all! I’ve started with my take on the Someone To Watch Over You wall hanging in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. Due to the aforementioned terrible weather, the light was no good for a picture, and since it is just the pieced top of the quilted wall hanging, you can see the upholstery of the window seat through it (sorry).

I am not sure I love the fabric combination (the background is white with pale pink polka dots, if you can’t tell), but I think the pattern is just beautiful, and totally worth all of the fiddling with the bird applique. I made some serious measurement errors somewhere, so it is not as long or as wide as it is supposed to be and I had to fudge it a bit. I’m still blind stitching the bird applique to the trunk and background, then have to quilt and bind it. If you have any suggestions about binding fabric, please share– I had a little fantasy of a pale beige stripy seersucker binding, but that involves going to the fabric store, finding just the right thing and then prewashing it when I get home. Which in my current state of laziness and i-will-melt-if-i-go-out-in-the-rain-again means the hanging may NEVER be finished. And then the second large-scale baby project would never even get started. So, I may end up just binding it with something pink I already have. I hope to finish quilting it this weekend and will make my final binding decision once that is done!

p.s. If you haven’t seen it already, there is a set of photos from our trip to Hawaii on Flickr– there are lots of sunrises, sunsets, pretty views and sea turtles, along with a bunch of killer shots of Moondoggie riding the waves!

I put the button on my sidebar but never mentioned that I’m participating in the very gentle Creative Every Day challenge this year. Yes, I realise I’m having a baby in two months (give or take), which will very likely put a cramp in being super duper productive in terms of quantity of projects, but the guidelines of the challenge are kind. Yesterday I came up with a new breakfast:

Plain yogurt with dark sweet cherries (my new favorite frozen fruit) from Trader Joe’s, and figured that was my creativity for the day (according to the challenge, culinary creativity totally counts. i also made risotto). But Susan reminded me that I was slated to submit a tiny softie pattern to CROQ Zine, and thus out of excitement and renewed crafty inspiration was born Petey:

A pattern for his tinyness will appear in the February issue, so grab a copy when they go on sale (if I find out when, I’ll remind you, don’t worry)! I’ve already drawn up the pattern and how-to, and it is in Susan’s hands, so unlike some of my tutorial promises (I promise, I’m still working on them), this one is for reals– even if for some reason it doesn’t end up in CROQ, it is already all written and photographed so I shall post it up here lickety split, pinkie swear.

It has been a wet and blustery couple of days in San Francisco, inspiring lots of snuggling in and reading books and making warm, hearty meals. But today the sun has made an appearance, so I am coming out of my cave to show you what I’ve been making:

A flock of frocks from Alicia’s pattern in the book Softies. They are gifts for some lovely people I know, and I can’t tell you more than that without ruining it for the recipients who read this blog! I think these two are my favorites frocks:

Now, you are probably also noticing the FABULOUS fabric behind the little flock. Well, the kindness of bloggers never ceases to thrill me– you may remember that I got a square of that loveliness in Alicia’s Santa Lucia Doll Kit, and promptly became obsessed with finding more. I visited many Joann’s and despaired, but the lovely Jen saw my plea in the Santa Lucia Doll Flickr Pool and got in touch to say she too had been so enamored of that fabric that she bought bolts of it and was willing to send me 1/2 yard of her remaining stash! Isn’t that so generous? Thank you so much Jen! I vow that it will be used for good.

Also in the picture above is a book I’ve been coveting for ages, after reading many glowing blog reviews– Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros. I was planning to use a nice Christmas gift certificate to Barnes & Noble to buy it, but on a chance trip into Anthropologie found it on the sale table for half off! Yes! $15 for that gorgeous, fat, colorful, inspiring book. I made the beef stew from it for dinner last night, though skeptical that something with so few ingredients could have much flavor. I was SO WRONG, it was DELICIOUS, basically just as written. I have always wanted a go-to beef stew recipe and now I have one! If you try it– instead of thyme I used a bay leaf, and I threw in a chopped sweet potato just because I had it in the root veggie bin.

Now I’m going to go out and soak up the battery-charging rays of winter sunlight!