now that the holiday frenzy has died down, we are starting to get truly relaxed. we’ve slowed down, slept in (a bit) and a few days ago we stepped out & down the street to sizzle pie for a slice. the boys were with family, so i captured some sweet father / daughter moments.
i’ve found so many amazing little items to buy for my two year old daughter for christmas, but this year i’ve made a commitment to the handmade! i pulled out a book i purchased during the summer, little things to sew by liesl gibson. i love her oliver + s patterns and was really excited to finally make something out of the book. also, for free patterns & tutorials check out her blog!
i have seen the cutest animal hats on kiddos everywhere in portland. here is my take on the cozy winter hood. i used a brown furry remnant i picked up for $2 at fabric depot, an old sweater & some trim i have found at a garage sale.
i copied the size i wanted onto tracing paper.
it came together in a snap! took less than 20 minutes.
frankie is very independent and pretty messy. i had a remnant of cool woodgrain vinyl & decided to make the messy kid bib. you can also use any fabric & iron on vinyl. i may try that next. i paired the woodgrain with a bright teal 1/4″ bias tape & really like the way it turned out. (i will make my own bias tape for the next one.)
i love babylegs, but i don’t love the price tag, so i figured i would buy some cheap knee socks and make my own. i used a pair of my own & picked up three more at target for only $5. i cut the foot out and used that fabric for the cuff. took less than 5 minutes per pair!
a few weeks ago, my friend elena gifted me a huge lot of vintage patterns. i’ve been trying to stay focused on my long list of handmade gifts (& daily chores), but we attend an annual holiday party & i figured it was the perfect excuse to sew something for my girl! i had a very small piece of vintage holly fabric & decided upon one of the dress patterns that needed the least amount of fabric.
i serged most of the seams & used some leftover red flannel for the facing, which i attached by sewing machine.
i had a thrifted red zipper that worked perfectly. (if you hate sewing zippers, my friend jennifer at creating bits of envy has a great tutorial for sewing in a perfect zipper)
i top stitched in red across the bodice, neckline, arm holes & zipper. i had some pretty red bias tape left over from a previous project & finished the hem with it.
it came together in about an hour, cost less than $3 & i absolutely love it!
i made a quick headband, using the fabric & a vintage button to create a flower. here’s frankie, all decked out & ready for our holiday party! (she was a little grumpy for these pictures, but the dress looks cute…i ended up giving her a cookie, so she smiled for the last one!)
sweet, smiling cookie face!
instead of tackling my own list, i was perusing blogs and stumbled upon skunkboy creatures! oh my, i love love love them!! (after making zombie felties, i am totally impressed by the perfect stitching, fabric combinations & lovely details!) if you absolutely must have one (or more), here is the etsy shop. here are a few of my favorites.
my first born is eleven. wow. here are some pdx hipster shots of the birthday boy.
aidan has always been a dynamic soul. here he is on the broadway bridge:
i’ve been searching for the perfect thing to bring a little DIY holiday sparkle to my front windows. i love to look at all the beautiful fabric, yarns & notions at purl soho and found an amazing pattern for a wool felt star listed in their project center, purl bee. i knew immediately that this is what i wanted to make. i used ecru wool felt and a beautiful white gold metallic embroidery thread to create these amazing three dimensional stars. they turned out really lovely and look fabulous hanging in the window! if you want to make your own, click here for the tutorial.
i am making the majority of my gifts this year and have been dying to post my projects…but most of them will have to wait until after they’ve been given. one of the things that i made for the kids on my list is zombie felties. i gave ethan this book by nicola tedman & sarah skeate last year and have had a great time getting creative with these mini creatures.
my friend sarah came over & we tackled the zombie kitty. she made a black one & i made a white one. everything is very small & intricate. they look really nice together and i particularly like the contrasting stitches and bloody tails.
feeling pretty confident, we moved on to the original zombie. i love how different they turn out depending on your felt & thread colors and bead / accessory choices. i found the perfect bead & i love how his eye falls out.
i really wanted to make some for my friend jen’s kids. i think they turned out awesome! pirate zombie & fairy zombie. they were much more complicated, especially the fairy wings…layers of netting with bloody embroidery. the fairy crown also took a long time…winding wire & covering it with metallic embroidery thread. all in all, it was a very fun and i feel much more confident about working on tiny projects now. hopefully the kids will enjoy them too!
what a whirlwind it has been. time can move painfully slow, and then before you know it, you are 7 months pregnant! december is a big month. in addition to the holiday, both frankie & ethan have birthdays. frankie turned 2 on december 4th.
we had a pretty large gathering for her 1st birthday and i decided that this year we would keep it small & simple. she gets christmas decorations as party decorations, so micah & i cut down a tree (in the backyard!), covered it in white lights and vintage glass balls. the kids had a wonderful time decorating to vince guaraldi (charlie brown) and it was really funny to watch frankie ‘directing’ her brothers.
frankie was entranced by the lights & ornaments.
i love combining natural elements with retro christmas glitz.
i found these vintage light reflectors at a garage sale. $5 for a huge box of them.
i love shiny brites! i displayed these in a dessert stand.
being the youngest of 3, frankie already loves chocolate. i made a huge cake and decorated it with glittery deer (craft store deer, spray fix & martha stewart glitter) and a sparkle flower.
frankie absolutely loved it.
she received some really thoughtful gifts. a beautiful outfit (vintage 70’s pattern!) sewn by auntie jen and a hello kitty janome sewing machine from auntie sarah, to name a few. her big gift from us was a kettler trike. we have been having a wonderful time exploring our neighborhood on these cold, crisp & sunny days.
she also got her first baby doll from auntie al & family. she named her B and takes her wherever she goes now. i love how gentle & nurturing frankie is.
it has really lifted my spirits to sit by the twinkling lights of the tree at night. i love all my decorations…things collected over the years from estate sales or made by hand, like the felt garland sewn last year. i am looking forward to celebrating ethan’s 11th birthday this sunday and spending a quiet holiday with my lovely family.
maya mori 
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