more evolution of the self-made pattern

ha - the reversible apron dress was 'B', and so was the red-white flouncey shirt. The apron dress 'failed' so I changed it into something else before I got to the finishing stage. This is 'C' - and it's almost right. Some very minor changes are needed now.

This has blue grosgrain ribbon for the ties and a very cheap fabric off the clearance rack a long time ago. It's getting to be an hour or two job to make one now - not much at all really!

red and white shirt

Made this after work last night from the hand-drawn pattern. I'll keep altering the pattern a little bit at a time until I get one that will fit her the way I want. This one isn't quite right either, but functional and since she has worn it today it is 'growing' on me some. I'd love to see it in a dark blue/purple fabric.

The Sad State of Yogurt choices

RANT AND RAMBLE
I hate the idea of giving Esme 'non-fat' yogurt, and she doesn't like 'plain natural' yogurt. There is one called 'yobaby' that is supposedly made for infants and toddlers, even made with whole milk, but she doesn't like it. All of the 'kid's' yogurts are weird flavored even though they claim not to have high fructose corn syrup and be made from 2 percent milk. The yogurt I've been buying her is 'Yo-Plus' with 1 percent milk, real sugar and 'probiotic' natural cultures. She loves the strawberry and cherry flavors. I'm worried my grocery store is going to stop carrying it because there was something new in it's place and it was moved to a center display. 'Activa' is similar in the cultures but non-fat and definitely for dieters. Just looking over all the other types of yogurts available made me really upset with the sad state of choices - 'non-fat', 'made from skim milk', 'NutraSweet' or 'Splenda' So much of the yogurt market is geared for dieters that I'm afraid if they stop carrying this one and she doesn't like the flavors available of the kid's yogurt we'll lose something she likes, that is pretty good for her compared to other things and that she loves to share with me and practice her spoonwork on.

Just had to ramble. Yogurt is a strange thing to ramble on. Those five minutes made me realize just how important of a decision it is for me. I can avoid HCFS and Nutrasweet and Splenda (and I do) in so many things but with some things, like yogurt and jelly, are becoming so much harder!

Reversible apron shirt

I was trying to make another one of the same shirt and something didn't turn out quite right again. So - I took it apart at the seams, lined it with another fabric and made it into this. It ties at the sides and the back. It is reversible so if she gets one side full of ketchup stains it's OK. Not the best design (the ties aren't so tight) but it seemed to be very cute and semi-functional today just around the house and at Grandma's. I could easily make regular (non-reversible) shirts like this that only had one tie at the back neck and would still fit.

Carroll County Fair, Tennessee, 2009

We took Esme out to the Carroll County fair. They said she had to be 36 inches to ride any of the rides - we told the truth (she's about 32) and she couldn't ride anything. That was sad as we saw lots of children that were much smaller than her with handstamps! She would have had fun on a few of the rides.

We took a lot of pictures and Esme had her own personal ride all night (Daddy and towards the end, Mommy too). We also had fun at the petting zoo where Esme made some friends.


We told you it would be on the internet!
all in good fun - hope you had a great time!

shirt experiments

without the zipper in - needs some alteration

looks pretty 'ok' from this side, could be longer

I made a 'to pattern' size 3 shirt of the 9614 pattern last night. It is much too big at the moment and has been put away for later. I think it is pretty good, but we'll have to see in time. I didn't take a picture of it 'on'.

These pictures are my attempts to make Simplicity 9614 (1971) sized down from a size 3 to a size 'Esme' I took these pictures without a zipper or sleeves on it. To change it from a size 3 to a size 2 (sortof) I laid out the size 3 pieces on a piece of yellow legal paper and traced them - then I laid out similar pieces from a size 2 pattern I had (bodice to bodice, back to back etc.) and approximated the size difference for shoulder widths, armholes, width of front etc etc... It fits pretty well, considering that type of freehand alteration. I laid the yellow paper pattern against Esme for the back though and made further changes -- maybe shouldn't have done that. Maybe it just looks weird because of the zipper not being there.

This was fabric I had leftover from a baby blanket I made her long ago - and I may or may not finish it as a shirt. Some red sleeves and a red stripe at the bottom maybe?