Our FI Nest

I bought a lot of fabric last year despite it being a year to sew down my stash so I'm trying to focus on using it up and expanding my work wardrobe. I've been hesitant to make the pants because I've recently gone up a dress size and I'm hopeful I'll come back down. I just don't want to put in the effort of making something for it not to fit in a couple months. The dresses and leggings are more forgiving size wise so I'll likely start there.   If When I complete it all I'll have made 2 pairs of Sabrina Slims  Pants 1 pair of  Vanessa Fluid Pants 1 pair of Éleonore Pull-on Jeans 1 pair of Clara Leggings 2  Classic Tee s Sloane Sweatshirt Alice Top Nicole Tunic Rachel Dress It's not quite a full SWAP (Sewing with a Plan) as not all the tops will go with all the bottoms and it is missing a topper that coordinates with everything, but it will fill some holes in my wardrobe and use up a good portion of my recent fabric acquisitions....

Catching up on old projects. Made this one March 2018. My son loved this Spiderman T-shirt that had gotten too small and had a few holes. Most of his old clothes are passed on to his cousin, but I thought I could upcycle this one using the Vanguard Kit from Love Notions. It is perfect for panels and well, saving too small shirts. For the second colour I used this larger shirt I'd picked up at a second hand store. The shirt came together very quickly and easily. I used some better quality cotton lycra for the neckband and salvaged the cuffs from the orange shirt for the cuffs on the new ones. Bonus for using 2nd hand shirts? Didn't need to hem it as I kept the hem off the orange shirt. I love how the shirt came out, and was able to add some much needed long sleeves to my son's wardrobe. However, mental note for next time... he's refused to wear it because he doesn't like the seaming on the sleeves. Either I'll leave this off next time, or topstitc...

Recently it was my daughter's 5th birthday. As with most things in life I try to keep the costs in mind without scrimping on the overall experience. This year I've been trying to move towards more experience gifts rather than more stuff. We royally failed on that account at Christmas but her birthday gave us the chance to make up for it. We did discuss coming up to her birthday that we would give her less gifts but do a fun experience instead and she was excited about that. I did still want her to have a gift to open so we got her a new story book collection to expand bed time reading, which I picked up at Winners for $10. I also made her a dress that matches the Minnie mouse one I'd previously made her  using the free Love Notions   Doll dress . I'm really pleased with how it turned out, however she has yet to put on her and the doll's version. Hopefully that will come. The pattern is very cute and easy to sew together. I did change it a bit as I was usin...

Because they end up convincing you to buy some flannel fabric. My son actually needed PJs, but my daughter had more than enough clothes, but I'm a sucker for trying to keep it reasonably fair between the kids, especially when it's an impulse buy. These fabrics did not linger long in the stash when you have kids who keep asking when will they get their new outfits.  First up I used the Mini Mouse Flannel as the skirt for Love Notions Everyday Play dress .  This is a quick and easy pattern and super cute.  I likely could have gone down a size, but I tend to go on the larger size to ensure growing room. Made her a size 3, though she's in a size 2 and almost 5! My kids are on the slim side.  After a few more weeks of nagging, asking politely, I got around to making up a pj set using Jalie 3355 .  I was hesitant to buy this pattern initially as it seemed a bit basic, but it has turned out to be my most used pattern to date. I've lost track o...