I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last posted. The time just got away from me. The last few days I’ve been working on that dress. I’ve been sewing so much that I’m actually sick of looking at my sewing machine. I didn’t think such a thing was possible!

And before that I was distracted hand sewing this little sea turtle as a surprise for Olinda’s birthday.

I was working on him Friday night in the closet. Isabelle was sleeping and not sleeping very well. So I sat in there, close by, in the closet where there was light. Sewing away while Isabelle woke up too many times looking for me. I’d get up, get her back to sleep, and then sew some more. I had to finish him that night because on Saturday we went out to see Olinda. We met her at the Aloha festival in San Francisco where Isabelle got a little bird.

It’s not a real bird. It’s fake and it sings and moves and I’m such a sucker. I just wanted to show it to Isabelle but she liked it so much I got it for her. She has more than enough toys and I knew she wouldn’t play with it for long but I still bought it because…I AM a sucker.

And of course she’s not playing with it anymore. She played with it that whole first day, constantly asking where it was but by the next day she was done. It sings REALLY loud and Isabelle says, “no noise! Quiet bird!!” and wants me to turn it off.

Oh wait. What was I talking about? Oh yes, the sea turtle. At the festival they had a whole bunch of sea turtle toys. They made my sea turtle look all misshapen and mutated. I should have made his front arms bigger and his shell rounder and his head not so big and and and…oh well. I should have made a test one before Friday night. Then I would have had time to work all that out.

Even though he’s a little mutant, Olinda seems to like him and Isabelle does too. She’s been asking me, “where’s turtle? Make turtle? Winda giva me my turtle? Winda giva me birthday?” So I guess my little miss will be getting a turtle…because I’m a sucker. But I think I’ll machine sew a turtle for Isabelle. Probably a lot faster than hand stitching the entire thing again. How long do you think she’ll play with it?

Today I was going to write about some awards I received but I’m procrastinating. I suck at those posts. And also meme tag things. And how in the world do you pronounce meme? Like me! me!! Like those seagulls in Finding Nemo and how they say “Mine! Mine!” all annoying? Me! Me! It’s all about me!! Actually I think it’s pronounced like dream. Meme, dream. Oh wait…I’m rambling.

Back to what I was saying. I have such a hard time picking people and thinking of things to say for awards and meme type things. I’m also bad at those forward email things. I don’t do forwards. Or those urban legend emails. Or pass this along our child is missing emails. I don’t do those email things. Nope. Nope. Nope. They crawl into my inbox like spiders and then they die there. I squash them.

Oh I went off subject again. I need a nap. We didn’t have a nap today and I shouldn’t even be posting in this state.

On subject again, the awards. I’m supposed to pick people. And it’s nice to receive an award. It is. Thank you so much for giving me an award. But then the whole picking other people and passing it along and making them play…squash squash squash!!! I’m a party pooper. I don’t want to play because I’m mean and I suck.

So instead I went digging around on my site seeing what hasn’t been published and what photos I’ve had hidden on my Flickr stream. And this is what I came across, one of my strange girls. And we like looking at pictures, don’t we? Yes, we do (meaning me). I do like looking at pictures. Yep.

She was made in Adobe Illustrator when I was on that little Illustrator kick for a while, way back in December. I know it was December because she’s inspired by some party favors my sister made for a Christmas party. These cool little awesome guys:

Well not a few, actually one particular one, my favorite: the mushroom guy with his little removable mushroom hat. My sister made them!! MADE THEM! She is awesome!

Oh and right now as I’m typing this Isabelle is saying “bitch!” Me laughing maniacally isn’t helping the situation. I shouldn’t have put that Family Guy DVD in when she found it. I should have turned on some Noggin for her or something. What was I thinking? I need a nap. No nap for us today!! That’s what I was thinking. Or I should say why I wasn’t thinking.

Ack off subject again!! You know what? I think I will write about the awards after all or else I will never ever ever. And I don’t want to be mean. So onto the awards!!

Trixie gave me an Arte y Pico award something like TWO months ago. And I feel so bad that I haven’t mentioned it. Thank you Trixie! I kept meaning to write about it but then got distracted. And then Pauline gave me an award a couple of weeks ago. Thank you Pauline!! Thank you to both of you for thinking of me and I’m sorry I suck.

And I suck because I’m not going to make other people play by the rules. Instead I’m just going to share some sites that I find inspiring. They don’t have to play. They can just bask in the adoration. How about that? Yes. Much better. So bask away:

Pete at I Feel Awesome. I’m a total lurker on his blog. I love his drawing style and his comics. I found him back in the beginning of January and I never miss a post. In fact, when I first came across him, I went back and read all the ones I missed. He makes me want to start drawing a daily comic again. This particular drawing is old but it still makes me laugh. Am I mean?

Crap, I can’t think of anymore blogs. Oh wait. Here’s another one. Kawaii Not. Cute and funny. It’s another one I never miss. I’m a total lurker there too. Here’s an example of the cute and funny that I enjoy so much. And this. It’s absolutely my sense of humor.

Amy Rice. She does beautiful stencil art. I’ve mentioned her before on my blog. I have some gocco prints from her. Very very lovely. I am subscribed to her Flickr stream and I always like seeing what new art she’s created.

And, and….I can’t think of any new ones. How about I just talk about my favorite blogs listed in my sidebar. It’s a very short list of the blogs that I try my darnedest not to miss. I Feel Awesome, Kawaii Not, and Amy Rice should actually be up there. I don’t know why they’re not. I’ll get to it one day. I will.

But anyhoo let me mention my favorites here in the actual post so you don’t have to go hunting in my sidebar:

Alice at Futuregirl. She rocks. I wandered onto her site over two years ago. OVER TWO YEARS! And I’ve been reading ever since. And she’s one of the few internet people I’ve met in real life. Sometimes she says things that come right out of my head. It’s bizarre.

Brenda at Secret Agent Josephine. I’ve been reading her for years too. I love her little illos and she tells wonderful stories about her life. I wish I could write like her. Sometimes what Brenda writes is right along the lines of what I’m feeling at a particular time. That is very bizarre too. And her baby bug is near Isabelle’s age and is so cute and squishable. Of all the blogs I read, I feel the most connected to Brenda because she writes so well about her life and family.

Tina at ilikeseamonsters. I love the way Tina writes and the way she thinks. Here’s just a little example. I’ve been reading her for years too. (Though most of the time I’m lurking).

Hmmm common theme for these first three. You know I think they’re awesome if I’ve been reading them for years.

Mary at Confessions of a Craft Addict. I am blown away by the amount of things she sews. I’m pooped after one little thing. I am always stumped on how she creates so much.

Nichol at A Pillow Monster Every So Often. I’ve mentioned Nichol before. I love the little stories that go along with her softies. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve drooled over Theodore Robot wanting to snatch him right up. Actually, I drool over a lot of her dolls even though I already have one.

Ok, now I’m done with the long rambly post. I’m going to take a shower/bath and put Isabelle down for the night. Yerp. Get some much needed sleep!

On Saturday we went to a birthday party. I do have pictures but I’m not going to talk about that today. Instead, I’m talking about shoes today. Yes SHOES. At the party, Isabelle’s cousin was wearing a pair of Converse shoes. And I asked her mommy where she got them from. JC Penney for only $20. So I got it into my head to buy Isabelle a pair.

So, yesterday, we went to JC Penney. We don’t go there often, if ever. It’s at the MALL, the dreaded mall.

And accck, it was sooooo trashed. Well the shoe section was. There were shoes everywhere and boxes and tissue paper and PEOPLE, loads of people. It was such a mess. And not only was it an awful mess, the salesgirl was unfriendly. She didn’t even crack a smile. I guess she was too busy with the hoards of people that decided to descend on them that day, us included. It was so hectic I almost wanted to just turn around and walk right back out.

But we stayed. And we bought shoes. And I’m so glad we did. Because as I was standing in line a very nice man gave me his extra 20% off coupon. And if we hadn’t stayed and gotten shoes we wouldn’t have this video:

Isabelle LOVES her new shoes. LOVES. She kept asking us to put them on, “shoe? Shoe? Shoe?”. Alan would put them on then she’d happily stomp around. And then she’d pull all the laces out and take them off and ask them to be put on again. Oh what fun new shoes with laces are!! And guess what’s the first word she uttered on waking from her nap?

That’s right. Shoe! And, yes, she did stick her little feet into the air when she asked for them.

Go read cute baby #18, damn it. (That’s the title of the post, not me saying “damn it”. Though I do say that a lot. And yes Isabelle isn’t a baby anymore, but she’ll always be my baby. Maybe I’ll change the series name… And man I haven’t done a cute baby drawing in a long time.)

Isabelle turned another month older. She’s now 35 months old, just a month shy of three years old. And Whoo hoo!! I remembered to take our family pictures on time for a change.

And I couldn’t decide which picture to share. The one where you can see her wearing her new shoes.

Or the one where she has a beautiful smile on her face and is actually looking at the camera (though I don’t know what the heck I was looking at).

So I put them both up.

This post is showing the details of the tricky steps for my Label-Free post.

1. Sew the gathered front pieces to the yokes. This step has detailed drawings:

I gather my two front pieces by sewing two stitch lines then pulling the threads to gather it. If I didn’t know the characters for gather, ギャザ, I would still know to gather because of the drawing of the two stitch lines.

I then sew the fronts to the yokes, right sides together. In the drawing, it says wrong side, 裏. You don’t need the translations though because the seams are showing. I finish the seam and iron it towards the shoulder. Then I top stitch the seam allowances at .2cm away. ステッチ means stitch. If you’re wondering about the crossed out areas, that’s for my reference where I’ve changed the seam allowances on my dress.

2. Sew the front to the back pieces at the shoulder. Sewing right sides together and finish the seams.

3. Sew the side seams. Sew right sides together. Finish the seams.

4. Fold up and sew the hem. I’ve circled the number 2 at the hem on the drawing. That tells me I need to fold the hem 2cm and then again 2cm. I then top stitch that down.

5. Fold and sew the front edges of the dress. That’s folded up at 1.5cm twice. I’ve circled the 1.5 on the drawing. I top stitch that down.

6. Sew the facings on the back and front pieces. This step has detailed drawings:

I sew my facing pieces right sides together. The part with the fusible interfacing is shown in the drawing. I then sew the facings to the dress. It curves around from the front pieces to the back piece. I then clip the curves and trim the seam down to .5 cm. Then I turn the facings to the inside of my fabric and edge stitch the facing down at .2cm.

7. Make 2 button loops. Detailed drawings:

I need to cut a piece sized 2cm by 10cm on the bias. I fold that in half and sew at .3cm - .4cm. I cut away the excess leaving a seam allowance of .2cm. And I finish by turning it inside out.

8. Sew the waistband area. Detailed drawings:

Sew the button loop onto the right side of the bias fabric, バイアス布, 1cm in. Fold the outside edges in.

Cut out a piece of elastic. The sizes 80/85/90/95 correspond to the sizes 7,9 11, and 13. Sew the bias fabric to wrong side of dress leaving ends open. Thread elastic inside the bias fabric and then sew down the ends of elastic and the bias fabric.

9. Sew the cuffs and sleeves. Detailed drawings:

Fold one edge of the cuff up 1cm, wrong sides facing. Then fold it up again in the opposite direction right sides facing. Sew down the ends at 1 cm. I think I found this drawing the most difficult to understand. I ended up doing it my way. I figured out what the drawings meant while writing these directions!

Next, sew the sleeve, right sides together, up to the mark on the pattern. For the rest of the sleeve fold the seam allowance twice by .7cm and then stitch that down. Finish the unfolded seam allowance for the sleeve.

Then flip the sewed part of the cuff inside out. Sew the unfolded edge of the cuff to the sleeve. Fold the cuff enclosing all the raw edges and stitch all layers at .1cm away from the edge.

10. Sew the sleeves into the armholes. Right sides together and finish the seams.

11. Sew the belt. Detailed drawing:

The 206/210/216/220 correspond to the sizes 7,9 11, and 13. Sew using 1cm seam allowance leaving an opening 3cm large. Turn inside out.

12. Sew the buttonholes and the buttons in the cuffs and make the belt loops. At this point I also sewed the buttons for the button loops at the waist.

And ta da! I’m done! Do a happy dance!

I was on the phone the other day with Olinda.

She heard Isabelle say “I far-ted!!” (Isabelle pronounces it just like that).

Olinda asked, “does she always announce when she farts?”

Yes. Yes she does.

Go read cute baby #19, shoes.

I’ve finished my, how to sew from Japanese craft books, series on label-free. And here is the dress:

The only thing I’m not sure about is the belt. You can barely see it because of the pattern on the fabric but I widened it from 2″ to 4″.

Project Notes
Pattern: dress 7 from Japanese craft book ISBN-10: 4579111494 (ISBN-13: 978-4579111497)
Fabric: 100% cotton
Size: enlarged a size 13