3 Different Looks Just for Fun.

I have two sisters. Both are beautiful. Both are models/dancers/pageant girls. Me not so much. While I enjoy Polynesian dancing and am comfortable on stage, I tend to shy away from anything else that puts me under the spotlight...including solo pictures (which is why I bought a body form to display my projects after months of taking REALLY awkward pictures of myself). Anyways...when the talented LeeYen Lobendahn approached me and asked if I'd be willing to model some of my DIY projects in a photo shoot, it took a lot of self persuasion to agree. LeeYen was awesome though and made me feel very comfortable. We were able to shoot 3 outfits before the sun disappeared over the horizon. 

This is actually my ruffle dress that I made a couple months back, but my sister (who was my stylist and make up artist) dressed it up a little with a creamy colored top and black vest.

This skirt was an old granny skirt that I bought at secondhand store for $6. I altered it quite a bit and turned it into a high waisted, knee length skirt with ruffles around the pockets.

Another originally granny-styled skirt that I bought at DI. It was quite ugly but I really wanted a red skirt at the time and saw it's potential. I cut, adjusted, and sewed it to exactly how I wanted and it now serves as one of my most favorite and comfortable skirts to wear.

Little Girl Dresses

A request was made at the shop for bigger sizes for little girls. So I fulfilled that request with a few more dresses. Lucky my cute (crazy) little nieces were visiting and they were privileged enough to be my little models (and my son was off the hook.) haha. Price range $20-$30.

Pink Summer

Sunshine Yellow

Aqua Flow

Pink Summer

Maori Blue

Aloha Print Suits for Sale

So the lady who asked me to sew a few girl dresses to sale in her shop, asked if I could sew a few boy things as well. Since I just made my son a some vests and loved them, I decided I wasn't sick of making them just yet, so I began sewing like a crazy woman...again. I decided to do the whole shabang and make 6 sets of suits which consisted of a vest, slacks, and a bow tie or tie. Sizing 2-4T, Price $40 a set  

Surfer Blue: 2 vests, one with brown slacks and tie the other with navy blue slacks and brown tie.

Brown Tattoo: 2 vests, 2 brown slacks, one lime green tie and one brown bow tie

Maroon Tapa

Dark Hibiscus

And that's a wrap!

Ke'o Funeral

The father of a good friend of mine recently passed away. Her family wanted to wear palaka print fabric in honor of him, because this was one of his favorite everyday prints to wear. My friend asked if I would sew the skirts for her and her sisters. I agreed and at their request, I made three simple styles (all high-waisted) : A-line, pencil, and maxi. They were all pretty easy to make and I was grateful for the opportunity to serve.

SIL is wearing the maxi skirt

The entire Ke'o clan. Love the faces! =)

The beautiful sisters and their mother (all three girls sporting the three styles of skirts)

Families are forever!!

The Boy

I finally made something for the boy! woohoo!!!! I usually buy fabrics only when I know exactly what I want to make with them, however when I bought this fabric I was clueless. I liked the pattern and it was discounted at a good price so I bought it with the hopes of being inspired. At first I thought maybe I could make pajama pants for my son but that idea quickly faded as I usually don't like to make things more than once (unless I absolutely love it). So this fabric sat with my other fabrics for a while, until one afternoon I was inspired...from what? who knows, but I immediately had the urge to make my son a vest. I had never made one before but it seemed pretty easy to figure out, which it was. So I made one and loved it and decided I needed to make pants to complete his Sunday outfit. And once I did, I fell in love even more and thought I needed to make one more vest to make it a mix 'n match vest set.

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When I dressed my son for church I felt like something was missing, so I quickly made a bow tie. I like it but dont LOVE it, so we'll see if he wears it the next time with this outfit.

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VEST #2 This vest was made from another piece of fabric that I had been holding onto for a while and wasn't quite sure what I wanted to make with it.

His preliminary modeling of the outfit, to which I had to bribe him with candy.

Because I wasn't a huge fan of his bow tie, I decided to make a red tie to go along with this vest. I like the completed the look although sister number #1 said he looks like a delta flight attendant...which I can't argue with BUT he is definitely MUCH cuter!

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In the works: Baby Girl's wardrobe: Scrap dresses

I've started working on baby girl's wardrobe and have a few completed pieces. All these dresses/rompers were made from leftover fabric from past projects I've worked on. It's so hard for me to throw anything away but I'm glad I haven't because I was able to make a few cute pieces.

I loved this print when I first bought it but I don't know how much I like the style of this dress. I still have some more fabric left and I think I'm try something different.

I like the color of this dress but I dont know how much I like the actual dress. I messed up and made it a little too short. I'll probably make (or buy) black leggings to go this piece. 

I LOVE rompers and they are PERFECT for Hawaii weather. I will definitely be making more of these.

This top was made from leftover fabric that I used to make a blouse for myself about 2 years ago. Once again perfect for Hawaii weather.

same style as former piece, just tweaked the spaghetti straps.

I made the top of this dress LONG time ago and it hung on our closet door as decoration for almost a year. I finally got the motivation to cut out the skirt and attach it to the top . Sweet and simple.

This is another variation of the yellow and purple flowered dress pictured above. It fits my son (yes he serves as my model sometimes =) so baby girl won't be wearing for a while.

As some may or may not know, I L.O.V.E ruffles. LOVE them. This was made from leftover material (of a dress I made??). Baby girl will definitely be getting more ruffles in the future!

Final scrap piece is this extremely soft jersey knit dress that I made from the fabric of cardigan I made for myself. (that was a long awkward sentence that could probably be worded better). It's small enough to fit a newborn so maybe she'll be sporting it on the way home from the hospital. =)

Halloween 2012

For Halloween this year I had the intentions of making costumes for all three of us (four if you count the peanut =) but of course that didn't happen.

My inspiration for his costume this year: Since I've been sewing a lot lately and because I can not get rid of this child =O, he is constantly getting into my thread, needles, scraps, fabric, etc... one day he decided to dress himself in the scrap material I had laying all over the floor. He wrapped a piece of material around his head and waist and started dancing in front of the mirror. Watching him, I instantly thought of a lamanite warrior (random thought with absolutely no connection but whateva!)

His costume: I took tapa from a pile that's been laying on my parents bedroom room for years and stained it  with wood stain. As it dried I cut up an old brown skirt that I had in my scrap pile and sewed it the tapa and made his "dress". His wrist and head band were made from the same materials. For his sandals, I cut out his shoe size from an old pizza box that was just put into the recycling bin and stole brown shoe laces from my dad's shoes (which I've never seen him wear) and vola, lamanite sandals. It was all pretty simple and easy peasy sewing.

Getting ready to go trick or treat. I had a hard time getting him to put on his costume and shoes but once he associated his costume with candy, he was all for it!

My cute little lamanite/nephite/stripling warrior/nephi/any book of mormon charater really!

Halloween Night was soooo much fun. This was my son's first year trick or treating and he got the hang of it instantly. He was not interested in eating candy every time he got a piece, he just wanted more and more! He literally ran from one house to another as we walked behind him. We had a great time and our community really is the BEST PLACE in the world to trick or treat and the hundreds of people that come here can attest to it.

I'm back with exciting stuff.

So I've been hiding for a couple months because I got myself pregnant and my first trimester was NOT FUN =( I am now just passing my half way mark (20 weeks) woohoo and I feel much better and I've been sewing like a mad woman. I don't know if it's because we found out we're having a girl or if it's because I'm just crazy but sewing once again has consumed my life. And right now my obsession is girl clothes, that is all I sew and want to sew at the moment. I will show you what I've sewn for my baby girl thus far in a later post. But this post is dedicated to all the dresses I am selling. A lady came over to our house the other day and just happened to see some of my sewing projects. She asked if I could sew a couple "aloha print" dresses and she'd sell them at her shop. I was a little hesitant at first but agreed to try it out. So I whipped up (slaved over) a dozen little infant dresses (sizes 2T and under) in four days and I'm ready to get rid of them!

Here they are:

Pink mumu. At my mom's request.

Black Island Beauty

Baby doll Tapa and Aloha prints

Roxy Pink

Puletasi

Princess in Pink

My little model =)

And that's a wrap!